Season 7 is probably the strongest of the Fourth Doctor Adventures so far - let's hope that the final three stories don't let it down!

It doesn't make too much sense that the Doctor and Leela kept on referencing the Talons of Weng-Chiang due to it being Victorian London, considering they also visited it in the Ghosts of Gralstead, a story that released three years before this one. Aside from that, the dialogue between the two is fun and sparky throughout. Despite this, there wasn't anything that made this TARDIS team work especially well in this environment.

I really like the Morbius/Cyberman-esque idea of the monster. It's unique and not too generic, and the design of it is really creepy. Although the actual monster is a bit snarly, the ideas and backstory behind it is executed brilliantly - with a truly horrific ending I did not expect from the Fourth Doctor.

The idea of a training ground was really clever, but I was slightly disappointed by the way it was written, because there's nothnig much to indicate that the London that they were in was in 1944 - Why Victorian London, instead of Wartime London? Despite that, the scenery is explored in an interesting and fascinating manner.

"Topping day, what?" reminded me of Ten and Donna in The Unicorn and The Wasp. Hemmings works as an ally to the Doctor and Leela, and isn't too bland, but I still don't really care about him. I've sort of given up with the side characters that the Doctor and Leela meet by this point and I doubt it will improve in the rest of this range.

This is definitely a story I'll return to, but it doesn't match the standards of the rest of the season - If only there was more K-9!

Oh a solid start to volume 2 could we be on the up n up let’s see

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

Previous Story: The Demon Rises

I didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did, it seemed like another "19th-early 20th century London mystery" story which get repetitive really quickly. Luckily, this story quickly proved to be quite interesting, with the first part being an engaging slow-burn mystery surrounding a small pocket of London that was practically deserted, it was similar in feel to the first part of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" with the Doctor again remarking that it must be a Sunday.

In hindsight, it should have been obvious to me that it was something to do with the war as it was quite suspiciously not mentioned at all despite this story clearly being set in the early 1940s. The second part is a little more run-of-the-mill and raises the usual moral questions when it comes to the Doctor and war. With an engaging performance from both the main and supporting cast, an eerie atmosphere and a somewhat unique villain this story is a solid little mystery.

Next Story:  The Bad Penny