The second standalone adventure for 8/Liv/Helen is a pseudo/celeb-historical about famous psychic debunker Harry Price and a real-life case from the 1930s involving a lonely young girl and her talking mongoose, Gef. The atmosphere is great in this one, and actually I should say the sound design is notably fabulous in this and Paradox Of The Daleks, and there are some great character moments for Helen in particular, but this isn’t a full success. The Doctor’s characterization is very strange, he’s spent way too long with Helen and Liv to not listen to them to this extent, it’s as if the writers need him to not believe them so that the ending they have in mind works, rather than that being the way these characters as depicted at some length across their previous adventures would behave. And the talking mongoose voice is really extremely difficult to understand most of the time, even though I ultimately really enjoyed that character. And the reveal of what’s actually been going on is very good, there is a thematic core to the story which absolutely does work, the last section is great. So not at all a failure, the atmosphere and setting and Helen’s characterization make this plenty enjoyable, just not a total success either. 3.5/5

With this and The Miracle of Pendour Cove, Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle really have a talent for making you feel uncomfortable in the best of ways. Really haunting vibes throughout this one.

A+.