Banger absolutely bangers I loved this story so much

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

Previous Story: The Star Men

This is a fun little adventure, it has a very entertaining and unique villain. Instead of the villain wanting world domination or destruction they are purely here for a bet. The bet in question is never explicitly mentioned but it's implied it has something to do with becoming the ruling monarch of England. I like the setting of the club, the way the members have been hypnotised to see nothing out of the ordinary is fairly interesting. The cloned butlers called Edward are a fun little touch that feels very Doctor Who.

There were some fairly good twists, the ending was satisfying, I enjoy the Victorian atmosphere, the death of the last Edward was fairly sad. I have nothing to really complain about in this story, it's not anything to write home about, it's a simple story with a great TARDIS team and some unique ideas.

Next Story: Zaltys

Another release I was rather excited about - unfortunately, it didn't deliver and I was left very disappointed when the end credits rolled.

After the fantastic characterisation of our core cast in the Star Men, I was incredibly bored by them in this - they felt generic and beyond Episode 1, once again, there was no plot, so without any interesting core concepts to follow through on, the story was very empty and there's not much to discuss. The Doctor fits in quite well at the club, being a rather upstanding upper-class gentleman at times. I can't say a lot about any of the companions, because none of their personalities particularly standout - this could've very easily been a Second Doctor story with Ben, Polly and Jamie and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. I liked that Tegan's walkman or whatever music device she has was set up throughout the story to be the solution, especially considering the Doctor is struggling without it.

The Red Queen is a very pantomime villain, and I'm not a massive fan - I liked the chess analogy for the story, but I don't think it worked as well as it could have. Lorekei King's performance is very hammy and over-the-top, and maybe they did it on TV, but with hindsight, it shouldn't be like that on audio because it didn't work then, and it definitely doesn't work now.

Something I'm a massive fan of in this story is the Victorian setting - I really like how grounded this story feels, referencing Victorian values, sexist attitudes, the increasing popularity of the London Underground, Queen Victoria and more - this story definitely utilises the maximum potential of this era to its advantage to create a grittty and very real atmosphere.

Edwards. Lots and lots of Edwards. I really like the cliffhanger to Part 1, where multiple Edwards come out, and the team is very surprised (I can just imagine a close up of 5th Doctor's face with the credit sting!) I'm annoyed how long it took Nyssa to work out they were clones, but the Edwards are very interesting characters, being used as pawns, but having their own lives and personalities, going through a lot of trauma, dying but still being forced to serve. It's really heartbreaking to hear that happen to him, and Olly McCauley is fantastic.

This should've been a lot better than it is. All the pieces are in place, but it's thoroughly unengaging. There's parts that are very good, and it has all the elements of a classic, but they don't get used very well and it's overall a very boring story.

Set during Victorian England, the team discover a Queen who has taken on a bet to oust the actual queen of england and take on the throne herself. The set up to get to this point is fun, the club setting offering a lot of atmosphere. The ending itself feels like it was a bit too rushed, with part 3 being the generic part to set up the final episode, leading to a duller back half because things don't really connect as well as you'd want them to. Still enjoyable to listen to