“I am The Doctor whether you like it or not”. What a bizarre statement of intent for a new era. Why would you want an audience to root against its lead character? After the titles closed on part four, if there had been anyone in the room with me whilst I watched the credits roll, they would have thought I was mad. I just kept on saying “why?”

The first two parts to this story are in many senses brave and uncompromising. Camp in parts but also darker than ever. Regeneration gone wrong pushed to an extreme. The opposite of generic Doctor Who - to a fault, but this approach is not without merit. You have to feel sorry for Peri though, after what she has been put through. Has any companion had a tougher first three adventures? The Doctor changes form in front of Peri only to strangle her shortly after. It feels especially harsh on a companion who is particularly adorable, thoughtful and kind. She charmingly leaps into the console room to show off her new outfit, then gets treated to a manic fit of rage.

My key to enjoying The Doctor’s performance across the first half of Colin Baker’s first adventure was by explaining away his bizarre new characterisation with the fact that he was enduring a crisis. A mental break. He was totally gone. And not in the cute loopy way of other post-regenerations. In a genuinely scary way. From that perspective it was in some senses quite inspired. I saw it as an unwise but compelling move from writer Anthony Steven. I was less complimentary of the fact that at the same time, the writing facilitated a move back to pretentious, overly complex style of dialogue from The Doctor. I was hoping this would be left behind when Christopher H. Bidmead moved on as script editor.

All of these factors made for a gripping but conflicted watching experience. Colin Baker’s performance is a very strong flavour but it’s a hell of an interesting one. I actually enjoy much of his stagey, weird and eccentric traits as an actor. I can’t take my eyes off of him and marvel at the choices he makes. Across the first half of the story I like the performances all round. Fan wisdom would tell me the twins are unbearable to watch but I genuinely think it stands up.

It’s part three where things start to fall down for me as it hits argumental overdrive with every character, especially The Doctor, feeling the need to constantly needle disagreements and contentions. The plot starts to wear thin a little too - which should not happen across a swift four parter.

The aliens, which become more prominent at around the halfway mark of the story, are also on the annoying side. This is fine when we’re building up our main characters, but not so great when the focus pivots to the enemy and we get into Warriors of the Deep/ children’s TV territory. Trying to care about humanoid aliens whose mouths don’t move is a real challenge. And it is a weird contrast to the darker, more argumental sides to the story. Tonally, it’s a nightmare. The closest thing we’ve had to these slug/humanoid aliens in the show before are the Sensorites. Personality free, boring, overly formal aliens who show no sense of believability or personal motivation.

Once the plotting turns south you lose your patience with the aggressive quirks of Baker’s performance. The “fits” and arguments become too much. Too repetitive. All the shouting drives the show into overwrought melodrama. Is Baker good at being The Doctor? When he is over performing as long as everything around him clicks he is actually charming, theatrical and a joy to watch. He makes me laugh out loud. Bizarrely, when he has to get subtle and act with a lighter touch, I just stop believing his performance. What starts out in this story as a pretty confident performance in parts one and two ends as a man who just looks out of his depth leading a show - he has been given nothing to work with and is not equipped to deal with the absence of direction.

The end of the story relies on excruciating dialogue laying out the exposition. All telling, no showing. Characters talking in the most annoying way passing the plot between them. Things got embarrassing enough that I ended up watching the story through my fingers.

It’s extraordinary that this is the same production team who put together Davison’s final adventure. The last time I disliked a story this much was 1966’s ‘The Celestial Toymaker’, but that story at least felt inconsequential - not the start of a whole new era. JNT has made some weird decisions here - I hope it plays out okay. At least they still have Peri.