”WELCOME TO DEATHWORLD.”

The highly anticipated lost story is finally here, and it’s as brilliant as you could’ve wanted it to be.

John Dorney took a premise/concept that Baker and Martin put together those 50 something years ago and made it work so well in the context of audio, exploring things that would have not worked due to budgetary constraints back then. The sheer scope of the story is extremely ambitious and doesn’t fall flat one bit, it just keeps hitting you with moments where your brain just draws these beautifully haunting environments, just based on the brilliant dialogue, which handles each doctor and companion perfectly, along with the brilliant audio design.

Speaking of audio design, this is one of the best sounding releases of this year. Tim Steemson absolutely kills it, along with the original soundtrack, with Death’s leit motiff being a prominent menacing driving force in the score. The work he did on the supernatural characters’ voices is nothing short of stellar, making each character unique, while being played by just 3 actors.

This is very much a Third Doctor story, but while the focus is mostly on him and Jo, this gives the Second and especially the First Doctors more room to shine as compared to the TV story The Three Doctors. Said Doctors are portrayed extraordinarily by Tim Treloar, Michael Troughton and Stephen Noonan. They bring on a type of energy that is so reminiscent of the original actors that you just start listening to The Third Doctor instead of Tim as soon as you dive into the story. But a story is only as good as its villain and oh lord Joe Shire is a powerhouse as Death, the sheer presence felt just through his voice was giving me chills left and right. The supporting cast of the three classic companions Jo, Jamie and the Brig are as fun as ever, with some interesting banter, especially between the Brig and the First Doctor.

If you in any capacity like the first 3 Doctors, I can assure you, you will love this, the amount of heard poured into this can be felt even through the bonus BTS featurette.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful moments between the Doctor and Jo, enclosed in the most ‘just ok’ plot ever.

Still a very fun time though