Vengeance on Varos

It’s a shocking and thoroughly modern concept for an episode. The public voting from their segregated pods on whether people on their screens live or die - all in the name of entertainment, entertainment that gets exported to exploit its full value. This is plugged into a dying “former” prison planet where prospects look bleak for all and even the leadership struggle to avoid a grizzly fate.

Colin Baker performs better in this story, helped by the fact the script is not actively hampering him with a dislikable character. The story also fares better due to featuring remarkably little of the 6th Doctor, meaning we get to focus our attention on the intriguing story around our main character. When he does pop up he has some good one liners and gets to be the hero - it’s a great story for him.

Phillip Martin’s script easily stands out among the output of the new crop of writers on the show. He builds a world that feels real, predicting reality TV, voting in shows and scenes which were later plucked by RTD for his first finale. Sil and his associates who spray him and look after his welfare also remind me of Cassandra from RTD’s time - so it would seem Russell is a fan of this story.

Peri continues to be put through the wringer here. I stand by my belief that she has been given a much harder time than any companion before her (this week almost being turned into a bird) she deals with it marvellously.

Sometimes it can be overly camp, but the darkness works well here. This story proves that Colin Baker’s era is not devoid of any quality and gives me hope for the rest of season 22 and 23. The 45 minute episode format is working for me too.