An interesting premise that never really does anything noteworthy.

A massive explosion takes place in the Tardis, knocking Vicki unconscious. When she wakes up, she’s all alone in a mysterious mechanical jungle. Where is she? And where are the others? Together with a local named Nebron, Vicki looks for clues.

Honestly, the big problem with this one is that there’s really nothing to latch on to. The one-off characters are fairly flat. The setting consists mostly of Vicki naming different computer parts (“That’s not a plant! That’s a conductor!”) and the twist becomes predictable fast. Gee, with all these machine parts around and time shenanigans aplenty, where could we possibly be…

What could’ve helped was more of a look in Vicki’s headspace. This feels like a fairly early story for her, so maybe this could raise some doubts about her travels with the Doctor. This entire story is external. All the text is dialogue between Vicki and the one-offs. Which is not very exciting.

Or maybe we could’ve dressed up the setting a bit more drastically. What if there was an entire region based on the food machine? Or what if all the rivers actually came from the ever-notorious swimming pool? The most we get is a closer look at the Tardis fault locators, who take the form of beetles.

At times, it feels more like we’re in a vacuum cleaner, rather than the Tardis. All these small mechanical parts take away a bit of the mystique around the machine. Sure, it feels logical that the Tardis has wires, or uses mercury, but it’s also stuff that feels very earthly.

Ever heard that story about the 2005 Dalek redesign and how the original designer didn’t appreciate the “bolted” parts, since it felt too much like something a human would make? It’s a bit like that. It removes some of the otherness and magic around the original design. The appeal of the Tardis is that it’s inexplicable. This leans in the other direction.

I’m reminded of the book “Campaign” I read a while back. Where we went to the Tardis library. Which turned out to be a massive, beautiful forest. When asked why these weren’t just regular books, the Doctor scoffed. After all, why kill the tree before you store information in it?

It's that kind of magic touch that this story could’ve really benefitted from. You learn more about the machine, but you understand it less than you did before.

As it stands now, this is sadly just Vicki running around in a mechanical box. And other than some suggestions I sadly don’t have much to say. I wish it had a hook, because now it’s just a wasted concept in every way.

Hey, I quite liked this one! The first part was a little slow, but it captured the vibes of a weird ass First Doctor story I could definitely see happening. I was actually getting emotional in part two as Vicki realized everybody in this world was going to get erased from existence to bring back the TARDIS. Honestly: the TARDIS has a lot to answer for in this story. On the whole, a strong opener for this boxset.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! 

"THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT – VICKI’S TIME-BENDING TRIBULATION FALLS FLAT"

The Temple of Light, the first entry in Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles: Families, opens with a compelling premise: Vicki is separated from the rest of Team TARDIS as the ship lands, waking up in a strange, eerily quiet city beside the imposing Temple of Light. The concept of a world where time passes at different speeds depending on location—especially between the temple and the surrounding environment—is intriguing on paper. Add to that a mysterious ritual, an energy source that feeds on human life, and the discovery that the TARDIS has been miniaturised and transformed within itself following an explosion, and you’d expect a memorable story.

But sadly, that promise never fully materialises.

A FLAT JOURNEY THROUGH A FRACTURED REALITY

Despite the high-concept elements, much of The Temple of Light is spent with Vicki wandering around with Nebron—first through the city, then the temple, then into the jungle. Dialogue-heavy and structurally static, the story lacks dramatic escalation or narrative propulsion. Even when Vicki is tricked into becoming a tribute for a mysterious ritual or when Nebron and his grandfather are imprisoned, the story fails to generate urgency or emotional weight.

It’s only at the end of Part 1 that the plot momentarily sparks to life, with the reveal that the temple’s energy source is actually the TARDIS console—transformed by an internal explosion. The TARDIS, having folded in on itself, has created a fractured reality in which its own systems manifest as gods, rituals, and distorted fragments of familiar technology. It’s a clever twist, but one that comes too late to elevate the rather aimless build-up.

HOOKLIGHT STRIKES TWICE

One of the biggest drawbacks of The Temple of Light is how much it echoes the recent Fifth Doctor story Hooklight, another story in which a reality is created from a damaged TARDIS, its internal components becoming sentient or symbolic elements of a surreal world. Here again, we have reality distorted by a TARDIS explosion, robotic Cators (reworked fault locators), and even a jungle-dwelling hermit who might be a future version of Nebron himself—highlighting the time flux that governs this broken reality.

The similarities are too striking to ignore, and they sap much of the power from what should be emotionally and conceptually resonant. When Vicki ultimately has to destroy the reality to set things right—effectively dooming the people she's met—it should carry real emotional heft. But the story doesn't invest enough in these characters for that to land, and the familiarity of the narrative further blunts its impact.

AUDIO STRENGTHS KEEP IT LISTENABLE

As ever, Maureen O’Brien is a delight. Her narration may no longer capture the youthful tones of Vicki exactly, but her warm, gentle delivery and emotional sincerity more than make up for it. There’s a seasoned quality to her performance that lends the story some much-needed weight.

Duncan Wisbey handles all the other roles with impressive versatility, shifting between Nebron, his grandfather, the city guards, and various others—sometimes even within the same scene. His range and clarity ensure the story remains engaging, even when the plot begins to meander.

A TARDIS PUZZLE WITHOUT A PAYOFF

The second half of the story largely becomes a lengthy explanation of how this fractured reality works and how it must be undone. There’s some mild tension as Vicki and Nebron flee through the jungle and piece together the nature of the Cators and the hermit’s true identity. But once again, the answers arrive in a slow drip rather than through compelling revelations or twists. And without a strong emotional connection to the characters or the stakes, Vicki’s final choice—to destroy the entire reality and everyone within it—feels curiously underpowered.

📝VERDICT: 65/100

The Temple of Light has all the ingredients for a rich, philosophical slice of Doctor Who: time distortions, TARDIS metaphysics, existential choices, and a strong central companion. But the script never fully commits to its ideas, and the pacing remains flat throughout. Its biggest misstep is covering ground already tread—more effectively—in Hooklight, which robs it of uniqueness.

Strong voice work from Maureen O’Brien and Duncan Wisbey ensures that it remains pleasant listening, but the story is ultimately forgettable and emotionally distant. A disappointing start to the Families set that hints at brilliance but never quite finds its spark.

As someone who's unfamiliar with the Companion Chronicles, having only done a handful, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this set. That said, I've heard wonderful things which prompted the purchase! The blew me away on all fronts. Duncan Wisbey, what a talent. The amount of voices one person can produce that sound wildly different is just incredible to me, and this is literally a full cast audio drama rather than an audiobook with how it is formatted. I loved hearing Vicki again, and the story itself is something so wildly unexpected and very unique, that it landed well with me. Some lovely character beats throughout, and the story manages to really capture the 60's vibe perfectly.

I think this is a solid start to the box set nothing amazing but it feels very newbies first companion chronicle which is nice for when relaunching a series