It's not a plot heavy issue, but manages to take a necessary beat of rest and reassessment in the narrative and turn it into a brilliantly constructed four-part interwoven narrative. It's an inspiring use of the medium, and the use of colour for each individual's time stream, which combine as they interact, is incredibly clever. It's fun time and space shenanigans, some low-stakes lore drops, emotional development for the characters, and amazing visuals. What could be better?

There are plenty of disappointing Doctor Who stories out there, ones full of exposition and poorly-written characters, ones that insult their audience's intelligence, but it's a dire day when such a story introduces a new companion.

The Devouring feels like it takes place in a parody of the time period which it is supposedly set in, where all characters are cardboard cutouts and the villain of the week is painfully cliche (and not in a way that is redeemable through its campness; no, it suffers the curse of being utterly boring). It attempts to put forward a feminist message while simultaneously lacking any female characters with any will or agency beyond Audacity herself. It ends with a self-sacrifice that is utterly undercut by the Doctor's ability (through the power of plot convenience) to save Audacity from death in a manner which defies the laws of time and lacks respect for the audience's time.

Beyond that, Audacity seems to have been written as the sort of character who exists for the sake of travelling with the Doctor, rather than being an interesting person who gets wrapped up in adventures beyond her. Every detailed revealed about her - in the story's painfully obvious style - feels as if it was added to make Audacity more "companion-y". Of course she has a passion for astronomy; she's going to be travelling in space soon, after all. Of course she has a passion for standing up for the weak; those are the Doctor's values, after all. What does Audacity bring to the table that's unique? She is quite audacious, true... but in case you forgot that, it's right there in her name. Has Lisa McMullin ever heard of the principle of show, don't tell?

I've come back to write this review after listening to a few more Audacity stories, and seeing how she gets on with Charley. At first, I hoped that despite a weak introduction, other writers would be able to do something with her character that would excite me. After all, Audacity isn't the first companion with a weak introduction story, and some of those companions have become my all-time favourites. However, this doesn't seem to be the case for Audacity; she is largely hamstrung by this weak introduction story, one that seems to be going through a bullet list of all of her character traits without ever once pausing to make her seem like a person. It's a damn shame.

The plot is decent if a bit one note, and there's a few good hints of emotional tension with the Doctor and Alice, but the overtly fatphobic subplot with Jones put me off the whole thing, I'm afraid.

It's a rare thing, for a story to move me to tears. It hasn't happened in years.

This did. It was brilliant. That's all.

I'd heard such good things about this box set's return to Peladon, and my word, does this first episode really deliver.

With its somewhat formulaic structure blend of new and familiar faces (including a welcome appearance from beloved Alpha Centauri), this episode really captures the feeling of the previous Peladon stories, truly feeling like a love letter to them.

However, its audio format allows the story to take place on a far larger scale than the TV stories, and effortlessly fleshes out Peladon from a mountain citadel to a rich and sprawling world. This new scale is supplemented by excellent sound design and a gorgeous soundtrack, and really succeeds in creating a fairytale atmosphere that's quite intoxicating to listen to.

There is a particular – and as far as I can tell, uncredited – cameo that perplexed me a bit, as the Tenth Doctor didn't seem to contribute much to the story aside from the weight of his presence, and did seem a surprising choice of Doctor for inclusion here. I'm giving that the benefit of the doubt, though, as there's every chance that his appearance will be paid off later in the box set.

Overall, a very strong start to a series obviously made with love.

Thal-plant hybrid tries to incite a communist revolution amongst the Daleks through use of psychedelics. Yeah, this is an odd one.

Frankly, I can't make heads or tails of the message of this one, and I kept losing track of who was a Dalek duplicate, but the dynamic between Six and Charley is excellent; they have a strong emotional arc throughout the story and both Baker and Fisher clearly acted their hearts out.

Overall, confusing but entertaining, with a hard to parse political angle. In other words, solid Who. 7/10.

A hauntingly terrifying and hauntingly beautiful haunted house mystery – one that, as all the best ghost stories do, focuses on the personal rather than the big picture.

It's absolutely excellent.

There certainly feels like there's a bit of lost potential here. The concept of characters meeting their shadow selves is interesting, and could be an excellent way for characters to confront their own flaws and self doubt.

However, this just... doesn't happen. Shadow Ace and Shadow Hex are largely apathetic and uninvolved in the story, not serving any meaningful narrative purpose.

On top of that, the whole plot thread about the native Umbrians being displaced and the rage of the planet itself seems tacked on, and isn't explored in enough depth for it to really pay off. It has potential, but it falls a bit flat.

The highlight of the episode for me was the Doctor doing a little dance with his shadow self to save the day. Was it tacky? Yes. Was it at odds with the tone of the rest of the story? Sure! But McCoy does silly like an expert, and it was a delightfully clownish sequence that made me laugh. Sometimes, that's enough!

Well, this was bloody chilling.

Protect and Survive starts out with an absolutely gripping first part, and frankly, if the entire story had just been Hex and Ace stranded and struggling to survive nuclear fallout, I would have been absolutely on board.

But it didn't stop there. Raising the stakes and changing the game with each part, Protect and Survive remains absolutely gripping.

The introduction of the time loop. The realization that the loop is a prison. Learning just who those prisoners are – and who the jailer is. Every beat raises the atmosphere of  terror, helplessness, and distrust.

The sound design is top notch. The pacing is impeccable – the chilling transition from Peggy getting sick to the radio droning on about burial to both her and Albert being dead in the ground is particularly notable, but the whole episode keeps that standard.

My only quibble is, right at the end, when Hex realizes their escape plan has failed and begins to panic (thus triggering their escape), that moment feels a little cut short. To really drive home the helplessness at the core of this story, it would've helped to have a more drawn out sequence of helpless terror.

But that's a nitpick, and does nothing to prevent me giving Protect and Survive an easy five stars.

I don't know how to feel about this one.

On one hand, it's a solid episode. Nothing crazy, but compelling enough to keep me engaged in the story throughout. Its character work is strong, and it serves, on paper, as a satisfying end to both Hex and Sally's stories.

On the other hand... well, I'm not actually satisfied am I? That's why I'm writing this.

Hex died. It was abrupt and tragic, but also perfectly built up to and executed. What followed was, for me, a profound exploration of grief, giving us both insight into how the Doctor compartmentalizes loss (until he can't) and how Ace can hold onto denial long past the point of it being healthy.

I loved the character of Hector Thomas (even if I wish his emotional state had been delved into with greater complexity). He was a ghost made flesh, a manifestation of Ace's inability to let go.

The culmination of this arc, to my mind, should have made good on all of that emotional buildup. Hector Thomas should have left, or died, and Ace should have had to finally confront the loss that she'd been denying for so long.

Instead, we get a sort of wish fulfilment. Ace learns nothing. Hex gets his happy ending, and his sacrifice means a little less. An arc about a very real exploration of loss and grief ends with a hand wave of elder god magic (who are nice now, actually). Punches were pulled, and it disappoints the lover of beautiful tragedies in me.

All that said, it was a fine episode. I enjoyed listening to it, and it was well written. I just wish it hadn't done what it did.