Jamie Revell

For various reasons, The Armageddon Factor is not one of the great stories of the classic TV era. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly wouldn't qualify the appearance of Time Lord and dodgy cockney geezer Drax as one of its saving graces. Quite the reverse, really. So the idea of a story based around him didn't sound promising.

Taken on its own, the first half of this audio is nothing special. Drax comes across a “map” that tells him how to reach a city mysteriously isolated from the rest of the timestream, and tries to get the Doctor to help him reach it and recover a maguffin. It's clear that there's a lot he's hiding about what's going on, but even so, this seems fairly straightforward as DW plots go.

It turns out, however, that this is merely essential scene-setting for the second half. Here, things get increasingly crazy as the details of Drax's plan unfolds. Dorney has devised a big, fun, scheme here, that puts the title character centre stage and plays with some of the premises of the wider TV show. (Some of which, as it happens, were contradicted in the new series, but they were current during Four's era).

There's a strong element of comedy here, but it's played straight, coming more from the details of the plot than from one-liners or the like (unless you find cockney slang inherently amusing, I guess). It's more the Doctor's story than Romana's, but she does get a fair bit of agency, and there's assistance from K9 as well. At heart, this is a crime caper in space, and it's a good one.

I don't know how many people outside Britain are familiar with the events of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, but suffice it to say that this is a straight historical without any aliens or other SF malarkey other than the presence of the time travellers. It's also standalone, and familiarity with the real events of that day in Manchester aren't necessary; indeed, the story may have a bigger impact if you don't know what's coming.

The story obviously involves the Doctor - and more particularly, his companions, who aren't familiar with the relevant history - becoming involved in the events around the Massacre. There are some changes to history-as-we-know-it for purposes of the story, and a few names of those involved have been changed, but nothing that either undercuts or seriously exaggerates what actually happened. So, while it might not be a history lesson about the fine details of the Massacre, the story is a strong evocation of the social context that led to it and the horror of the outcome.

Tegan and Nyssa are once again contrasted in their approach, with Tegan being at her most pugnacious in the face of what is, admittedly, some pretty serious social injustice by modern standards. Sensibly, the fine details of the politics (such as the effect of the Corn Laws) are glossed over, but instead, we do get some more relatable grievances as the story moves between the lives of wealthy industrialists and the working classes. It's also good to see that the majority of the guest characters are not mere one-dimensional cyphers, as they so easily could have been.

The story is perhaps a little too contrived in places to be quite worth the full five stars, but 4.5 is certainly fair. It's particularly impressive from Magrs, who tends to go for whimsy and weirdness, but here is approaching events with the seriousness they deserve. This is not a piece of light listening, but it's effective as a rage against injustice.

Another set of three hour-long stories, once again all by different authors (and not ones who have previously written for this series; looks like they wanted to give as many of the writers in their stable a shot at an episode as possible). Although they follow on directly from one another, the first episode is essentially standalone, while the other two are more tightly linked. Another difference is that Ollistra, effectively a villain in the previous release, is here shown more sympathetically - perhaps because the Dalek general has a larger role and provides a clearer contrast.

* The Shadow Vortex - The first story is set in Berlin in 1961, at the height of the Cold War. It concerns the War Doctor trying to track down a human agent of the Daleks, and is in large part a spy story. A spy story that features alien invaders alongside KGB and MI6 agents, to be sure, but some of that feel is there. Aside from the Doctor and the Dalek agent, one of the other main characters is a Stasi officer and, considering what the Stasi got up to, is given a surprisingly positive portrayal (although I didn't find his German accent wholly convincing). Another feature is that the story does include an element of time paradox; it's not particularly complicated, however, and serves partly as a vehicle to contrast the War Doctor with his other incarnations.

* The Eternity Cage - A limitation of War Doctor stories is that, the Time War being what it is, Daleks have to be in every story. In this case, however, they are joined as opponents by the Sontarans, trying to play the two sides of the Time War against each other. Both Cardinal Ollistra and the Dalek Time Strategist play a significant role in the story, although it's mostly about the War Doctor taking part in a mission behind enemy lines. A key element is the mystery of how the Sontarans are able to hold out against such obviously superior foes, and the eventual explanation for this involves an inventive use of certain elements of established background.

* The Eye of Harmony - The final story is set almost entirely inside a battle TARDIS as the details of the Dalek Time Strategist's scheme finally become apparent. It includes a lot of action, and at times it's difficult to follow exactly what's going on, although the plot itself is clear enough. The War Doctor here is perhaps more like his other incarnations than usual, although that may in part be due to the nature of the challenge he's facing. The secondary villain (i.e. the one that isn't a Dalek) is well portrayed, given a plausible motive, even if they're obviously being a bit dim in thinking that the Daleks don't have something else up their metaphorical sleeves. The story is obviously trying to ramp up the stakes, although arguably the limited setting restricts how much that can be done.

I didn't think this was quite as good as the previous instalments, and the repetition of facing Daleks all the time is beginning to show, but the acting is great, and I still found it very enjoyable.

Gwen returns as the central character in what's ostensibly the end of the first “season” of these audio plays - although, in fact, the second season started just one month later, and the season arc doesn't feature in this anyway. At its simplest, this is a “day in the life” story, set after the end of the TV series, with Gwen fighting off various threats as she tries to re-establish Torchwood Cardiff.

There's a fair bit of variety in that, showcasing the various different things that Torchwood does, with a good mix of action and humour, but this isn't what makes it great. Firstly, it's a good portrayal of Gwen, mixing touches of domesticity with her determination to save the world and ten years of experience to back that up. Indeed, she comes across as a very strong and powerful character in this, perhaps in part due to the fact that it's largely told through the eyes of somebody meeting her for the first time.

And that's the second thing that makes this so good. The viewpoint character is somebody entirely unremarkable, but we learn more of him as the story unfolds, creating a slow build to an emotional climax. As a result, the action isn't really the focus, and a fair bit of it occurs off-screen (as it were). Instead, as the title indicates, this is a story that reflects on the implications of the Torchwood universe for the lives of mundane people on Earth, and of the importance of what Gwen is doing in the larger scheme of things.

There's also a guest appearance from Sgt Andy, in some ways paralleling that of the viewpoint character, always on the periphery yet knowing that there is “more than this” - yet reacting to it quite differently. The episode, while essentially standalone (it kind of follows on from Forgotten Lives, but the two stories are independent of one another) is a good introduction to what Torchwood is about, and some of what the TV show did at its best; this is one of the best entries in what's been a remarkably good first season for these audios.

Finally, it's the turn of Toshiko to get her own episode and, while this isn't the strongest release in what's been a high-quality series, it doesn't disappoint, either. (By this point, Owen was the only character not to have featured, and it was a while before he did).

Here, Toshiko heads to Russia to investigate a mysterious location that has been transmitting a signal aimed specifically at her... since before she was born. The story unfolds slowly from that premise (which is in the pre-titles teaser), moving from Moscow to Siberia as pieces of the puzzle are uncovered and we learn more about what the Russian version of Torchwood has been doing in the area.

It's worth noting that this ties in closely with the multi-season arc in this audio series, so that it may not make much sense to anyone who hasn't listened to, as a minimum, The Conspiracy. If you have, it moves that story on a little, setting things up for future instalments. I'll also note that the actor playing the main Russian character does have quite a thick accent, but never to the point of him being difficult to understand (given the actor's name, it may well be genuine, for all I know).

There's a good mix of character and action here, aided by some good soundscaping, and a sense of isolation for much of the story. Toshiko is at the heart of it, a technical specialist without the combat training of her fellow agents, but gutsy and determined, as well as clever. Naoko Mori is particularly good, getting a chance to shine as the central character for once, and I look forward to further stories featuring her.

Bombshells finally comes to a close with a climactic storyline that brings us to the end of WWII. Initially, we have a story featuring the Batgirls and Suicide Squad, that eventually escalates to bring in many more characters. This works reasonably well, although we've ventured far enough from real-world history by this point that some of the impact has faded, and the constantly changing artists don't always help.

The second half of the collection is largely a long-drawn-out fight, flipping between short scenes across the world. On the plus side, it brings in some of the new bombshells we were promised a volume-and-a-bit back, but, on the downside, they get a single page at best, and often just a panel or two. Yes, Bennett is obviously trying to convey the scope of the conflict, but we're left with a feeling that there was so much more story to tell that we never got to see. In short, there was simply too much to cover in the number of issues that remained before cancellation.

The actual final issue, set in 1960, and showing us how the world has moved on since the main story finished, is brilliant, following up on all the loose bits of story that were left - and the rapid-fire summary actually works in this instance. But it's not enough on its own to raise the collection above the average. 3.5 stars, perhaps, but I'm going to have to round down.

This collection consists of two separate stories, one of which is much better than the other. The first is based around Barry's ring, which contains his costume, but turns out to have a significant background as well. The story is basically a series of fights against (mainly) Doctor Alchemy, mixed in with some rather dodgy comic-book chemistry. Yes, there's some link to Barry's backstory in here, which helps to raise it above the mediocre, but the writing is rather flat, the villain's powers don't make much sense, and the result is not one of the greatest. We then get a brief segment from the middle of an entirely different story arc that's otherwise not included here, which makes absolutely no sense to include.

Fortunately, the second story is not only the better of the two, but the longer. This sees Wally West considering retiring from the superhero business and then being catapulted through the timestream and the multiverse popping up in the bodies of various other speedsters. It's a good mix of styles - and new time-travelling superhero Gold Beetle is a fun addition to the canon - showing us (and Wally) different elements of what being the Flash is about. At least in collected form, it zips along at an appropriately fast pace, and there's a good conclusion that feeds back into some of the more recently developed mythology of the character.

Although consisting of three hour-long ‘episodes', each written by a different author, this is very much a single story and melds together seamlessly. As the title indicates, it is set at the large and glossy Torchwood offices in London, about two years before the Cybermen turned up and trashed everything in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.

Much of the first episode is shown from the perspective of a new employee starting at the office, introducing us to some of the agents who, of course, we never see on TV. It's also, naturally, an overview of Torchwood itself, in particular showing the differences between the London and Cardiff branches. But, against the backdrop of daily life, the real story begins to unfold in the background, quietly at first but building to a cliffhanger ending that leads into the remaining two episodes.

Those are quite different in style, having a sort of espionage-with-aliens feel. The science fiction elements are fairly limited apart, perhaps, from the use of retcon to disguise the agency's activities. There's a good sense of things spiralling out of control, and a fair bit of action, especially in the middle part, along with a particularly disastrous ‘team-building' exercise of the sort that big companies enjoy inflicting on their employees.

Yvonne Hartman, and, to a lesser extent, Ianto, are the main protagonists here, something that, as in the previous shorter release One Rule allows the writers to expand on the former. While still as ruthless as in that release, her clear contrast here with people who are rather more so does make her a more sympathetic character this time around and she's less often the butt of jokes. Ianto is also good, although the rather obvious potential plotline of his doomed romance with Lisa has to be left out and is only mentioned in passing.

The feel of the story is different from the previous Torchwood releases, in large part due to the nature of Torchwood One as compared with its Welsh counterpart. It's bigger, glossier, and notably less dark, with the ‘adult' elements restricted to no more than some mild swearing and indirect sexual references. It's also distinct from its sister series UNIT, being a more personal story and less about the wide-reaching alien invasions that that has so far dealt with. It's a good story, well-paced, with some unexpected twists, albeit short on the actual science fiction.

The premise here is quite a decent one: the Doctor returns to a planet that he saved a century before to discover that things have not gone as he expected. In that sense, it's an exploration of his habit of leaving suddenly as soon as the events of an episode appear to have finished, and not hanging around to take part in, say, the subsequent reconstruction. Which is a sensible thing to have a look at, and the story weaves in the question of just how much culpability he has for how it all turned out effectively enough.

But, otherwise, it doesn't work as well as it should. Elliott is clearly riffing of The Tempest here, and, to my mind at least, he's overdoing it. All but one of the human guest characters are named for characters in the original play, lines from it are regularly inserted into the dialogue, and, for no particularly plausible reason, the human colonists are all kitted out in Elizabethan dress. Yes, the fact that the past is prologue is literally the point of the story here, but there's such a thing as going too far.

Of course, it could be that some listeners will appreciate these references; I normally quite like nods to other works in these things, but, in this case, I happened to find them intrusive. In fact, on that subject, I'll note that the incidental music is often intrusive here as well... whoever thought that choral singing would work in this context? I kept thinking it was something that I was actually supposed to be hearing.

One could argue that the plot is rather implausible, too, but, in all fairness, it's no more so than in many other DW stories. It does have its good points, with both Ace and Mel being written well, and there being a few twists along the way. So it's not bad, but it's nothing special either. Those with greater (or perhaps lesser) knowledge of The Tempest may like it more than I did.

Having reached the end of the black-and-white era with the previous release, the Early Adventures returns to the beginning, with another story set during the TV show's first season, with William Russell (Ian) and Carole Anne Ford (Susan) sharing the narration duties. This time round, the role of Barbara is recast, rather than her lines being delivered by the narrators. While this would have allowed her to take more of a part in proceedings, it's not an opportunity taken in this release, and she spends almost the entire story unconscious.

The Doctor is also absent for at least half of the run time, putting Susan and Ian centre-stage and leaving them to solve the central problem themselves. Which, honestly, Susan does very little of, spending more time running from the monsters than doing anything particularly useful. Barbara has so few lines that it's hard to judge the new actor's performance of the role, but it's also the case that Russell now sounds so little like his 30-year old self (and who of us will, 50 years on?) that suspension of disbelief tends to falter with him as well.

These weaknesses are, of course, entirely unavoidable given the format of this audio series. It's hard to be too critical of them, but it doesn't help that the story is an unremarkable one. The TARDIS arrives on an abandoned spaceship and becomes embroiled with some former slaves trying to escape their masters. There is some nuance to this, with the slaves being far from blameless themselves and a nice evocation of a vaguely steampunk starship combined with other retro technology. (The science is complete nonsense, but the TV show has done much worse, so I can't hold that against them).

So, some good points in there, but not quite enough to do it for me. For some reason, the limitations of the format are really starting to show themselves with this particular release.

Once again, we reach the second season of the TV series, with Vicki replacing Susan. The release is notable for being (I believe) the last performance by William Russell before his final retirement from acting, and he voices both Ian and the Doctor here. In the previous release, this was assisted by the latter being missing for much of the story, but this time, the Doctor has a larger part to play, so instead they take the simpler solution of having only Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) doing the narration.

That, in turn, is possible because she doesn't also have to play Barbara, whose role has been recast for this particular part of the audio series. She had barely any lines in her previous appearance in The Age of Endurance but this time, she too, has more than a token role. It's really the first time in this series that we have had all four of the characters from the TV show play a full part in the story, and the result is stronger for it. Obviously, while Jemma Powell's impression is reasonable, she doesn't actually sound identical to Jacqueline Hill... but then William Russell isn't 30 any more and at times it's hard to distinguish Ian from the Doctor, so there are always going to be limits.

The story sees the TARDIS landing on an alien planet, and one far beyond the capability of a TV budget to realise. The descriptions of it are wonderfully exotic, and the local inhabitants are also the sort of thing that would require more than a rubber costume to bring to screen. Despite which, much of the story does resemble the kind of thing that happened in the Hartnell era, with perils including quicksand, dangerous ravines and the like, reminiscent of some scenes in, say, The Daleks. For a fair time, it's the TARDIS crew versus the topography and the local fauna, painted on a dramatic (and mostly yellow) canvas.

Ironically, given that it's the first time that all four main characters have plenty to do, the story is also about a fifth member of the crew, who turns up in the opening segment out of nowhere, and is immediately treated by everyone (including the narrator) as if they've been there for multiple previous episodes. This is the meat of the story, and becomes more dominant in the second half, along with a sub-plot concerning a cultural dispute among the local aliens. The solution, when it comes, is probably not going to be a great surprise, since it isn't as if many alternatives exist, but it is handled well.

So this isn't one of those audio plays that really could have come from the era in question - the plot is probably more involved than was usual back then, and technically it would be impossible even today without animation or a movie-sized budget. But a number of the tropes are present and there's bonus points for giving Barbara a proper role for once.

In another strong entry in this series, this time we're back to Gwen, in the era when she's trying to re-establish Torchwood, but so far has no support beyond Rhys. It's set in a seaside town where everyone seems to have suddenly disappeared, combining the bleak setting of an empty out-of-season holiday resort with a remorseless, and seemingly unstoppable, foe. In this respect, it's somewhat similar to the earlier release Moving Target, although it felt to me that there was more variety in the methods that the ‘monster' could employ, keeping things interesting for longer.

Speaking of which, the foe is one that's ideally suited to audio, it being clear from the opening teaser that there is something here that the victim must never look at. One suspects that the Weeping Angels were a major inspiration for it, despite it being a creature that is, in some ways, the exact opposite. A number of scenes even take place in pitch blackness or dense fog, where the characters are relying only on their sense of hearing to guide them, clearly something you wouldn't want to do on TV.

Despite being the “end-of-season” episode, this has no connection with the on-again-off-again plot arc of earlier episodes and, so long as you understand why Gwen is on her own, it's effectively standalone. Which, in this case, is a plus.

An anthology of four stories each featuring the 8th Doctor and a different companion. The twist being that none of the 8th Doc companions previously featured in Big Finish audios are among them.

First up, we have Bernice Summerfield, the 7th Doctor companion from the Virgin Books novels of the early '90s, previously paired with Eight only in the 1997 novel The Dying Days. Benny, of course, has a long history on Big Finish, albeit mostly in her own, Doctor-free stories, so we're right back into familiar territory with Lisa Bowerman's portrayal of the character, even if the dynamic is now a bit different. The story itself is straight-forward, but fun, and Benny comes across as good as ever. 4 stars.

The second story features Fitz Kreiner, from the 8th Doctor novels of the early '00s. The story is written by Michael Collier, who created the character in the 1999 novel The Taint, which makes it all the more surprising that for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, it just doesn't seem to do a good job of portraying Fitz. Perhaps it's the limitations of the 30-minute format, or of audio for bringing out the sort of internal character detail you get in a novel, but this isn't how I imagined him at all. The story is rather limited, too, although there are some good comedy moments that pull it above the truly mediocre. 3 stars.

Jumping ahead, the final story features all-new companion Mary Shelley. Yes, that Mary Shelley. The story is set around the infamous holiday in which came up with the idea for Frankenstein, and is (I think) a bootstrap paradox in which she is partly inspired by things the Doctor already knows about the novel. It is a little confusing, though, and I might have that wrong. Although it's a short story, it manages to fit a fair bit in, and Shelley comes across as a decent character -indeed, she was brought back later on in the series. 4 stars.

But the real triumph is the third story, featuring Izzy Sinclair, from the pages of the 8th Doctor comic strips of the late '90s. Jemima Rooper does a great job of bringing the character alive in a story about geek girl Izzy trying to track down a fabled ‘lost issue' of a '70s comic book. Anyone who grew up in Britain reading comics in that era will know exactly what sort of thing this is, and should get plenty of the references to a certain real-life comic book. It's both funny and, in its own way, rather nostalgic. Zarjaz! 5 stars.

We also get the conclusion to Polly's “Three Companions” story, which has been spread out over the last few releases. Which actually works quite well.

Average rating: 4.0 stars.

The second volume in this series once again presents two two-hour stories, with no particular connection between them other than the choice of companion. This time, that's only Jo, so that Katy Manning is the only member of the original cast to be reprising her role here. It's been a while since I listened to the previous volume, so it may just be me, but it did seem that Manning's age was showing more in her voice than it had previously, but that's an unavoidable consequence of doing a ‘remake' over 40 years on, and she does a good enough job that I found it easy to get used to and ignore.

Unlike the first volume, there is no narration here, just a straight-up, immersive, audio play.

The Transcendence of Ephros

This story moves further away from the standard tropes of the Third Doctor's era than the first volume did, feeling less like a slavish recreation of the tone. Having said which, there are plenty of clear links with TV episodes of the time, including direct references to The Frontier in Space. There are also major themes of corporate greed and ecological catastrophe, which featured regularly during Pertwee's run. On the other hand, Jo is a stronger character here than she was generally allowed to be on TV and carries a fair chunk of the plot.

The story sees the Doctor and Jo arriving on a desolated colony world now inhabited only by a religious doomsday cult in an uneasy relationship with an interstellar corporation (whose reasons for being here don't become clear until past the 30-minute mark). At first, the plot is fairly straightforward, but there are a number of twists towards the end, both utilising and subverting Pertwee-era tropes. On the downside, a number of the corporate employees have similar sounding voices that can make it difficult to tell them apart on audio, and their leader is very much a caricature. 4 stars.

The Hidden Realm

The second story is set during the UNIT era, although UNIT themselves are only mentioned in passing, and only Jo appears from the regular supporting cast. The story takes place in a fictionalised version of Milton Keynes, a new construction at the time. In large part, it's an homage to a certain classic science fiction film - although with a significant difference in the eventual explanation for events. Indeed, for much of the first half, it's a mystery story, with seemingly supernatural events surrounding the disappearance of somebody Jo knows.

As such, it's well-crafted, with a strong supporting cast and a decent human-level threat, contrasting with the pending planetary catastrophe of the first story. Despite the absence of UNIT, it feels very much like a story from that time, without being overly imitative of it, and it helps that Treolar is really getting the hang of Pertwee's voice in this one (or possibly I was getting more used to it). I found it to be the stronger and more compelling story of the two, with some nice touches of humanity in amongst the alien shenanigans. 5 stars.

Following the standalone reboot episode, Counter-Measures returns for a new season of four hour-long stories. Unlike the previous seasons, there's no arc here, with the individual stories almost entirely unconnected. With the exception of the third story, the fact that we've moved on from the '60s to the '70s isn't really apparent, either; it seems to me that most of these would have worked perfectly well in the original setting. As indicated in the reboot episode, however, the set-up is different, dealing now with three agents and their boss, without the original military backup or other extensive resources. Sir Toby also seems to have mellowed a bit with age, being less duplicitous, although he's also more directly involved in some of the action, perhaps because the team is now smaller.

* Nothing to See Here - The first story (as is apparent from the pre-title sequence) deals with bank robbers able to turn invisible to carry out their crimes. There are some obvious parallels with Wells' The Invisible Man here, with the toll that invisibility takes on the characters being a central theme. But it's relevant that it's not regular invisibility, working in a different way than is usually portrayed in such stories, something that directly affects how it plays out. That aside, it's an investigation story with a suitably dramatic conclusion at a ski resort in Switzerland. 4 stars.

* Troubled Waters - A lower-key story that has some loose links to the previous seasons, this also benefits from a claustrophobic setting, almost entirely taking place aboard a sunken submarine. It's creepy in places, as the team explore the limited setting to try and figure out what's going on, but, while it's low on action, there is plenty of threat as events unravel. There is also some good use of the characters themselves, playing on their different personalities and how it affects what they perceive. 4.5 stars.

* The Phoenix Strain - While the title, and some plot elements, are reminiscent of the '70s film The Andromeda Strain, this bears a stronger resemblance to Hitchcock's 1963 The Birds (or perhaps even more so to the novella that inspired it). Which, despite a number of references that place the story in 1973, means that it would probably have worked at least as well in this series' original setting. The avian threat escalates as the story builds and the team investigates the cause, revealing something that has parallels to modern events and to popular conspiracy theories. 4 stars.

* A Gamble with Time - The final story concerns an international arms dealer using a casino as cover, giving something of a James Bond ambience. It's another investigative piece, with the team trying to figure out exactly what's going on as a shady deal for an alien piece of technology develops a number of complications. There are some fun twists in here and a conclusion that, while not really a cliffhanger, leaves things open for future sequels. 4.5 stars.

There are really two stories going on this particular release. The main one provides the science-fiction element, with the Doctor being drawn into protecting a fugitive being pursued by alien warriors. This, however, leads him to occupied Vienna in the early days of the Cold War... and, more importantly, into the middle of something with considerable personal relevance to his current companion, Constance.

The alien plotline is not, perhaps, terribly interesting. It's good enough, and some parallels are drawn with historical events of the time, but there's nothing really special about it either. The human side of things, however, raises this distinctly above the average. A lot of this is, of course, due to Constance - among other things, it becomes clearer why she was willing to travel with the Doctor when, unlike most of his other companions, she's married. She gets some good characterisation here, her '40s-era morality struggling with the personal situation she's placed in.

Just as welcome, however. is the return of Flip, last seen plunging to near-certain doom in Scavenger. Unfortunately, we're not told how she survived that cliffhanger ending - we're presumably just supposed to assume she was lucky and not worry about it. But, that aside, she's great here, not least because of her strong contrast with Constance; the scenes with them together are some of the highlights of the story, and she gets some great one-liners.

In amongst this, there's plenty of Cold War espionage, with a number of the themes and locations being borrowed from the classic film The Third Man - although I confess to not having seen that film, so I can't comment on how well it works as an homage. However, if other writers can do as well as Fitton has with this particular TARDIS team, I'll be looking forward to their future appearances.

This is another in a number of Sontaran-themed stories that Big Finish brought out at roughly the same time. As in the others, it manages to make more of the race than simple foils or comic relief. In this case, it doesn't do so by adding anything new to them, but by presenting them as the victims of the situation, fighting off the real monsters on a distant planet.

This could quite easily have been a pro-military story as a result, and, indeed, much is made of the Sontarans' heroism and code of honour. (One is reminded a little of the way Klingons were often treated in Star Trek: The Next Generation). But, in fact, it's a story about the futility of war, with the real foe being unstoppable by anything as simple as shooting at them and even the potato-headed warriors being worn down by the pointlessness of it all.

Romana and the Doctor share about equal parts of the story, which also features K9 in a smaller role that mostly consists of him being over-literal about things. The obvious gender-imbalance necessitated by using the race of cloned warriors so prominently is partially offset by having most of the few non-Sontaran guest characters be women, although these are minor parts without much depth to them.

Whether the final resolution is also a weakness is likely a matter of taste. It's the sort of thing that's entirely appropriate for '70s Who but that feels dated over forty years on. Homage or cliche? It's probably both, but for me, this and the dialogue between the Doctor and Romana are capturing the feel of this era of the TV show's existence. Which surely is the point.

The primary gimmick of this release is the return of Yates, Benton, and Jo from the classic TV series, linking the original version of UNIT with the modern one. Clearly, this is going to be a big selling-point for fans of the classic series of the early '70s, but, for me, neither Yates or Benton really added anything much - indeed, their primary effect is to sideline series regular Josh, although he isn't cut out entirely. Furthermore, while we do see a little more of what Benton has been up to since the off-hand mention in Mawdryn Undead, Yates isn't really developed at all, just dropping the odd reference to his past adventures.

Jo, on the other hand, makes a much more worthy addition. For a start, Katy Manning is superb, and her part well-written, but she also adds a key element to the story. This features the Silurians and Jo takes the role that the Doctor had in the previous UNIT stories featuring them, arguing for the peaceful solution over the military one and trying to honour Three's memory by succeeding where he failed. And this, as it turns out, is rather more key than just who it is who happens to be holding the guns or giving the soldiers orders.

Speaking of the story, it's the usual high octane adventure with a large and well-equipped organisation up against, in this case, a murderous Silurian general and his lackeys. Each of the four episodes is distinct in tone, with a slightly different mix of characters (only Osgood has a major role in all of them) although it's clearly one story taking place over a relatively short period of time. There's good use of elements from past stories - although more from the classic series than from Cold Blood - and a particularly nice turn from the Sea Devils when they turn up in episode two.

On the continuity front, I did wonder why the Silurians were speaking English (and there are scenes that make it obvious that they are, even amongst themselves) but otherwise, it's a good follow-up to what we already know of them. A particular theme is Kate's reluctance to make the same mistake her father made at Wenley Moor, coupled with her concern that, this time, there may genuinely not be an alternative. And plenty of touches of humour and knowing nods to the TV series; not least how much things have changed since... whatever decade it was that they so carefully avoid mentioning.

The TARDIS crew arrives in a gentlemen's club in Victorian London and are surprised to discover that nobody seems to realise that Nyssa and Tegan really shouldn't be on the premises. That's just the beginning of the strangeness as the team falls foul of the owners of the club, who are clearly up to something they shouldn't be.

It's a fun story, bringing in a number of themes relevant to both the Victorian era and to the season of the TV show it ostensibly fits within. Nyssa and Tegan are on fine form, although Adric is left with rather less to do. He's also rather closer to his TV persona, perhaps not quite as irritating or sulky, but still showing some of his supercilious smugness, especially in an argument with Tegan in an early section.

The motivations of the villain, once they become apparent, are unusual (but not unique) for the series, but do seem to fit well with the theme and setting of the story. Part of the ultimate resolution is also obvious from fairly early on, although there's a fair bit of fun along the way to it. It's not one of the strongest stories in the series, but there's plenty going on, a cast of well-acted characters and good use of the leads.

The last set of stories featuring John Hurt as the War Doctor was released a month after his death and comes with a tribute to the actor. The three episodes form a single story, and all include at some element of innocent bystanders being caught in the crossfire, although that's more apparent in some than in others. But it's the last chance to hear the magnificent Hurt as a Doctor worn down by the weight of what he has done, yet still carrying a deeply buried seed of his former self.

• Pretty Lies – The Doctor and Cardinal Ollistra are stranded on a largely defenceless planet as a Dalek fleet heads towards them. The Daleks, being Daleks, are obviously planning on killing everyone on the planet regardless of what anyone does, forcing the Doctor to try and defend against seemingly insurmountable odds. For me, this desperate and apparently hopeless battle was the strongest part of the story as we question whether or not, this time, the Doctor is going to win (as opposed to merely survive, which clearly, he has to). But there's a second theme, implied in the title, of railing against wartime propaganda with the War Doctor typically reluctant to be seen as a hero in the face of a war correspondent with a very different view. In the case of this particular incarnation, of course, he may very well be right... 5 stars.

• The Lady of Obsidian – The second episode is something that's closer to a more typical war story, especially in the scenes that see Ollistra facing off against the Daleks. However, she's rather less important here than in ‘Pretty Lies', where her lack of empathy contrasts more clearly with the Doctor (and certainly doesn't make her fit any sort of ‘companion' role). Instead, the bigger story concerns the War Doctor meeting up again with Leela, allowing us see some of what she has been doing during the Time War. The meeting has some twists to it and there's also a non-Dalek monster in here, albeit one that turns out to be another by-product of the War, but it's still largely action based. 4 stars.

• The Engima Dimension - The conclusion sees the Daleks once again launching a secret weapon against the Time Lords. It's one that fits the notion of a Time War and much of the first part of the story revolves around trying to work out what it actually is. Much is made of Leela's generally guileless personality, although in a way that's more positive than was sometimes the case in the TV show of her era. There are also echoes in the plot of the Twelfth Doctor's anti-war speech in The Zygon Inversion although the Daleks obviously aren't ones for talking things out. 4.5 stars.

Of course, the story can't end with the Time War finishing because we already know how that happened, but this collection does offer a good conclusion and a good send-off for this particular version of the Doctor. And it's good to see Leela back, albeit now much older and less reckless.

I have to say, I loved this book, and expect to be diving back into it from some time to come. It's an excellent and well-written resource on the evolution of modern birds, including the very latest information at the time it was written (2018).

I should, however, begin by pointing out what it isn't. In particular, it isn't an entire evolutionary history of birds. Archaeopteryx for instance, is only mentioned briefly and in passing. Rather, it deals only with the birds we have now, so that the story begins in the Late Cretaceous and primarily concerns what's colloquially known as the ‘Age of Mammals'. (Although, in fact, there are more recognised bird species alive today than species of mammal...)

Instead, what we get is a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the different groups of modern bird, moving along the family tree from ostriches at one end to tanagers at the other. Not every order of living bird gets a full treatment here, perhaps because we know relatively little about some of them, but the coverage is nonetheless about as broad as it reasonably could be. Along the way, we are introduced to a whole host of evolutionary principles, most of which apply equally to other animal groups, as well as recounting the advances made by particular scientific studies.

There's discussion of sexual selection, vicariance, hybridisation, the species problem, Pleistocene refugia, and much more. There's also a fair amount about specific aspects of bird biology, including the mechanisms of long-distance migration, the cognitive abilities of crows, and why most male birds don't have a penis. This could have been a dry read but, for me at least, it certainly wasn't and - as somebody more familiar with mammalian biology - there were a number of things that were entirely new to me.

Perhaps it's a specialist interest, a topic that particular appeals to me. This isn't a glossy, coffee table book (although there a few pages of colour photos in the middle) but it isn't highly academic, either, written largely for the lay reader and containing a comprehensive glossary at the end.

On TV, the Sontarans make their first appearance in the Third Doctor story The Time Warrior. It's obvious that the Doctor already knows about them, as is often the case with alien races on the show, but here, Big Finish takes the unusual step of imagining that first encounter, framing it as if it were an unseen First Doctor story taking place between episodes of The Dalek Master Plan. Thus, we have Steven and Sara Kingdom as the companions, with Peter Purves providing the narration, as he did in the previous outing to feature those two characters.

It's a very serious Sontaran story, at odds with what the TV series has largely done with the race in the modern era, but suiting some of the style of the early show. The setting, as described, makes little sense in terms of real-world science and, while this is lampshaded, the mysteries are never really explained. Since there's not really any reason for them beyond window-dressing, this is one of the things that knocks the story down to four stars for me.

A rather militaristic outlook, especially in the first half, is another reason, but, fortunately, once you leave that aside, the plot itself is excellent. The TARDIS crew becomes involved with a team of Space Security agents trying to infiltrate a Sontaran base, something that inevitably involves a lot of gun battles. Even at this point, there's some good use of the companions, who, for once, know more about what they're facing than the Doctor does, and Sara in particular, realising that she's in the middle of a historical event she's previously heard of.

Things improve in the second half, once the gun battles end and we get to see more of the Sontarans as people. This is one of the real strengths of the story, contrasting Sontaran culture and psychology with that of humans, something that has a key part in the eventual resolution. It's a less sympathetic look than that given in some other Big Finish Sontaran stories, but it all fits together with what we know, and isn't wholly one-sided. And, of course, in the process, we get to see the Doctor learning for the first time all the things he brings up in The Time Warrior. Oh, and the final scenes are very much in character for the '60s version of the TV show.

If you want an action tale, don't mind a partially pro-military outlook, and are bored with the “comedy Sontaran” approach, this will probably be one to check out.

This story, the first time that the main monthly range has visited season 19 of the original TV show, is very much a mixture in terms of quality. On the plus side, there are a number of things to like, such as an effective slow build at the beginning that sets up the mystery. There's an intriguing monster, which is well thought-out and original, with some nice visuals (which would obviously be rather better on video, but there we go). The basis of the story, about an expedition to explore the Large Magellanic Cloud which doesn't turn out the way that 54th-century history says it should, is also a good one.

There is a good smattering of real-world science in here, which is something of a hallmark of Smith's writing. For example, here, some of the story takes place inside the (real) Tarantula Nebula, the nature of which is directly relevant to the plot. This, to me, adds verisimilitude to a story that is, after all, about transdimensional aliens and intergalactic travel.

On the downside, however, there are some notable weaknesses in the plot. At one point, something explodes with what seems to be the force of an atomic bomb (as well it might, given what had just happened to it), and yet seems to be almost completely intact in the next scene, rather than a cloud of atomised vapour. Almost immediately after this, the TARDIS team splits up for no discernible reason, half of them rushing off towards an unknown danger when they had every opportunity to figure out what they might have been facing first. From a narrative perspective, the purpose of this is to ensure that the four main characters all get something to do, rather than rushing about in a single group, but it comes across as a jolt, breaking the suspension of disbelief just a little too much.

Then there's Adric. He's written without the whiny petulance he often showed on TV, and getting to show off some of his skills, which makes him far easier to put up with. He even gets a romance subplot, although one gets the impression that he isn't really reciprocating the other character's crush on him. But there is the weakness that Waterhouse is, in his mid-fifties, being asked to voice a teenager... and it really isn't very convincing, breaking down entirely in a couple of places. It's hardly the actor's fault, but, still, it's there.

This is the final regular season of Jago & Litefoot, released a few months before Trevor Baxter (Litefoot) passed away. It's impressive that, seven years on from its launch, the series still feels as entertaining as it always did, although there's no sense of a planned finale here. In fact, the series continues with the usual tradition of odd-numbered releases tweaking the setting a little and, more significantly, ends on the usual cliffhanger.

• The Stuff of Nightmares – A strong start to the collection as our heroes experience strange visions linked to their own fears and insecurities. There's also a mysterious visitor from the future (who seemingly hasn't bothered with adopting 1890s fashion) bludgeoning her away across London on a quest that soon turns out to be related to their past. The result throws in a number of references to the Doctor Who television series, both classic and modern, and makes good use not only of the central characters, but of the sorts of professional acquaintances that each of them acquire. 4.5 stars.

• The Chapel of Night – We meet our second mysterious female villain in a story about a newly-formed religious charity saving people on the verge of suicide. Meanwhile, our heroes are finding that London doesn't feel quite right, with the changes initially too subtle to put their fingers on. Science fiction fans will (particularly given the ending of the previous episode) know exactly what's going on here, but it's the precise details, and the nature of the villain, that provide the real interest. In fact, after the prelude of the first episode, it's this which really kicks off the season's plot arc. 4.5 stars.

• How the Other Half Lives – The third episode once again follows up on the TV story that started it all, Talons of Weng-Chiang, coincidentally bringing the series back to its roots for its final regular release. The core of it is a look at an alternate London in which Jago and Litefoot ended up living very different lives, never having become involved with those seminal events. It does so brilliantly, adding a certain bittersweet tone to regrets that we know are well-founded, and culminating in a suitably dramatic action scene. 5 stars.

• Too Much Reality – The main series wraps up with a story that, the unusual setting aside, is closer to familiar territory, beginning with Litefoot investigating unusual corpses, and heading to a showdown with the season's Big Bad. It's the guest characters, and the nature of the plot arc, that raise this above the usual, following up on the themes of the previous episode. Inspector Quick also has a significant role here, although Ellie is unfortunately reduced to a bit part, as she is in the second and third episodes – to be fair, the number of characters is quite large as it is, although them all being men gives less variety than one might hope for. 4 stars.

The use of a cliffhanger ending is unfortunate, particularly given that the previous release had broken with that tradition. That wasn't something they could have known at the time, of course, and a single posthumous episode did follow, as part of a special release the following year.

Despite having reached an apparent conclusion in the previous release, Graceless returns for a fourth and final volume here. It consists of four hour-long episodes, instead of the usual three. I found to be rather more mixed than the earlier volumes, but it's worth it for the last episode in particular (which ties together the other three, which otherwise appear to be disparate).

• The Bomb – The story starts up again over three centuries after the end of Vol. 3, with the sisters' adoptive world once again in peril. What's happened in the interim is only vaguely sketched in, but the sisters have aged considerably, and the story is notable for the fact that they are played by different, older, actors. This gives a different tone to things, but the plot itself is unremarkable. In particular, it's obvious from early on how the problem is going to be resolved, and there aren't any surprises along the way. 3.5 stars.

• The Room – We're back into more familiar territory for the series here, as the sisters, with their near-god-like powers restored, try to stop a war and run into the limitations of their own human fallibility. They have learned lessons from their previous attempt to do much the same thing, and the story plays out very differently, albeit with a similarly bleak setting. Speaking of which, this takes the unusual step of employing an all-female cast (except, I think, for one short line spoken by a guard) despite the majority of the characters being in the military. 4 stars.

• The Ward - The sisters are working in a hospital at a distant spaceport in the far future, and it's obvious from the beginning that they have an ulterior motive, but not what it might be. That's all explained in the final scene, of course, and fits beautifully with the way that we've seen they operate. But the journey getting there is rather slow and more interesting in retrospect than on a first listening. It's a change of pace, and relevant to the overall arc, but taken on its own not one of the stronger episodes. 3.5 stars.

• The Dance - Arguably, not too much happens in the final episode, either, but it works far better than the previous one. That's partly because of the off-kilter setting and the mysterious entities with which the Graceless are interacting, but more importantly because it's a commentary on the series as a whole. The sisters, at least since the end of the first season, have been travelling the universe trying to make it a better place. But have they really succeeded, and have the sacrifices they have made been worth it? There are no easy answers, and Guerrier isn't pretending to offer any in this thought-provoking finale. 5 stars.