An exciting, action-packed opener to the third Dalek Universe box set. This time, the Tenth Doctor and Anya Kingdom find themselves inside the Dalek and Movellan war.

The River Song mystery regards whether she's a Movellan or the real deal is interesting, especially considering the human/Movellan hybrid Kamen who refers to her as his 'mother'. It does seem judging by the end of this story, that The First Son is the one and only time River features in the box set, which is surprising given her prominence on the cover art.

A very interesting story. It concerns the Doctor crashing with Anya Kingdom on a strange planet, with a Godlike entity called Lost who was imprisoned there. The ending is possibly the best part. Never expected to hear a Dalek proclaim "Hello sweetie".

A really fantastic dramatic instalment concerning the hunt for the missing Arborecc onboard the Space Security Station. The twist that Major McLinn has been turning people onboard the space station into Daleks really pushes the characters emotionally, especially with one of the Daleks being Mark Seven's friend Felicity. It does have shades of Parting Of The Ways, but the idea of Dalek conversions always works well from a dramatic perspective.

A scene that really stands out is when the Arborecc Dalek begs to be 'exterminated'. It's heartbreaking and reflects how harsh the major's actions are. He is weaponising people onboard his space station without their permission, and turning them into the thing they hate.

An action-packed opener to Dalek Universe 2. It gives some interesting backstory to Mark Seven, being set on his home planet, and revealing that the android's parents were killed by Daleks.

The bear-like creatures feel like excellent traditional Doctor Who monsters also. Despite being called Dalek Universe, the box set does a great job at building plenty of new characters outside of the Daleks too.

A sublime conclusion to the first Dalek Universe box set. It starts off in style, with the Doctor, Arya, and Mark facing space pirates, and then dives into a deep exploration of the Kingdom family tree. Merrick Kingdom is a brilliant character, and his connection to Arya as her Grandfather, as well as being the Dad to the late Sara Kingdom, adds an engaging sense of family to the story.

There's some really great character drama here, that feels reminiscent of the first RTD era. Sara's resentment of her Granddad, blaming him for her mother's death, gets a lot of focus, and the fact that she never fully forgives him even when he dies feels very human. It's the kind of thing that reminds me of some of RTD's Doctor Who scripts, which combine these very domestic ideas with the otherworldly, which is high praise for Andrew Smith.

Whilst the Daleks don't feature in this Dalek Universe story, their presence is still felt in the way the characters talk about them, and the way it incorporates iconic characters and elements relating to Dalek lore, such as their enemies the Mechanoids, and the Varga plants. It means that it still feels very much like a story about the Daleks, even without Nicholas Briggs shouting into your ear.

 I'm impressed with how long the story commits to the idea that the Tenth Doctor has regenerated into a Gemma Whelan incarnation. Obviously, this isn't the case, as we got Matt Smith after David Tennant on TV, but the story makes you wonder for a while whether this is somehow a legitimate incarnation.

The reveal is teased well throughout, with the Tenth Doctor breaking through to Anya Kingdom from the future. When the twist comes that Gemma Whelan is actually the Monk, it feels extremely satisfying, because of the hints in the first two parts of Dalek Universe which suddenly make sense when her identity is confirmed. Gemma Whelan makes for an excellent Monk, and bounces off David Tennant extremely well.

The latter half of the story, with time collapsing on itself, reminded me a lot of The Wedding Of River Song. It has the same concept of elements from past time periods emerging into a future time, with prehistoric animals and cavemen roaming the streets. In my view, it handles it better than The Wedding Of River Song, as it feels much more coherent, and less of an unruly mess.

The opening and closing segments here really highlight how much we lost out because of Colin Baker's firing. With great writing and a much better costume, his Sixth Doctor is incredible, and his relationship with Peri is so much more enjoyable. It feels like an extension of where they were in Season 23.

The story itself is excellent, and truly ahead of its time. As Peri alludes to in the closing scene, we don't feel a million miles away from the society depicted here in the 21st century, which is a little unnerving.

Quite a novel approach to presenting a classic series omnibus. It contains an opening and closing scene with Peter Davison and Janet Fielding reprising their roles, and gives us some much-needed closure regarding the Doctor and Tegan's grief for Adric. By showing us the Fifth Doctor and Tegan properly acknowledging Adric's death, and how lost it made them feel, it actually improves on the original version of Earthshock.

The main Earthshock story is easily a highlight of the Peter Davison era. It's a dark and gritty tale that makes good use of the Cybermen, and gives Adric the best companion exit he could have had. I love the idea that the space freighter he is trapped on is the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, as it places the Doctor on the backfoot and means Adric is a fixed point that he can't change.

A fantastic piece of closure for the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It expertly deals with this incarnation's unfair manipulation of Ace, and how it affected both characters on a personal level. It's sad to think that they didn't depart on good terms, but the ending hints they go on further adventures together in the Memory TARDIS.

The Curse Of Fenric itself is a stone-cold classic. It's a thrilling vampire story that shows how far the Seventh Doctor is prepared to go to save the day. The fact that he goes to the extent of breaking Ace's faith in him, cruelly playing with her emotions in the aid of the greater good, will always remain chilling to watch.

Quite a whimsical entry, bringing together Steven and Vicki. There's quite a magical feel to this one, with the pair 'wishing' for the Doctor to return to them again, and then hearing the First Doctor's laugh.

I'm still a bit mixed on The Time Meddler. My thoughts are that it doesn't expand on its brilliant premise of a monk who interferes with history quite as much as it could, and that it's a story that would have been better executed in the Moffat era. I would like to see the Monk return in the new series though.

A pretty exciting conclusion to the Once And Future arc. Although the answer that the Eleven was responsible for the degeneration weapon isn't too surprising, there are some fun callbacks to the Doctor's 1963 origins here, with the Doctor and Susan during caveman times at one point in the narrative, and references to Ian and Barbara.

It is also nice to hear Susan and River interact, given that they are technically family. It gives The Union a sort-of "Lost In Space" feel, with the Doctor, Susan, and River basically being the TARDIS team of this adventure.

I am still disappointed that it was Jacob Dudman voicing the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, as opposed to Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. He does do a good job with Matt Smith, but you can really tell that his Peter Capaldi isn't the real deal.

Nice if not surprising that it was the War Doctor who was hit with the degeneration weapon. It ties in thematically with the idea of the Doctor's incarnations being mostly united, and the War Doctor being the only incarnation they openly reject.

A really strong entry in Once And Future. This one places the Seventh Doctor in a situation where Davros is the Daleks' prisoner and appears willing to work with the Time Lords, which is an interesting idea. It leads to a very exciting prison break sequence, and we also get to see the Seventh Doctor get up to his usual manipulative ways.

I particularly appreciated how this one incorporates the Hybrid arc from Series 9. Davros's proposition of Time Lord/Dalek hybrids is very evocative of Evolution Of The Daleks' conclusion, but it's neat that the Hybrid prophecy is brought up here.

A fantastic introduction to Dalek Universe 1. It begins with an epic speech from David Tennant, and sees the Tenth Doctor unexpectedly kidnapped from time and transported to a Space Security Service spaceship with several dead crew members.

Anya Kingdom makes for a good counterpart to the Doctor, sharing some of that tough Sara Kingdom spirit, and Mark Seven is an interesting android character, who feels similar to Supergirl's Braniac.

I love the fact that this story incorporates an obscure classic series monster in the Visians. They've only appeared in The Daleks' Master Plan, which Dalek Universe is a spiritual successor to, and only Big Finish could bring back monsters this obscure and still have them feel relevant to the plot.

The cliffhanger is a shocker too, with the Tenth Doctor somehow regenerating into a woman, when we know he becomes Matt Smith. Obviously, there's some form of twist, but it's quite an effective cliffhanger all the same.

A brilliant collection of stories. It gives us our first piece of prose featuring Sacha Dhawan's incarnation of the Master, alongside other Masters from Doctor Who's long and varied history.

My favourites in the collection were probably 'The Dead Travel Fast' and 'Missy's Magical Mystery Tour'. The former is an inspired Whoniverse take on Bram Stoker's Dracula featuring the Geoffrey Beevers' Master, and the latter is a joyous and manic adventure for Michelle Gomez's iteration.

If you like the Master, then this is definitely one for you.

Masterful Part One: A bit of a slow burner to begin with, but once Missy arrives the story really comes to life. Michelle Gomez is excellent and continues to prove herself to be the best Master. She brings this addictive zany energy and a great sense of fun to the character, and her reactions to the other Masters are truly the greatest (I especially love how she refers to the Geoffrey Beevers Master as 'crispy').

John Simm is also great in his audio debut, inviting his past incarnations to a party. Only the Simm Master would gather his other incarnations for karaoke.

Meanwhile, it's nice to also hear Jon Culshaw give a pitch perfect impression of the Ainley Master and the Third Doctor. He's truly one of the greatest all time impressionists.

Masterful Part Two: Stronger than the first part. Missy and Jo Grant are tons of fun together, as are the War Master and John Simm's Master. Mark Gatiss's Master feels like he's in a different story entirely however, and his appearances so far are somewhat jarring.

A great conclusion to the Masterful trilogy. We get much more of the Mark Gatiss Master here, as he attempts to destroy Gallifrey, and the Jacobi and Simm Master combination continues to work especially well. It's Missy who steals the show once again, however, as her wonderfully batty nature sees her take control of the situation. Michelle Gomez brings this darkly manic energy to her performance that's always a joy to watch or listen to, and she will always be my favourite Master.

I also admire the twist with the Entropy Wave; it's not one that I expected, however it makes a considerable amount of sense given the hints throughout Masterful.

This one is by far one of my faourite Doctor Who comics, which is great considering that it's free. There are so many callbacks here to past stories such as The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and Name Of The Doctor, which is extremely satisfying as a major fan of the show.

The story itself is extremely interesting, concerning Dick Turpin obtaining a Cyber-blaster in the Eighteenth Century. It's similar to the non-Who series Renegade Nell, in the way it combines the era of highwaymen and women with heightened elements from another genre (in this case, sci-fi). I really admire the decision to set this in Yorkshire, as Eighteenth Century York makes for a great setting that's rarely used in sci-fi in general.

This one was always going to be my favourite Once And Future release, as it features both my favourite Doctor (David Tennant) and favourite Master (Michelle Gomez). It does not disappoint. The pair have so much chemistry that it makes you wish that this Doctor and this Master had met on TV. Whether it's the Doctor's bafflement that Missy would turn a deserted planet into War Of The Worlds because she was bored, or the pair having to deny that they are a couple, they're an absolute delight together. It's interesting that Missy also got hit by a degeneration weapon. They seem to hint that it was a past Master who degenerated into Missy, rather than Sacha Dhawan's Time Lord, so I wonder which Master it was? Derek Jacobi's, perhaps?

The Paternoster Gang also work surprisingly well with the Tenth Doctor, especially Strax. His wish for a pony felt like a fun reference to the horse riding Sontaran in War Of The Sontarans.

The whole story is as though the Tenth Doctor has been plonked in the middle of a Twelfth Doctor Series 8 episode, particularly as it plays with the idea of a story the Doctor knows to be fictional turning out to be real (sort of), like with Robot Of Sherwood and Last Christmas. It's an entertaining mash-up that works remarkably well.

Exactly what you'd want from a spin-off book featuring Missy. Dark, twisted and with Missy's wicked sense of humour. It's a really nice touch that in one story we see how Missy came to choose her name upon regenerating into her female body.

A suitably batty story for Missy. This one concerns a group of clones who the Doctor's arch nemesis enslaves inside a giant stone beast, and it's exactly as manic as you'd expect from this character. This audio really does a good job at conveying the Master's more manipulative side, as she makes a number of dark and calculative moves regarding the clones who decide to rebel against her rule.

This is the penultimate episode in the Missy box set, and like the previous two it has a wickedly dark sense of humour. I chuckled a lot at the narrative's satirical take on crime documentaries, and Missy's takedown of some of this genre's clichés is hilarious to witness. It's all rounded off nicely with the reveal concerning the Master's Grandfather Clock TARDIS, which provides a neat callback to Classic Who.

This one was a ton of fun. Michelle Gomez and Rufus Hound make for a hilarious pair, as they exchange witty banter. It all leads to a satisfying ending, with the real Catherine Parr getting one over Missy & The Monk. Comedy gold.

Such a really fun riff on Mary Poppins, with Missy's more devilish side providing some darkly comic moments. This is *exactly* the story I was hoping for from a Missy spin-off.

The audiobook novelization of this story is better than the TV version, but it's still one of the weaker Season 18 serials. Meglos impersonating the Doctor remains quite fun, however, the time loop with the Fourth Doctor and Romana goes on for too long, meaning that it takes a while for them to enter the story.

Terrance Dick does add more colour to it with his excellent prose though, and Jon Culshaw does a fantastic job at reading. His Fourth Doctor impression is spot-on as usual, and it's lovely to also hear more of John Leeson as K9.

One of the greatest recurring characters during the Russell T Davies era was without a doubt Jackie Tyler, so combining Jackie with the all time greatest recurring character Captain Jack Harkness is a work of pure genius. I hope whoever came up with this idea, be it writer James Goss or the set's director Scott Handcock was given a decent pay rise for coming up with such ingenuity. When this pairing was announced, I was beyond excited and eagerly looking forward to what sounded like a truly memorable piece.

Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) has a stalker. Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) has been following her since he moved in at the Powell Estate, as a means of keeping an eye on Rose's mother whilst she's travelling through time and space with the Doctor. One day Jackie finds the Powell Estate totally deserted, with her only company being the stranger who has been stalking her for the last few months. Jack and Jackie team up to find out where has the entire neighbourhood disappeared to, and who is behind the disappearance.

In case you haven't already got the message, the biggest draw about this story is the pairing of Jack and Jackie - and it doesn't disappoint. They are absolutely hilarious together, evoking shades of the Tenth Doctor and Donna as they bicker and form a strong friendship. Jackie isn't shown as completely useless as she was occasionally on television either (I'm thinking of that infamous scene in Journey's End here when the Doctor wouldn't let Jackie help pilot the TARDIS). This Jackie is every much as clever as Donna Noble could be, showing occasional flashes of brilliance. It's Jackie who figures out how to bring the neighborhood back, and the solution strangely involves sausage rolls.

I never thought I'd hear John Barrowman and Camille Coduri form a duet, but that's one of the many pleasures this story offers. It also neatly sums up how much fun Wednesdays For Beginners is, adopting almost panto-like silliness with jokes about a neighbour's extremely boring CD collection and the completely barking mad idea (which works) of saving Jack from the story's monsters the harvesters by pouring a boiling pot of kettle over them.

I could easily listen to a whole box set of Jack and Jackie together - in fact, I could listen to a whole box set of Jackie Tyler on her own. She is extremely engaging to listen to, and lights up any scene.

The twist that Jackie Tyler is who the story's monsters the Harvesters are searching for and not Captain Jack is predictable, but in this case I don't really care. The story is more about Jackie's world whilst Rose is travelling with the Doctor, and at times you really feel for this mother left on her own whilst her daughter's on some distant planet. James Goss's decision to isolate her even more by taking her entire neighbourhood away only highlights this even more. It's a good decision that helps us empathise with Jackie by bringing that loneliness to the forefront of the adventure.

You've probably noticed I haven't said much about Jack. Well that's because like the best Doctor Who stories, this Captain Jack story is more about Jack's 'companion' than Jack himself. Jackie Tyler is the main focus here, but Jack is still very much the main character: the hero who helps Jackie in her quest to bring her neighbours back. This story really plays to John Barrowman's talents with the humour and singing in the narrative, and with Jackie as the story's focus he still plays a vital part in the narrative. Without Jack, Jackie would have called the Doctor and Rose, and the Harvesters would have feasted on the time travellers.

John Barrowman's presence is always felt when he's stalking Jackie too; you get a sense that Jack is there, even when he doesn't talk.

Overall, Wednesdays For Beginners is just as much fun as you would imagine a story where Jack and Jackie team up would be. It is at times a wonderfully silly story, and at others a character piece that leaves you feeling sorry for the isolated life Jackie leads whilst her daughter travels across time and space. One day I hope Big Finish release a Lives of Jackie Tyler box set; judging by this release, it would be the audio set of a lifetime.

There are so many gaps in the life of Captain Jack Harkness that haven't been shown on-screen that it was perhaps inevitable Big Finish would explore them eventually. Hence the box set The Lives of Captain Jack; four stories that take place in four different parts of Jack's timeline. The first in this set, The Year After I Died, takes place a year after Parting of the Ways - the episode that essentially acted as the origin of Captain Jack's immortality.

This Jack (John Barrowman) is a broken and bitter man - little more than a shadow of the hero he was during the Dalek invasion of the Game Station - living on a dangerous Earth wrecked by the Daleks. Jack is hounded by reporter Silo Crook (Shvorne Marks), who is desperate to film a report on either him or the Hope Foundation. When Jack refuses to help find out what the Hope Foundation is up to, Silo sets off herself to discover the truth - and Jack finds himself reluctantly following to save her.

One thing this release does really well is create an effective picture of just how dangerous this world is. You really believe that this Earth is a perilous place to live in, with mutated animals and Dalek weapons left behind by the invasion. There isn't a great deal of time spent here - most of the narrative takes place on the Hope Foundation space port - but what you do hear of the 200,101 world immediately captures your imagination.

What's really going on at the Hope Foundation proves to be just as horrifying as the world that has been left behind by the Daleks. Maybe even more so. The twist of the rich using surgery to take whatever body part they fancy from the poor is a gruesome yet very believable one, something that you could imagine some of these rich people might actually do if given the chance. Poor Malfi (Scott Haran) has his eyeballs taken because they have a nice shade of blue, for instance, leaving him blind for the rest of the adventure. It's neat that 'humanity's oldest enemy' teased in the audio drama's synopsis isn't the Daleks or Cybermen, but the wealthy. A very real threat in the present day just as in the past or in the future.

Unfortunately for a release called 'The Lives of Captain Jack', this Jack takes a lot of getting used to. He bears little resemblance to the Captain Jack from Doctor Who and Torchwood, often giving snarky responses and coming across like a grumpy old man stuck in a young man's body. Whilst it makes sense for his character during the period of his life the audio drama is set in, such a drastic change in character highlights how much of Jack's life between Parting of the Ways and The Year After I Died we still haven't seen or heard yet. It would perhaps have been wiser for Big Finish to have released a prequel box set leading up to this story first, so we could see some development of his character leading up to this change. John Barrowman does a very good job at playing this Jack though, and tries his best to make him sound like the same Jack from Parting of the Ways.

Shvorne Marks as Silo Crook makes for a great companion role for Captain Jack; the character is very endearing, and you feel her frustrations when Jack seems determined he's not a hero. She has quite a heavy focus in this story, often making Jack seem like the supporting role rather than the other way round. I hope in future Shvorne Marks does more Big Finish as she does a very good job here, creating a character who is immediately engaging to listen to.

A great story would be nothing without a great villain, and Sarah Douglas totally owns it as the Hope Foundation's founder Vortia Trear. She is wonderfully cruel, and helps considerably to highlight the story's message about how wealth can corrupt people into turning against those worse off than themselves. That's why I never vote Conservative when there's a General Election - they only ever seem to be in it for themselves, and stuff those who don't have as much money as them.

Overall, The Year After I Died is a strong start for The Lives of Captain Jack box set. The truth behind the Hope Foundation is brilliantly gruesome, with a villain who you just love to hate. Shvorne Marks simply has to do more Big Finish as she is superb as Silo Crook, and John Barrowman does his best to sell Captain Jack as the same man we saw in The Parting of the Ways. Unfortunately Jack's change in character whilst making sense within the narrative feels way too jarring, and needed a prequel box set to properly sell it.

An exciting finale to the second box set. It has Wormwood at her most devious, manipulating Clyde and others into changing their own timelines. Clyde's reaction to UNIT's Tower of London base is a lot of fun, and makes me want to see/hear him visiting the new UNIT Tower.

My only criticism of the story is that Luke is a little underused. He doesn't really contribute anything to the narrative, and most of the audio concerns Rani and Clyde investigating without Luke present.

This story is like a love letter to The Sarah Jane Adventures, with references to everything from Invasion Of The Bane to The Man Who Never Was. Rani and Clyde are as fun a partnership as ever, and they're joined by a new young recruit called Jude, who is a very interesting character as a human-Bane hybrid.

The Bane's return is an excellent plot, selling the Earth's resources whilst the human race are literally looking the other way on their phones. There's some great social commentary about how people spend too long looking at their devices, which is something The Sarah Jane Adventures always did well.

Easily one of my favourite Big Finish audios. It concerns a woman called Anna who believes a local post office worker is a time traveller, and contacts Rani Chandra. It's a really fun premise, with shades of the Bill And Ted movies when the post office worker turns out to be Napoleon.

It's also wonderful to hear Tommy Knight back as Luke, alongside Daniel Anthony as Clyde. Interesting angle to take with Rani and Luke having a bit of rivalry, due to Luke's UNIT job stopping him from helping Rani in her investigations.

A sinister conclusion to the first Rani Takes On The World box set. This has some very eery moments, with strange marks appearing on Rani and our protagonist repeating a series of unusual numbers. It ends in a typically Sarah Jane Adventures manner, with our heroes throwing pineapples at the titular tree.

Daniel Anthony is as always a welcoming presence, bringing such great levity to proceedings. Poor Clyde can't catch a break though, and the conclusion really makes you feel for the poor guy. I did not see the twist with Phoenix coming, and I'm interested to see how the relationship between Clyde and Rani develops in the next box set.

This is a typically bonkers Sarah Jane Adventures story, with a sentient alien island giving Rani's old school friend Tiffany the perfect wedding at the expense of people who wronged her. We get some great Gita humour, with her remarks about renovating Bannerman Road and grievances towards the receptionist not giving her the special treatment stuff he promised raising many laughs. It also seems to tease a future romance between Rani and Clyde, which I really hope happens, because when I watched the TV Series I always thought they would become a couple.

A perfect return to Bannerman Road. Here Today captures the spirit of The Sarah Jane Adventures, with its bright-eyed optimism warming your heart. It's very much Rani and Clyde, but dealing with the new problems of adulthood. I loved all of the references to The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the story itself feels exactly what we would have got had that show ever made a Groundhog Day episode. It all ends with a beautiful moment, as we get an unexpected offscreen cameo from a child Sarah Jane.

This story is easily one of the greatest ever Big Finish audios. It acts as a direct sequel to The Metaphysical Engine, Or What Quill Did, and it's tons of fun from beginning to end.

Blair Mowat's script gives us such wildly different takes on the Class characters, as they play alternate universe versions of themselves. Tanya as the Queen of Rhodia is a particular standout, giving us a glimpse at a more ruthless take of the character.

Wow, now this story is more like what I was hoping for from the third box set.

The Creeper is an absolutely phenomenal story. Creepy, unsettling and so very atmospheric, it's a tale that plays fast and loose with the Halloween setting.

And Matteusz's possession is so very creepy.

I really loved this one. The opening monologue with Quill and how it relates to the rest of the story is brilliant, and the narrative has this really creepy vibe which evokes Children Of Earth and Midnight.

Dervla Kirwan is such a perfect replacement for Katherine Kelly, to the point where you forget it's not Katherine Kelly you are actually listening to.

I love the concept of The Cleaver also. It's like Class's version of the Trickster from The Sarah Jane Adventures, but even crueller.

The highlight of Class's third volume for me. Miss Quill's sassy put-downs are always hilarious to listen to, and we get a ton of them here. But we also get a nice subversion later into the narrative too, when Quill's good mood due to her new boyfriend sees her act a little kinder around Charlie.

'The Man' makes for an intriguingly enigmatic presence as Quill's boyfriend, and the final reveal is a truly great twist. It doesn't paint Charlie in a particularly good light though.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag. The story feels a little too similar to 'Everybody Loves Reagan' from the first Big Finish volume, but it does improve in the third act when it becomes more of an 'alien doppelgänger' story.

This is the first audio to feature Katherine Kelly and Vivian Oparah's replacements, and they're decent soundalikes. Joanna McGibbon does a great job in the role of Tanya, and although we don't get much of Dervla Kirwan as Miss Quill here, she does seem to capture the spirit of Quill well in the brief stuff we hear.

This was a decent opener for the third volume. It's a little slow to begin with, but the story is interesting, and it's nice to hear the Class gang bonding over a game of bowling.

I find the prospect of green aliens secretly living in Shoreditch and pitting humans against one another quite an interesting one too. It has Hunger Games vibes to it, but that works well for Doctor Who.

Continuity is important with any form of storytelling. It's one of those things you notice when its wrong, cheer when its right and complain when it's not even there. Nightvisiting falls into the 'cheer' category. It would have been easy for this episode to ignore what came before it given that it focuses largely on a character we hadn't seen before (Tanya's (Vivian Oparah) late father) but instead the episode awards the viewers for paying attention by bringing back someone whom we had rarely seen before she met her demisei n the first episode: Ram's (Fady Elsayad) girlfriend Rachel (Anna Shaffer).

Nightvisiting opens with a montage of Tanya and family, explaining how she lost her father Jasper (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) to a stroke. Two years later, on the anniversary of his death, Tanya retires to bed - to find her father sat in the far corner of the room. All over London, people are being visited during the night by deceased loved ones. But why are the dead returning from beyond the grave? And what do they really want from the people they visit?

It's nice to see Class continue the trend of each episode focusing on one of the members of the Coal Hill gang. This week's is largely Tanya's story and how the death of her father has affected her two years' on. We may get to see Ram encounter his dead girlfriend and Miss Quill visited by her deceased sister but they are merely sub-plots to the narrative of Tanya's grief. We only meet Jasper for the first time in this episode but thanks to the genius montage at the beginning it feels like we've known him since the beginning of the series. The montage really makes us care for Tanya's relationship with her father; in just three minutes we get a sense of just how much he meant to her and the fact that he was cruelly taken away from his daughter so soon into her life highlights how tragic their story is. This helps to make the situation of Tanya meeting her father even more desperate, to the point where you really don't know if she will let 'Jasper' (spoilers, he isn't really her father) take her away with him. Deep down it is perhaps a metaphor for dealing with grief and learning to move on - something that all of us who have lost someone can relate to. For instance, I lost my Grandad in 2007 and I remember how hard it was to cope with the loss of the man who inspired my passion for movies (he used to work as a projectionist at the Hollywood Plaza in Scarborough). I had to move on though, just as Tanya must learn to from the passing of her Dad.

Talking of Tanya, Vivian Oparah does a very impressive job in the role. She gives an extremely powerful performance that is certain to make you cry (unless you're Donald Trump, of course). It is one of the best performances in any of the Doctor Who spinoffs, even rivalling Daniel Anthony as a homeless Clyde in The Curse of Clyde Langer. Vivian Oparah is probably the strongest actor of the four leads; I have a feeling as with Tommy Knight that she'll go onto bigger things once Class is over.

The other highlight of this episode is the Lankins, a very creative threat who take on the form of deceased loved ones to lure the living. The idea could be considered a morbid take on the Sirens from Greek mythology: beautiful mermaids who were believed to attract sailors with enchanting music to shipwreck. The episodes' use of the Lankins places an interesting spin on the idea of heaven; the idea that heaven and hell are one and the same and also the idea that it's just sentimental stuff the 'pathetic humans' fall for. It is a view that's likely to offend a significant proportion of viewers but is a fresh take on the concept than the ideas often thrown about regarding life after death.

There is a major problem with this episode however. In the episode we are told Charlie (Greg Austin) sees a glimpse of his family during his sex with boyfriend Matteusz (Jordan Renzo), however it is never explained why it's only a 'glimpse' and not a full-blown appearance as with the rest of the Lankin's deceased. Is it because love is different in his world (as he states in the episode)? Or is it because (again, as the episode itself dictates) he hated his family for only caring about his image as prince and not respecting the fact that he's gay? Either explanations would have sufficed for why it is merely a glimpse; this is an issue that I feel would have been easy for Patrick Ness to fix.

Overall, Nightvisiting is a hugely emotional episode about the story of Tanya and her deceased father. It poses interesting questions on heaven and hell. Vivian Oparah is outstanding at portraying Tanya's grief, even managing to make us question whether she will fall for the Lankin's trap (even though we know she's one of the four leads). It's great the way the episode sticks with continuity also, by bringing back Ram's dead girlfriend Rachel. The only real disappointment is the half-baked idea of Charlie only seeing a glimpse of his family. It's never explained why Charlie's is only a glimpse, something that could have been easily fixed with a line or two.

Episode two of Class had rather unusual scheduling: rather than releasing it a week after episode one, it was decided that it would be uploaded online the same day as episode one. If this was the second part of a two part story, I could understand...but it wasn't. I'd love to know the reasoning behind the BBC's decision on this. The Sarah Jane Adventures may have been broadcast two episodes a time, for example, but those stories were two parters and so you were essentially getting a complete story. Regardless, it doesn't affect the enjoyment of the story - Class is one of those shows you could watch for hours and it wouldn't grow dull.

Episode two focuses largely on Ram (Fady Elsayed) and his struggles after losing the events of the previous episode. His Football coach (Ben Peel) is giving him a hard time and he is generally struggling with the loss of his girlfriend Rachel (Anna Shaffer). Meanwhile, a skin-peeling dragon is roaming the corridors of Coal Hill Academy and its actions bear some connection to Ram's coach...

Essentially, this episode is 'Ram's story' and I think this approach of focusing largely on one character works quite well for an ensemble cast. It allows us to relate to the characters more and develop a clearer understanding of who they are as individuals rather than a team. Episode three 'Nightvisiting' (which I will review at a later point) mainly focuses on Tanya, so this seems to be a structural decision by writer Patrick Ness - and a very smart one at that. Hopefully we can expect a Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly) -centric episode at some point, as Katherine Kelly deserves an episode of her own.

The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo is essentially the 'Russell T Davies' episode of the show, in that it goes more for the human angle of life in the Whoniverse rather than the sci-fi fairytale of the Moffat era. This is more about how the mundanity of life co-exists with the aliens and monsters of this world; how living in this world can, in fact, leave an impact on certain members of humanity. Remember when Mickey Smith was accused of murdering Rose Tyler because she disappeared for a year, for instance? That could easily be a Class storyline here. Some of the best stories are more about what some sections of fandom like to call 'the soap opera elements' than the genre elements; this is definitely the case here. The skin-peeling dragon is cool but that's now what makes this a strong episode; The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo is excellent more for the way it explores how Ram has been affected by the loss of his girlfriend and his leg.

This episode relies on Fady Elsayed giving a good performance as Ram - and boy does he succeed. Fady is absolutely outstanding here and if this was a movie, I'm pretty certain he'd be nominated for an Oscar. It's thanks to Fady that you really feel sorry for the character's loss; the performance he gives is more like the kind you would expect from a top-class actor like Daniel Radcliffe. It's a very moving turn from the actor that demonstrates just how right Andy Pyror got the casting for the series.

One thing I failed to mention in my review of For Tonight We Might Die is the title sequence. I know many are disappointed with the titles, especially the music chosen for it. I, on the other hand, love it. It is a title sequence that is very fitting for the Young Adult demographic; the visuals have a very modern aesthetic that's reminiscent of other Young Adult TV Series and the song choice is inspired with its thumping rock sound.

The song is Up All Night by Alex Clara and whilst the lyrics don't directly correlate with the series, you can see why they picked it.

In this instance, 'she don't know what we do in our spare time' could mean 'fighting monsters after school' - the 'she' being their mothers.

Unfortunately, there is a major drawback with this episode - and that's the bizarre subplot with Miss Quill and the OFSTED inspector. Seeing Quill suspect the inspector is an alien is very amusing but the way the sub plot is concluded feels very underwhelming. It turns out that the inspector is a robot - but there's no foreshadowing to this revelation, so it just comes out of nowhere. The other bizarre thing is how Quill makes it very clear she hates the inspector - yet kisses him near the end of the episode! Again, it comes completely out of nowhere; it's almost as though Patrick Ness just thought it up on the spot.

The acting by Ben Peel as Ram's coach is also terrible. He is extremely wooden in the part and it's honestly a chore to watch whenever he is talking. Fortunately the skin-peeling dragon and the revelation concerning his tattoo is more important than the character himself but it's still a shame they couldn't find someone better to play the part of the coach. Looking at his IMDB he appears to be an actor who largely plays bit parts, so it is no surprise that he's the weak link of a very strong cast.

A strong cast that also includes Nigel Betts as Mr Armitage. In the main series, Mr Armitage was a pretty forgettable character that didn't leave much of an impact on viewers. In episode two of Class however, he becomes a very endearing character - thanks largely down to Nigel Betts' portrayal. He is so much more interesting here that when his character exits the series, you actually feel sad that he'll no longer be in the show. For me this is the biggest u-turn I've ever had on a Doctor Who character; Mr Armitage is the kind of head teacher that everybody loves. He's the one you could imagine hanging around at parents' evening to answer parents' questions, who would know the name of every student in his school and who clearly has a great deal of care for those who study there. In just one episode of Doctor Who in a minor role and two episodes of Class in a supporting one, Mr Armitage has become a fan-favourite character who may even one day gain his own Big Finish spinoff. As Tom Baker's Curator would say, 'Who knows?'.

Overall, episode two of Class is a moving episode that tells the story of Ram and how the events of For Tonight We Might Die have affected him. Fady Elsayed gives a phenomenal performance but unfortunately is let down by the terrible acting of Ben Peel as Ram's football coach. There is also a pointless sub plot featuring Miss Quill and an OFSTED inspector which doesn't really go anywhere. Nigel Betts is immensely likeable as Mr Armitage though (seriously, Big Finish: we need that Mr Armitage spinoff) and the series does have a fitting title sequence.

There have been a few Doctor Who spinoffs over the years, from 1981's K9 And Company to 2006's Torchwood. None, however, have featured as tenuous a link to the main show as Class. Class's connection to Doctor Who is simply the coincidence that it takes place in the same school that the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman was a student at back in 1963: Coal Hill School, now known as 'Coal Hill Academy'. Since 1963, the Doctor has worked as the school's caretaker and his most recent companion Clara Oswald was an English teacher. Given that it takes place after Clara's exit in Series 9, she doesn't make an appearance; bar the Doctor's guest appearance, there's no equivalent to Captain Jack, Sarah Jane or even K-9. It's not your traditional spinoff...but in some ways it being a spinoff actually becomes an issue for the show's first episode. More on that later.

Class follows a group of four students - Ram (Fady Elsayed), Charlie (Greg Austin), April (Sophie Hopkins) and Tanya (Vivian Oparah) - who along with their physics teacher Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly), are tasked with protecting Secondary School/Sixth Form Coal Hill Academy from alien menaces who come through a tear in time and space. In their first episode, the Shadow Kin (Paul Mark Davis) gatecrash the school prom and when Miss Quill and the students struggle to deal with the alien menace Miss Quill is left with no option than to call in the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), who assigns them with the job of protecting the academy in his absence.

When the spinoff was announced, I had no idea what to expect. It sounded like a pointless idea for a Doctor Who spinoff and I was bemused as to why they weren't doing a Paternoster Gang show instead. Having watched the first episode however, I found it a surprisingly addictive experience. There's a lot to love about this show and in some ways it is actually better than The Sarah Jane Adventures. As much as I liked the Bannerman Road Gang, the Class kids feel more like realistic characters. If you compare Charlie to Luke, for example, Charlie is a much more compelling character and is generally portrayed better by Greg Austin than Luke was by Tommy Knight. Tommy Knight was okay but at times (especially early on) he could be pretty wooden. No such problems with Charlie, who is wonderfully endearing and one of the Whoniverse's best alien characters.

The standout of the Coal Hill students is by far Sophie Hopkins as April however. April feels exactly like the kind of quiet but caring character you would often encounter at school/sixth form. I love the way we get to see her frustration on never getting listened to, for example, when she tries to warn the students at the prom of the impending danger (even if it would have made far more sense for her to set off the fire alarm). I can totally imagine somebody like April doing that in real life. Fady Elsayed is also good as Ram but unfortunately it doesn't feel like we get to know him as well as we do April; it doesn't help that his girlfriend is given barely any screentime - so when a later scene comes where his girlfriend becomes a victim of the Shadow Kin we don't understand or care why he's so upset at recent events.

Impressively the show boasts Katherine Kelly among its lead cast - and she's just as good as you would expect her to be. Miss Quill has a lovely sense of sarcasm with her students and Katherine Kelly ingeniously portrays her like Professor Snape from the Harry Potter films. You get that same sense from the writing and acting that you never quite know whether you can trust Miss Quill - she is definitely one of the Whoniverse's most complex characters in that regard and it would be fun if we ever get to see her alongside the Doctor in the main series. An episode with the Doctor, Quill and Missy would be perfect (NB: Sadly this never happened)...

...especially if it was written by Patrick Ness, whose writing here is outstanding. It is incredibly poetic and directly echoes the kind of dialogue you read in Young Adult novels (hardly a surprise given Patrick Ness is a novel writer first and foremost). For Tonight We Might Die seems like the kind of episode people expected from Frank Cottrell Boyce with Doctor Who Series 8's In The Forest Of The Night. It would be crazy if Patrick Ness is never brought onboard to write a Doctor Whoepisode after his debut writing his spinoff series (NB: This has yet to happen.).

The visual effects for the Shadow Kin by Milk are also very impressive, given the relatively low budget. Unlike the main show, this series has been made for BBC3 Online and as such the series is working on what will be a very minuscule online budget. You honestly can't tell watching the show that it does have a smaller budget than Doctor Who though; the Shadow Kin could easily appear in the main series without anybody telling the difference in comparison to, say, the Vashta Nerada.

Which brings me back to my point earlier on the show being hindered by it being a spinoff to Doctor Who. You see, the premise of the Shadow Kin is strikingly similar to the Vashta Nerada from the Doctor Who Series 4 two parter Silence In The Library/Forest of the Dead. Both monsters are shadows that kill their victims; this wouldn't be a problem if Class wasn't a part of the wider Whoniverse - no idea is completely original - but these similarities become more obvious when you realise the introduction of the Shadow Kin means that there are two monsters that involve killer shadows co-existing in the same universe. If this show really had to be a Doctor Who spinoff, then Patrick Ness would have been better off simply using the Vashta Nerada as the episode's monster-of-the-week rather than trying to create the same concept from scratch.

Then there's Peter Capaldi's cameo as the Doctor. Whilst Peter Capaldi is as awesome here as he was throughout Series 8 and 9, his appearance in Class is too distracting from the episode's plot. He just randomly shows up towards the end of the episode, with a clumsy flashback to an earlier scene indicating that he was responding to Miss Quill's call for help. Class doesn't need Peter Capaldi to show up as the Doctor - at least not yet, anyway. In The Sarah Jane Adventures, the Doctor didn't show up until episode five of Series 3 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith episode one. The first episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures - Invasion of The Bane - was quite simply setting up the show's format and introducing us to the characters of Maria and Luke. That's what Class's first episode needed to be. Class shouldn't even be a Doctor Who spinoff: it should be a totally original Young Adult sci-fi drama as at the moment, that's what the show feels like.

Overall, For Tonight We Might Die is a strong first episode for Class with great performances from the show's lead cast. At the moment Sophie Hopkins as April and Katherine Kelly as Miss Quill look to be the standouts, however Greg Austin is good as Charlie too. Unfortunately the episode is let down by its connection to Doctor Who; Class feels like its own show rather than a Doctor Who spinoff and would be much more successful if not connected to the wider Whoniverse. The Shadow Kin's similarities to the Vashta Nerada would be less obvious for a start and Peter Capaldi's cameo feels forced, as though writer Patrick Ness felt required to include it rather than adding the scene because it worked for the narrative he was trying to tell. Patrick Ness's dialogue is nicely poetic though and the visual effects for the Shadow Kin are outstanding for a low budget online sci-fi series. Class's first episode is well worth a watch - but would be a better watch if the Doctor Who connections didn't feel quite so forced.

A blockbuster conclusion to an action-packed story. Sladen is a brilliant unexpected development for Jack and Gwen's friendship, being their literal daughter, and the story ties in neatly with Captain John's initial Torchwood appearance. It concludes in the best possible way, with Sladen playing a major role in the Vervains' defeat.

An exciting second part to the Titan Comics Torchwood arc. This one has a brilliant modern take on the Vervoids, and some interesting relevations concerning Torchwood's stowaway Rona. Station Zero makes the best use of the comic format, telling a story that would never have been affordable on the small screen.

This Torchwood comic throws you straight in the deep end, and it's quite similar to A Good Man Goes To War in that respect. It's a brilliant action-packed caper, where the characters are mostly already in the middle of the action. It can make the story feel a little confusing, as there's so much going on, but it feels exactly like a big budget Torchwood continuation after Miracle Day, especially with the Ice Maiden ship, which has a working chameleon circuit.

And so it comes to this. The final episode of Torchwood - and what an episode it was.

There's only one word to describe this episode, and that's 'epic'. It has everything! Action, character moments, memorable speeches and plenty of twists and turns.

Gwen has two killer speeches in this episode alone (one about her Dad and the other about death returning), and Jack has one that would be worthy of the Doctor regarding humanity's progress in the future.

That twist regarding Rex transfusing himself with Jack's blood was ingenious! What a clever idea. And the pay-off at the end where it turns out he is immortal is so clever. It feels earned, because this series does such a great job at establishing just how unique Jack's blood is.

Such a shame that the teases at the end for future series never went anywhere. A bit similar to Class in that regard. I would have loved to have seen what they'd have done Post-Miracle Day, although I know Big Finish have kind of made their own continuations on audio.

And so, it has come to this. The penultimate episode in my weekly Torchwood viewing, and how appropriate that I should be watching it on the day Captain Jack was announced for the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Such a great episode too. I loved all the stuff with Gwen and Rhys in Cardiff. It's an interesting idea to turn the police into a sinister force, as they search Gwen's house under the belief she is hiding someone in the basement. It's a very tense watch, especially considering we know as viewers that she has smuggled her Dad to keep him safe from being incinerated as a Category One. The fact that they find him is so tragic and proves how futile hiding him in the first place turned out to be. They were always going to find him, it was just a matter of time.

How creepy is Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes in this episode too? I shivered when he grabbed hold of Gwen and Rhys's baby! He's been great at playing this really slimy character in this series, the sort of person you love to hate. I did feel sorry for Gwen when she had to share a room with him in Shanghai.

Yes, that's right. Shanghai. Torchwood really has become quite a globe-trotting organisation in this series.

The Blessing seems strange. I'm intrigued to learn more about it in the last ep, and how it called Jack's blood to lead Jack to it.

An odd episode. It's both simultaneously slow paced and revelatory. Plenty happens, and yet it also feels like plenty doesn't.

I loved how Rex, for instance, tricks Wayne Knight's CIA boss Brian Friedkin. That was a very cleverly written piece of script that managed to trick me into thinking Torchwood had actually been captured by the CIA!

A similarly lovely moment is Jack reminiscing about Ianto to the critically ill Angelo. A touching piece of continuity for sure, and one of John Barrowman's best performances as Jack.

However the fact that it pretty much entirely takes place in one singular location makes the plot feel very slow and meandering. Sometimes setting a story in one place can work well dramatically (see The Girl Who Waited), but here there doesn't seem to be any dramatic purpose behind it.

Still, good to learn a little more about what is causing the 'miracle', and I'm curious to learn more about 'category zero'. What dark means do they do to get rid of people like Oswald Danes, I wonder?

The ending scene with Jack is also a fantastic cliffhanger. It's very hard to place that character in any sort of peril where you feel he could be in danger, but the genius of Miracle Day means a cliffhanger like this where Jack really could be in trouble is so much more effective than it would be in a normal series of Doctor Who or Torchwood, where Jack still has his immortality.

This episode is a bit 'Torchwood does Arrow'. It has a heavy focus on flashbacks involving Jack and a love interest called Angelo Colasanto, although at times it feels as though it focuses a little too much on these sequences. I would have liked to have seen the pacing in the Present Day sequences with Gwen in the car quickened up a little, rather than playing second fiddle to the story in the 1920s.

It's really cool seeing a reference to the Trickster's brigade though, something which really helps to tie the show into the rest of the Whoniverse, given that we had another member of the Trickster's brigade in Doctor Who and the Trickster himself in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

I do also like how this episode shows the ingenuity of Rex and Ester. The way they discover what is happening with Gwen and come to the rescue is very clever, and shows how valuable they are to Torchwood. And Angelo is a good character too. He is exactly the kind of person you can imagine Jack falling for.

This episode, ironically (given the title), feels more like a sort of middle ground. It doesn't really further the plot so much, apart from in the shock ending (which makes me really intrigued to find out what they want in Jack).

There are, however, some really epic moments. I loved Gwen's retort to the doctor that if you're turning a blind eye to the corruption going on, you can't call yourself a 'doctor' anymore, and her other badass moment when she just totally blows up the incinerators at the Wales concentration camp. The Ester fight scene with Vera's killer was also very, very cool, and extremely well choreographed.

And how cool is it to see Ernie Hudson in the Doctor Who universe? How the hell did they manage to get a Ghostbuster to appear? He must have cost a fortune!

Bloody hell, I know Torchwood has had its fair share of dark moments, but this episode is REALLY dark.

The concentration camps of people who should be dead is a truly horrifying concept, especially when you find out what the 'module' is where 'Level One' patients go. The burning revelation of what the 'Module' is really shocked me in just how ghastly and macabre it is. It seems in this new world there really are no limits as to what is or is not considered the 'right' thing to do.

The whole concept of the 'level' system brought to mind the current 'tier' situation of COVID 19 that our UK government has in place. It's a neat demonstration of how much these governments like to categorise, in order to shirt all moral responsibility. Just like with COVID we have areas that should be in lockdown which aren't, here we have people being taken to these camps and just left to suffer, with no visitors allowed or anything of that sort.

It what was great also to see Vera join Torchwood; I have been really enjoying that character. She is immensely likeable and charming, and I've been rooting for her to join Torchwood since I started watching Miracle Day. Rhys thankfully finally gets to join in on the action again himself, and with Gwen still in Cardiff it looks like there will be more of him helping out to come.

The man who gives Vera the tour of the concentration camp in L.A. must be easily one of the creepiest human villains in the Whoniverse. He's really disturbing to watch, and the actor who plays him Marc Vann does a brilliant job at playing such a creepy character.

Also: was that Ernie Hudson I spotted in the next time trailer? Did Ernie Hudson actually appear in Torchwood?

I always like it when episodes of a TV Show explore the personal lives of the characters, and this is something this episode of Miracle Day does really well. In this episode we get to see how the lives of Ester's sister and kids are affected by the plot, we get more of Rhys in Cardiff, and his efforts to help Gwen's Dad in hospital, and we see Rex reunite with his Dad. It really helps to set personal stakes for the characters, and show what they have to lose.

But that's not the only interesting part of this episode. We also get some great stuff concerning the controversial views of Oswald Danes' greatest rival, town mayor in Ellis Hartley Monroe. Ellis is a brilliant creation; she feels like the kind of political figure we all love to hate, a sort of younger American equivalent to Anne Widdecombe. Her 'Dead Is Dead' campaign of sending those who were supposed to die away from the rest of society to fend for themselves and essentially strip them of their human rights is truly shocking.

Then you have the guy who is paid to take Torchwood out, who we see stalking and taking pictures of our heroes, which really helps to build up suspense and make us fear what might happen to these protagonists we are rooting for. When he finally confronts Jack and Gwen, and we see that encounter, it totally pays off and ends in a satisfying climax that well and truly justifies Rex's place on the team. Although I do think Rex was a little mean towards Ester by accusing her of jeopardising the mission. She was just trying to check in on her sister. At least she didn't do what Jack did in the previous episode and visit a flipping night club!

Also: that death in the compactor is really shocking. That has to be one of the most gruesome moments in Torchwood for sure.

Blimey, does this episode start off topical watching in 2020!

People panic buying because they're worried of the new normal? Where have I seen that before?

This is another very strong episode though. I love the Soulless cult; they're very creepy and unnerving with their masks. The opening action scene with them shooting the CIA boss and laying the trap for the police car on the road was very cool too.

My absolute favourite thing about this so far though is still the really interesting questions that are raised about immortality. The idea that murder, or attempted murder, simply wouldn't exist anymore is something that I have never seen a TV Show explore. It's really fascinating, because it means that in this world there are no boundaries as to what is right or wrong - as we see later in the police brutality towards Oswald Danes. He may be a rapist and murderer, but in a normal world they would not be allowed to beat him up like that. This is a new normal, though, and that means new rules. The police here can effectively exact any punishment they wish, because there is no consequence. You can literally get away with murder when murder doesn't exist.

The notion of being able to get drugs without a prescription is also very unnerving. Could you imagine the implications of that? What PhilCorp are doing feels totally inhumane, and has to be one of the most corrupt aspects of the Torchwood universe. Obviously it's not as bad as our UK government trying to give kids away to be used as recreational drugs in Children of Earth, but it's still very murky.

My one criticism of this episode is some of the huge logic leaps it takes. For one, Torchwood are supposed to be on the run because - as we know from the previous episode - the CIA are after them. So why does Jack think it's a good idea to go to a night club and romance some random guy there? Surely the night club are likely to have CCTV, and so the CIA could easily find out a member of Torchwood was at a night club? And you're really telling me Vera changed her mind that quickly about doing Rex's plan when she clearly didn't want to do it?

Overall though, I am loving Miracle Day three

episodes in.

Blimey, Torchwood really can't catch a break, can they?

First, Gwen is torn apart from Rhys and their child when they are refused the chance to go with them to America. And then a CIA agent poisons Jack!

I do think Torchwood is at its best when people are out to get them; that was one of the things that worked so well about Children of Earth. The idea that the authorities see them as a threat that needs to be taken out; it's not just the aliens they are fighting, but humanity themselves. The CIA agent is taken out a little too easily by Gwen though (Seriously, she's a CIA agent and all Gwen has to do is land a single punch in the face?). It would have also been nice to have seen a little more of Rhys, who only appears briefly at the beginning.

Apart from that though, this was a really interesting episode. I'm loving the exploration of immortality, and the questions this Miracle Day plot is already posing, such as whether suicide would still exist, and the stuff about food shortages because people are living longer is fascinating.

As is the stuff with Oswald Danes, played superbly by Bill Pullman. It shows how unusual this world is, that this convicted peadophile and murderer is invited onto a news programme for an interview, and that such an obviously distasteful interview is deemed appropriate to air. It's like humanity has just become so obsessed with this notion of living forever and what it means for somebody who was serving a life sentence when a 'life sentence' suddenly gained no meaning, that that fascination overrides any thoughts about the victims' families and friends. When faced with an impossibility, we give into our selfish nature and our curiosity takes over.

I'm intrigued to find out what the deal is with the woman who keeps showing up and flashing her card, first to Oswald and then to Vera. There's something fishy about her for sure.

This was the episode I originally watched when I was 15; I didn't see the rest of Miracle Day because my parents then banned me from watching it, but I remember hugely enjoying this episode.

And at 24 (NB: I am now 28), I still do now. It sets up a really interesting premise; I really love the idea of people just suddenly not dying on one single day on Earth, and it's made even more intriguing when Captain Jack becomes mortal as a result.

It's such a thought-provoking idea, and this episode does a great job at setting it up for the rest of the series. We get a nice brief philosophical look at the ramifications of such an event when PC Andy and Gwen are looking at the news reports on the computer too: the point that if people just didn't die, the population would go up and that it could result in serious food shortages. This is brilliantly countered by Rhys's argument that most people would probably make in the circumstances: could it not be a good thing if people suddenly refused to die?

There's a truly epic action sequence in the last half of this episode too, which involves Gwen shooting down a helicopter with a bazooka. That has got to be one of the most badass moments in the entire show.

Overall, this first episode certainly has a different feel to the rest of Torchwood, but I still love it.

This is one of my favourite ever episodes of Torchwood. It's such a powerful and hard-hitting hour of television, from Gwen's devastating speech about why the Doctor isn't always there to save the day to those shocking scenes of the army grabbing the children and carrying them away from their terrified parents.

I keep saying this, but this five part story really does feel topical in 2020. I mean, reopening the schools and insisting it's safe for the kids to return even though it isn't - need I say anymore? That's literally what is happening right now! The only difference is the threat isn't aliens getting high on kids.

That moment when Frobisher first learns his kids will be among the sacrifices to the 456, so the government can be painted as the victims, is so hard-hitting also. Anddon't get me started on that depressing montage where he kills himself and his family to avoid his kids' otherwise even more horrifying fate. I could go on forever about just how brilliant the last part of Children of Earth is.

This is a dark story done right. It's not dark for the sake of being dark. It's dark because the narrative commands it to be so. This is the only way Children of Earth can be told.

Blimey, this episode really does feel topical watching it in 2020! You've got a killer virus on the loose, and no vaccine to stop it.

Ianto's death at the hands of said virus is still a really shocking and emotional moment, even if like me you have already watched this episode before and knows it's coming. It's such a powerful scene, and it comes at a very unpredictable moment, at the end of the penultimate part rather than the final episode.

I also love how corrupt the government are shown to be here. Here we've got agovernment trying to justify giving up the lives of millions of children by pointing to things like overpopulation and school league tables as excuses, as though that makes their deaths perfectly fine. In their words, kids who are underperformers are of no use to society because they will likely end up on benefits anyway. It's so dark, but totally true to how a government would deal with such an extreme situation in real life. I can buy that they would be this callous and full of their own self interests.

This part if anything has only got more topical in 2020. The stuff about the schools being closed and a curfew being put in place sounds so much like the Coronavirus pandemic, and sending John Frobisher to deal with the 456 because they see him as expendable is totally something you could see our current government doing.

I love that our Torchwood team have to turn to a crime of thievery in order to survive whilst on the run, and that twist where Jack originally gave kids in the 60s to the 456 is still one of the very best in sci-fi history. It's so shocking to see a character we all know and love having stooped so low in the past. Somebody who we always think of as being on the right side in the fight against aliens.

I forgot how little Captain Jack is in this episode, but you don't really miss him. Gwen has some really badass moments that more than make up for it, such as when she's taking down the ambulance drivers who are actually government spies, or breaking into the secret base where Jack is being held.

This has to be among Captain Jack's more gruesome deaths also. It's truly terrifying to think how much pain he must be feeling when you see his skin totally burnt, and he's just screaming.

Another excellent episode for sure.

I've seen the entirety of Children of Earth before, so this isn't new for me, but I absolutely love it. This first episode is easily one of the greatest openers to a series of any show I have ever seen. It does such a spectacular job of establishing the sinister threat with the kids chanting 'We are coming', and goes into some delightfully dark places, with the speech about the suicide victims who lost religious faith upon the discovery of aliens in the Whoniverse, and saw themselves as nothing but a tiny part of the universe.

I really, really like the way they up the stakes by making Gwen pregnant too. It ties in thematically with the children as the threat, and also means there's more emotional peril for Gwen. Suddenly, she's not only fighting for her own safety against the aliens, but the safety of the child she is carrying too.

Oh, and that twist with the NHS doctor who you are led to believe wants to join Torchwood, and then turns out he was a spy just trying to get in to take them down from the inside is SO great. You genuinely don't see it coming. I remember when I watched it for the first time on the way back from a Scottish holiday, it took me totally by surprise. Like the best twists, I never saw it coming.

Wow, wow, WOW! This had everything you want in a finale and more. Action, thrills, twists and turns, emotional moments and lasting consequences. The exit scenes for the two regulars are given as much weight and emotion as a companion exit in the main show, and the stuff with Captain Jack's brother Gray is absolutely fantastic. I loved seeing what would happen if someone properly took over the Torchwood base!

Captain John Hart has fast become one of my favourite reoccurring villains from the Doctor Who universe. He kind of reminds me of the Master, in that he has this complex love/hate relationship with the lead (in this case, Captain Jack). One minute he can be the one making life difficult for Jack & co, the next working with them in favour of stopping a greater threat (Gray).

This is a really interesting episode, where we get to find out how each Torchwood agent was recruited. It shows the dark side of the agency quite well, with Jack basically blackmailed into working for them in the Victorian times, and Owen made to think gone mad with grief upon losing his girlfriend to an alien parasite. And then there's Tosh's origin, her Mum kidnapped by a criminal gang no less and Tosh held prisoner by UNIT in a sort of prison camp facility, being told that she's not allowed to contact her to make sure she's okay. UNIT were really cruel there!

It's no surprise who it turns out planted the bombs, but then I don't think its meant to be, and the confirmation just makes for an exciting cliffhanger into the final episode.

This episode sets up a really intriguing mystery, with the disappearance of Jonah and others that is somehow linked to Jack.

It's an interesting episode of Torchwood in that it seems to borrow from the format of Doctor-lite episodes in Doctor Who such as Turn Left and Flatline. In this case, it's Jack-lite with Gwen taking centre stage.

I really like the inclusion of PC Andy in this; he works so well for this story in that he demonstrates the human side, and we see through his eyes the possibility that Gwen has been hardened by her work for Torchwood and lost her human touch. It allows Gwen to go on a journey to prove Andy wrong, and show that she cares about the everyday person just as much as she did when she joined Torchwood. But then that is also her downfall, because her

attempt to help ends tragically unappreciated by Jonah's Mum.

The story also does a really good job at constantly making us question Jack. Why he is so dead set against Gwen investigating, why he turns up at the place that the GPS Ianto gave her leads to. We think of him as a hero, but now we really start to wonder if he is the good guy we have all been led to believe.

Adrift is a highlight of Torchwood's second series for sure.

This is a fantastically eery and suspenseful story; it's like a typical Doctor Who hide-behind-the-sofa episode, but in a spin-off rather than the main show itself. I love the concept of the Night Travellers (beings who steal your last breath) , and the use of the fairground music whenever the old film reel is being used is satisfyingly creepy, almost characterising the danger that the reel poses, a bit like how drum beats represent the Jumanji board game in Jumanji.

Those sequences when the people from the film reel come out of the big screen in the cinema is so cleverly done with the CGI work; it's sort of like watching a twisted version of Cinemagique from Disneyland Paris!

The Night Travellers MUST return in some form of Doctor Who or Torchwood fiction. They are EASILY one of the best monsters to come from one of the Doctor Who spin-offs; everything about them just oozes menace. They really capture your attention whenever they are on-screen, and they could easily come back in a Big Finish, a comic or in Doctor Who on TV, seeing as the end of the episode teases a return that so far has never happened.

Come on, Chibnall or Nicholas Briggs! Bring back the Night Travellers, one of you!

This has all the failings of the bad episodes from Series 1. It's trying too hard to shout 'Look at us, we're the adult Doctor Who!' by throwing in alien blowjobs and pregnancies, and it just comes across a bit gross. It's very corny too; I mean, in one scene the alien shapeshifter poses as Rhys's mother and comes out with such laughably cliche'd lines like 'Rhys, you're a bad boy. And you know what bad boys get?'.

The best parts are the wedding itself. The alien shapeshifter plot is just cringe overload.

An absolutely outstanding story; I think this may be my favourite Torchwood episode so far.

It's such a deep and powerful exploration of depression, and suicidal thoughts, and finally we get a decent acknowledgement that Owen is a bit of a prick. And despite the fact that he treats Tosh like dirt and continues to flirt with Martha despite her lack of interest (both which the people in question call him out on), we still really feel for Owen with his depression. I was genuinely rooting for him not to jump with the woman who had tragically lost her husband, which made the twist at the end even more satisfying.

Such expert screenwriting throughout, and phenomenally acted by all involved. Totally sublime.

This is quite an unsettling episode that really dives into themes of what happens after death, and why you should never bring the dead back to the land of the living. It's essentially a sequel to the Series 1 episode They Keep Killing Suzie, as well as directly following on from the previous episode 'Reset'.

There's some very chilling stuff concerning the legend of the Grim Reaper, which kind of reminded me a bit of what the Doctor Who two parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit did with the devil. I really like how it leaves so much ambiguous about what this Whoniverse version of death is, again a bit like the devil in The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, and showing us the second resurrection gauntlet of the pair after seeing the first in the previous series is and establishing that it operates somewhat differently to the one we saw before is such a great idea.

In fact, the whole thing with the second resurrection gauntlet is brilliant, from that creepy scene with the hand scurrying on the floor to what it does in ageing Martha.

This is a very fun episode, but bar the ending it's pretty much just 'Martha Jones joins Torchwood'. There isn't really much to the plot - and that's fine. Sometimes it's nice to have a story that's more about the characters than the alien situation.

The end took me totally by surprise though. I wasn't expecting that. After all the stuff they've been through, to have one of Torchwood taken out simply by another human being is quite tragic and shocking to see. It's such a strong way to end the episode.

This is such an odd and unique episode about an extra-terrestrial entity inserting fake memories into the Torchwood team. It reminded me of that Nostalgia Critic review where they make fun of the character who appears out of nowhere and all the characters suddenly love him ("That's so Bill!" is probably my favourite Nostalgia Critic running gag).

I really like this story; the dramatic character moments regarding Gwen forgetting Rhys, and Jack's past are so strong, and the horrible memories planted in Ianto allows for some really dark and disturbing scenes, that thanks to Gareth David-Lloyd's superb acting really make you feel for what Adam has done to Ianto.

This is yet another powerful Torchwood episode; Series 2 is such a massive step-up from Series 1 so far!

Another extremely strong episode. This is basically Rhys's 'Everything Changes', with some clear influence taken from the film Mr and Mrs Smith with the excellent steadycam shots in his and Gwen's flat. You really feel the paranoia, with each suspecting and not knowing why the other wasn't at the meat processing plant.

The plot is reminiscent of real life scandals such as the horse meat one from a few years' back, and it really plays into the senseless torture of the alien beast in a very emotional and profound way.

Also: I find it quite amusing to think Mary Taylor from Corrie is in Torchwood. I mean, strictly speaking it's not the same character - but it's still who I think of Patti Clare as in my mind when I see her in something

Utter classic. Superbly spooky with all the ghost stuff, and with so many fantastic character moments for Tosh. At times it reminded me of a Moffat story with the whole bootstrap paradox and two times co-existing at once, which is high praise indeed.

Another very enjoyable episode. It's great to see more humour in the series compared to Series 1. This episode does a good job at building up the intrigue of who Beth is and whether she's an alien (although wish they'd carried that on for more of the episode).

Wasn't a fan of the acting of the guy who played the sleeper agent who shot down all those soldiers though. He seemed to play it a bit camp, and as a consequence felt as though he had stepped through from a different TV Show.

That was a lot of fun. Loved Captain John Hart as the antagonist - he's basically Torchwood's answer to the Master - and the humour (especially the Blowfish driving a sports car at the beginning). It's a shame Gwen is practically reduced to damsel in distress though, and Owen saves the rest of the team sans Gwen after they were betrayed by Captain John a bit too easily for my liking.

Well, I absolutely loved this one. It's basically a disaster movie in the mould of a Torchwood episode, only unlike most disaster movies it's a compelling piece of entertainment from start to finish. It's also The Wedding of River Song done right - the people from different times merging (or in this case, falling through rifts in time) actually works much better tonally here than it did in that Doctor Who episode. It explores more of the consequence of this, such as the black death returning to 21st century Cardiff and Roman soldiers slaughtering people, as they are not following the lawful ways of modern life.

Eve Myles is superb in this episode too, and it's great to see the team being tested in Jack's desperation to stop them reopening the rift.

Love the Doctor Who S3 tie-in.

It's slow, but it's great to see two members of Torchwood in Jack and Tosh travel together back in time. Period stuff is great, and I'm intrigued as to who Bilis is. Time Lord? Not sure I'm a fan of the retcon that Jack stole his name though.

Another great episode. It sets up the intriguing mystery well, of who is kidnapping the Weevils and for what purpose and has some strong character drama (particularly with Gwen and Rhys). The espionage stuff is quite clever. I don't buy Owen deciding to go in the cage with the Weevil though, after acknowledging how morally grey an idea the Weevil death matches are. It all feels a bit too quick for my liking.

I really like this episode. The fish out of water stuff is great fun, and there's also some lovely emotional moments. It's more of an inner conflict, compared to the usual monster-of-the week. My one gripe is that Diana Holmes' decision to leave Owen and fly back through the rift is all very sudden. It would maybe have worked better had they used this episode to write out Owen and he had gone with her, with the idea that they could go off together on a journey through the rift seeded throughout the episode.

I don't get why the RTD Whoniverse stuff thought Love & Monsters was such a great idea. Because that's essentially what this episode is. Torchwood's version. It just doesn't work when a personification of fandom becomes the lead character. It becomes too much like a parody.

This episode also suffers from a lack of peril. There's no real stakes. It's just Gwen investigating the death of someone who is a fan of Torchwood's operations, and happened to get his hands on an alien eye.

The ending isn't quite as bad as Love & Monsters, but doesn't make much sense. So now as soon as Gwen nearly dies, they can all see Eugene? Why? And now he's seemingly back to life, why does he decide to somehow send himself back to his state of death? Why does Gwen kiss someone she barely knows? Eh?

The first and last ten minutes of this one are great, but the rest is quite slow. There's some great character moments and brilliant pieces of dialogue, but it doesn't feel like much takes place in the narrative.

An odd episode, but it has a very interesting hook. I like the idea of a pendant that can allow you to hear people's thoughts. I think that's such an interesting premise, and they really use this to explore character dynamics. Pace is slow though.

Blimey, that was one episode I'd never expect from a Who spin-off. Doctor Who and the broader Whoniverse has often done humans as the villains...but not like this. A very disturbing episode that leaves our heroes (especially Gwen) in a traumatic place.

A strange beast. Feels more like a Doctor Who episode than a Torchwood one, with the way it takes a sci-fi approach to a childhood fantastical concept (fairies). I like it a lot though, especially how we get more backstory for Jack.

A missed opportunity. The ideas are there, but the execution falls flat. Poor writing and production decisions all around (Why does the Cyberwoman have boobs?, Why is Jack so surprised that the Cyberman is a woman when it's not that unusual?).

This episode is more what Torchwood should be. It tackles adult themes in a mature rather than childish manner, and has a strong sci-fi premise regarding an alien device that projects echoes from the past. Powerful, gripping and moving drama.

Oh dear. This episode is an embarrassment for the Whoniverse. The first ten/fifteen minutes are great, as you see something zooming across the sky and Gwen accidentally release alien gas, but soon as it's revealed to be a sex alien it just becomes laughable.

It's basically just a fifty minute excuse to shout 'Hey, we're an adult show! We can do adult things that Doctor Who can't!', when in actuality how adult a show appears comes from how mature it is rather than because it explores adult topics.

I really like this episode. It's basically Rose for Torchwood in that we're introduced to the world through the life of an ordinary woman. The plot is relatively basic, but as with the earlier mentioned Rose that's all you need for this intro.

This was a great Fifth Doctor story, full of so many twists and turns. It concerns the TARDIS being summoned to Earth by an old friend of the Doctor's, Harry Houdini, where some strange goings-on are taking place at a fun fair.

Yes, finally we get to hear more of the Doctor and Harry Houdini's long-hinted-at friendship! This was also explored in a short story on the official Doctor Who website, but hearing it in a full-length audiobook feels more substantial somehow. It feels like a much deeper take on their friendship, especially with what happens later on and the way it explores how Harry Houdini feels about the Doctor having to keep certain things about his future a secret.

I do find it odd how Harry Houdini has such a negative view on fortune tellers in this story though, going as far as to label them as frauds, given that he at this point in his life is stated to be a fortune teller himself! That element of the story didn't quite land for me; I mean, even if you go deeper into it, he was technically a fraud by his own definition long before he was a fortune teller, given that escapology is all about tricking the audience into thinking you're going to die.

The Doctor doesn't really get a lot to do either, until the very end. Most of the narrative is driven by the companions Tegan, Nyssa and Adric, which is a shame for a story that focuses so heavily on the friendship between the Doctor and Houdini. It's a great moment hearing Nyssa encountering an old enemy again, one who of course has unfortunate personal connections to a family tragedy, and the stuff with Nyssa is truly excellent in this story. But it would have been nice to have heard the Fifth Doctor be given more to do.

But I really did NOT see that twist with Harry Houdini coming! What a twist!

This one goes at a bit of a slow pace. The Fifth Doctor and Jenny have a fun dynamic, and it makes me wish for a box set of those two travelling together. However, the Curator takes too long to enter the story, and the stakes are quite low here. For much of the story, there's no antagonist and it's about dying worlds. It's also a shame that it doesn't really do anything to further the degeneration plot.

When Big Finish confirmed they had the new series license, one of the first audio box sets they announced was Classic Doctors, New Monsters: a set of audio dramas that team up the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth  Doctors with a monster from the new series of Doctor Who. For the Fifth Doctor, Big Finish Productions opted for arguably the most iconic of the new series' creations: the Weeping Angels. A strange choice for audio given that they are silent creatures...

Fallen Angels sees honeymooning couple Joel (Sacha Dhawan) and Gabby Finch (Diane Morgan) visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where they meet the Doctor (Peter Davison) and a Weeping Angel that sends the pair back in time to 1511 Rome. Gabby encounters the Doctor again, only he can't remember meeting her as it hasn't happened for him yet. Joel meanwhile finds himself in the workshop of Michelangelo (Matthew Kelly) who has been commissioned by the priest to carve an Angel free.

What's brilliant about this story is how Big Finish have decided to make the plot as timey wimey as possible. To me the quintessential Weeping Angel story given their ability to send people back in time is one that uses time travel almost as a character in its own right rather than just as a means to get the Doctor and characters from A to B. Everything you would expect from a time travel Doctor Who story with the Weeping Angels is there: the Doctor meeting people out of order, previous supporting characters returning as old men having lived a long life after being sent to the past by a Weeping Angel, jokes about future inventions that are accidentally invented in the past (in this case, sandwiches - although the Doctor claims he invented them first). Writer Phil Mulryne understands exactly what makes a Weeping Angel story work and you can see why Big Finish opted to hire him for this story.

I know any Doctor Who fans on here who haven't listened to this will be asking if the Weeping Angels work on audio. Well, it does take a while for the audio story to work out exactly how to use them effectively without the need of visual aid but by the final act you forget any notion that the Weeping Angels might not work in an audio drama. Sounds of the Weeping Angel's movements from the TV Series are used extremely well and act as good indicators of what would be occurring on-screen without the need of endless exposition. In fact, there's hardly any exposition to speak of here. The geniuses at Big Finish don't need it. The most expositional dialogue is along the lines of 'It's pointing at me'; the rest only requires you to listen.

One thing other than the Weeping Angels that this story takes from the new series is the 'celebrity historical', where the Doctor and 'companions' (or in this case, the honeymooning couple) meet a historical celebrity from the past whom the Doctor happens to be a fan of. Only in this case it's Joel who is the fanboy. This is a good decision by Big Finish and Phil Mulryne as it makes it feel like a new series story told with a classic series Doctor (exactly what these box sets should be about). Matthew Kelly does such a good job at portraying Michelangelo too. He's a real coup for Big Finish and probably one of their best supporting actors so far. Disappointingly none of the characters get to say 'Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be....'

The main problem with this story comes from the writing's portrayal of the Fifth Doctor. For some reason Peter Davison's Doctor here appears more like Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. It feels odd hearing Peter Davison asthe Doctor making blokey jokes about data roaming and I would have preferred to have heard a characterisation more faithful to the classic series interpretation of his Doctor (such as in the excellent Mutant Phase). Bar the final line that cheekily hints at the Tenth  and Eleventh Doctors' use of the phrase 'timey wimey', Fallen Angels is a story where you could easily swap the Fifth Doctor for the Eleventh and it would work much better. Especially when the main supporting characters of this release are extremely similar to a certain other husband and wife duo.

I'm talking, of course, about Amy and Rory. Joel and Gabby bare a few similarities to the Eleventh Doctor's popular companion duo. Both are extremely loyal, have an ever-lasting love and affection for one another and will do whatever it takes to stay together. Joel, like Rory, is the awkward one of the pair (although to be fair his love of art and culture means he acts significantly different after the initial shock than Rory would around Michelangelo) whilst Gabby has the childlike innocence that Amy would often possess in the latter's fairytale-esque wonder and idolisation of the Doctor. Just like Amy and Rory their affection for one another is a big part of who their characters are. It's a shame that this story couldn't have been kept back for a potential future Eleventh Doctor full cast audio drama release as it doesn't feel much like a Fifth Doctor story.

Overall, Fallen Angels is an excellent first instalment in the Classic Doctors, New Monsters series but unfortunately suffers Fifth poor characterisation of the fifth Doctor and supporting characters who feel incredibly similar to Amy and Rory. The Weeping Angels are surprisingly effective on audio however and the decision to make the first Big Finish Weeping Angel story a timey wimey one is a strong one. Even if it doesn't feel like a Peter Davison story, thanks to the celebrity historical aspect it does feel like a new series story told with a classic series Doctor. Matthew Kelly is perfect as Michelangelo and it would be nice to hear him return to Big Finish again. Fallen Angels may not be the strongest Fifth Doctor release but it does prove that the Weeping Angels absolutely can work on audio.

The Mutant Phase was one of the best free gifts given away with Doctor Who Adventures (the children's Doctor Who magazine) back when I was a child. Of course, it was also released separately from the magazine through Big Finish as a slightly longer version (the DWA take is cut down) but it was a nice change from the free notebooks and pens.

The Mutant Phase sees the Doctor (Peter Davison) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) find themselves trapped in a time corridor where they find out the Daleks are mutating into something due to an infection. Meanwhile, they find themselves at the mercy of some dangerous wasps who have been made more aggressive by a pesticide chemical.

One of the things I like about this serial is the decision by writer Nicholas Briggs to have the companion (in this case Nyssa) be infected by the illness/mutation of the serial. She actually becomes infected pretty early on, when she is stung by a wasp in the 42nd century. It's a great move by Nicholas Briggs as it raises the personal stakes for the Doctor and eliminates the problem of 'Oh, the Doctor and his companion will always be safe because it's not the main series'. I wish TV Doctor Who would put the Doctor and his companion into peril like this; whilst I love the main series, there are very rare examples where it feels as though the companion is in as much danger as the supporting cast.

It's also nice to see the Daleks infected by the Mutant Phase. It's great to hear these powerful, booming hate machines become weak and vulnerable towards what is basically a disease. In fact, you almost feel sorry for them - especially when it makes the Daleks basically mindless. We're too used to seeing the Daleks as being the powerful evil species they are so its nice for it to be stripped back to reveal what the Daleks would be like if they weren't in control.

It's amazing how Nicholas Briggs manages to achieve different voices with the Daleks and the Dalek Emperor too. The Dalek Emperor sounds has a much more booming and God-like voice compared to the more robotic metallic Dalek voices. It's the same with the new series too; you never feel like you're just watching or listening to another Dalek with the Dalek Emperor but he has his own distinguishable voice despite being voiced by the same person.

The great thing with these audio dramas is that the main cast never sound like the actual age they are now. It's like listening to a lost classic series serial. Peter Davison sounds perfect as his Doctor despite now being in his 50s when this was recorded and Sarah Sutton doesn't sound any older either (this was recorded in the early 2000s) even though two decades had passed since she was in the show with Peter Davison. You would never convince the audience on TV that they are in their 30s and 20s but on audio on the other hand it's harder to believe they were in their 50s and 40s here.

Overall, The Mutant Phase is a magnificent Doctor Who audio drama and one that any Whovian should listen to whether they have listened to Big Finish before or not. It features incredible performances from Nicholas Briggs, Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison, the latter which convince you they are much younger than their ages at the time of recording. I do wonder how it went down at the time with other kids who bought Doctor Who Adventures though. Did they dismiss it because it was audio or did they give it a go and find they actually enjoyed it? I'm really not sure.

This is definitely the weakest story of Season 19. There’s some great continuity and character development with the TARDIS crew trying to deal with the loss of Adric, but for the most part the story just feels like it was written around Concorde, rather than Concorde supplementing the story.

The script kind of feels like it needed a few more drafts to me. There are a few odd moments that probably wouldn’t have made it to a final screenplay, like the Master’s Kalid disguise serving no purpose within the narrative, and the Doctor just straight up abandoning Tegan at Heathrow at the end of the serial. I mean, seriously: what the hell, Doctor? The least you could have done is said goodbye to her!

I do like the scenes with Tegan and Nyssa though. Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton have so much chemistry together. You can tell also that Anthony Ainley is having such a great time. He clearly relishes playing the Master. And there is a great story in here waiting to emerge. They just don’t fully realise it here.

This one I've seen before, and I absolutely love it. It's one of the all-time greatest companion departure stories; the plants it seeds in the narrative to pay-off in the climax is so cleverly done, such as the scene where the Doctor speaks of how an asteroid destroyed the dinosaurs, or him telling Adric he doesn't want him 'plotting a course to his own destruction'. This is such slick screenwriting from somebody who by this point was relatively new to writing Doctor Who.

Nyssa doesn't get much to do in this story  but that doesn't matter here. Because this is more about the Doctor and Adric, and their relationship, and in that department the story absolutely excels. We learn more about the dynamic of these two, and their almost familial squabbling.

Of course, you can't talk about Earthshock without discussing the Cybermen, and this is one of their best stories for sure. They have a great design in this story, and unlike the previous Cyberman serial to this one, Revenge of the Cybermen, they actually feel like Cybermen here. There's no weird emotional Cybermen here, and Peter Davison's Doctor gets an amazing speech that perfectly explains what separates the Cybermen from humanity: 'When did you last have the pleasure of smelling a flower, watching a sunset,eating a well-prepared meal? For some people small, beautiful events are what life is all about!"

This would be an amazing Cyberman story even without Adric's tragic exit. It's exactly how to do a Cyberman story.

This story also features a fantastic guest appearance from Beryl Reid, as the captain of the space freighter . She's probably one of the classic series' greatest guest turns, and has such a presence on-screen alongside the TARDIS crew of Season 19.

This is a fun murder mystery; a nice showcase for Sarah Sutton in her dual role as Nyssa and Anne Talbot. Cricket scenes go on for a bit too long, and could have done with tighter editing, but there's a decent mystery set up here with a solid guest cast.

I absolutely love this story. It starts off surprisingly dark where we're introduced to these people who initially seem to be the main guest characters...and then they kill them off before the Doctor and his companions even arrive!

It's such an effective way to open the story, doing a really great job at teasing rather than showing the threat, and setting the stakes for the rest of the adventures.

The monsters are among 80s Who's finest. The Terileptils are really imposing, and the android they use is brilliantly designed and realised.

The highwayman Richard Mace is absolutely hilarious too. Michael Robbins steals the show in that role on so many occasions, and sets himself firmly among some of Doctor Who's finest guest turns.

I really like how this story also does something that the new series would later take inspiration from also, in that it explains historical mysteries in where the black death plague came from and what started the Great Fire of London. That was a very clever move by the writer Eric Saward.

Poor Tegan getting possessed again though, straight after Kinda! She really did have a rough time with the Doctor.

This is a wildly experimental and unique Doctor Who story. A real showcase for Janet Fielding as Tegan too, who does an amazing job. She is absolutely sensational at playing Tegan under the possession of the Mara; you can really tell that it's the Mara that's controlling her and that this isn't the Tegan we know.

The dream sequences are an incredible achievement for the classic series too. The cinematography is sublime, with sequences like the multiple Tegans and the Mara making it and Tegan invisible because Tegan says she wants to be left alone creating such strong images. Not to mention the prophecy stuff that Panna shows the Doctor and Todd, where the image is all distorted in this weird yellowy colour.

I like the Mara too. The Mara is a great threat; so intimidating, you really feel like Tegan is in danger.

Also: don't tell the NotMyDoctors, but this story is *SHOCK* political. It contains themes of colonialism in the way that the people in the base want to colonise the planet and see the locals as little more than savages.

Where this story's faults lie is in the use of the companions. Tegan, as previously mentioned, is used brilliantly throughout, but the same can't be said for Nyssa and Adric. Adric is mainly relegated to the military base, with Todd of the supporting cast effectively fulfilling the companion role, and Nyssa is written out entirely (bar the beginning and end), feeling quite drowsy and going to sleep in the TARDIS.

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the supporting cast either. They're a bit OTT, especially Richard Todd as Colonel Sanders, who seemed to be hamming it up somewhat as this experienced military figure.

This is an odd story, even by Doctor Who's standards! I really like the concept of an alien planning to steal Earth's minerals in an attempt to break the speed of light, and the stuff with Persuasion and Enlightenment taking on the form of Tegan's drawing is a really clever one.

I also think it's worth noting that even though Peter Davison admitted to feeling nervous during the recording of this serial (it was the first story he filmed), it really doesn't show. He seems so comfortable and confident in the role from the start, a bit like Matt Smith did in the first story he shot, The Time of Angels/Flesh And Stone.

Tegan is really annoying in this story though. I really hated her when she just straight up abandoned the Doctor and the others and left in the TARDIS at the end of Episode Three. I mean, what the hell, Tegan? Shows how much you care about them.

Also: Monarchy is way too easily defeated at the end. All the Doctor does is chuck the poison at him and he's shrunk. I was expecting a little more.

Overall a pretty good story.

This is such a fun introduction to the Fifth Doctor. We get some great nods to previous Doctors with this Doctor suffering very badly from post-regeneration trauma (most notably the Second Doctor's 'When I say run, run' and the way the First Doctor would clutch his lapels and say 'Hmm...').

The space-time trap of Castrovalva that the Master and Adric create where whatever direction in the castle you go you end up back at the same square is very clever too, and quite a unique concept. It feels different to other Doctor Who stories past and present. There's a lot of time spent in the TARDIS before we even reach Castrovalva though, and it does feel like they could have either tightened that up a bit, or shown us more of the rooms inside the TARDIS.

The Zero Room is very cool, and it's a shame we have never seen it since, but the TARDIS is limitless and they could really have gone to ball with spending more time inside of it. How about a TARDIS zoo, for instance? Or a museum of all the items the Doctor has acquired on his travels?

Fear Her has become one of the most topical episodes lately, for reasons both good and bad. On the bright side of things, the Paris Olympics have currently been airing on the television, placing the sports event at the forefront of people's minds once again. On the bad, Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty of creating indecent images of underage children. Both the Olympics (albeit the London 2012 Olympics) and Huw Edwards feature in this episode, the latter prompting the BBC to remove Fear Her from iPlayer. It makes me glad for physical media, as whilst Huw Edward's actions are disgusting and unforgivable, I don't believe in censorship. I think it is important that every piece of media exists in its original form, to allow for people to learn from past mistakes, instead of pretending they never happened.

I've never understood the hate for Fear Her, and after rewatching it on the 3rd August, I still love the episode the same as before. It sees the Tenth Doctor and Rose discover that young Chloe Webber has been causing kids and cats to disappear from her neighbourhood with her drawings, thanks to a lonely alien called the Isolus. It's a very creative premise, that's similar to the Harold And The Purple Crayon book, which has recently received a big screen adaptation. The episode plays with the upset caused by being trapped inside a drawing well, with the kids in the drawings looking either sad or angry at Chloe's actions.

One of my favourite aspects of the story remains the scribble creature. I have seen some people within the fandom label this aspect as 'too silly', but I find it quite a novel concept. Only Doctor Who could make a literal scribble a viable threat for one of its protagonists. I like the idea that it's made from pure graphite too. It emphasises the idea that this is a kid's drawing brought to life. How often do you get to see the Doctor and their companion encounter a threat that isn't either a human, a computer, or an alien?

Fear Her may be seen largely as quite a light episode, but it does get surprisingly dark. There's a hint at Chloe's past featuring an abusive father, who was either physically or verbally aggressive towards herself and her mother, and the poor child still has nightmares about him. When her drawing of her awful Dad comes to life, it has to be one of the most unsettling scenes in Doctor Who. You feel the fear that Chloe holds towards this terrible figure in her life, who should have been someone full of love for his daughter but instead was a monster, and his constant threats that he's 'coming to get' Chloe are horrifying.

Huw Edwards' role in this episode is quite brief. He only has a VoiceOver, commenting on the 2012 Olympics torch coverage and Opening Ceremony. He's fine, if a bit wooden, especially in the scene where everyone in the stadium disappears and he has to act shocked and confused. His part is so small that it does make me think the BBC overreacted to not only remove Fear Her, but to go to the extent of recording a whole new VoiceOver, which is supposed to be present when it goes back up. I'll probably review the new VoiceOver as an addition to this review too once the new version is available.

Possibly the most iconic sequence from this episode is the Doctor running with the Olympic Torch. It's a fantastic moment, that captures the iconography of the Games, and one of those images that stays with you long after the episode has aired. This scene was echoed in real life, only for the actual 2012 Olympic Games, they opted for Matt Smith to carry the torch rather than David Tennant. Still, it's a shame they didn't double down on the meme and given the torch to David Tennant.

Overall, Fear Her is a vastly underrated episode. It's a highly creative adventure concerning a child who can bring drawings to life. Fear Her is also much darker than the fandom remembers, delivering an unnerving subplot regarding Chloe's deceased abusive father, and includes one of the most iconic Doctor Who scenes, in the Doctor carrying the Olympic Torch. It's an episode that should be reassessed by fans, as there is a lot to love in Fear Her.

The last in the Classic Doctors, New Monsters set, The Sontaran Ordeal proved a very controversial release for Big Finish. Many complained that the Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky Sontarans shouldn't count as new monsters. If you want my angle on the 2008 Sontaran new/classic debate you can read it in my review of The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky. The Sontaran Ordeal isn't a release that's going to win over any doubters but for those who don't class 2008's Sontarans as new monsters the release does feature the Time War which *technically* could count as an abstract new series monster.

In The Sontaran Ordeal, The eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) arrives on the planet Drakkis just as it becomes a victim of the Time War. He is joined by Paladin Sarana Teel (Josette Simmon) and together they encounter a disgraced Sontaran called Commander Jask (Dan Starkey). If they are to save Drakkis from the trouble the Time War has caused then they must form an uneasy alliance - but how can they work together when they barely trust each other?

The Sontaran Ordeal is different from the other Classic Doctors, New Monsters stories in that it's more of a character piece of the Doctor, his race the Time Lords and how close they have come to the Sontarans as a race than it is the Doctor taking on a new series monster. For example, one scene sees Commander Jask try to convince Sarana Teel that the Doctor is dangerous and not to be trusted because of his race's involvement in the Time War that has devastated Drakkis. This is an interesting angle to take and something you could imagine happening in the new series through an episode with a similar tone to The Girl Who Waited. It's not as simple as Commander Jask being the 'enemy' anymore; whilst the Doctor knows he wants no involvement in the Time War, Sarana doesn't. She's only just met this man. In some ways it might sound similar to Night of the Doctor but no similarities are noticeable when listening to the audio.

The problem with the character exploration in this audio is that it slows the pace down. With a length of sixty minutes in comparison to the main range's usual 120 the last thing the audio adventure needs is a slower pace. The Sontaran Ordeal is nowhere near as fast-paced as Judoon In Chains or Harvest of the Sycorax; it is perhaps more comparable to the pace of The Sontaran Experiment than The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky. This is something that I found surprising when listening to the audio as I expected it to be the most action-packed of the Classic Doctors, New Monsters audio dramas. Out of any of the classic Doctors, the eighth Doctor is the most comparable to a new series Doctor after all. He is the only one to get his own new series minisode and a new series audio box set solely dedicated to him due for release next year ('The Time War').

Which brings me to another issue I had with this audio drama. It feels too much like a prequel to next year's The Time War than a story in its own right. This is a story that could easily have been kept back for the eighth Doctor Time War box set, purely because it feels like an extended advertisement for it. Including a Time War story in a new series box set is cool but it would have been nice to have seen the focus entirely on Classic Doctors meeting new monsters. Why couldn't the eighth Doctor's audio drama have taken place shortly after the TV Movie, for example? It would have explained why the eighth Doctor was companion-less and could have allowed for a lighter, more romantic Doctor than the darker, more subdued version towards the end of the Eighth Doctor's life.

What's nice about this audio though is the chance to hear Christopher Ryan's return as a new series Sontaran. Christopher Ryan is fantastic as General Stenk and is just as convincing at playing a Sontaran as Dan Starkey. Dan Starkey and Christopher Ryan work well together as Sontarans; I've always thought it a shame that the new series has never brought Christopher Ryan back as a Sontaran since his 2008 performance. It's equally as disappointing that Dan Starkey hasn't been given a chance to play a serious Sontaran again since Strax. I know many speculated that Strax was in this release and that was why Big Finish were classing the 2008 Sontarans as new monsters...unfortunately he isn't but I don't think he would have worked in the story anyway. Strax would almost certainly have not suited The Sontaran Ordeal's tone. It's nice to hear a new Sontaran from Dan Starkey in the form of Commander Jask anyway.

Unfortunately Paul McGann's performance on the other hand is not among his best. Too many times he mumbles lines and you can't quite tell what he is saying. It's not as spectacular as his groundbreaking performance in Night of the Doctor and sounds somewhat like an off-day for Paul McGann. Not everybody is perfect all the time of course; even my favourite Doctor David Tennant wasn't up to his usual standard in Love & Monsters and the hugely popular Matt Smith was a little underwhelming in my view in the episode The Beast Below. Hopefully he'll be back to his usual standard in Doom Coalition 3. I'm not sure when I'll get round to reviewing that one myself as I will probably buy a Big Finish bundle of all four Doom Coalitions but I am sure it will probably be a top quality box set from Big Finish.

The sound design on The Sontaran Ordeal is among Big Finish's best. Howard Carter has done a good job with the audio. You can totally picture what kind of world Drakkis is and the music sounds like the kind of composition you would expect from a new series eighth Doctor episode. As with The Tenth Doctor Aventures Volume One, you forget that it's not a composer like the new series' Murray Gold composing it and iconic new series tracks like All The Strange, Strange Creatures aren't really missed. If Murray Gold ever decides to stop composing the music for the new series, then perhaps Howard Carter would be a good person to take over?

Overall, The Sontaran Ordeal is probably the weakest audio drama in the Classic Doctors, New Monsters box set. It's by no means a terrible story but it's not likely to be anybody's favourite Big Finish audio either. The main problem with it is that it feels too much like a prequel to the eighth Doctor's upcoming Time War box set. There's not enough to set it apart as a standalone story in its own right as opposed to an advertisement for the Time War release. The story's pace is also significantly slower than the other Classic Doctors, New Monsters audios too, which is a little surprising given that the eighth Doctor is perhaps the closest to a new series Doctor. Speaking of the eighth Doctor, Paul McGann's performance isn't quite as good as usual; he mumbles too frequently throughout the audio and sometimes it can be hard to catch what he says. The character exploration with the Time Lords' part in the Time War and whether Sarana can therefore trust the Doctor is interesting though and it's great to hear Christopher Ryan playing a Sontaran again. I also like Howard Carter's sound design, which helps to create a vivid image of what Drakkis would look like on-screen.

A solid if unremarkable Eighth Doctor story. It concerns the Eighth Doctor and his companion Charley Pollard receiving a cryptic message from the Eleventh Doctor: the Doctor's future incarnation is in a pickle, and William Tell is the key to solving his predicament, but they must watch out for the 'enemy aliens'...

The Eleventh Doctor gets a little more to do in this beyond each Doctor simply finding recorded messages, which is nice; it's great to see him be a part of the resolution.

It's a bit of a slow story though, with most of the narrative occurring in the last fifteen mins; I like the ambiguity of the ending (which reminded me of the later TV ep Deep Breath), and the narration by India Fisher is brilliant, but I feel like the story could have kicked into gear sooner. It takes a very long time for the aliens to actually show up, and the whole plot with the Doctor and Charley being framed for murder doesn't really go anywhere.

Earthworld has a interesting premise. 'How accurately will our history be remembered?' may not be a question we regularly ask ourselves but it's hard to deny it's not a interesting thought. And this is something Earthworld explores well.

The book largely focuses on the triplets of a future president and their murderous ways. We are led to believe that they are the book's villains, however things aren't quite what they seem. There is a clever twist towards the end of the book that really takes you by surprise and sheds some new light on the triplet's behavior. In fact, a large part of this book seems to feature things not quite being what they seem. It's a complex story at heart and one that requires a strong attention span. I wouldn't really recommend this book to those who find the Moffat era complicated but if you enjoy a complicated narrative, then this book is definitely for you.

Earthworld's historical inaccuracies allow for a lot of humorous moments that you're sure to remember afterwards. One of my favourites is Elvis Presley described as the 'king of Earth'. It's this kind of amusing take on Earth's history being misremembered that really adds to the enjoyment of the book.

The companions are new creations that have never been featured on TV, Anji and Fitz. Overall, I found Anji pretty likeable and I found myself agreeing with a lot of her thoughts. However, Fitz was a little too arrogant for my liking and I basically just wanted a T-Rex to eat him.

So overall, Earthworld is a entertaining(if complicated) read with original companions. However, if you don't like the Moffat era, you're probably better off buying a different book.

In 2013, Doctor Who celebrated its 50th Anniversary and Steven Moffat decided to do something us Whovians had been waiting a long time for: the Eighth Doctor's regeneration. Only it was a little different from what we expected, as instead of Christopher Eccleston being the next Doctor, it was John Hurt.

Night of the Doctor was an eight minute minisode released on BBC Red Button and iPlayer and told the story of the Doctor (Paul McGann) trying to rescue spaceship pilot Cass (Emma Campbell Jones) from her crashing spaceship. He fails and the spaceship plummets to Karn with Cass dead and only the Sisterhood there to save the Doctor. It's a relatively simple story but it doesn't need to be complex for this. This was a milestone for the show after all, given it was one of the biggest unseen moments of the show. It's incredibly in-character for this Doctor to sacrifice himself to save a woman he'd never even met; this is exactly how you would imagine Paul McGann's Doctor would go. Not for some big universe-destroying event or a massive climatic battle, not for some enormous story centred around the mythology of the series...but in a failed attempt to save a woman in a crashing spaceship. This ultimately feels more like a classic series regeneration, which were less climaxes of big story arcs but rather more self-contained.

It's also brilliant the reason why Cass won't let herself be saved. You see, because of the Time War she sees both Time Lords and the Daleks to be pretty much the same. This is hugely convincing and shows the horrors of the Time War through one simple exchange as the Doctor tries to persuade her he's not like the others.

Cass: Is this a TARDIS?

The Doctor: Yes, but you'll be perfectly safe, I promise you.

Cass: Don't touch me!

The Doctor: I'm not part of the war. I swear to you, I never was.

Cass: You're a Time Lord.

The Doctor: Yes, I'm a Time Lord, but I'm one of the nice ones.

The fact that Cass won't even let the Doctor touch her shows just how devastating the Time War has become. It's powerful stuff and wonderful writing from Steven Moffat. When I was at university, one of my lecturers  said that when you write dialogue, you should write dialogue that you can 'see', and this is certainly the case here.

The scene with the Sisterhood of Karn is great too, as it also highlights the horrors of the Time War. It's heart-breaking to see this man who has dedicated his life to travelling around the universe helping different civilisations and fighting the monsters decide he has no choice but to basically become a monster (or, as Sisterhood call it, a warrior) himself. It also gives a nice fan theory for why the Doctor's regeneration is always shown through golden energy now: the effect of the potion from Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn.

Paul McGann is absolutely at his best here. He gives a stunning performance as a desperate man taking desperate measures he really doesn't want to take. Paul McGann is even given one of the best final lines of any Doctor in 'Physician, heal thyself' and it's great to see the Big Finish companions made canonical when he lists them before drinking the potion. Emma Campbell-Jones and the Sisterhood of jar are great too but completely outshone by Paul McGann. It is a shame he didn't appear in Day Of The Doctor also.

Overall, Night Of The Doctor is the perfect regeneration story for Paul McGann that nicely explores the impact the Time War has had on something even as simple as touching someone. This may be only a minisode but in those eight minutes it establishes itself as bonafide classic.

Doctor Who - The Movie is a curious part of Doctor Who history. Intended to launch a new TV series produced by the BBC, Fox and Universal, instead due to poor viewing figures in America it has become something of a missing link between the classic and new series. So what was at fault?

Well, it feels like it was a mistake to include Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor at the beginning of the movie. This would no doubt have been confusing for new viewers who didn't previously follow the series; the TV movie did, after all, air seven years after the last episode of the classic series. The mistake was later corrected when Russell T Davies brought the show back in 2005, when he opted to start without a regeneration.

It's a shame that executive producer Paul Segal made the decision to include Sylvester McCoy although it's understandable. He is a Whovian after all, so the temptation to include a regeneration sequence was likely too much to resist. Overall, he did make a great movie though with an engaging plot and great actors.

The plot of the Master trying to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations and nearly causing the end of the world by opening the Eye of Harmony is a good one that feels largely in character for the Master. Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook are fantastic as the Doctor and Grace Holloway too; so believable in their roles that many wish to see them reunited in the form of a Big Finish audio. I don't even mind the idea that the Doctor is half human on his mother's side; it makes sense given his fascination with Earth. My only real complaint besides what probably didn't work for new viewers is at times the Master appears more Count Dracula than the Master himself; this is largely down to Eric Roberts' performance, who seems too theatrical and hams it up a little.

Overall, the Doctor Who TV Movie is a great film that should have been successful but is let down by a couple of poor decisions like bringing Sylvester McCoy back as the Seventh Doctor for a regeneration scene and Eric Roberts playing the Master too much like Dracula.

A very entertaining body swap story, as the Doctor and the Master find themselves in the wrong bodies. I especially like the way the Master notes the Doctor's surprising lack of respect for his UNIT colleagues, and proceeds to salute them and call  Brigadier 'Sir'. It's a great way to acknowledge the Doctor's flaws and how he is perceived by those around him.

A fun and chilling monologue written and performed by Geoffrey Beevers. This Short Trip allows us to get inside the mind of the Master, as he recounts how he destroyed a planet. His hatred for Sir David Attenborough provides a few chuckles, but alongside the brief moments of humour we get a real sense of just how cold, calculating and dangerous the Master is as a killer.

Terror Of The Master Part One: A suspenseful introduction to this epic UNIT adventure. This instalment does a great job at exploring the Doctor's sadness following Jo's exit, and we even get an origin story for the Whomobile. This first part also ends in spectacular fashion, with the Doctor and the Master chased by a hit squad, supposedly sent by the Master.

Terror Of The Master Part Two: An excellent second episode, as the story really kicks into gear. It feels like the Master is on the backfoot here, as his latest alien ally turns against him. Also great hearing the moment between the Third Doctor and the Brigadier, after the Doctor is poisoned. Their friendship is easily one of the biggest highlights of the Pertwee era.

The final part acts as a fitting conclusion for Roger Delgado's Master, as he begrudgingly teams up with Jon Pertwee's Doctor. Jon Culshaw's impressions are as ever on point, and his narration is as great as in the other two parts.

Overall, Terror of the Master is definitely a story worth a listen.

This one hit all the nostalgia buttons for me. It's lovely seeing Jo Grant and Clyde meet again, and all of The Sarah Jane Adventures references made me smile. I'm glad that Jo encouraged Clyde to tell Rani how he feels.

The Three Doctors itself is an epic adventure. The first three incarnations make for an entertaining trio, although it's a shame that William Hartnell wasn't well enough to do more than appear on a screen. Omega remains one of the best ever villains. It's the Jo and Clyde scenes that really make this Tales Of The TARDIS though.

There's one thing I find strange about Planet of the Spiders. The 1974 Doctor Who serial was the regeneration story of the much beloved third Doctor (played by Jon Pertwee), yet for some reason it is very rarely discussed among the Whovian fandom. It almost seems to have been abandoned by the fanbase; even Invasion of the Dinosaurs is talked about more than this serial. In my opinion, this serial definitely doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

Planet of the Spiders is arguably Doctor Who's first example of a series finale. It sees a number of elements from Jon Pertwee's time on the show resolved including the Metebilis 3 crystal and Mike Yates' (Richard Franklyn) betrayal, so not only is the story frequently ignored but it has arguably had a major influence over the new series and the way everything is resolved in a finale.

In Planet of the Spiders, the mutated giant spiders known as the 'Eight Legs' are seeking the Doctor's Metebilis 3 crystal in order to achieve universal domination. The Doctor is the only one who can stop them; he must confront the Eight Legs' leader The Great One and face the possible death of his current incarnation in order to save the day.

One of the things that made Jon Pertwee's era so brilliant was the concept of threats close to home as the villains. It is therefore genius that for his last adventure, the villains are something we recognise from our own planet that many find frightening: I am of course talking about spiders. This serial is wise in its decision to follow in the steps of The Green Death (featuring giant maggots) and The Mutants (giant insects), both highly regarded among Whovians.

It wouldn't feel right for Jon Pertwee's last serial if the story's antagonists weren't similar earth-like creatures, although it is a shame that Roger Degaldo's Master couldn't have featured in his last story as originally planned- sadly Roger Degaldo died in a car crash in 1973. The Eight Legs may not be the most convincing Doctor Who prop but the classic series isn't about the special effects anyway, it's about the narrative and having an adventure with the Doctor. And there was never a more exciting adventure during Jon Pertwee's era than when he tackled monsters close to home.

The decision to include a chase sequence with the Whomobile and Bessie is also to be applauded. These two vehicles are synonymous with the third Doctor era of the show and it is nice that they got the send-off they deserved along with this incarnation of the Doctor. Bessie in particular is a car you can't imagine with any other incarnation and a big part of this era. The chase sequence represents everything people like about Jon Pertwee's Doctor; he is essentially Doctor Bond during an era of television where there were a lot of spy dramas and undercover cop shows. It helps that the scene is wonderfully executed by director Barry Letts; it's one of those scenes in the classic series where arguably you cannot tell the show was working on a shoestring budget.

It's nice to see Mike Yates redeemed by alerting the Doctor and Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) to the strange goings-on at the Buddhist meditation centre. It feels natural and in-character for Mike Yates to want to redeem himself and it's nice to see a signature UNIT personnel who was a big part of this incarnation's time on Earth become firmly on the side of good again after betraying UNIT in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Mike feels as much like a Doctor Who companion as Liz, Jo or Sarah and perhaps one day Adam Mitchell will get a similar redemption story (although I would love to see Adam as an antagonist at some point akin to the role he plays in the comic series Prisoners of Time).

Despite the serial's forgotten nature, its ending is arguably one of the most iconic regeneration sequences in the show's history. It deserves to be. The third Doctor's regeneration is bittersweet and heart-wrenching without the need for Murray Gold music or a sobbing David Tennant.

The emotion is dealt with in a subtle way and whilst I personally love the tenth Doctor's regeneration scene, I can also appreciate how this sequence is not quite so 'in your face' about how you're supposed to feel. All this sequence needs is four simple words - 'A tear, Sarah Jane?' - and it immediately sells the emotional weight of the scene. A lot of it is down to Jon Pertwee's stunning delivery but it wouldn't have worked without Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, who if you didn't know Sarah Jane was a character you'd think genuinely believed in real life that Jon Pertwee was going to die. Of course, he doesn't die - he regenerates into Tom Baker - but Sarah doesn't know that and Elisabeth Sladenplays it brilliantly.

Overall, Planet of the Spiders is a brilliant and sadly often-overlooked Jon Pertwee serial, especially for Jon Pertwee's regeneration story. The story encompasses everything that made the Pertwee era of the show special, from the Earth-like appearance of the monsters (an approach later taken to the new series by Russell T Davies) to the vehicles that quickly became synonymous with Jon Pertwee's portrayal: namely Bessie and the Whomobile. The decision to have Mike Yates redeemed in the story is a good one and the story contains one of the show's best regeneration scenes that shows you can provide raw emotion without Vale Decem and David Tennant crying on cue.

A spooky send-off for Jo Grant. Robert Sloman gives us a creepy tale of giant maggots, with a strong environmentalism message which makes the serial feel truly ahead of its time. Jon Pertwee proves his acting chops as he drives into the sunset in Bessie, delivering a true emotional punch to this Doctor Who classic.

Not the most original Dalek story, but it's brilliant fun. The Daleks are at their most evil, with the pepperpots having cooked up deadly bacteria, and the Thals get an interesting development from their 60s days, with them being decidedly more violent as opposed to pacifistic. However, it's a shame that the story doesn't use the concept of invisible Daleks presented in this story more, as it's a really strong idea that's abandoned early into the narrative.

This serial has something of a poor reception within fandom as being 'dull', and I don't understand it. I thought it was excellent. Whilst the ending leaves a lot to be desired and the Doctor seems a bit gullible when he somehow doesn't recognize the Master's voice over the radio in the cargo ship, overall it's a fun and epic space opera for the Pertwee era. Jo Grant is at her greatest here, as she demonstrates how much she has learned from the Doctor, and Roger Delgado's last performance as the Master is every bit as cold and commanding as you would expect. This serial deserves more love.

A really clever and unique story, concerning the Doctor and Jo being transported inside a miniature world, known as the Miniscope. This serial makes some quite novel comparisons to zoos and Petri dishes with its central concept, and the Drashigs make for a fun monster.

A hugely enjoyable serial from start to finish. The Second and Third Doctor’s banter is hilarious to witness, and Stephen Thorne is excellent casting as Omega. This is one you can just watch over and over, and always find something new to appreciate.

This being the multi-Doctor adventure which started the tradition, it's hard not to see why multi-Doctor stories became as popular as they are today. Whilst it's a shame William Hartnell couldn't have a bigger role due to illness, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee are hilarious together and form a entertaining double act.

The plot also adds some interesting details to Time Lord mythos; here, we meet the stellar engineer of time travel technology Omega (who was trapped in a anti-matter universe by the Time Lords). Omega is one of the best villains ever to be introduced in the show; he has a certain presence that makes you instantly fear him whenever he appears in shot. It's also a rare instance where the classic series look almost rivals the look of the monsters and villains in the new series; Omega's costume would not look out of place in the 2005 reboot of the show.

If you love Doctor Who and haven't seen The Three Doctors, then I urge you to watch it. For it showcases exactly what makes the traditional multi-Doctor adventure so great.

Jon Pertwee's era of Doctor Who took a lot of inspiration from the spy genre, so it is hardly surprising that producer Barry Letts decided to add a Bond-style villain in the form of the Master. What is surprising is how long it took them to do it. The Master wasn't introduced into Jon Pertwee's second season in the role in 1971's Terror of the Autons. As we all know, the character became a big hit with audiences and has gained the status of one of the Doctor's most iconic enemies.

When the Master (Roger Degaldo) arrives on Earth in his TARDIS, he steals a Nestene meteorite and hooks it up to a radio telescope in order to boost a frequency wave that will bring to life the plastic of Earth. Meanwhile, the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) introduces the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) to his new assistant Jo Grant (Katy Manning). At first, they don't get on due to Jo's clumsiness and lack of scientific knowledge however over the course of the story they become firm friends and the Doctor starts to accept her as his companion. Together they must stop the Master from summoning the Nestene and destroying humanity with an army of Autons.

Whilst the first story to feature the Autons - Spearhead From Space - focused entirely on shop window dummies, here other forms of plastic are explored as potential threats to the Doctor and his companion and it is nice to see the concept expanded upon. The Autons become a much more terrifying threat when not only are shop window dummies deadly but you cannot trust phone cords and plastic daffodils either.

There is even a deadly chair that in perhaps one of the show's most gruesome moments swallows Farrell Plastics' head of production George McDermott (Harry Towb) whole. It is not surprising that this serial was criticised by many at the time for being too scary for kids - the special effects may not be the best the classic series has to offer but many of the scenes like many of Doctor Who's greatest stories wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie. Other examples of this include the Dalek sucker coming towards Barbara in The Daleks and Zygon Harry attacking Sarah with a pitchfork in Terror of the Zygons.

Jo Grant is immediately endearing as the Doctor's new companion also. Katy Manning plays the part brilliantly, oozing a certain charm and likeability as the bumbling assistant. Whilst some may question the Brigadier's decision to replace Liz Shaw with her despite her lack of qualifications as the Doctor does in the serial, by the end of the serial you really don't care. Katy Manning sells the character right from the beginning and I have a feeling she will always be considered one of the show's most beloved companions. It is a shame that her debut also happens to be the debut of the Master as she is unfortunately over-shadowed but the production crew at the time weren't to know that the Master would go on to become one of the show's most iconic characters.

It's certainly not hard to see why he has become such an iconic character either. The Master is a brilliant adversary for the Doctor; essentially he is a direct reflection of the Doctor. Whilst the Doctor fights for the good of the universe, the Master fights for chaos and destruction. He is essentially the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock or the Loki to the Doctor's Thor.

Compared to, say, John Simm's Master, here he is treated as more of a behind the scenes presence and for the most part it works better when he is not the front and centre of the plot. The drawback is that it results in a plot resolution that comes out of nowhere. The Doctor manages to persuade the Master round but we are not shown enough of the Doctor and the Master's 'frenemy' relationship to make it convincing that he would be so easily persuaded. I would rather the Doctor had managed to out-wit the Master in his plan rather than talk him round.

Roger Degaldo is brilliant as the Master though and will always be to many the definitive version of the character. He has a certain sinister charm as the Doctor's Time Lord nemesis and doesn't need to act insane in order to have a big presence onscreen. Whilst I like John Simm's later portrayal of the character, I would have rather seen him play the part like Roger Degaldo as opposed to bearing more similarities to The Joker. Michelle Gomez as Missy will likely always be my favourite take on the character but if it were not for the legacy left by Roger Degaldo it is highly doubtful that her version of the Master would exist. Roger Degaldo's performance is the reason why the Master has become such an iconic part of Doctor Who mythology; the part was very clearly written for him as he has a wonderful sense of gravitas in the role. Roger Degaldo quite simply was the Master.

One of the things I think is a shame is that the Master no longer has the hypnotic powers he displays here. I like the idea of the Master hypnotising people; it helps to show how different he is to the Doctor despite being of the same race and it bears similarities to brain-washing techniques seen in real life ruthless dictators such as Adolf Hitler or Vladimir Putin. The notion that somebody could mess your mind and, for example, persuade you to set off a bomb is a scary one and something that is actually quite true to current society with the way terrorists have twisted people into exacting their plans of terror. A brilliant decision by writer Robert Holmes to have Jo Grant placed under the Master's hypnotic powers also as it leaves the viewer feeling uneasy to see one of the Doctor's friends turn against him. I would like the new series to show Missy hypnotise the companion for an entire series as I think the uneasiness that comes from somebody close to the Doctor being placed under the spell would make for an interesting angle to be explored in more depth.

Overall, Terror of the Autons takes the concept of the Autons and offers a deeper exploration of how they can be a threat to our planet. Not only can they possess shop window dummies now but telephone coils, chairs and plastic daffodils can also be brought to life - giving the terrifying impression that nothing made of plastic material is safe from the clutches of the Nestene.

The story serves as a great introduction for Katy Manning's Jo Grant - one of the show's most charming companions - however it is over-shadowed by the debut of Roger Degaldo as the Master. It is easy to see why the Master has developed such a legacy within Doctor Who after watching Roger Degaldo's performance in the role; he is amazing and a true highlight of the Autons' return, even if the character's tendency to act behind the scenes rather than at the forefront of the episode results in a rushed conclusion that comes out of nowhere.

It's a shame that the new series has opted to ignore the Master's hypnotic powers as they are a great way to emphasise the difference between the Doctor and the Master, as well as offering a nice sense of uneasiness to the plot when the Doctor's new companion Jo Grant is placed under his hypnosis. I hope for Series 10 that Missy places the twelfth Doctor's new companion Bill under his (or rather her) hypnotic powers but somehow I doubt it is going to happen (NB: It didn't).

Spearhead From Space was perhaps the biggest change Doctor Who had ever faced. For the first time, not only was the show was going to be in colour but the Doctor was also going to be stranded on Earth. No adventures set in the past, future or space. Everything on present day Earth.

They even decided to give the Doctor a job. He became the scientific advisor at UNIT. His boss: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. This was in some ways a great move by the production team. It helped to make the Doctor more relatable. More like us. In other ways, however, it limited the scope of the show. No longer was it anywhere or everywhere, it was just London. Nevertheless, it worked and proved to be a huge success from the show.

Looking at the introductory story, it's not hard to see why. Sam Seeley (Neil Wilson) sees a shower of meteors come down in Oxley Woods and decides to take one back home when he notices a UNIT officer's interest in them. Meanwhile, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) is found collapsed outside a police box and taken to the local hospital. The Brigadier enlists the help of scientist Liz Shaw (Caroline John) and eventually the Doctor to help investigate the mysterious meteors and combat an Auton invasion. It's a rather simple story for the show and that's why it works so well as the beginning of a new era. It's also why the new series frequently uses it as a blueprint to easing viewers into a new take on the show; this is exactly how to introduce a new era. They couldn't have possibly got it more right.

The Autons make for very effective monsters too. There's something rather eery about how their body and facial features resemble that of shop window dummies and Doctor Who is always a show that works well when it turns an everyday inanimate object into a force to be reckoned with. Let's face it: if you haven't seen a shop window dummy at some point in your life, then you haven't been out much. The Autons work so well that despite only featuring in two serialsof the classic series (they were also in Terror of the Autons) they have become one of the most iconic Doctor Who monsters of all time appearing in three new series stories (Rose, Love & Monsters, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang) and even in a LEGO game (LEGO Dimensions). It's one of those monster creations that will survive the test of time. I have no doubt that we'll see an Auton invasion story in the future: perhaps in the Chris Chibnall era.

The Nestene Consciousness unfortunately are not as successful. It looks a bit too rubbery and thanks to Jon Pertwee's bizarre facial expressions during his fight with it doesn't appear like much of a threat. Its new series look was stronger overall.

It's not entirely fair to compare the two considering that with Spearhead they were operating on a shoestring budget and the new series has much more money but I do wish the classic series had been able to provide a better Nestene Consciousness for Jon Pertwee to fight as it is the only thing that lets the story down. Something more like this from the Terror of the Autons target book would have been preferable:

The cast are on top form. Jon Pertwee is amazing in his first appearance as the Doctor, especially when demonstrating how to communicate with your eyebrows on the planet Delphon. Nicholas Courtney is as brilliant as he was in The Invasion as the Brigadier and continues to be a highlight throughout the 3rd Doctor era. Caroline John is extremely convincing as the sceptical scientist tiring of the Brigadier's talk of the extraterrestrial. It's a crime that she generally tends to be forgotten as a companion of the Doctor's.

Overall, Spearhead From Space is a brilliant introduction story to the Jon Pertwee era and features one of the series' most iconic monsters in the Autons. Unfortunately, the Nestene Consciousness are less successful due to budget constraints but the cast are all on top form and due to the decision to exile the Doctor on Earth the character is more relatable than he was prior to the change.

Well that was a pretty good minisode. Fantastic to get Julian Bleach as Davros before he became immobilised in the Dalek casing and disfigured. What was with that music when the Doctor arrived though?

Also hilarious how we all thought Mawaan Rizwan would be someone significant from the show's past, and his character is literally just called CastAVillain.

Since the 60th Specials were announced, I have been very vocal about wanting to see some past Doctors return. Although I thought The Giggle was a fantastic piece of television, I do find it slightly surprising that we didn't at least get a montage of every past Doctor via archive footage, as it does mean that for the 60th, nearly every past incarnation bar the First and (technically seeing as Fourteen has his face) Tenth Doctors don't get any kind of acknowledgement.

Having said that, The Giggle kept me hooked from start to finish.

From the very start, Neil Patrick Harris dominates the screen as the Toymaker. He is fantastically flamboyant, but also carries a great sense of menace. It still seems unbelievable that Russell T Davies managed to get such a famous star to play a rather obscure villain from the 60s, but I am glad that he agreed to the part, because he owns the role. His Toymaker is a man who playfully 'toys' with everyone, adopting multiple accents and turning his victims into mindless fools who argue about everything.

The human race believing they are always right brought COVID to mind for me, and how certain individuals refused to wear a face mask because of the 'It's my life' mentality. Their refusal to wear UNIT's fancy gizmos that keeps the giggle's influence away definitely feels like a deliberate metaphor for how people thought 5G was controlling people in 2020.

The whole hide and seek segment has to be one of Doctor Who's creepiest sequences. Charlie De Melo's character, who is an assistant to the original creator of TV, being transformed into a ventriloquist's dummy, is brilliantly disturbing, and those toy babies attacking Donna will haunt kid's nightmares for weeks.

I also really appreciate how the production dives into the surreal imagery that the Toymaker as a concept offers. The notion of the Toymaker turning UNIT soldiers into balls, and twisting the bullets from their guns into petals, is excellent, and plays fast and loose with the concept of a Godlike being who can bend reality to play his games.

Does it feel like a 60th Anniversary Special? I would say so. Although no past Doctors return (which makes me feel for Matt Smith, who wanted to come back), there are many nods to the past that makes this feel more special than the other two episodes. Not only is there the worst kept secret with Mel's return, but there are also colourized clips of the First Doctor and the Toymaker, from the largely missing Celestial Toymaker, which is a staggering amount of effort to go to. They really didn't need to put in all that hard work to colourize a serial that many viewers won't have seen and it shows the love and passion for the show from Russell T Davies and the production team that they will go to such extreme lengths like this.

Another excellent nod to the past is the Toymaker's puppet show. Whilst I do find it a shame that the companions get more acknowledgement than the Doctors, and it would have been nice to have seen some puppet Doctors too. Having puppet recreations of Amy, Clara, and Bill as well as the Flux, that retell their devastating conclusions is such a clever way to pay tribute to the series' history.

We even get references later on to classic Doctor Who serials such as Key To Time and Logopolis. It seems mental to me to think that Adric's death has been referenced twice in the space of two years! It's great how recent Doctor Who has made Adric's death feel like the Gwen Stacy demise of Doctor Who. Especially as many casual viewers won't even have a clue what happened with Adric!

The Giggle also gives us some traditional Multi-Doctor action with 14 and 15. Although I knew about the bi-regeneration rumour, I didn't expect us to get as much of Ncuti Gatwa as we did. It's a little like a reverse Spider-Man: No Way Home, where instead of getting past iterations of a character for the entire third act, it's a future version. 14 and 15 are so much fun together, they feel sort of like siblings, but don't have the bickering of other Multi-Doctor interactions. It makes me hope that we get another Multi-Doctor story from Russell T Davies, because judging by this episode, he's really great at writing them.

I like the bi-regeneration concept as a whole personally. I think it's such a novel concept that you could only really do during an anniversary like the 60th, and it makes the regeneration feel more special for an anniversary year. Although I do think it would be best for David Tennant to let Ncuti Gatwa have the spotlight rather than return or spearhead his own series, my hope is that we get some expanded media with 14, the Nobles and Mel that takes place after The Giggle. There's even room for some 14 and Mel TARDIS adventures, which is just so very cool. Maybe Once And Future's conclusion next year could be set after The Giggle, with 14 and Donna, or 14 and Rose Noble? (NB: It has since been confirmed to feature the Fugitive and War Doctors rather than 14).

Lastly, I am already loving Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. I get the sense that he's going to be quite mischievous, and his mad grin brings to mind Tom Baker's Doctor to me. He seems so Doctor-y already, in the amazing amount of time we spend with him in The Giggle, and I can't wait to see more of him at Christmas. You can definitely see why they felt confident with having him share screentime with the nation's favourite Doctor, David Tennant, as he doesn't feel overshadowed by David Tennant in the slightest.

The problem with this episode is that in any other year it would be great, but in the 60th year, when you keep it under such an intense level of secrecy, it seems utterly pointless.

The decision to make this episode such a big secret is utterly bizarre, and a major misstep by RTD. There were no spoilers here, nobody returned apart from at the end, and even the person in question was already known to be in the 60th Specials. I just cannot fathom the decision to redact cast members in DWM and barely even promote it. There is no logic to it, and they should have shown more from the episode from the start.

The central premise, of the alien shapeshifters, would have been tailor-made for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi appearances. In fact, it would have worked better from a thematic perspective to have the Doctor face a shapeshifter who looks like 11, and later 12. It would have tested 14 psychologically, and made the Doctor question himself and why he has his old face. Plus you could have subverted expectations by making by people think 14 is at one point is the real Doctor, only to reveal that he was the shapeshifter and 11 or 12 was the actual Doctor. I much preferred the evil shapeshifters of 11 and 12 onboard a corrupted TARDIS rumours for that reason alone.

The actual story we did get is great, without spoiling for those who haven't seen it (although again, there is nothing to spoil anyway). The effects are delightfully weird and well realized. It has a tense Among Us vibe which I really appreciated, and David Tennant and Catherine Tate give some of their  best performances.

The pacing is also great. It raises the tension nicely, beginning with a slow and meandering pace before delving into psychological horror territory. The set design has to be some of the most impressive in the show, and shows how much the Disney budget has increased the show's scope.

Does it work as a 60th Anniversary Special? Not really. There's nothing celebratory here, and there's no returning Doctors, companions or villains. Which is again bizarre, given that the announced special features were vague for no good reason. Why call a behind the scenes feature 'The cast introduce the villains' if you are not hiding returning cast members, big name stars or returning villains? There is no logic to it. Revealing the villains are shapeshifters would have spoiled utterly nothing, as it doesn't mean anything for fans!

Wild Blue Yonder is one of those episodes that could so easily have been turned into an anniversary episode, and been improved by doing so. It is a great episode that could have been mind-blowing, with the addition of 11and 12 as the shapeshifters to really drive 14 mad. Arguably it would have been harder to incorporate Susan or any other returning companion, but even then you could have had the Donna shapeshifter take the form of Susan and make the audience think Donna is real, only for Susan to not be the shapeshifter and Donna the actual person.

A brilliantly faithful adaptation of one of Doctor Who Magazine's best ever comic stories. If you love The Star Beast comic like myself, then you will adore this episode.

Beep The Meep is deliciously evil, with her faux adorability creating the same misleading sweet image as her comicbook counterpart. Miriam Margoyles is the perfect voice for Beep, and the way she switches from the innocent voice to the more malicious intonations is flawless.

The Wrarth Warriors are also as authoritative and imposing as in the Doctor Who Magazine Star Beast, and work well as the obvious baddies only to be goodies. For audiences unfamiliar with the comics storyline, they may seem a tad similar to the Judoon, which can make them seem unoriginal, but their design strikes a powerful presence.

The new title sequence is spectacular, and truly feels like Doctor Who on a much bigger budget. These are the Doctor Who titles on steroids! I also adore the Sonic Screwdriver's new features; the screen, and the shields feel like a natural extension of its functions, and introducing such cool new features feels like an excellent way to attract the attention of new viewers. I really hope we get a new Doctor Who videogame during RTD2, as playing with the new Sonic Screwdriver would be a ton of fun in a platformer.

Then there's the new TARDIS interior, which is utterly stunning. It is the ideal combination of the classic series interior with the white roundels (even if they do change colour) and the new series interior, with the different platforms being akin to Matt Smith's.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate have lost none of their chemistry. They are as hilarious as ever, but are still able to pull on the heartstrings with the more dramatic moments. The reason behind Donna regaining her memories feels natural without being a cop out, and the fourth wall breaking sequence at the beginning is such a clever way of getting new viewers up to date with Donna's situation. It's also nice to see the Nobles again. A shame that Wilf is yet to appear, however understandable considering Bernard Cribbins' sad passing.

Does it work as a 60th Anniversary Special? Not really. It feels more like a standard episode of the show, designed to get new viewers onboard with this new era, rather than a celebration of the show's entire history. Outside of David Tennant as the Doctor again and the Nobles, the only returning characters here are Beep The Meep and the Wrarth Warriors, and they previously featured under a different continuity.

Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle always seemed more likely to be traditional anniversary Specials, and only one of them is perhaps likely to be a traditional 60th celebration (NB: Neither were 'traditional' anniversary episodes), but it would have been nice had they managed to sneak in a cameo from somebody connected to UNIT who we had already been introduced to, such as Martha, Osgood, or Jo Grant.

A fantastic piece of closure for the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It expertly deals with this incarnation's unfair manipulation of Ace, and how it affected both characters on a personal level. It's sad to think that they didn't depart on good terms, but the ending hints they go on further adventures together in the Memory TARDIS.

The Curse Of Fenric itself is a stone-cold classic. It's a thrilling vampire story that shows how far the Seventh Doctor is prepared to go to save the day. The fact that he goes to the extent of breaking Ace's faith in him, cruelly playing with her emotions in the aid of the greater good, will always remain chilling to watch.

This is an absolutely fantastic Seventh Doctor and Ace story. The Doctor and Ace arrive on a spaceship orbiting a dying sun, and there's these strange doomsday worshippers called the Senders who believe that they will ascend to become higher beings when the sun's shockwave hits.

It's basically like Doctor Who does a space disaster movie (so similar to Voyage of the Damned in that regard), and really does a good job of demonstrating this Doctor's more manipulative side. We as the audience are made to question why he has brought Ace to an event which we are told sees the death and destruction of many human colonies, and which is one of those events the Doctor can't interfere with because it's a fixed point in time, and we query this Doctor's motives when he refuses to save the Senders from their pretty suicidal beliefs.

I like that the Voice of Stone turns out to be a Time Lord psychic cube from the Eleventh Doctor - a lovely callback to stories such as The War Games and The Doctor's Wife - and also how this Time Lord device has developed a mythological status within the eyes of humanity (a neat touch).

Overall, this is a thrilling addition to the Destiny of the Doctor range, and one that really captures the dynamic of this particular Doctor and companion.

An epic conclusion to Doctor Who's initial 26-season run. This story has everything; action, heart, character... In many ways, it feels like a precursor to the 2005 revival, with the way it sees the Doctor take Ace back to Present Day Perivale, and we get to see more of Ace's everyday culture back home.

Although the Cheetah People costumes are poor, they make for excellent one-off villains. Rona Munro's creations act as an interesting commentary on the human race, how desperation can lead us to fight each other to survive and how our actions with climate change are slowly destroying our planet. It culminates in a fantastic showdown between the Doctor and the Master, with Sylvester McCoy giving a powerhouse performance, as he declares "If we fight like animals, we die like animals!"

The final speech, seeing the Doctor telling Ace they have 'work to do', is a natural way to conclude the show's initial run. It speaks so much to the heart of the show, and the role of the Doctor and his companion. It's without a doubt among the most well-written pieces of dialogue in Doctor Who's history.

Yep, I enjoyed this one's Tales Of The TARDIS episode so much that I just had to go and watch the original episodic version so soon.

The Curse of Fenric is an utterly mind-blowing Doctor Who serial. It's the perfect showcase of the Seventh Doctor and Ace and how toxic their relationship could be, with the Doctor cruelly breaking Ace's faith in him to beat Fenric.

Fenric is easily one of the best one-off Doctor WHo antagonists, with an intriguing shared history with the Doctor. The Haemovores are excellent too, and are easily among the most impressive monster designs from the classic series. You could have the Haemovores return in the new series, and you'd barely have to alter their look to make them work for a modern audience.

A fantastically spooky and atmospheric story. This one concerns a Victorian house that scared Ace as a child, and an ethereal entity called Light who catalogs every living species. It's a lavish production, expertly directed, and with some of the strongest writing in the JNT era.

A really exciting way to kick off Season 26. Battlefield is like a legacy sequel before legacy sequels were cool. It's one big throwback to the Pertwee era, with the original Brigadier, UNIT, and even Bessie. There's even the neat introduction of Brigadier Bambera, who is unbelievably cool, and feels ahead of her time, being a fearless black leader of a secret organisation during the late 80s, when there weren't as many prominent black female characters.

I love the idea of a future Doctor being Merlin, and the Arthurian legends adds an interesting mystical vibes to proceedings. Morgaine is an excellent one-off antagonist too; she feels like more than a match for the Doctor.

Doctor Who's 25th anniversary season did something different to what was usually expected during a Doctor Who anniversary. Rather than bringing back past Doctors to interact with the current one, producer John Nathan Turner decided to go in another direction: celebrating the Doctor's most famous enemies in the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Cybermen's story Silver Nemesis was the show's twenty-fifth anniversary episode but before that there was Remembrance of the Daleks: the story many Whovians consider to be the real twenty fifth anniversary special.

In Remembrance of the Daleks, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) returns to 1960s London with Ace (Sophie Aldred), where two opposing Dalek factions are at war with one another and searching for the Hand of Omega: a device created by Stellar Engineer Omega to turn stars into supernovas as fuel for Gallifreyan time travel. Davros (Terry Molloy) and the Daleks want it to improve their ability to time travel. The Doctor plans on giving it to them...but why?

The way Remembrance of the Daleks celebrates Doctor Who's longevity is remarkable. It does something that the recent film Jurassic World did very well: slots in nostalgic nods and references into the story without it distracting the main story. The majority of the narrative takes place at Coal Hill School (the same school that the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman was at). You get to see IM Foreman's scrapyard and the book about the French Revolution Susan borrowed from Barbara in An Unearthly Child. There is even a scene where Ace walks out of a room just as the BBC continuity announcer on the television announces the start of a brand new sci-fi television series 'Doc-'. This is the reason why many consider Remembrance of the Daleks to be the show's 25th anniversary special: it feels so much like one that it's hard to believe Silver Nemesis was the special and not this.

And the nods to the very first serial An Unearthly Child don't stop there. The story even features a mysterious child of its own. A character so mysterious she doesn't even have a name: she's simply called 'The Girl' in the end credits. The Girl is a deliberate echo of Susan Foreman: only this time, instead of being the Doctor's granddaughter she is the Dalek's 'battle computer'. Young actor Jasmine Breaks plays her brilliantly; she gives a certain menace to her performance that is surprisingly creepy for a young girl. It's also a nice idea for a story twenty five years later to take inspiration from the serial that started it all; the Girl never feels like a copy of Susan but a different mysterious child, even as a deliberate call-back to the character of Susan.

There's something I mentioned in my Agent Carter review that really applies here and that's the use of music to create the era. The music in this serial featured in the cafe scenes is nicely authentic towards the sixties' era and it feels like the seventh Doctor and Ace are actually in the 60s rather than the reality of the time it was filmed. There's never any doubt that this story takes place shortly after the first Doctor and Susan leave IM Foreman's junkyard and you can tell real research has been put into the era by sound man Scott Talbott. It's a terrific sound mix and works well for a story with call-backs to the 60s era of the show.

But this isn't just a serial that looks backwards. Like the best Doctor Who celebrations, it looks forwards. The special effects by Stuart Brisdon are ahead of their time; these are effects that are so impressive that the new series of Doctor Who borrows from them a lot. The skeleton effect that surrounds a character fired at by a Dalek looks a lot like the skeleton effect of the 2005 revival and the beam of light that emits from the Daleks' egg whisks here bears a strong resemblance to the effects used for the RTD era Daleks.

It's not only the special effects that look to the show's future either. The narrative also looks forward when it needs to. Writer Ben Aaronovitch is a genius at juggling the forwards and backwards look of the serial and crafts one of the show's all-time best cliffhangers: the moment when a Dalek levitates up the stairs. This is a moment so iconic that it is replicated in the 2005 episode Dalek, when the Dalek follows Rose and Adam up some stairs at billionaire collector Henry van Statten's museum. Yet rather unfairly, it is forgotten. People tend to think of Robert Shearman as the first person to do it, when actually it came from the mind of Ben Aaronovitch. I imagine it must have been a surprise for the audience of 1988, without the knowledge that Daleks could climb stairs: it is a chilling moment and one of the highlights of this serial.

Remembrance of the Daleks is notable to the Whovian fanbase for introducing the Counter Measures team, consisting of Captain Gilmore (Simon Williams), Rachel Jensen (Pamela Salem) and Allison Williams (Karen Gledhill). It is not surprising that these characters got their own Big Finish spinoff as they feel like the sixties' equivalent of UNIT.

Captain Gilmore in particular feels like a nice alternative to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, played with the same level of charm and authority by Simon Williams. You could believe had the classic series run of Doctor Who had continued that the seventh Doctor and Captain Gilmore would have developed a similar friendship to the Brigadier.

Karen Gledhill and Pamela Salem are good in their roles too but don't quite shine as much as Simon Williams does as Gilmore. What's great about Pamela Salem's character Rachel Jensen is she is a fun callback to the third Doctor's time with UNIT. Just like the Doctor, she is a scientific advisor to a military organisation and it is always great to see how a different character deals with the job when the Doctor's around with considerably more knowledge.

Allison Williams doesn't really do a great deal although I imagine her character is expanded upon in the Big Finish releases.

Overall, Remembrance of the Daleks is an amazing celebration of twenty five years of Doctor Who. It didn't need more than one Doctor to celebrate the longevity of the show; instead it does something that the more recent Jurassic World did with nostalgic nods and references to the history of the franchise. Yet despite the references, it still manages to look forward through the outstanding special effects and chilling cliffhanger where the Dalek glides up the stairs. The 60s sound mix convincingly recreates the sixties era and the Counter Measures team are a fun sixties version of UNIT. This serial has made me tempted to try out Big Finish's Counter Measures audios at some point and I am sure it will do the same to anybody who decides to give this Doctor Who serial a go. And you should give it a go: you don't need prior knowledge of Doctor Who to enjoy it. It's an excellent story in its own right and I would recommend it to anyone who likes recent movies such as Jurassic World.

The Greatest Show In The Galaxy is a serial often held within the Whovian community as a classic, at a time when the show was struggling during its original run. The fact that this story was even made is incredible. A discovery of abestos led to the temporary closure of various studios at the BBC - but rather than leaving the story unfinished as with Shada, the production team instead resorted to filming a large majority of the scenes inside a tent at the BBC car park. Without a doubt this production team were determined to make sure this story saw completion - the kind of determination that would be seen years later when Russell T Davies revived the show in 2005.

The Greatest Show In The Galaxy sees The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) decide to take part in the titular circus show's talent competition after receiving junk mail from a 'junk bot' in the TARDIS, despite his companion Ace's (Sophie Aldred) reluctance. This is a Doctor Who story however, so obviously something more sinister is under way. The Gods of Ragnarok are the judges, and failure to entertain results in death.

Having watched the story, I don't really understand the love the serial has within fandom. That's not to say it's terrible, it's just not as good as I expected. The main problem is one that plagues many of Sylvester McCoy's serials - the performances from the guest cast are too over the top and it makes it hard to take anything in the story seriously. The main culprits are T. P. McKenna as Captain Cook and Deborah Manship as Morgana. Their acting comes across as very two dimensional and they are little more than caricatures - another common issue with this period of the show.

The pacing of the story is also an issue. It takes way too long for the Doctor and Ace to reach the circus tent, and the first episode's big cliffhanger is 'Well Ace, are we going in [to the physic circus] or not?' rather than Mags screaming (which would have surely made more sense). Quite why the writer Stephen Wyatt decided to make the cliffhanger whether or not The Doctor and Ace enter the psychic circus I don't know, but it's a terrible decision as it doesn't make sense as a cliffhanger moment.

The fourth episode of The Greatest Show In The Galaxy is perhaps the best. The pacing improves considerably in episode four, with so much happening that there's barely time to breath. Sylvester McCoy displays a great talent for magic tricks and escapism routines; at one point he is even hanging upside down. If Sylvester McCoy hadn't become an actor, he could easily have been a magician.

The visuals of this story are very good - in fact, they are actually on the high end of the classic series' visual effects and aesthetics. This is a nice surprise given that the production crew resorted to filming in a car park, but it genuinely looks and feels like filming took place in another country such as Spain. The well of energy is amazing and wouldn't look out of place in the new series, and the Gods of Ragnarok with the bolts of energy they fire from their hands equally wouldn't look out of place in either the Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat era of the show.

One common criticism of the story is Whizzkid (played by Gian Sammarco). Whilst many don't like the character because he is a clear dig by John Nathan Turner at the show's fans, my issue is not so much that it's insulting towards Whovians but more that Whizzkid only exists in this story for that very reason. There's no clear narrative reason for why he dresses in 80's geek fashion, or rides a bike. He's literally just written as an excuse for John Nathan Turner to channel his fury at the time of the fanbase's negativity through Stephen Wyatt. The line about 'It's not as good as it used to be' is clear arrogance of the then-current production team's ignorance towards the criticism the show had been receiving. It's not so much that it's lashing out at Whovians but more that it shows a certain holier-than-thou ignorance that is pretty unforgivable.

Having said that, the story does have some good ideas. The bus conductor robot is cool, and the use of music works very well. I can't imagine raps will ever work as well in the show as they do here; the raps make sense for the ringmaster's (Ricco Ross) character and are extremely catchy unlike the awful drivel most rapping consists of. The good ideas just don't outweigh the bad.

Although there was clearly something not quite right about Captain Cook, I'm not sure I liked him as an antagonist - why was he so cruel towards Mags, for instance, when it is said in dialogue that he had previously saved her? I'm also not sure about the bizarre notion that Ace can hear Mags' scream in part one but not The Doctor. Unless I missed it, I don't believe it was ever explained why this was the case. Surely it would make more sense had the Doctor heard it and not Ace, given that The Doctor is of a different species?

Overall, The Greatest Show In The Galaxy isn't a terrible story but it isn't as great as its reputation suggests either. It's marred by problems, such as characters who are too over the top to be taken seriously and pacing issues. There are a few good ideas in the story though and the visuals are breathtaking despite the fact that it was filmed in a BBC car park. It's certainly an improvement on the writer's previous serial Paradise Towers, however that's not saying much. The Greatest Show In The Galaxy is not the Genesis of the Daleks of Sylvester McCoy's serials but it's passable for the state the show was in at the time.

Paradise Towers is one of those stories that is often ridiculed by the Whovian fanbase - and it's not hard to see why. But I'll come to that later. The story was the result of a falling out between producer John Nathan Turner and script editor Eric Saward; John Nathan Turner was determined to find a writer who had never worked on the show before. He came across writer Stephen Wyatt at the BBC's script unit and asked him to submit a story for the show. That story was, of course, Paradise Towers.

Paradise Towers starts with the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Mel (Bonnie Langford) planning to visit a luxurious residential complex called Paradise Towers. Mel watches a promotional video for the towers that shows it as a beautiful complex, complete with a massive swimming pool. However when they arrive, they find it in a state of disrepair. The residents have become primitive tribes with no idea what a vending machine is and the place is run by the Caretakers; a group of people who keep surveillance on the towers and worship 'the Great Architect'. Their boss, the Chief Caretaker (Richard Briers) is secretly feeding the population of the Towers to the robotic Cleaners and the 'Great Architect' himself.

The premise of a luxury complex becoming run down to the point where it creates a tribal civilisation is a strong one that unfortunately doesn't follow through. The performances are too over the top to be taken seriously, especially those by the Red Kangs and Blue Kangs. The teenage actors who play the Red and Blue Kangs are annoying and come across as though they are in an amateur theatre production of Doctor Who rather than young professional actors. Many complain about Richard Briers but I actually didn't mind him so much; he at least seems like he belongs in a Doctor Who story. Perhaps he went too far when the 'Great Architect' (otherwise known as 'Kroagnon') possessed the Chief Caretaker's body but in my view if anybody can be accused as too camp the real culprits are Tabby (Elizabeth Spriggs) and Tilda (Brenda Bruce). I found myself rolling my eyes at every one of their scenes; they are too over the top as the stereotypical 'sweet old ladies'. Even when they reveal their real nasty intentions they still continue to ham it up.

The mention of these two ladies brings me onto my next point: Mel is too gullible. She meets Tabby and Tilda once in the story and already she trusts them when they offer to give her tea and cake. Had she never learnt when she was little not to talk to strangers? Even so, you would have thought travelling with the Doctor would have opened her eyes a bit not to be tricked so easily by offerings of food and drink. If I were in an unfamiliar environment and two old ladies randomly invited me round for a cup of tea and cake, flowering me with praise despite it being the first meeting I would be more than a little suspicious of what they were up to. Yet Mel acts as if it's normal.

But it's not only Mel who acts like an idiot in this story: the caretakers are pretty stupid too. The seventh Doctor may be the king of manipulation but it doesn't take him much to manipulate them to let him go when they're holding him prisoner. He literally takes their rule book (basically a book of the law of Paradise Towers) and fabricates rules up that say 'After you have been guarding the condemned prisoner for 30 minutes, you must stand up...move five paces away from the prisoner...close their eyes...put their hands above their head...for a minute and a half'. They don't even bother to snatch the rule book from the Doctor and check it themselves.

This all leads to the story feeling devoid of danger and peril. The caretakers pose no threat to the Doctor precisely because they are bone-dead stupid. Even the cast of The Only Way Is Essex would do a better job of guarding a prisoner for execution than these lot. Even the crab toy that attacks Mel in the swimming pool doesn't pose much of a threat. It just grabs her whilst she frails around in the water screaming. In the time it takes for Pex (Howard Cooke) to chuck her his weapon, it could have ripped her legs off or done something equally as horrifying. But no: instead it just holds her legs.

As for Pex, this character can be summed up in two words: useless and annoying. Pretty much every time he is onscreen they remind you that he's a coward yet when it gets to the pool gathering near the beginning of episode four all of a sudden we are supposed to sympathise with him when the Kangs call him a 'cowardly custard'. Well, sorry Paradise Towers: I may love Doctor Who but you have to earn the right for me to care about a character being called a 'coward'. He quite simply deserves it. Pex makes Mel look brave in comparison and she was never one of the Doctor's bravest companions (even if I personally don't mind her). There's an odd moment in the serial where Mel congratulates him for saving her but he doesn't even do anything. One of the Cleaners takes the old ladies instead. Why not give credit to the Cleaners instead?

The Cleaners are the literal heroes of this otherwise bad story, in the sense that they are the only good thing about it. I like the Cleaners a lot; their design is the kind of satiric look that the story of Paradise Towers should have had. The idea of evil cleaning robots in a tower block that's supposed to be a paradise is nicely ironic by Stephen Wyatt and their scenes are generally better directed by Nicholas Mallett (especially the scene where one of the Cleaner's hands comes through a rubbish chute and pulls one of the old ladies down).

The rest of the direction falls flat, as if Nicholas Mallett didn't know what to do with the story either. The Cleaners are pretty much the only enemies here that feel like they are a danger to the characters of the story. Funnily enough, for robots that don't communicate and are basically just serviceable machines they are probably the most intelligent characters in the story bar the Doctor.

Overall, Paradise Towers is probably Doctor Who's biggest missed opportunity. It has a strong premise that is woefully executed with over the top acting and dumb characters who make Kevin from the 2016 Ghostbusters movie look like a genius in comparison.

The story as a result of the Caretakers' dim behaviour has a lack of danger and peril; only the Cleaners seem remotely menacing in this story. Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford clearly try their hardest to sell this story and neither are to blame for Paradise Towers' failings; both give good performances as the Doctor and Mel but it's not enough to save the story when you have strange scenes that hail cowardly Pex a 'hero' and make Mel come across as way too gullible than she has any right to be. Paradise Towers is definitely a Doctor Who story you should skip, unless you want to deafen yourself with the Kangs' awful shouting.

I'm going to make a Whovian confession: I like Time And The Rani. Yes: it has its flaws. Yes: it's not the best Doctor Who story. Yes: it's a shame Colin Baker didn't agree to return for the regeneration. But it's fun.

Time And The Rani sees the Rani gather together the best minds to create the most intelligent brain and allow her to control an asteroid and release a substance that will convert the planet Lakertya into a time manipulator. As mentioned, I had a lot of fun watching this serial. It's completely barking mad and granted, sometimes it can be a hindrance to the serial (the Rani's a little too camp) but it's never a chore to watch. It's amazing how well Sylvester McCoy slips into the role of the Doctor also; if there was no regeneration and you didn't know it was his serial you'd think he'd have been playing the Doctor for a while.

One thing I do think could have been better than the Rani dressing as Mel though is if she had used a perception filter instead. The Rani dressed as Mel looks too silly to be taken seriously, especially when there's technology in Doctor Who lore that could have been used instead. Kate O'Mara is clearly having a lot of fun though and her chemistry with Sylvester McCoy is brilliant onscreen.

I also don't mind Bonnie Langford as Mel like many do. Yeah, she screams a lot but so did Sarah Jane contrary to popular belief. She's a fun energetic character who Bonnie Langford gives a lot of energy to; it's just a shame more wasn't made out of her being a computer programmer.

The regeneration is also not as bad as some would lead to believe. It was never going to be perfect without Colin Baker but they did a good job with his absence considering this was before the CGI we have today. Who can blame Colin Baker for deciding not to return either when they fired him for the show losing popularity when arguably that wasn't his fault?

Overall, Time And The Rani is an incredibly fun serial which sometimes slips too far into camp territory.

The original review was 4/5 but I think I was perhaps a tad generous with that score. It's more like a 3/5.

A solid conclusion. Great hearing more of Mr Smith, and my God is Honor a ruthless baddie, unafraid to launch drones on the London Underground alien refugees. I do think it's a shame that the Doctor doesn't actually show up at the end, as it does make it feel like an anticlimax when the second series has all been built around Cleo being unable to contact the Doctor, and Honor wanting a TARDIS.

This one gave me a real nostalgia kick for The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's excellent hearing Mr Smith again, especially as we even get the iconic fanfare. I never knew being trapped inside a forcefield could be so dangerous though, and poor Cleo believing she could trust Apex Costa. Anyone who would lash out at Mr Smith, or anyone from The Sarah Jane Adventures, isn't worth knowing.

This one has some interesting ideas, like a hidden door to a secret base disguised in a shopping aisle with cat food. Although it's not too shocking that Apex is the thief who's been stealing alien artifacts, it does create some great ambiguity surrounding his character. Should Cleo really be so quick to trust him, even if he did take her into space?

A solid instalment. The alien world underneath London is an interesting idea, if a bit similar to Trap Street in Face The Raven. The Torchwood House alien scenes are suitably creepy, and Apex's character arc takes an unexpected turn. His desire to steal a TARDIS makes him seem very similar to the Doctor.

A very interesting one. This instalment introduces us to Apex Foster, a time and space traveler who documents alien species. The claim that something is affecting the Doctor's timeline feels like a deliberate tie-in to the 60th. Apex proves a great Doctor substitute, and still feels different enough to be his own character.

The Torchwood sub plot seems as though it could go somewhere interesting, and I do wonder if any Torchwood personnel from TV could pop up. Gwen Cooper perhaps?

Brilliant opener to Series 2. Like the first series, it contains some fun callbacks to previous Doctor Who stories (I particularly loved the references to Rose and The Fires Of Pompeii). I feel for Cleo with her transphobic experiences, as it can't be fun for her with her drama teacher not taking her seriously, and her date being put out by her trans status. Excellent to hear Rani Chandra again too.

This is quite honestly the best conclusion there could have been to this series. There's a great early twist with Cleo being the one still present and Abby and Shawna taken, and the perfect explanation for why Cleo has been unaffected by the psychic virus. The notion of a psychic virus is very clever, given that the Doctor is a woman who inspires many people. It essentially weaponizes her encounters and influence on humanity.

Jodie Whittaker truly excels also in this audio role, proving herself to be the ideal actor for this non-visual format.

I absolutely love that the day is saved by playing a podcast. That, to me, is the most 'Doctor Who' ending you could get to a story like this, and Doctor Who is the only show where that could work.

Interesting that there's a post credits scene with Vastra sending Cleo the Floater via Amazon Logistics (Again, very 'Doctor Who'). Could we get a Series 2? (NB: We did get a Series 2).

This is a really action packed episode, as the ghosts start to overwhelm our heroes. Vastra is a fun presence, and it's nice to see Shawna and Cleo reunited with Abby too. Shame Osgood and Cleo have now both been taken. I like that this instalment addresses UNIT's shady actions in eliminating the Silurians in "Doctor Who And The Silurians", as it shows how corrupt that organisation can be on occasion, even if they are effectively "the good guys." And the Floater is a great addition to the Doctor Who canon too, although I'm not sure I fully trust it. It seems a little too been on the idea of killing the Doctor.

A spooky and atmospheric installment in the Doctor Who Redacted series, as Cleo and Shona deal with ghosts at the Powell Estate. I loved the concept of Cleo receiving voicemails from the past, and I'm glad that my guess that Vastra was the mysterious Requiem turned out to be right. I think the writing has really captured her character from the television series well, and it makes her instantly recognisable as the Vastra we know and love.

This episode does a really great job at dealing with the emotional aftermath of Abby joining UNIT, as the podcasters deal with their feelings of betrayal. The titular Requiem figure is an intriguing presence throughout (I don't think sheactually is the Doctor, even though the Doctor appears at the end), and the support group for the lost ties in thematically with the falling out between Cleo and Shawna, and Abby. I'm interested to find out more about these 'ghosts'. What are they, and what happens when you touch them?

This episode has everything. You have a fan-pleasing return in the form of Osgood, some neat references to Rose in her Bad Wolf form and the Slitheen, AND a cameo from Jodie Whittaker. I'm interested to see what brings the podcasters back together in the next episode, seeing as this one sees them going their separate ways after Abby decides to join UNIT. Something's got to persuade Cleo and Shawna to (presumably) visit Madame Vastra.

A really gripping episode, as the podcasters are interrogated by UNIT. It contains some intriguing hints as to the Doctor having possibly gone rogue, and a great cameo from Kate Stewart, setting things in motion for the final five episodes of this fantastic audio series.

This episode really ramps up the mystery, with hotels vanishing, Queen Victoria being wiped from history and even Cleo losing her brother. There's some great classic series references here to The Web Of Fear and The Green Death, however the most impressive element is the character work, which is truly excellent. We really get to know these podcasters through these audio releases, and I hope that continues into the remaining episodes.

Another great episode. There's some really cool references to Smith And Jones here, and I like the idea that people have since dismissed the Royal Hope Hospital being transported to the moon as mass hysteria and hallucinations. It's great also to hear more Rani Chandra here, although I'm sad to learn Clyde and Luke have already been wiped from history.

A strong first episode to this 10 part audio drama. There's some very cool references to Partners In Crime here, and it's nice to hear Anjili Mohindra as Rani Chandra. It's very different to a Big Finish, but just as strong in regards to quality.

This Target novelisation veers pretty close to the televised episode overall, albeit with a lovely new ending where Willa ends up with Clara and Me. It's beautifully written, and expands on the characters' thought processes, but it would have been nice to have seen a few more new additions to the original story.

The Power of the Doctor is the new series Caves of Androzani. It's an utter masterpiece and succeeds as both a regeneration episode and a Centenary Special.

Oh my God, what an episode! I loved that. So much fun. The Sea Devils have never been better, we got some incredible sword fighting to fit in with the pirate theme, and some great moments between the Doctor and Yaz. And, of course, Dan is hilarious as always!

And the Centenary Special looks bloody incredible . Not only Ace, but Tegan Jovanka too! And Tegan wasn't even rumoured to be returning! I am so hyped for this October.

Well that was a ridiculously fun episode. Great humour, great use of the time loop tropes and some very nice Dan-Yaz and Doctor-Yaz moments. Can't wait for the Sea Devils to FINALLY return this Easter! I've been hoping they'd do that for ages!

As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I'd been looking forward to this episode more than ever, and it did not disappoint. Revolution of the Daleks was a thrilling ride from start to finish; so much was packed into that 73 minutes; Captain Jack's return was exactly what I wanted, and more. His chemistry and interactions with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor was just as I pictured they would be in my head; it's clear that Chibnall knows exactly how to write for Jack, and John Barrowman plays the part so effortlessly.

Jodie Whittaker gave her best performance yet. I absolutely loved her little nicknames for the monsters in the prison, the escape with Jack, and her confrontation with the Dalek Death Squad.

But honestly, her stand-out moment overall was that amazing exchange between the Doctor and Ryan about the events of The Timeless Children. The character work in this episode was outstanding; Chibnall really dug into the fam and their individual personalities here, and what makes them tick. The companions now feel more developed than ever.

It was a really unique Dalek plot also; a narrative revolving around a human being creating their own Daleks and growing a Kaled mutant is really unique, and the imagery of Daleks alongside riot police is quite arresting. It all feels strangely topical to 2020 despite it being filmed in 2019, what with talk of uncertainty and the Dalek tear gas.

So great to see a Dalek Civil War again too. That hasn't been done since Remembrance of the Daleks!

I'm relieved Graham didn't die. Thank God the option of him returning has been teased and left open, and it was nice to see things come full circle with Ryan trying once again to ride his bike.

Loved Jack's reference to Gwen Cooper, even if it's a shame we didn't see Torchwood. And John Bishop as a new companion? Great news!

Wow...okay.... that's going to divide the fandom! A truly astounding piece of television, so gripping, action-packed and utterly game-changing. The Doctor is back to being a fully mysterious figure again, we don't even know her species any more!

My only criticism is the same as last week: Captain Jack should have been there. He was clearly heavily linked to the Lone Cyberman arc, and his absence makes literally no sense. How did Chibnall not think at any point during writing process 'Hang on, I need Jack'?

That cliffhanger though...bloody hell, how is the Doctor going to get out of that? And how are the fam going to cope without her? It feels like watching the RTD era all over again!

Well that was a whopper of the first part of a Cyberman story. Like with World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls, you really got the sense of the Cybermen as an unstoppable threat and no idea how Yaz and Graham are going to survive. Only criticism is that Jack really needed to be there, because his warning about the Lone Cyberman linked him too closely with the Cyberman story. He has to be in the eecond part, otherwise his warning makes no sense; you have to know about something in order to be able to warn about it in the first place! (NB: Jack did not return in The Timeless Children).

There is no other word for that episode than utterly fantastic. I loved the spooky haunted house vibe, the stuff with the constantly changing house and Ashad The Lone Cyberman. Its design is impeccable, and the Cyberman  having no emotional inhibitor is  unique.

Jodie Whittaker's speech about sometimes not always being able to win and not wanting to lose someone else to the Cyber-conversion is going to go down in Who history as one of the all-time greats. Yet another instant classic after three already in one series.

Wow, that was something really special. Lovely character moments, creepy villains and stunning cinematography. Those detaching fingers were so unsettling! Loved the animated sequence, and the stuff with the Doctor and Graham, and Graham's cancer.

A solid episode of Doctor Who. Intriguing mystery with the Praxeus virus and some brilliant character moments. Missed opportunity not making it a Sea Devils return though, because this episode's plot would have been perfect for them.

The Praxeus virus mystery with the birds was interesting, but they probably could have done more with the premise, and the Jake moment should probably have been left as a sacrifice rather than the Doctor saving him from the ship last minute.

Captain Jack has made his glorious return. I have been campaigning for that on Twitter for years, ever since he never showed up during Matt Smith's time as the Doctor. The #BringBackJack hashtag has paid off!

I couldn't watch live at the time because I was working, but Jack's return more than made up for it. And finally: a black Doctor, who by the way is bloody phenomenal casting. I loved everything about that episode. It was everything I wanted from Series 12 in one episode!

Well that was a great episode! Some lovely scenes between 13 and Tesla, a great new alien menace and Jodie Whittaker delivers another strong performance. All the Thomas Edison hating was weird though. He did invent the light bulb.

Well that was another really strong episode of Doctor Who. Some more scary new monsters again, great 13 and Graham moments and a very powerful ending reminiscent of Girl In the Fireplace, only with a companion.

Bloody hell, that was everything I wanted from the conclusion of the two parter and more. Loved the confrontations between 13 and the Master, loved the dark stuff with 13 wiping Ayda’s mind despite her clear protests...and the destroyed Gallifrey...WOW.

Amazing!

So much action and suspense from start to finish, and the new aliens were creepy. Loved the cinematography with the weird forest Yaz then later the Doctor ended up in, the spy stuff, the EPIC James Bond-esque music and I did not see that 'O' Master reveal coming.

Pretty epic. Love the episode's  snazzy Dalek redesign, the extra weaponry and just how cunning the recon scout Dalek is. Its new abilities are amazing too; I was genuinely horrified when it took over Lynn - much better than the Moffat era Dalek puppets.

And then when you thought the Dalek had been defeated with the microwave (what would typically be the RTD era Dalek solution) but the Kaled mutant had actually taken over Aaron Sinclair's body - possibly one of the best fake resolutions in any Doctor Who episode ever.

Chibnall wrote a belter of a Dalek story here.

This one is a bit of a dull story. Something sends the TARDIS off-course, and they land on the base of this dead planet orbiting a pulsar. Some sort of time creature is stalking the TARDIS crew and a group of humans who are studying this alien city, and there's also some strange things concerning time running differently inside the base in comparison to on the planet's surface.

It's kind of reminiscent of the later 2017 story World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls (although the latter does the time running differently concept much better in my opinion) and also the episode of The Daleks' Master Plan where Sara Kingdom dies. There are some nice moments, such as the scene where the Doctor receives a psychic message from the Eleventh Doctor and the Second Doctor remarks on their similarities, and Frazer Hines does a fantastic job at narrating it, but I feel like more could have been done with the story overall. It plods along too slowly, and probably could have been told in forty minutes rather than an hour.

This one feels the most important to the Doctor's future, considering that the opening and closing scenes follow two companions who had their memories wiped like the Doctor. I can see the emotional throughline where Zoe speaks of the cruelty of memory wiping flowing into Donna's situation, and the hint that Jamie and Zoe may get to keep their returned memories perhaps suggests an optimistic end for Donna too.

Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury are a delight, and effortlessly slip back into their roles. Frazer Hines, in particular, is excellent, with a somehow even more convincing Scottish accent than when he was in the show.

The story itself, The Mind Robber, is a wonderfully unique affair. I admire the fantastical edge of this void where fictional creations such as Gulliver and Rapunzel can meet, and the TARDIS's collapse is a stunning visual. Jamie doesn't get a ton to do, which admittedly is partly due to Frazer Hines' illness at the time of recording, but they at least find a creative solution for Jamie's brief recast, with the Doctor getting his face wrong during the facial puzzle.

The War Games saw two milestones for Doctor Who. The first is that it's the longest Doctor Who story to date (unless you count Trial Of A Time Lord as one story) told in a whopping 10 episodes. The second is that it's the first mention of the name of the Doctor's species and their first appearance onscreen as the Time Lords (a Time Lord had been seen in The Time Meddler as the Meddling Monk but he was never referred to as such).

What makes this serial remarkable however is that over 10 episodes the story never drags. The War Games sees the Doctor taking on the War Chief (Edward Brayshaw), who has taken many historical armies including the Romans and World War 1 fighters out of time and thrown them into simulated versions of the wars they fought. This story feels like it's at exactly the right length and is a suitably epic finale for Patrick Troughton's Doctor. It's a story that echoes elements of the Moffat Era with all these various armies from Earth's history together. You could easily imagine Steven Moffat doing this.

The War Chief is also a great villain superbly played by Edward Brayshaw. It's a shame he never returned to the series as he is brilliant and could easily have become an iconic character to rival the Master. There is even a popular fan theory that he is a past incarnation of the Master and this would make a lot of sense as he shares a lot of the same qualities.

What makes this serial a true classic however are the last two episodes with the Time Lords. There is really no surprise that the Time Lords became such a recognisable alien species from the show. There's a nice element of ambiguity about them that directly mirrors the Doctor's own and you never quite where their moral compass with fall. This is more evident with new series Time Lords but it is arguably still noticeable here given their non-interference policy perhaps leading to the Earth undefended by the Doctor if they didn't decide to let him protect at least Earth. You could easily see the Time Lords allowing Earth to be invaded by the Autons and Nestene Consciousness but equally they interfered with the War Chief's plans. That's what's great about the Time Lords: you never know if they are allies or enemies.

Of course, you can't do a review of any regeneration story without mentioning the Doctor bowing out. Patrick Troughton is absolutely amazing here as his Doctor and is extremely believable at portraying his incarnation in a position where for once the evil cannot be 'fought' with him and his companions alone. You truly believe this is a desperate time for the Doctor where he has no other option but to call in his own people and his speech about his so-called 'interference' to the Time Lords is heartwarming and echoes an earlier one from The Moonbase. This is arguably among the strongest acting and writing the classic series ever saw.

Overall, the War Games is an epic 200 minute regeneration story for the 2nd Doctor and one that was a giant milestone for the show.

Spearhead From Space may have been the start of the UNIT era of the show but The Invasion was a story the production team designed to foreshadow it. It was basically to Spearhead From Space what Silence In The Library/Forest of the Dead is to The Eleventh Hour: introducing audiences to the type of stories that will be told in the upcoming new era. In Silence In The Library/Forest of the Dead we're introduced to the notion of time travel playing with the way the Doctor meets people. Then in The Eleventh Hour, we see time travel utilised so the Doctor meets his new companion Amy Pond as a child first, before meeting her as a grown-up companion. In The Invasion, meanwhile, audiences are made familiar with the concept of the Doctor working alongside UNIT to stop alien invasions.

The Invasion sees the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Zoe (Wendy Padbury) and Jamie (Frazer Hines) arrive in London looking for Travers after being fired at in space by an unknown entity. They arrive at Watkins' house to find model Isobel Watkins (Sally Faulkner), who tells them Travers has moved to America and her father Professor Watkins is staying there instead. It's not long before the TARDIS crew are drawn into a mystery concerning Watkins' mysterious disappearance (he has been missing for weeks). They learn that he works for International Electromatics and the Doctor and Jamie decide to investigate the company. After being gassed by two men watching via a video link, Tobias Vaughn (Kevin Stoney) orders security chief Packer (Peter Halliday) to take them to his office. Before long, the Doctor and Jamie cross paths with UNIT (who are investigating International Electromatics) who they find is led by their friend Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) from The Web of Fear, who is now a Brigadier.

Episode One of The Invasion sees the TARDIS crash in a field on Earth when it comes into contact with missiles. The Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) decide to find Professor Travers to help them prepare a circuit from their ship. They ring the doorbell. A young model - Isobel Watkins (Sally Faulkner) answers. She tells them that Travers is in America with his daughter Anne and her father Professor Watkins is staying in the house. Watkins works for International Electromatics and has been missing for weeks. The Doctor and Jamie decide to pay a visit to the company where he works believing Travers can help them with the repair of the circuit. In episode four, the Doctor rescues Jamie from a container containing what is later revealed to be a Cyberman. Zoe and Isobel are brought into the building by Tobias Vaughn's (Kevin Stoney) guards and taken prisoner so that they can be used as bait. Tobias threatens to the Doctor that Zoe will face the consequences if he and Jamie don't hand themselves in. UNIT save the Doctor, companions and Isobel with a helicopter: Zoe and Isobel climb through the window in the room they are imprisoned in and the helicopter pilots throw down a rope ladder for the group. The Brigadier tells them that he suspects that the ship found on the dark side of the moon and International Electromatics' deep space transmitter may link into current UFO sightings. The Doctor thinks the crates they discovered links in and decides he must go back to International Electromatics with Jamie to investigate.

Kevin Stoney is amazing as Tobias Vaughn. I have absolutely no idea why I forgot to say that for my review of The Invasion as he is without a doubt one of the show's best one-off villains. He has a very strong sinister presence and the way he plays Vaughn with such a cold, quietly menacing demeanour is captivating to watch. Of course, in two of these episodes we only get it through animation but the animators did a good job at capturing Kevin Stoney's mannerisms from the other episodes.

In fact, some may say the animators here have an advantage over, say, the animators of Power of the Daleks - who only have a few surviving clips to go on. That doesn't stop The Invasion's animated episodes from being top-class animation though. It is somewhat unsurprising that the animation is so strong given that the episodes were made by the team behind Danger Mouse - Cosgrove Hall - but everything looks so rich, crispy and detailed. Granted, it's not to the quality of Disney cartoons but animated Doctor Who episodes are never going to have that kind of budget. The Cosgrove Hall animations have been the best animated representation Doctor Who is ever going to get for a while (although judging by the trailer for The Power of the Daleks it looks like that's soon going to change). The animation here is so engrossing to watch that you forget about the Cybermen's absence until the end of episode 4 (despite this being a Cyberman serial).

What really works about the animation is the genius decision to animate it in black and white. With the releases of The Reign of Terror, The Moonbase, Planet of Giants and The Ice Warriors it is easy to forget that black and white may not have been the standard for animated missing episodes of Doctor Who before 2006. It is thanks to the decision made by Cosgrove Hall that we get these animations in black and white. Black and white is extremely effective for missing William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton serials not just because the real episodes were black and white (making the animation authentic) but also because it's very atmospheric. One of the things I enjoy about watching Hartnell and Troughton era Doctor Who is the atmosphere that the episodes not being in colour provides. An Unearthly Child wouldn't be the same colourised - and the same goes for The Invasion. Black and white adds to the 'hide behind the sofa' value of Doctor Who; it gifts a certain chill to proceedings that wouldn't be there if they had been filmed in colour.

One of the things you want from an animation recreating a missing episode like this is for the characters to look like the actors they represent - and this is certainly true here. They look exactly like them, meaning that watching the animation mixed with the live-action isn't a distracting experience at all.

The best character design in my opinion is that of the second Doctor. The animated Doctor basically is Patrick Troughton here and from pictures of recent animation efforts I don't think any other company has even come close to providing a better likeness than here...that was before the Power of the Daleks announcement. That's right: the animation company behind The Power of the Daleks has somehow managed to improve on Cosgrove Hall's second Doctor:

The thing I find most incredible about The Invasion animations though is the quality of the off-air audio recording. It sounds as though it was recorded today rather than nearly fifty years in the past. The sound is crystal clear and you can hear everything that is said perfectly. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it sounds almost as though it was recorded especially for the animated episodes. There's no obvious sound problems, no sudden dip in the quality between the audio of the surviving episodes and the missing episodes' audio. It's simply a perfect recording and helps contribute to what is arguably the best animated representation of missing Doctor Who episodes so far...until Power of the Daleks, of course, which is obviously going to be awesome.

The Invasion is a very bold and successful story for the show as despite the fact that it takes four out of eight episodes for the story's monsters to turn up (the Cybermen) it never drags or feels particularly slow. The entire story is immersive and well-paced, especially compared to something like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood from the new series (which feels slow and drawn-out). I actually would have liked to have seen more Decond Doctor stories like this as he works extremely well with UNIT. Patrick Troughton and Nicholas Courtney have so much chemistry together and it's a shame Nicholas Courtney didn't appear in more Patrick Troughton serials.

The most noticeable thing about this serial is that it feels as though it's among the higher-budgeted of the classic series serials. Like The Enemy of the World, it has a helicopter but there are also many different locations such as the Watkins' house, Tobias Vaughn's office, UNIT's mobile HQ and the sewers. The serial was also filmed in London, which no doubt would have cost a lot at the time. I'd say most of season six's budget was probably spent on this serial. If so, it definitely shows and it makes it a good serial for any Whovians who have currently only watched the new series but want to give the classic series a go. They won't be as distracted by the shoestring budget as with other serials such as The Invisible Enemy or The Krotons.

The one thing that might put off Whovians who have only seen the new series is something I've already mentioned: the fact it takes four episodes before the Cybermen show up. Personally I would argue this is one of the serial's strong points. The slow build-up invasion is very effective for this serial as it allows the focus to be more on the sinister Tobias Vaughn than if the Cybermen had been in the story from the start and subsequently overshadowed him. Once they do return, it's more than worth the wait. You get some truly iconic shots, such as the Cybermen marching down the steps of St Paul's Cathedral or the Cybermen in the sewers. These are shots that have been a huge inspiration for the new series, with the Cybermen St Paul's Cathedral shot rehashed in Dark Water/Death In Heaven.

It's a shame Sally Faulkener's Isobel Watkins didn't become a companion after this serial as she is brilliant. I would have loved to have seen Isobel travelling in the TARDIS alongside Jamie and Zoe; it would have offered a nice dynamic. Perhaps the Second Doctor  could have got frustrated each time she spends too long deliberating over what to wear before leaving the TARDIS? Whatever they'd have done, Sally Faukener clearly has a lot of chemistry with Wendy Padbury in particular and it is always nice to see a young strong female character (Isobel bravely takes pictures of the Cybermen in the sewers) comparable to a modern day contemporary character than one from the 60s. The classic series did have a good track record for strong female characters - Barbara Wright, for example - and Isobel continued the show's trend at the time to be ahead of its time. Of course, the show's main cast are all on top form in this serial as usual - especially Patrick Troughton when he expresses his annoyance at the answering machine at International Electromatics - and Nicholas Courtney is brilliant but Sally Faulkener steals the show as Isobel Watkins.

Overall, The Invasion is one of the show's best serials to feature the Cybermen. It is expertly paced and features one of Doctor Who's all-time greatest one-off characters in Isobel Watkins. It is a shame that she never became a companion as she is a brilliant character and Sally Faulkener displays a lot of chemistry alongside the show's cast in the story. I looked to see if Big Finish have ever used the character but unfortunately they haven't. Hopefully one day they will as she deserves to return in some form.

In 2013, two missing stories were recovered by a missing films hunter called Phil Morris; one was complete, the other missing only one episode out of six. The complete one was Enemy of the World, a story featuring Patrick Troughton playing two characters: the Doctor himself and a ruthless dictator called Salamander.

The plot is a relatively simple one. The Doctor and his companions Jamie and Victoria arrive in the near future (2018), where the Doctor is mistaken for Salamander by a group of spies and is persuaded to use his uncanny resemblance to bring him down before he causes the end of the world through creating natural disasters. The first thing to note is this doesn't feel like a Doctor Who story; it is a strange entity as it feels more like a spy thriller. Salamander is more 'Bond villain' than one who usually appears in the show. Also, the story has a surprisingly dark ending where the TARDIS doors are opened and Salamander falls out into the time vortex.  It's a nice break from the usual but it never feels quite as engaging as a typical Doctor Who story.

The best thing to watch this serial for is Patrick Troughton in his dual role. Patrick Troughton does a fantastic job as both his incarnation of the Doctor and Salamander; it's amazing how he manages to make both characters different from each other even though he is having to juggle playing both. He slips effortlessly back into playing the Doctor after taking a turn at Salamander and vice versa. It feels like watching two different actors rather than just one; I think it is a shame the new series didn't attempt this in series 9 by having an episode set in Pompeii so Peter Capaldi could play both the Doctor and Caelicius because it would be interesting to see how the new series would handle it.

The settings and production work are also great.  The production values here are excellent. The serial feels expensive, especially with location filming on a beach and the stuff with the lift that goes underground to the people who believe a nuclear war has devastated the Earth. Everything feels like it cost more than other serials at the time and alongside that you can tell the production crew put in a lot of work.

Overall, The Enemy of the World isn't quite as engaging as your average Doctor Who story but it's still a recommended watch due to Patrick Troughton's fantastic dual performance and the impressively high production values. There is even a helicopter.

A really clever and thought-provoking tale about a major cover-up in a human colony. It’s quite reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, with the colonists brainwashed into believing everything is fine and “There’s no such thing as Macra”, and I like that Ben becomes brainwashed by the Macra too. It raises the personal stakes nicely, and adds an interesting bit of conflict between Ben, the Doctor and his friends.

I have a certain fondness for the LEGO games, so when I found out LEGO were going to be taking on my favourite TV series as part of LEGO Dimensions I was more than a little excited. Especially when it turned out Doctor Who would be getting a level pack - a level that's designed to show what a LEGO game based on the franchise would look like by providing a level.

As you would expect for a LEGO game, the story's pretty basic so there's no complex paradoxes here. The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) arrives in a future London where the Daleks have launched a wide invasion. In order to stop the Dalek invasion, he must travel back to Victorian and 2015 London (where a familiar junkyard can be found) before using a teleporter in future London to arrive on the Dalek spaceship and fight Davros (Julian Bleach). What's really cool with this story is how it combines a classic series feel with a new series vibe. You basically have the timey wimey element of the Moffat era with a plot that bares obvious similarities to The Dalek Invasion of Earth (which the game developer Traveller's Tales lovingly poke fun at themselves with by calling it 'The Dalek Extermination of Earth'). This kind of feels like how that classic 1964 serial would have looked like if it had been a LEGO animation with a big budget. Obviously Davros wouldn't have been included considering he wasn't introduced until Genesis of the Daleks but apart from that you could imagine this is what the production team would have gone for with LEGO's resources.

There are so many nice references to the show throughout this videogame level too, such as the I.M. Foreman junkyard and all the Doctors in the LEGO recreation of the current title sequence. Davros even appears in his Remembrance of the Daleks look. There is no doubt about it that Traveller's Tales are massive fans of the show. One moment that many other Whovians like myself are sure to love is when you have to rescue Clara Oswald from a K1 Robot from Tom Baker's debut serial as the Doctor 'Robot'.

LEGO is the perfect fit for Doctor Who too. The LEGO games often rely on puzzle solving and this is fitting with the TV series. The show does, after all, encourage the use of brains over brawn in order to solve situations. It's probably the best way to do a Doctor Who game that feels appropriate for the show. One part of the game requires you to move the Doctor around a Pac-Man style maze and hit four red buttons in order to hack a computer terminal. It may sound odd written like this but these Pac-Man mazes offer a lot of fun and variety to the gameplay, which some would argue the LEGO games need after using their successful formula for so long.

The most amazing thing about the Doctor Who level pack, however, is that not only do you get a level but you get every incarnation of the Doctor. That's right: as well as Peter Capaldi you get William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and even John Hurt. Each Doctor has their respective TARDIS console rooms too. William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton's are in black and white! This is only a small portion of the LEGO Dimensions game but the attention to detail is incredible. The Adventure World (basically, a hub world) itself has Present Day London, Skaro, Mars, Trenzalore and even the Cybermen's second home planet Telos.

Every voice actor used for the characters is from the series too. Peter Capaldi voices the Doctor, Jenna Coleman is Clara, Michelle Gomez is Missy, Julian Bleach plays Davros, Nicholas Briggs voices the Daleks and Cybermen, Neve McIntosh voices Vastra, Dan Starkey is Strax and they even have John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. This allows for a very authentic take on the TV series, meaning it actually feels like playing in the world of the TV show recreated in LEGO. Even the other Doctors have voice clips taken from the TV series, when they could easily have been left mute like other characters in the game such as Bart Simpson.

Overall, The Dalek Extermination of Earth is a brilliant LEGO Doctor Who level pack for the fantastic game LEGO Dimensions and one any Whovian should buy. It's an authentic LEGO take on the series full of many fan references and voiced by actors from the show. The gameplay is relevant to the series' theme of brain over brawn and the story nicely acknowledges the classic series serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth. I hope at some point we get a fully-fledged Doctor Who videogame or at the very least some more NFC minifigures (Strax has seemingly leaked out as one who will be playable at some point) as it would be a shame if this and the Cyberman fun pack were to be the only LEGO Doctor Who videogame content.

It's amazing to think that not only has Doctor Who Magazine lasted 500 issues, but that by doing so it has broken the Guinness World Record for longest running TV tie-in magazine. One of my favourite features about DWM has always been the comic strip so it's nice that it formed a major part of the magazine's celebrations.

The Stockbridge Showdown sees the 12th Doctor return to Stockbridge, a prominent village in the Doctor's magazine adventures. The TARDIS has 'found' UFO spotter Maxwell Edison who the Doctor needs as 'local knowledge' to find the cause of some temporal distortions. This quite rightly feels like a celebration of Doctor Who Magazine, with popular comic characters from the magazine's past 500 issues returning such as Frobisher, Magenta Price and of course, Maxwell himself. The problem is that some of these character inclusions feel forced and don't really compliment the narrative. The story is good overall for a comic strip although I can't help but think it would have worked better as just a 12th Doctor and Max tale.

My other problem with is that the conclusion feels a bit rushed and somewhat convenient. Don't get me wrong, the twist of who the trap is really for is clever but it feels more than a little forced, especially the way Frobisher is revealed. The comic strip had a few extra pages than usual but with the number of characters featured in the strip it would probably have benefitted from numerous parts. One thing you can't deny though is that it does undeniably feel comic book-y with the numerous characters featured. It wouldn't be a story that would work on TV but as a comic strip it is workable.

The use of different artists from DWM's past didn't quite work in its favour either. It's a great idea to have numerous artists like Dave Gibbons and Adrian Salmon work on one strip but ultimately in execution it didn't pay off. There are too many comic strip styles on display and the whole thing feels disjointed rather than one whole piece. It's like the artists couldn't agree on one style to use so opted for different ones. It can occasionally make for a muddled and confusing read as the sudden change drags you out of the story.

The dialogue by Dave Gibbons and Roger Langridge is brilliant though. They have got the characterisation of the 12th Doctor perfect and clearly know their DWM history. In fact, it feels like a natural progression from the 12th Doctor as seen in The Husbands of River Song (interesting fact: this is actually the first Doctor-only, no Clara comic strip from DWM). The dialogue is completely faultless and probably one of the most authentic 12th Doctor comic strips I have read.

Overall, The Stockbridge Showdown certainly isn't among DWM's best comic strips. The dialogue is strong and the idea of using different artists from the magazine's history is a good one but unfortunately it just doesn't quite gel in execution and a lot of the characters feel somewhat forced into the narrative rather than fitting in naturally.

Sometimes the word 'gimmick' is thrown around too often as a negative thing. 'Oh, it's just a gimmick', people say. 'It doesn't matter'. Personally, I don't mind gimmicks. Gimmicks are fun - and what's wrong with that? You don't hear people complain about watching films or television shows because they're 'fun' so why should a gimmick be seen as a bad thing? You may wonder how this relates to the review I am writing. Well, the  Twelfth Doctor strip The Fourth Wall is one of those gimmicks.

The Fourth Wall sees the Doctor and Clara arrive at a comic book shop, to find that customers to the comic store have been trapped in the very comics they have been reading. The Doctor's attention is drawn towards a comic book series baring remarkable similarities to his adventures - 'Time Surgeon' - and starts to skip through the pages when he is trapped inside the book. It's up to Clara and one of the comic store staff to team up to save the Doctor and the customers who have been trapped in the comic books.

The gimmick I refer to here is the Doctor's interactions with the comic strip environment. Not only does he communicate with the reader through the panels of the strip but he also interacts with the white bars that separate the panels. The way the narrative plays with the comic strip and the interaction with the environment is extremely clever and helps to enhance the story; at one point, for example, the Doctor breaks one of the white bars with his Sonic Screwdriver in order to escape a comic panel. It's fun to see a comic book story have its characters interact with the comic strip and display a Deadpool-esque awareness that they are inside one. I wouldn't want to see this done with every Doctor Who strip but as a one-off it shows real imagination and innovation from the writers.

The notion of people trapped inside comic books is also something that feels appropriately like a Steven Moffat story. Writer Robbie Morrison does a great job of taking an everyday object like a comic book and turning it into a credible threat. He also shows a clear love and dedication for the comic strip medium; at its most basic, the story is a love letter to comic books told by somebody who is clearly a comic book fan. This is the kind of story that I wouldn't just recommend to Whovians but also those who love the comic book medium.

You can also tell Robbie Morrison is a keen watcher of the show. The characterisations of the Doctor and Clara are perfect. I heard Jenna Coleman's voice when reading Clara's speech bubbles more than I did when reading any other Titan Comics Doctor Who strip and the twelfth Doctor feels like he was actually written by one of Doctor Who's current writers. The Fourth Wall is a comic that you could easily imagine being told on-screen; I don't know if it would have worked as well as a television episode but it does seem like an adventure that fits into the current era of the show.

The Fourth Wall also contains some of the best comic book art of the Twelfth Doctor series. Some of the panels are extremely vibrant and really bump off the page, especially the comic panel where the Doctor and his new friend Natalie have broken from the comic panels and travelling through dimensions of comic history (featuring some nice floating panels of the previous twelfth Doctor year two story). It's visually pleasing to look at and captures nice likenesses of the Doctor and Clara.

If I had one complaint of The Fourth Wall, it's the decision to make the monsters of the strip be the Boneless. Whilst the Boneless make sense as monsters yet again breaking out of the two dimension plane of comic book pages and in turn trapping readers within the panels, it just feels too soon for a returning monster after the Sea Devils returned only a monster before. I would have liked to have seen a new monster for a change or perhaps this story later in the run, with new twelfth Doctor and Clara stories between Clara Oswald and the School of Death and The Fourth Wall. I hope the twelfth Doctor comics don't start to make a habit of bringing back returning monsters as whilst it is nice to see them in the comics medium if they do it too often it will become expected rather than a good surprise.

Overall, The Fourth Wall is a fantastic comic book story that uses the medium to its full advantage. The way the Doctor interacts with the comic strip environment is clever and well thought-out by writer Robbie Morrison and the story feels like it belongs in the Moffat era of the show. The Fourth Wall does what the best Doctor Who stories do: it takes an everyday object like comic books and turns them into a credible threat. The characterisations and likenesses of the twelfth Doctor and Clara are at their best here; you won't find a more accurate version of the twelfth Doctor and Clara's adventures together in the Titan Comics range than this one. My only complaint is that the story features yet another returning monster so soon after the Sea Devils in Clara Oswald and the School of Death but it doesn't stop The Fourth Wall from being one of the twelfth Doctor's greatest comic adventures so far.

As expected from Paul Cornell, so very well-written; it really delves into the characters' thoughts and feelings, and delivers information that would have been impossible to show on TV without a big exposition dump.

Still far from the strongest Doctor Who story, but the Target novelisation affords Rona Munro some added depth for the Ninth Legion characters. We get more of Kar's backstory, and the Picts and Legion's attempts to guard the portal, which means their decision to step through the portal to keep the titular monster at bay has more impact.

Bill comes across as weirdly confrontational in the way she's described in the text, particularly at the beginning, when challenging the Doctor's views on what happened to the missing Ninth Legion. Overall, however, this story works much  better in prose than it did as a TV episode.

There are some really cool additions to this Target novelization, like a backstory for Bonnie that reveals how she had met a Zygon who took on the form of Danny Pink and called himself 'Clyde'. It does a particularly excellent job at diving deeper into Bonnie's motivations, and why she is so bitter towards the ceasefire.

It's also interesting reading The Day Of The Doctor from Osgood's perspective. It's a neat way of incorporating the flashback to Day of the Doctor at the beginning of the story.

The Multi-Master story: a concept that has surprisingly never been done on TV before. Until now. Last year Big Finish released the first ever Multi-Master story in The Two Masters, but this is the first time it has been done in the main series. We've had The Day of the Doctor, this is The Day of the Master. The day many Whovians have waited for all their lives. Thankfully this landmark story more than lives up to the hype of the first Multi-Master adventure - I suspect even the most skeptic Moffat hater would find it hard not to enjoy it.

In World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) decides to test Missy's (Michelle Gomez) apparent insistence that she wants to turn good, by picking a random distress call and sending her to investigate with the Doctor's companions Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas). They arrive on a Mondasian colony ship, and things quickly go awry [spoiler]when the ship's blue-skinned caretaker Jorj (Oliver lansley) shoots Bill. Partially converted Cybermen take Bill's body to a hospital onboard a ship, where she meets Razor (John Simm), a seemingly friendly man who works at the hospital. Later John Simm's Master confronts Missy; he is concerned about his future as a potential ally of the Doctor, and persuades his later incarnation to team up with him and turn the entire colony ship into a giant Cyber-factory.

The Multi-Master interaction in this story is everything you would hope for. It's funny, menacing, intimidatory and totally unhinged (more in a subtle way as opposed to the clown-like antics of Simm's Master in the RTD era). John Simm and Michelle Gomez have so much chemistry, and their interactions are on par with the Second and Third Doctors in The Three Doctors, or David Tennant and Matt Smith in The Day Of The Doctor.

The ending is absolute perfection for a Multi-Master story - the Simm Master kills Missy, Missy kills the Simm Master. Their Multi-Master interaction ends the only way it could: with utter betrayal.

Some fellow fans were not happy with John Simm's portrayal of the Master as insane in the Russell T Davies era. In this story, however, Steven Moffat has wisely written the part more like the classic series style of the Master and John Simm clearly relishes being able to play the role more like Roger Delgado. Several elements of the classic series Master return, including the use of disguisest (The Razor disguise is fantastic - the prosthetics do a great job of disguising John Simm's face beyond recognition), a goatee, and a more suave and sophisticated demeanour. John Simm is allowed to play the Master as the darker incarnation Russell T Davies wouldn't allow - the way he always wanted to play the Master - and his performance clearly improves for it. It's a significant improvement on the Simm Master's previous appearances, and sees John Simm fast become one of the best incarnations of the Master of all time. He almost gives Michelle Gomez a run for her money.

Michelle Gomez still remains my favourite Master. She is the Tom Baker of the Masters in my view - the one who people will look back on in years to come as the definitive Master. Michelle Gomez has given her incarnation so much depth and complexity, and Steven Moffat has written the incarnation with so much ambiguity you have no idea what she's going to do next. She's not a black and white villain, she's so much more than that. She could look to be helping the Doctor one minute, then completely stab him in the back the next. Here the mystery surrounding Missy's motives is played with to great effect in that it's never entirely clear at any given moment whether she's helping the Doctor or she has truly joined forces with her previous incarnation. At one point she tells the Doctor 'I was on your side all along', only to climb a ladder hanging from a ship piloted by Nardole and attempt to leave the Doctor behind with the Cybermen. She claims to Nardole he's dead, and Simm's Master repeats her claims. This ambiguity feels very Hitchcockian, which feels oddly appropriate for a story featuring the Cybermen.

There's a very dark vibe throughout, and the story feels like it's deliberately evoking the Philip Hinchcliffe era of Doctor Who. Missy and the Master have a very disturbing romance - they dance and flirt with each other, and it's clear Simm's Master has feelings for Missy - in a way that feels like it would have almost certainly received an avalanche of complaints from Mary Whitehouse. The romance between these characters is so creepy it feels almost like it belongs in the DC Comics' series Gotham. Indeed, Michelle Gomez is even a part of that universe - although John Simm currently isn't.

The dark vibe continues with the use of the Mondasian Cybermen from The Tenth Planet. I wasn't sure whether they would work brilliantly for HD television, but in this instance I'm happy to be wrong. Their low-budget design makes them all the more scary in HD, and at no point does the design look so low-budget in crystal clear imagery that it looks noticeably low-budget. These Cybermen absolutely work for modern television, and there is a strong narrative reason for why the Tenth Planet Cybermen are there. This is the 'genesis of the Cybermen' - as Simm's Master calls it - onboard a Mondasian colony ship, so this design is needed for the story to work. Some diehard fans may worry that this contradicts Big Finish's Spare Parts, but as this takes place away from Mondas both origins can exist in the same continuity.

I'm glad Steven Moffat decided to do this story, because it is by far the most terrifying the Cybermen have ever been in the new series - and arguably in the show's entire history. World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls is full-on horror, with scenes such as partially converted Cybermen chanting the word 'pain' as Bill walks down a hospital ward and references to the Cybermen converting children because 'there's less waste'.

At one point, we see a fully-converted Cyber-Bill who believes she is human discover the truth that she has become a Mondasian Cyberman by staring into a mirror; it's a shocking moment that brings to mind classic Doctor Who serials such as The Ark In Space or The Brain of Morbius in its disturbing imagery.

The cinematography is excellent throughout, with the Mondasian Cybermen largely kept darkly-lit or in orangey apocalyptic lighting. They do appear in a bright environment with the solar farm in The Doctor Falls, but the design is surprisingly not hampered by that. They still appear threatening, and no design flaws are exposed when they are in the open.

There's also a great moment where you see Bill in the human form she thinks she still carries and the shadow of her actual Cyber self on the wall.

It's a nice touch that adds to the classic Jeykll and Hyde-esque imagery.

Talking about Cybermen, it's important to note that this isn't just a Multi-Master story but it's also a Multi-Cyberman one. We see more than one variation of the Cybermen, and it's a delight to see them share the screen. The Cybus Cybermen and the Gaiman Cybermen appear alongside the Mondasian Cybermen; neither feel like they steal the spotlight from the Mondasian Cybermen, and the Multi-Cyberman aspect is executed better than the Multi-Dalek stuff in Asylum Of The Daleks. It even works better than the Multi-Dalek element of The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar; having more than one variation of the Cybermen is explained through the colony ship experiencing time dilation - time passes faster at the bottom of the ship and slower at the top. This means when the Mondasian Cybermen are at the bottom of the ship they have years to upgrade themselves into the Gaiman variation, whereas for any Mondasian Cybermen who, say, find themselves at the top where time is slower only ten seconds pass.

This two part finale sees without a doubt the best performance Peter Capaldi has ever given as his incarnation of the Doctor. It will be sad to see him go, especially when his acting here shows he has so much more to give. The way he screams 'NO!' in this episode when Missy appears to decide not to stand with him is one of the most powerful moments of his incarnation, and on the strength of this acting abilities here he deserves to win a National TV Award for 'Best Actor' next year. Hell, he deserves to win an Oscar.

As does Pearl Mackie. The Series 10 trailers for Pearl Mackie did her no justice, the promotional material making her performance look rather one-note. She's far from that. Pearl Mackie has been a revelation as Bill Potts, delivering one of the best companion portrayals in the series so far. She is instantly endearing, and gets an utterly fantastic exit from the show. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's one of the best companion departures the show has ever done.

Bill remains a Cyberman right to the very end, and when her end approaches her essence is saved by Heather (Stephanie Hyam) from The Pilot. The consequences of travelling with the Doctor still remain, Bill is still dead but her spirit continues in puddle form travelling the universe with her true love.

I criticised Stephanie Hyam in my review of The Pilot, but here she does a great job. It's only a small cameo appearance, but Heather feels less void of personality and more like a real person (or as real a sentient space puddle zombie can be). She's not a highlight of the episode by any means, but it is definitely a step-up from her appearance in The Pilot.

Matt Lucas is enjoyable as usual in the role of Nardole, and the character fulfils an important function in the story of helping defend the solar farm against the Cybermen with grenades disguised as apples. His exit feels a bit more random, and noticeably similar to a classic series-style departure.

He falls in love with Hazran (Samantha Spiro), the mother of a group of children, and the Doctor leaves him to help aid their escape to a solar farm on a higher level of the colony ship.

The ending is a little ambiguous in that we have no idea if they manage to survive or if the Cybermen follow them up to the next solar farm and launch an assault on them; it's unfortunate that a character who many have grown to love has been given such an unsatisfactory ending to his story, and I hope that one day Big Finish carry on his story in a Nardole spin-off set.

If David Bradley playing the First Doctor hadn't already leaked, the way this episode ended would have been the most unpredictable cliffhanger ever. Unfortunately the leak means that you are expecting David Bradley to turn up when he does, as we return to where the story began - the Doctor leaving the TARDIS in a snowy landscape (possibly the South Pole from The Tenth Planet) and refuses to regenerate. This time the scene continues beyond that point, and it's really no surprise when David Bradley comes into view as the First Doctor. Whilst it can't be helped that there's a certain irony to David Bradley stating he is 'the original' (no, that's William Hartnell), he does an amazing job in this fleeting cliffhanger cameo. David Bradley is so much like William Hartnell playing the First Doctor here, it's eery. He looks, sounds and acts exactly like the First Doctor we all know and love.

Overall, World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls is without a doubt one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time. It's Peter Capaldi's Caves Of Androzani, demonstrating the sheer quality and darkness that classic series serial is known for. This delivers exactly what you would expect from the first Multi-Master story, and is possibly the most unsettling the Cybermen have ever been. The Cybermen have never been a greater threat, and there has never been a better exit for a companion than the departure Pearl Mackie's Bill gets here. If any story was to challenge The Day Of The Doctor for the mantle of 'Greatest Doctor Who story', this would be the one. It's a bonafide classic, and in years to come will be held with as much affection as Genesis Of The Daleks or Earthshock.

Since the show was brought back, there has never been a classic series writer return to the show. There's been classic series directors - Graeme Harper - and classic series actors - Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, Christopher Benjamin etc.... - but never classic series writers. Until now. Finally a classic series writer has written for the new series - Rona Munro, the writer of the 1989 classic series serial Survival.

The Eaters of Light sees the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) land the TARDIS in Second Century Scotland to test Bill's (Pearl Mackie) theory about what really happened to the missing Ninth Legion of the Roman army. Meanwhile, a light-eating locust has come through a portal from another dimension, and has been feeding on the Roman army...

This episode is probably the closest to the classic series the new series will ever get. Throughout Murray Gold's music is very reminiscent of classic-style incidental scores, and the Doctor is written more in the vein of the classic incarnations of the character. Peter Capaldi plays it brilliantly, and his performance allows the different approach to feel like the same incarnation we've grown to know and love over three series. He bares more similarities to the Series 8 version of the 12th Doctor in this episode than the softer Series 9/10 12, but it makes sense for the character's more pacifist tendencies. The brutality doesn't feel particularly random, the Doctor is simply fed up of the rivalry between two warring factions (Romans and Pictish warriors). It's a return to the theme of 'If we fight like animals, we die like animals!' from Survival.

One improvement the classic series approach has over the new series style is that the guest characters feel more fleshed out. We get to know these characters more; their personalities and what makes them tick. The new series generally tends to treat them as merely functions to the plot, whereas the classic series taught you to care for them as much as you do the TARDIS crew. Here they feel more like people rather than objects for the writer to play with. A particular standout is Lucius (Brian Vernel), a compassionate bisexual Roman soldier who befriends Bill.

Some viewers have taken issue with the past being shown as diverse in both this episode and Thin Ice, but personally I don't see the issue. It sends out a nice message of inclusivity to viewers who are black and/or with a differing sexuality to those of us who are straight. It's the right kind of message Doctor Who should be sending: the Doctor should be teaching the audience that it doesn't matter if you're black, white, blue, straight, gay, bisexual, have one head or no head it's who you are inside that counts. If that means showing a more ideal version of history, then so be it.

There's another and far more interesting choice that this episode makes than a bisexual Roman however. Many new series episodes tend to feature a lot of their monsters; The Eaters of Light, on the other hand, fits into that new series rarity where you rarely see the creature in full. The episode is more like Closing Time, for example, than it is The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. For most of the story we only see glimpses of the creature, and this is a wise choice because much like Jaws when you see the creature in full its very unconvincing. The CGI appearance of the light-eating locust is poor, and it appears much more threatening when its lurking in the shadows. Once it is revealed you can tell it's not really there; it looks hideously fake, and takes all tension out of the episode.

The episode is also let down by being way too talky. There's too many conversations going on in this story, and it slows the plot down to a stand-still. A lot of the scenes are expository, with Rona Munro deciding to 'tell not show' rather than the more enjoyable 'show not tell'. This episode achieved the lowest AI of the series so far, and it's not surprising. The Eaters of Light is an episode that could have benefitted from stricter script editing to cut out the unnecessary padding and replace it with scenes that strive to show the audience something instead.

Then there are certain occurrences that take place that make the episode feel like it should have aired much earlier in the run. Bill falls down a hole...again, after falling down a hole in the previous episode Empress of Mars too. Nardole (Matt Lucas) nags the Doctor about guarding the vault...despite Missy being in the TARDIS at the end of the previous episode...yet Nardole is surprised to find her there when they return to the TARDIS. Bill doesn't know about the TARDIS translation circuit...despite having been travelling with the Doctor for quite a few adventures since the first episode. It feels as though this episode was originally episode four of the run, and these continuity errors make the story feel out of place. It's a shame more attention wasn't given to the show's continuity, as this is the kind of thing us fans notice.

The final scene between the Doctor and Missy (Michelle Gomez) is nice, if a little too long. Rona Munro clearly understands these characters and their shared history, and whilst it's obvious Missy is playing the Doctor it will be interesting to see what will happen tonight when the Doctor tests whether she is really turning 'good'. There will inevitably be consequences, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is revealed that Missy has been tampering with the TARDIS.

Overall, The Eaters of Light is a dull episode. The guest characters are stronger than usual, and it's interesting to see a classic series style adopted for a new series episode. Unfortunately the episode is let down by too many talky scenes, and the CGI is ropey. There are various plot inconsistencies too that leave the episode feeling out of place in episode ten of the twelve episode run. There's a nice scene between the Doctor and Missy however, which demonstrates how much Rona Munro understands the dynamic between the two characters.

It's sad to think that Empress of Mars could be Mark Gatiss's last episode for Doctor Who. The writer has stated he is unsure if he will return, and as someone who has enjoyed the majority of his episodes for the show I will be disappointed if he doesn't return under Chris Chibnall (NB: Mark Gatiss did not return under Chris Chibnall). Mark Gatiss gets a lot of unfair criticism from certain sections of the fanbase; he is essentially the Helen Raynor of the Moffat era, who also received a lot of harsh comments (and in my cases, personal abuse) from Whovians. Empress of Mars is Mark Gatiss's ninth episode for the show, and is probably my least favourite out of his televised stories.

There are some nicely bizarre visual images in this story, and to begin with it has a wonderfully surreal feel. I never thought I'd see a bunch of victorians having a tea party on Mars, or the Ice Warriors waging war on an army of victorian soldiers. It's also nice to finally see an Ice Warrior story set on Mars and exploring more of the race's mythology; the introduction of the Ice Queen is cool and makes a lot of sense given how the Ice Warriors live in hives. She is essentially the queen bee who doesn't want to be disturbed...but of course, this is Doctor Who. If she were to never wake up from her tomb, there would be no story.

Unfortunately the episode quickly runs out of steam. The tea party goes on for way too long, and it takes too much time for the Ice Warriors and their Ice Queen to wake up. The episode adopts more of a classic series style of pacing, and whilst it works with episodes such as Smile that use it to create a sense of mystery here it feels more detrimental to the story. This should be an episode with lots of action; a Doctor Who blockbuster, like Asylum of the Daleks. Instead it's more like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, and its central idea of human beings as the invaders is interesting but not explored enough for it to be as thought-provoking as its potential would allow it to be.

Then there's the TARDIS misbehaving sub plot, which feels incredibly shoe-horned in and doesn't fit the episode at all. It just comes out of nowhere; Nardole returns to the TARDIS and the ship takes off, returning him to the vault he has been guarding with the Doctor on Earth. The entire sub plot seems to only exist partly so the story arc is featured in the episode and partly because Mark Gatiss didn't know Matt Lucas would be a companion at the time of writing. It's a very strange way to write Matt Lucas out of the main plot when the Doctor could have explained to Bill in one line that he's currently guarding the vault.

Mark Gatiss deserves credit for introducing the amazing Ice Queen however. The Ice Queen is an amazing addition to the Doctor Who universe and a monster who I definitely hope we get to see return sooner rather than later. She gives the Ice Warriors a nice sense of regality which directly mirrors the victorians and their beloved Queen Victoria (a portrait of whom appears in the episode - based on Pauline Collins' take on the monarch); the Ice Queen's presence is so intimidating and the design so memorable that I have a feeling she will become one of the Moffat era's most beloved creations. Here's to many more Ice Warrior stories featuring the excellent Ice Queen, and a load of Big Finish audio dramas chronicling her rise to power. Maybe we might even see standard female Ice Warriors in future?

Of course, one thing you've got to mention in a review of Empress of Mars is the return of Alpha Centauri (and the original voice actor, Ysanne Churchman) - and what a triumphant return it is for everybody's favourite hexapod. Alpha Centauri returns in style, answering a distress call from Mars and welcoming the Ice Warriors to the universe - and subsequently, the Galactic Federation. You see, Empress of Mars is secretly a prequel to The Curse of Peladon and it feels completely natural for the story.

The story leads up to this moment with the introduction of friendly Ice Warrior Friday (Richard Ashton), and it's both Friday and the actions of cowardly Colonel Godsacre (Anthony Calf), who shoots Captain Catchlove (Ferdinand Kingsley) (Who wants to claim Mars in Queen Victoria's name), that brings the end of the Ice Warrior-Victorians war, and sees the Ice Queen forming a peaceful alliance with Godsacre. The Ice Queen is impressed with how Godsacre is prepared to sacrifice a member of his own kind for peace with the Ice Warriors , and this falls nicely in line with the Ice Warriors' code of honour.

Overall, Empress of Mars is possibly Mark Gatiss's weakest story. The episode starts off fine with surreal scenes such as a victorian tea party on Mars but quickly loses steam, and it takes too long for the Ice Warriors and the Ice Queen to wake up. There's a neat return for a classic series character though, and the Ice Queen is awesome.