Audio CD review
Big Finish
Starring the voices of Paul McGann, Sheridan Smith, Rupert Vansittart, Clare Buckfield
Release date Out now

The eighth Doctor and Lucie find themselves in a very unusual version of London – where the 21st and 17th Centuries lie side by side...

Pat Mills' first produced script for Doctor Who is a bit of an oddity, and as the CD extras make clear, a brave choice for Big Finish to use as a season opener. It separates the Doctor and his companion from the start, creating a pseudo-companion in Spring-Heeled Sophie, reuniting them for the final act, thereby depriving us for a long time of one of the strengths of this TARDIS team.

The concepts behind the story aren't new to Who. There are definite thematic links to a seminal Patrick Troughton story, as well as to Marc Platt's first contribution to the Doctor Who New Adventures and an earlier eighth Doctor audio. The resemblances can be a bit of a speed bump, taking the listener out of an intriguing tale.

Rupert Vansittart has fun as Sepulchure, and it's quite surprising that Big Finish haven't nabbed Clare Buckfield for a regular role on the Who audios. Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith still have an energy in their relationship that became lacking between the eighth Doctor/Charley towards the end. Patrick Holm

VERDICT: 7/10
An enjoyable, if derivative, start.