The second best story is the last of the four. The Dreaming, by Mark Morris, sees the Mara attempting to infiltrate the inhabitants of Christmas in its usual insidious way. Because this isn’t a simple ‘aliens land and attack’ story, it holds the interest much more and gives a different spin on this, admittedly limited idea of the Doctor defending Christmas from different aliens.

I read a review of The Dreaming that said, although it starts out much like a Mara story with the insidious creature infiltrating someone’s dream, it ends up more like Image of the Fendahl. I couldn’t see this myself and thought it did a good job of creating a Mara story which didn’t feel too much like a retread of Kinda or Snakedance (or the Big Finish ‘threequel’, Cradle of the Snake). It is chilling when the Mara takes over the bodies of the children of Christmas, forcing the Doctor and their parents to retreat to the snow-making factory. I actually feel a little more could have been done with the emotions of the parents having to leave those children and trust the Doctor would save them from this malevolent force.

The eventual solution is possibly a bit silly with the Doctor adding salt to the snow to break the bond between the Mara and its victims, but I’ll let this pass as I don’t mind a bit of silliness in the denouement of my Doctor Who. It’s a bit like the ‘tiny switch at the top of a tall tower’ ending to The Vampires of Venice which caused a bit of consternation amongst fandom – it never bothered me that much.