This is... a lot of fun. It reminded me quite a bit of the horror game Tattletail, which doesn't sound fun, but it is a great love letter to the 80s, and fits Davison really well.

The Doctor is characterised very well here - Nigel Fairs clearly has a very good hold over the character, and Davison manages to play off the other characters very well. There's a very New-Who aesthetic about this story, and that really works with the Fifth Doctor, cos he is probably the most like the new doctors, especially Jodie. He has a lot of fun handling the material, and he's constantly engaging - determined, excitable and amusing; a really strong showcase of this Doctor. I think that, if this was a Whovian's first introduction to either Classic Who or Big Finish, it'd be a really brilliant story for them, because it has all the charm of a Classic Who story in the runtime and pacing of a New Who one.

The Cuddlesomes are a really fun monster - Their sound design is really creepy and unique, and the way they're handled is effective, never overstaying their welcome but making a great foil to the protagonists. Their story is interesting and paced well, with the new toys and the old toys clashing over directives. However, I did feel that the plan overall was a little outlandish, but Turvey's motivations and characterisation is genuine and really human, which made for a very interesting main antagonist, especially in the conflict between him and Tinghus.

I was hoping for a bit more 80s excitement, but the way that the time periods were used was still intriguing and clever anyway. The location of a traditional English town is nothing out of the ordinary, it wasn't offensive but a bit too generic for my liking.

The side characters were detailed and really likeable, which is always a good place to start. Like I've said already, the chemistry they have with the Doctor is really strong and they make for some fun solo companions to join the Doctor along the way - it's great to see a strong female character having to save the man, whereas in Classic Who it was usually the other way around.

The music was alright, nothing particularly standout, but it made for a sort of nice love letter to the 80s, sort of inspired by those synth-y styles, I think.

Favourite Line: "Don't they have women plumbers on Planet Time Lord?"

This is a great little bonus story - it's nothing special, but it's a nice story to kill an hour if you want something to listen to something light-hearted and short.