Bit of a mixed bag this one. Meglos impersonating the Doctor is tons of fun, and I like the idea of a city sent underground because the vegetation has become hostile.

However, it takes a little too long for the Doctor and Romana to finally break out of the time loop, and arrive on the planet Tigella, and bringing back Jaqueline Hill in the new role of Lexa, rather than reprising Barbara Wright is an odd creative choice. Especially as the Doctor is brought into the fold by someone who already knows him from an offscreen adventure. Why not have just made it Barbara who contacts the Doctor, and explained she got abducted from 60s London?

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Thief Who Stole Time

And Season 18 continues with, Meglos. I much prefer this over The Leisure Hive. Again I have to compliment the production, everything from the soundtrack to the effects to the camerawork is some of the best I've seen in Classic Doctor Who so far.

The story itself is fairly good too, the idea of a Doctor-doppelganger causing trouble while the real Doctor is trapped is very fun. Tom Baker's acting as Meglos is also really good, a great demonstration of his range.

Jacqueline Hill is back! Not as Barbara, but as Lexa. A great display of her range aswell because Lexa is basically the polar opposite to the often timid Barbara.

The effects are also brilliant in this, the CSO shots on Zolfa-Thura are some of the best in the show's history.

Overall, very fun, looking forward to the rest of this season.

Next Story: Full Circle

Meglos is plagued with stagey direction and pretentious, boring writing. Thankfully John Flanagan & Andrew McCulloch never write for the show again. If this drop in quality is the impact of Bidmead then I am not appreciating it. Even the welcome appearance of Jaqueline Hill, the actor behind the first doctor’s legendary original companion Barabara isn’t enough to overcome the stilted, lifeless feel of the production. It’s a story which is annoying to follow.

I do like the fact that Meglos is a cactus, and how it interacts with the humanoids around. Meglos taking the form of The Doctor is a nice way of mixing up Baker’s familiar performance. The sets and CSO backdrops are rather nice, weaving neatly with the live action in a more polished way than ever before.

Since JNT took over the episodes seem to be significantly underrunning. If you discount credits, opening titles and reprises, episode four is just over 15 minutes long - possibly a good thing in this case. This new era hasn’t fully clicked yet.