The Sixth Doctor and Peri Volume One

 

The Headless Ones by James Parsons & Andrew Stirling-Brown: The weakest in this set and still very good indeed. The set up is a little protracted, and the conclusion seems to come around swiftly, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of the historical detail and the characterisation of the secondary characters. You can tell Scott Handcock's confident direction a mile off and the sixth Doctor and Peri have never felt more maturely played. It's a shame that this isn't a pure exploration of another culture and that the majority of the cast is English, because it feels like the story what's to have it's cake (be exotic) and eat it (not have to cast around). Props for the extraordinary sequence where the Doctor is attacked and Colin Baker plays every part of the sequence simultaneously. Not quite enough to keep my interest throughout: 6/10

Like by Jacqueline Rayner: What a superb concept, cherry picked straight from the Black Mirror episode Nosedive and given a Doctor Who spin. The aliens in danger giving the Doctor's actions a sense of immediacy reminded me of A Christmas Carol, but it does mean that we are always aware of the countdown as he tries to convince a society of social media obsessed drones to commit an altruistic act. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are having an absolute ball with this acidly funny script - one of Jac Rayner's best (and that is saying something) - with a smart and silly reading of the whole endorsement through likes idea. When it is broken down like this (and I don't think any of us has been immune over the years) it does seem absolutely absurd to take so much worth from other people pressing a button. To create a society that builds its hierarchy out of social media status is brilliant. To drop the Doctor, who doesn't give a fig about such things and watch him flounder, is hilarious. To have Peri, who understands how to manipulate the system, out think this society is genius. The story is intercut with hilarious ads and how the Yobulans are absorbed into this world says even more about how we mock and cajole things we don't understand to make them safe. I was very impressed with this story. It could have been worthy (because how it scathingly pulls apart online culture is very worth listening) but instead it is laugh a minute: 9/10

The Vanity Trap by Stuart Manning: A surprise win that I wasn't convinced about at all in the first third. It felt like this was going to be 'the Doctor and Peri visit Hollywood' with all the chuckles and shallowness that comes with that. Instead it becomes a dark SF tale and a very decent character piece, taking the vain and OTT character Myrna Kendall and doing some surprising and thoughtful things with her. Sarah Douglas gives a brilliant turn and how the time shenanigans converge around her means that we get to see her at various stages of her life, and the life she might have led. Halfway through it becomes Sapphire and Steel in Hollywood, and that is a far more enticing prospect. Props to the direction, which means the complicated story never loses you, and for the script that keeps the 'vanity is a weakness' concept at its heart but never falls into the trap of becoming a rip off of The Vanity Trap by Paul Magrs. Again, Sixie and Peri are superb. This set really does highlight them at their best: 8/10

Conflict Theory by Nev Fountain: An insane script, appropriately so, from the ever-reliable Nev Fountain. You know you're going to get something a little different and quirky from this writer but this time he has outdone himself by taking a Doctor Who story and turning it on it's head so 90% of what we think we are listening isn't quite what we think at all. It's also a brilliant summation of the sixth Doctor and Peri's relationship, with some surprisingly dark and freakish things to say about this initially toxic but ultimately loving friendship. There were moments where I thought they were both acting entirely out of character but so convincing was the psychology in play that I wondered if we were genuinely going to a place where the Doctor would go to extraordinary lengths to protect Peri, and that Peri might actually have to kill the Doctor. The setting is genius; a whole bunch of robotic Freud's divvying out cod psychology to a bunch of automated neuroses and the whole thing becomes a massive endorsement of the Doctor/Peri pairing as they ultimately take down a facility that has caused evil to spread into the universe. Brilliant turns from Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant (again), more excellent direction and an atmosphere of disquiet, and ultimately triumph. I loved this: 9/10