The Beast of Scar Hill

8️⃣🔽 = VERY GOOD!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“WHODUNIT IN THE SNOW!”

Here we have a classic set-up of a bunch of people stuck (snowed in) in a location (a hotel in this case) and haunted by monsters.

The supporting characters are fleshed out properly by this character-driven plot, and they feel believable.

It's a fairly contained story, but Mark Wright's writing makes it vivid, and Mina Anwar’s northern accent is perfect for the narration.

The tension is slowly but steadily built, culminating in the reveal of the alien monsters.

The monsters kill the characters one by one, and the dire situation forces the strangers to work together, but despite this, the adventure can feel a bit slow in the middle.

Also, Rose and the Doctor (in particular) feel sidelined.

The story picks up momentum again once we learn about the true nature of one of the characters (he's a reptile alien) and when he escorts Rose to his spaceship.

I like the twist that reveals that some of the humans we meet here are actually aliens under disguise and part of a crew of criminals on the run from the law (and that law is the titular beast of Scar Hill).