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

Previous Story: The Valley of Death

I don't usually like Nigel Fairs' stories. I think his surreal stories don't work and are a bit shallow.

This is not one of those stories. It has some complex views on morality and the greater good. It's definitely character driven but I don't think the Doctor is portrayed very well.

He feels too serious and brooding against a threat that doesn't really live up to that.

Next Story: Empathy Games

The first half is very distinct and stands out well against the other stories in series 2 companion chronicles. There is an interesting clash between the Edwardian and the alien that makes for a satisfying listen. As this aspect fades away in the second half things become a little more generic. Although there is a thoughtful, meaningful ending where Leela looks back towards the end of her life.

Louise Jameson does a marvellous job, but I don’t think subs in for Tom Baker particularly well when it comes to portraying The Doctor.

This series has been a bit mid. Hopefully this range improves in future series?

I absolutely loved the first part of this story, and then it fell flat in part two.

This story dared to go in a totally different direction with the pair, and suggest that, while on the surface, they are good friends, they keep secrets from each other and are in a more dysfunctional relationship - the Doctor is suggested to be darker and hypocritical, and pushes Leela over the edge - and then part two just forgets all that and they just work as a team to beat the monsters. Louise's Fourth Doctor impression was a little lacking too, as she says herself in the interviews.

H'mbreckle was an interesting character, essentially being a reflection of Leela, and something that works for the Companion Chronicles is how the audience hears the story from the companion's perspective, so it's interesting how Leela sees herself in the Z'Nai, and how she is manipulated by the imprisoned creature to turn on the Doctor - really compelling stuff. Also, it was a super dark cliffhanger - killing a child! Was not expecting that, especially for Big Finish. However, part 2 comes along and more Z'Nai come and they turn into generic monster which are defeated so quickly that we don't have time to realise what's happened.

It seems we're sticking with the Edwardian theme from the Chimes of Midnight - unfortunately, this feels very confined, and we don't really get to delve deep into this atmosphere, just being a dining room and a trophy room basically.

There was some interesting ideas with the Doctor having once travelled with someone else that we never knew - Joshua Douglas. The change of this character seen from his daughter's eyes really adds to the tension that's built up in the first part (and dropped in the second) between the Doctor and Leela, showing an outward perspective of what the Doctor does to people.

Overall, I had some high hopes for this story - Episode One is one of the best episodes I've ever heard, and then Episode Two is one of the biggest disappointing conclusions to a good story. I don't even get the ending - how did Leela get captured by the Z'Nai? Why was she being tortured? Did she die? Did she become one of them? I don't understand. Such a shame.

I didn’t really feel this story this time round shame really