Time-flight has the rare accolade of being a Doctor Who story which very gradually gets worse and worse the further it gets into its running time. Two episodes in I was rather enjoying myself, The Master’s reveal at the end of part two was particularly welcome and surprising. But after that it’s like they just give up.

Things kick off nicely with the team honouring Adric, rather than skating over his death like I thought they would - the show has grown up and matured. There is then some hi-jinks at Heathrow airport which gives us some nice shots of contemporary 1980s London - this is appreciated after a long time away from the modern day. It’s a nice way of grounding the show in our reality.

I love the timeslip idea, planes passing through a portal from one time to the next, this too is a modern concept. Something the show would not have tried 10 years earlier, a rare story about time travel. How The Master’s plan fits into this is pretty neat. Its entertaining watching a pilot, one of The Master’s victims, almost succumb to the same hypnosis as the majority of the flight passengers - but *just* about resisting it. Adric’s ghostly cameo was a nice touch.

Annoyingly things get a bit silly during part three with lots of high concepts coming out from nowhere. You’re expected to all of a sudden invest in a slew of random concepts. Technical gobbledygook spoken over images that would not be self-explanatory on its own.

There’s some really cheesy dialogue. Exactly the kind of thing you don’t want people to associate with Doctor Who. The ending limp and threat free. The Doctor literally swapping TARDIS spares with The Master is mundane and comes across like a time wasting exercise, like they’re just trying to use up the running time. It doesn’t help that Ainley is an embarrassing actor. Easily the worst Master. Whoever hired him did the series a great disservice.

The Master not being able to land his TARDIS due to The Doctor using the same coordinates is an extremely weak way to wrap up the story. He could have just landed next to The Doctor. He is meant to be a genius!

I know Tegan is in future stories, but I suppose her seemingly being left behind at the end of the story makes for a shock ending for the season… does anyone think season 19 should have ended with Earthshock?