Dalek written by Rob Shearman and directed by Joe Ahearne

This story in a nutshell: The Doctor comes face to face with his greatest nemesis and it opens some old wounds...

Northern Nutter: He really is the marmite Doctor, huh? I know people who think he is the best incarnation who came along at the right time and shook their world up. Others think he is the weakest because he didn’t stick around long enough and Eccleston’s shoulder shrugging attitude towards the show stuck in the craw. I’m somewhere in the middle – he’s certainly an eye opening actor and brought some real grit and gravity to the part but at the same time I don’t think he always played humour so well and there isn’t a great deal of material to judge him by. For me he’s well above seven and five, well below six, two and ten and somewhere around three and one. Dalek features Eccleston’s most assured performance in his season, he’s riveting throughout and this is precisely the sort of material this actor was made to bring to life. I love it when he delicately strokes the musical instrument, he can be a remarkably gentle Doctor when he wants despite the granite exterior. He doesn’t need to make claims since he knows how good he is. The scenes between the Doctor and Dalek define this first season. He spits venom at the creature and teases it cruelly; we have never seen a Doctor this vicious before and it's slightly uncomfortable and utterly riveting. He is haunted by the loss of the Time Lords and he acts the school bully towards the chained up creature that is unable to fight back (‘I got your little signal…poor little thing’). He reacts violently to being told he is like a Dalek (probably because he knows it’s the truth, battle scarred and reactive) and he actually grins as he tortures the creature. Truly a war torn Doctor, slightly unhinged by the violence he has seen. The Dalek is only a threat because the Doctor has shown up. This really isn’t a man you want to get angry, his condemnation of Van Statten when Rose appears to have been sacrificed to keep his little toy locked away is venomous. Look at Eccleston’s blazing eyed frustration when the creature tells the Doctor he would make a good Dalek, if a look could kill that Dalek would be scrap metal. His relief when Rose is discovered alive is palpable. This is the point where I really felt his depth of feeling for her. He is willing to risk the lives of many to save that of his companion. Rose gets to hold a mirror up to the Time Lord and show him what he has transformed into in the face of the Dalek; angry, homicidal and looking for vengeance. The TARDIS is a little piece of home and if any other Time Lords existed, he would know. Eccleston gives the performance of the year in Dalek, he might not be my favourite actor to have played the role but he certainly gives one of the top ten performances of any actor to play the part in this episode.

Chavvy Chick: A perfect encapsulation of the confident, self assured Rose from series one and not the jealous, hopeless creature from series two. She’s gone all punk for this episode and looks hotter than ever. She’s gonna smack you if you don’t stop calling her she. I love how Rose tries to sound amazed by Adam’s claims that the universe is teeming with life; her lifestyle actually experiencing these wonders makes his toying about with technology seem even geekier. She is a reckless flirt but then I would be in the same position when it comes to a pretty boy like Bruno Langley. Rose feels for the Dalek and cannot stomach its torture, no matter who is telling her it is an evil thing. When she thinks she is going to die Rose tells the Doctor that she wouldn't have changed anything. All I could think of was what Jackie's reaction would be to this development. I never believed that Rose was dead but Eccleston's reaction to her 'demise' was so powerful that whether it was true or not was irrelevant. He believes that she is and that is a blisteringly dramatic void in his life. Billie Piper gives a very strong performance in Dalek and Rob Shearman writes excellently for her character. It would have been nice for him to have returned in series two, Rose could have done with some of this attitude and spunk in her sophomore year.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘If you want orders follow this one. Kill yourself. The Daleks have failed. Why don’t you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the universe of your filth! Why don’t you just die!’
‘You’re about as far from the stars as you can get!’
‘Broken, Broken. Hairdryer.’
‘This is not life. This is sickness.’

The Good Stuff: Having a stuffed Slitheen arm in the museum is a lovely touch, especially in the light of the last story. The retro Cyberman helmet gave me chills and Joe Ahearne gives the prop maximum exposure in order to provide a great little fanboy thrill. Both the Doctor and the audience get to reminisce about simpler times. How nice is the matte painting of the museum complete with flashing lights? It sets the scene vividly. We get a chilling POV of the Dalek being tortured complete with gurgling scream. These viewpoint shots were scattered out amongst the classic serials (The Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks) but they would soon become a staple of every story that they feature in. A Dalek in chains being tortured is frightening for what it says about us. It is astonishing how quickly Rob Shearman manages to turn the Dalek into a victim and the humans into the enemy, an uncomfortable role reversal that somehow feels right. The Time War is finally exposed in Dalek, the final battle between the Time Lords and the Daleks. I really like how the first series drip fed the information rather than just shoving it all in your face in one go. Davies was smart enough to only ever talk about the War and not show it, he understood that they would never have the resources to pull off such an epic struggle. Through powerful descriptions this struggle becomes a chaotic, massacre across time and space and elevates the Daleks way above all the other foes the Doctor has ever encountered. It is a dramatic backdrop for the series' revival and one of the showrunner's most impressive creative decisions. I don't know that many writers would have made the choice to so dramatically alter the landscape of the series off screen like this but the wave of drama and consequences that flows through the series in its wake is extraordinary. Dalek is just the tip of the iceberg. What a fantastic way to re-introduce the Daleks, a quiet character story that reveals how powerful they are. If one Dalek can cause such a bloodbath, imagine the impact of an army of the creatures? The extermination x-ray and slow motion bullets and the segmented Dalek swivelling his belly around are all awesome innovation. Can somebody please give me the cure for the common cold? I'm the worst patient on the planet. I could have done with some more of Rob Shearman's sick humour such as the moment when the guard is suckered to death. The elevating Dalek is nicely done but the Remembrance version was far less self-congratulatory. It feels as though they are trying to emphasise the moment. I love the twitching Dalek gun in the lift; he’s just aching to kill somebody. Anybody. Eww…the yucky, gunky, sticky Dalek mutant with a winking eye is never to be forgotten. Nobody has ever explained why Davros had a such a fetish for bumps in his design of the Daleks...and it is certainly a lot less of an embarrassing suicide technique than the Dalek that has a nervous breakdown in Death to the Daleks for losing a prisoner.

The Bad Stuff: The 'in-tru-der window' gag is appalling. So bad they felt the need to use it twice. Was Van Statten supposed to be this irritating? I can't decide whether it is the character as written or the way the actor chooses to play him. There have certainly been classier megalomaniacs in the series and the comparisons with Davros are completely unjust. If you check out the audio version of this story that Dalek was based upon you will discover a far funnier, more disturbing villain in Martin Jarvis' Rochester, a weak, cowardly, wife beating monster of a man. Adam is hopelessly wet and it annoys me that Rose would fancy such a hopeless geek...but then Bruno Langley is desperately cute and so I fund myself succumbing all the same and that annoyed me even more. Aren’t all those guards wearing rubber? Surely they should be protected from the Dalek massacre via electricity? I hate the ending with a passion bordering on insanity – who wants to see a Dalek opening up his casing and reaching out for the sun? It is entirely unrepresentative of what the Daleks are about and anybody new to the series might be fooled into thinking they always turn this soft. Jubilee managed to maintain the Dalek prisoners dignity with much more success and with far less overdone sentimentality. Turning an individual Dalek into a character rather than a drone is a smart idea but I'm not sure I buy into the idea of one of these creatures admitting that he is frightened. Diana Goddard is equally as irritating as Van Statten, especially when she is in charge.

Crazy Colombian: Let me tell you about my friend Daniel. I met him entirely by chance and we hit it off immediately. He's five hours behind me and about twelve hours flight time away but somehow we have managed to cultivate a precious friendship against the odds. He has introduced me to the delights of the Resident Evil franchise and it has been my massive honour to introduce him to the world of Doctor Who. When he asked me to tell him about it I didn't know where to begin. With 50 years of mythology to plough through how do you begin to encapsulate what this show is about? After hitting him with a barrage of information about the Doctor, the TARDIS, regeneration, the Daleks, etc he decided it was time to watch some so I pointed him towards the New Series. He watched Rose-World War Three on his own and had some fascinating observations to make about them all (his reaction to the Space Pig in Aliens of London was a scream). We've even gone through my reviews together afterwards, not only so he could see what I think but to (hopefully) improve his grasp of English (which is already superb). When it came to Dalek I wanted to watch this episode with him. We arrange a date to Skype, started the episode at the same time and I watched as he experienced the Daleks for the first time. I have to say it has to be one of my all time favourite Doctor Who experiences. He hissed at Van Statten and almost punched the air at his comeuppance, he was not at all convinced when I tried to make him think that Rose was going to die but most of all he fell head over heels in love with the Dalek in the episode. At one point he said he his heart was beating faster and I could see he was visibly excited during some of the action sequences. It was glorious to experience the episode anew through somebody else's eyes. I have already pencilled him in for Bad Wolf & The Parting of the Ways. Back when I was a kid this was a solitary programme to watch, something to hide away from reality in. But now it has become a joy to share it with others and to see it through their eyes.

The Shallow Bit: Eccleston topless might get the shippers excited but he’s far to skinny to be worthy of a second look! Rose and her grungy look is definitely the hottest thing about this story.

Result: A dramatic and powerful story, Dalek cemented the return of the Daleks in Doctor Who and ensured that they would return again and again and again and again... Saying that, Dalek is nowhere near as clever, funny, twisted, macabre or entertaining as its audio equivalent Jubilee. They can be taken as two entirely different stories though since the audio version has practically three times the length and time to inject a great deal more humour, pathos and detail. It feels as though someone has taken the audio and sucked away all the dramatic bits and made Dalek, a punchy and violent episode but lacking the imagination and dark humour that sparkles in the best of Rob Shearman’s work. This is probably the most individual Dalek we have ever seen on the television, an unforgettable character in his own right. The audio version tested human psychosis to its limits whereas the TV version suffers the indignity of cracking open its shell and reaching out for the sun. A sanitised version of the original story? That's a little unfair since this episode clearly made the impact that it was supposed to...but given the choice I always listen to this story rather than watching it. What helps Dalek is how well directed the story is, the action is visually stunning and Christopher Eccleston gives an unforgettable performance that really slaps you awake whenever he is on screen. Well made and well intentioned and very exciting in spots: 8/10

The Trial of George Litefoot written by Justin Richards and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What's it about: After returning to Victorian London, Jago and Litefoot are approached by the enigmatic Colonel and offered a role they cannot refuse – investigators by Royal Appointment to Queen Victoria! Their missions include a mystery on the Suffolk coast where strange things lurk in the sea mist, an encounter with Freud and a threat to the realm itself… But who can save Professor Litefoot when he is accused of murder, and no one can be convinced of his innocence?

Theatrical Fellow: 'A horrendous hyperbole of the most heinous kind!' Under that bluster and pomposity was a heart of pure gold and a diffidence that belied his brash exterior - that is how Litefoot sums up Jago's character and it is a description I wholeheartedly approve of. It comes as a real moment of triumph when Jago returns to the action, especially given he is giving a ridiculously overblown performance as the Colonel. There was a lot of space for laughs in the previous story and any chance for Benjamin to ham it up is a delight. When he woke up in a place of ill disrepute it was a good thing that he knew precisely where he was and how to extradite himself from the attentions of the ladies of the night. Poor Jago has to listen as the prosecution lay bare all of his faults and misdemeanours whilst he is undercover as Litefoot's defence consul. He can't help but object to the stronger condemnations of his character.

Posh Professor: 'Oh corks!' Litefoot's objections to the charge of murder of his best friend can easily be taken at face value, it's not as if this series would ever continue without Jago (despite Trevor Baxter's plans to turn the range into Litefoot & Litefoot, an investigative duo of father and son!) or that good Professor is capable of such a heinous act. At the thought of never seeing Henry again, George gets quite nostalgic about the times that they had together (even if he could be insufferable on occasion). Even from prison, Litefoot has an implacable desire to see the Colonel brought to justice. Driving these characters apart just means that it is so much more delightful when they are brought back together again and I was beaming from one side of my face to the other when they reunited in the cell. He used to shoot for his school and he is still a dab hand with a pistol.

Standout Performance: Does Geoffrey Whitehead sound an awful lot like David Warner? It only stands out because I am so used to listening to Warner's rich voice in a multitude of Big Finish dramas. His on villainous form throughout this story and even gets to go out with the hyper camp lines 'Noooooo!' and 'My destiny!'

Great Ideas: The Colonel is one of those sorts of villains that likes to turn up at your cell and gloat. He's clearly been reading all the bad guy manuals then. Jago was semi conscious when the place went up in flames and would have been a goner had it not been for Agatha who dragged him through a back entrance before it collapsed. Although the joke is somewhat laboured, the revelation that Jago is going to be speaking on behalf of Litefoot at court is nevertheless a sparkling turn of events. Who else could it be? I can't imagine anybody who has a greater grasp of the English language and more of a sense of theatre (and let's be honest in court it is all about performance before anything else, the facts are just there to support whoever is the most convincing). Given the evidence and the fact that the Colonel is a man of means I expected Litefoot to be sentenced but some part of me still thought there would be a last minute reprieve. Especially considering the victim is standing alive and well in the court room. Jago's theatrical unmasking doesn't do a thing to help his case, it is merely proof that the police have misidentified the corpse that was burnt. A little cheer has to go out to Sergeant Quick who really is turning out to be the Benton of his time, a recurring character who perhaps doesn't always get the attention he deserves but can be relied on in a crisis to always do the right think and stick by Jago & Litefoot. He's smarter than he looks and he's mean with his fists when needs by. Very Sergeant Benton. We get to witness the scope of the Colonel's operations and just what kind of resources that he has to hand, suddenly his plan to claim the Empire feel very real. Morpeth has panted papers and started rumours as a backup just in case Jago & Litefoot escape custodial sentencing...evidence that will see them take the blame for the death of the Queen herself! Engines are calculating the exact trajectory and elevation and the amount of percussive force needed to send a high explosive artillery shell right into the heart of Buckingham Palace. When the Queen and her senior Ministers are all dead, the Colonel plans to fill the power vacuum created. Military commanders will rally behind him when they see his plans for re-arming the Empire. It's very possible that had this plan gone ahead that the British Empire may never have contracted as it did throughout the 20th Century, that the Colonel may have controlled the dominant power across the globe.

Audio Landscape: Horses on cobbles, squeaky doors, horse whinnying, Quick blowing his honker, screams in prison, Red Tavern ambience, water running down walls, flames, wood collapsing, gavel banging, shocked gasps, applause, the Colonel's mechanical devices whirring and hissing, gun shots, the shell shooting off to assassinate the Queen, police whistles.

Isn't it Odd: Wouldn't it have been more interesting to have accused Litefoot of a crime that he might have committed? To leave the audience in some reasonable doubt as to his guilt. Having Jago turn up and defend Litefoot rather leaves the courtroom scenes (funny though they are) without a drop of tension until Jago reveals who he is.

Standout Scene: Jago & Litefoot have now prevented the assassination of the Queen, an act that surely deserves some recognition. That would be too easy...instead they are implicated in Agatha and the Colonel's murder and forced to go on the run! The last scene is terrifically exciting, promising much more thrills and spills in season seven. Bring it on!

Result: When it comes to the assignment of writing a penultimate adventure and the finale I usually figure that the former must be more fun because you get to set up an impossible scenario to get out of and then leave the hard work to whoever is following you. However in Jago & Litefoot series six it would appear that the reverse is true. Where Military Intelligence felt like a finale with its grand plans of world invasion by artificial intelligence, The Trial of George Litefoot gets to fix a lot of the problems that I was unhappy with, adding a lot more detail to the situation. Justin Richards has the time to pull all of the elements of the season together with much more proficiency and point out what it has all been about. Not only that but he gets to do what he does best, create an engaging scenario (Litefoot's trial) and throw in one surprise after another that kept me constantly on my toes. What could be more joyful than listening to Jago tugging on his lapels and providing a verbose defence for his best friend at court? Just when I thought that the story was going to run along a predictable path, Richard throws in a number of curveballs that caught me off guard. The finale that he conjures manages to build to foot tapping levels of excitement with the Queen herself in the firing line and race against time to prevent her assassination. When that situation has been resolved there is another shocking development waiting and one which hurls into the next season. Things are never quiet in this range but that is why it manages to sustain my interest and remain so outrageously addictive. The Trial of George Litefoot tops off another (some would say predictably but it is meant in the best possible ways) terrific season of adventures. Big Finish's most triumphant spin off range? At this stage there can be no doubt: 9/10

Aliens of London/World War Three written by Russell T Davies and directed by Keith Boak

This story in a nutshell: The Slitheen make their debut and want to turn the Earth into molten slag…

Northern Adventurer: This is was the story where I was finally convinced that Christopher Eccleston was the Doctor. He was superb in the first three stories but he felt like a new kind of Doctor; a rougher, ruder, unstoppable sort of Time Lord. There are so many moments in this two parter where Eccleston charms and I can see many shades of previous Doctors. I don't think anybody else could have pulled off the anger and quiet sadness at the death of the space pig and its disgusting treatment at the hands of the UNIT soldiers but that moment that absolutely sold him for me as a Doctor for the underdog. Equally compelling but in a very different way is the scenes where he squares up against the Slitheen and tries to bluff them for information brandishing a decanter. This is still the war torn, self destructive Doctor but it is clear that Rose is having a profound effect on him. She's humanizing him. He doesn’t do families and doesn’t want the TARDIS to become domestic (he probably remembers the days when he was shuttling Tegan and Adric about and shudders...to return to those days is a far worse face than the Time War). To experience anything new at this point in his life is a marvel and in 900 years of time travel the Doctor has never been slapped by somebody’s mother. Then again he has never faced anybody as formidable as Jackie Tyler before ('Stitch that mate!'). He travels to see history happening right in front of him. This is an event in history that has nothing to do with him (and given the amount of history he has been directly responsible despite his apparent aversion to interference that is quite a rare occurrence) and he seems genuinely thrilled about that. He grins in the face of so many guns. When Mickey looked up the Doctor online he found him followed by a list of the dead (ouch – for more of this see how this is spelt out in Journey’s End). Who is the biggest expert in alien affairs? UNIT or the Doctor? He cuts right to the heart of the matter, which makes him an instant target by the Slitheen. His warm relationship with Harriet is more validation of this dark character. She certainly seems like a good judge of character to me and she affirms that she likes him. Suddenly this Doctor is witty and wonderful; taking on aliens, making friendships and saving the day in style. He cannot guarantee that Rose will be safe in his lifestyle, something we have already experienced and would return to time and again throughout the first series. The Doctor threatening Margaret Slitheen is sold purely on Eccleston’s stony face. He usually saves the world and moves on, no fuss. But with Rose around now he has consequences to deal with, whether he wants them or not. After all the slapstick, high drama and campery it all boils down to the relationship between the Doctor and his companion and the people that she is going to leave behind. He tempts Rose away with a seductive description of the wonders that she could experience but is smart enough to recognise that she will miss Mickey and offer him a place by her side. He's keen to wipe all trace of his existence online, to remain a mystery.

Chavvy Chick: This is Rose at her height. She is described as being employed as the Doctor's companion. Some people might not like that the series went there but I for one feel that asking the questions of whether their relationship is sexual or not is a valid one because you don't usually find 19 year old girls knocking about with middle aged guys. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her mum and needs to hang around for long enough to give her some assurances. With Ace the missing person element was only a throwaway reference but here it is handled to its fullest dramatic extent and it makes Rose a brand new type of companion, one that has a genuine life to return to. Suddenly the question of which life is more enticing is an issue, an idea that would be taken to it's fullest extent with Amy and Rory down the line. Rose is far to bewitched by the Doctor and this lifestyle for the conundrum to even be an issue but with her situation it is the pain she is causing to the people left behind where the drama lies. She asks the Doctor not to leave without her and she has earned herself a TARDIS key. It’s nice to see Rose looking so sheepish for a change, seeing how many lives she has ruined by selfishly running away and not thinking about those who might have missed her. Did she genuinely think that the Doctor would get her home five minutes after she left or did she simply not care? Suddenly people asking interesting things of the companion and considering the experience of travelling with the Doctor rather taking at as a given. Ace was the pilot scheme for this kind of approach but it feels like it has been streamlined and perfected with Rose. She is a far more believable character, one based on Davies' observation on real teenagers. Try hard as I might I can't imagine Andre Cartmel ever knew any baseball wielding, explosive making teens that talked in such florid slang. Rose makes a dark joke about her weight and squeezing into clothes a size smaller and Harriet calls her a very violent woman. I love all the silent stares between the Doctor and Rose as Jackie asks if she will be safe in her travels – this script is laden with lovely moments like that that show how far these characters come in five episodes. Rose steps into action as soon as a massive missile tears towards her. Another gorgeous moment, Rose gets to pack a bag and sign up this time unlike all the previous companions that only have the clothes they are wearing on their backs when they step on board. You understand completely why she takes the Doctor up on his offer but you still can't help but feel she is being a little bit selfish when she is leaving behind a heartbroken mother and boyfriend.

Monkey Boy and Mouth Mum: Real effort has gone into taking the caricatures from Rose and turning Mickey and Jackie into living, breathing, thinking characters. Jackie’s insane anger at Rose really sells their relationship and the depth of feeling they have for each other. You’ve got to love Jackie’s priorities after an alien body is reported as being carried from a crashed spaceship...enthusing about the latest guy to ask her out! I love her reaction to stepping into the TARDIS and the Doctor's world, it is one of absolute horror and she straight on the phone to the emergency services in fear for her daughters life. It feels like a perfectly rational reaction to me. She demands to know whether Rose will be safe with the Doctor, a promise he can't make. How wonderful is the moment when she warns Mickey that she could stop him deploying the missile that might murder her daughter? Davies has characterised her so well that a scene like this where she is threatening to actively work against the Doctor seems completely reasonable. Her ‘Don’t go sweetheart’ will break your heart, Davies really is mining a rich seam of character drama between mother and daughter. Camille Coduri is given a great deal of scope in this two parter and never disappoints. Poor Mickey suffered terrible treatment when Rose hopped into the TARDIS, he was questioned five times, had Jackie pointing the finger and things stuffed through his letterbox.That his colour was a factor is never shied away from. Mickey clutching the baseball bat and Jackie opening all the jars in the cupboard to bring down a Slitheen with pickled gherkins – suddenly these characters are working like a dream! Mickey gets to save the world by blowing up Downing Street, an act that on its own instantly redeems him from any misdemeanours in Rose. Don’t you think Mickey works so much better as the brave wimp that he is here rather than the muscle head he would become?

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘History just happened and they’re talking about where to get dodgy top up cards!’
‘Why would we invade this god forsaken rock?’
‘You’re making it up, aren’t you?’
‘Mankind stands proud, and tall, undefeated.’
‘For all I know he eats grass and safety pins.’

The Good Stuff: There are two brilliant ideas in the teaser - taking Rose home one year late and her alleged abduction, both so good you have to wonder why nobody thought of them before? The spaceship flying over London, crashing through Big Ben and diving under the Thames is one of my favourite moments in the Davies era. Not only is it a hilarious gag (poor Rose), stunningly realised but it also changes the landscape of Doctor Who on Earth permanently. Interesting considering how many invasions of Earth we have been through that it has taken this long to be treated as an international event. Penelope Wilton’s ‘not a babe, just a faithful back bencher’ is immediately likeable. No wonder she was pencilled in for a quick return visit. I love the scene with Tosh and the Space Pig because it is filmed in the style of a spooky horror but turns out to be something far more bizarre and poignant, typical Davies subversion. The scenes in the TARDIS are warmly lit, I really love this organic, pulsing version of the console room. The aliens have been here for a while, sending the ship up deliberately to crash and cause panic and spectacle (another new approach to the series). I love the real life treatment of the characters that is injected into the into the first episode, the Doctor and Rose surrounded by armed soldiers, escorted to Downing Street and attacked by the press, this is truly contemporary Who that sets the scene beautifully. The Prime Minister is found dead in a cupboard...a fate some would say he richly deserves. No cliff-hangers in sixteen years and then three come along at once. Jackie being attacked in the kitchen brings the danger right into your home, something the show tended to shy away from in the past. The Slitheen are easily the most prolific monsters of the Davies era with countless return appearances, references and even a leap over to The Sarah Jane Adventures (where technically they are much more suited to). They haven’t quite got the design perfect (it was much better in Boom Town) but I love the cheekiness of these monsters; the desire to be naked, the love of the hunt (and the stink of fear) and the baby faces with blinking eyes are a touch of genius. They are great fun and wouldn't look out of place in a Williams story. The fact that people get wound up because they don't take their work altogether seriously, well that's just a bonus. ‘If you’d just like to go through and get changed’ – I love the idea of hanging the flesh suit on a coat hanger. That's just cheeky. Once again Doctor Who is making policemen sinister. Barry Letts would not approve. The whole sequence with the policeman Slitheen attacking Jackie and Mickey whilst the Doctor, Rose and Harriet try and figure out their planet of origin and weaknesses is superb. The scripting is sublime and the performances treasurable; suddenly Russell T Davies’ modern, confident, characterful Doctor Who makes perfect sense – it's sublimely handled. The Slitheen plan to get the codes, release the missiles, start World War Three and reduce the Earth to molten slag and sell it cheap. Who guessed that was the ultimate goal in Aliens of London? It is rare that a Doctor Who invasion story is subverted this cleverly and I am kep guessing right until the climax. ‘The telephone is actually red!', ‘Ring damn you!’ and ‘Oh boll-!’ – the Slitheen are delightfully silly and had me laughing out loud. How awesome are the scenes of the missile flying over the cliff and weaving its way through London? Downing Street is left a fiery wasteland…could we possibly love Davies more than at this moment? The ten-second ending left me devastated. Poor Mickey and Jackie.

The Bad Stuff: Laughter and farts were a bit too much for some people but I bet the kids loved it (I’m on the fence). I don't object to the idea (it's a laugh, isn't it?) but it is hardly what you would call underplayed. There is an obvious difference between the dexterity and realism of the Slitheen when brought to life in CGI and when they are actors running around in cumbersome costumes. The Acting PM is too broadly played at times, it's almost as if he knows he is a Doctor Who villain and behaves accordingly. The first ten minutes of World War Three meander before it settles down into something rather special. It's like Davies had to get all the running aroud out of his system before he gets the chance to truly prove his worth with two cracking set pieces ('Narrows it down!' and 'Hannibal!'). Is it really that easy to hijack a missile?

The Shallow Bit: The PMs aide is gorgeous (love grey eyes).

Result: The first two parter in NuWho has aged very well indeed. It might not be a popular opinion to praise this story but I have never cared to go with the masses, I genuinely believe that this is the sort of show that the show needed to be putting out in its first season, one that showed the potential of old school Doctor Who marrying up with Davies' new domestic version of the show. Often condemned as the worst episodes of the first year, I find this a delightfully quirky spin on an alien invasion and a genuinely funny and exciting piece of drama in it's own right. You can literally hear the gears grinding into place as the Davies era suddenly realises what it does best and starts delivering. It is the story that turns the ninth Doctor, Jackie and Mickey into truly wonderful characters and gives fantastic material to Rose, Harriet and all the wickedly naughty Slitheen. The first episode shoves the existence of alien life in the face of the public and enjoys all the dramatic consequences that come with it and episode two has two of the best set pieces of the entire year, breathlessly well scripted and directed with punch. Those moments are so good it has made me reassess my opinion of Keith Boak as a director, slapdash in some areas but capable of bringing great drama and pathos to the screen too. The Slitheen are here whether you like it or not and whilst the design needs some tweaking they are brilliantly conceived and played. Annette Badland is always good value and I relish the chance to see her chewing the scenery, especially with dialogue as good as she gets here. If you could snip out a few moments where the story runs on the spot and a touch of bland direction this would get full marks for its audacity and confidence but it will have to settle for near perfection: 9/10

Military Intelligence written by George Mann and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What's it about: After returning to Victorian London, Jago and Litefoot are approached by the enigmatic Colonel and offered a role they cannot refuse – investigators by Royal Appointment to Queen Victoria! Their missions include a mystery on the Suffolk coast where strange things lurk in the sea mist, an encounter with Freud and a threat to the realm itself… But who can save Professor Litefoot when he is accused of murder, and no one can be convinced of his innocence?

Theatrical Fellow: Jago is certain that the only reason the Colonel will have called them in is because there is a mission of great importance to undertake, a threat to the realm and a challenge that can only be met by experienced investigations of devil may care like Jago & Litefoot. Doesn't think that much of his abilities then. Because their latest assignment is simply to talk, it would appear that this might take some time when it comes to Henry and his florid style of language. It warms his heart to think that the Monarch is interested in the affairs of a humble theatre impresario like himself. He believes he has a great expertise in the subtle art of deflection. Investigating without Litefoot doesn't feel quite right, Henry would never want to go into this business on his own. Jago is the only man alive that could talk a machine into committing suicide, such is the baffling nature of his speech patterns. It is lovely to be able to spend some time with Jago and Ellie alone though, the affection that Christopher Benjamin and Lisa Bowerman have for each other shines through in their performances.

Posh Professor: Whilst Jago is terribly excited to head off into another adventure, Litefoot is far more cautious and guarded about accepting assignments from the Crown. He is a man of such high moral value that it is always a delight when he stands up to the villains in this series, we know what a fundamentally good man Litefoot is so it makes his judgements upon those who plot such monstrous plans so genuine. The shocking twist at the climax gives the impression that this whole affair has been concocted to frame Litefoot for Jago's murder, an act so abominable that you can only sit back and gasp at the feelings that the good Professor must be experiencing

Standout Performance: Despite being given a fairly unrobust character to play now the cards are all on the table, Geoffrey Whitehead still gives a respectable performance as the Colonel. His cameos in earlier stories did promise more than was delivered but Whitehead's gorgeous, gravelly voice manages to salvage a great deal of dignity for the character.

Great Ideas: Aside from the fact that he has an office in Buckingham Palace, how do we know that the Colonel speaks with the authority of the Crown? There has been no sighting of the Queen in their dealings with him. Once Litefoot goes digging there are no mentions of the Colonel in any reports and no mention of his appointment at the Palace. He was working on behalf of the Queen until recently but he finds her lacking in ambition and scope. He wishes to become Emperor and wants all of Europe to cower in his wake and is constructing a mechanised to help in his cause. An army that requires no food or rest, will not cower in the face of the enemy and cannot be slain by mere men. Unstoppable, single minded, determined and slaved to his cause. His machines will assist in the reclamation of the America...he plans to make the British Empire and unconquerable force that will take the globe. Well, if you are a despot hell bent on domination it helps to think big. What's lovely about Military Intelligence is that it pulls together both the science of the time (Babbage) and some of Jago & Litefoot's own continuity (Dr Tulp and his Similarity Engine) to create a vivid technological picture of the period. It roots Jago & Litefoot in the period in a very dramatic way. Steam punk hasn't really been a focal point of this series but this is a chance for the series to indulge in the sub genre and have a little fun with it. I think they could have gone much further than they did but at least we can say the series has played about with the idea and move on from it now.

Audio Landscape: Footsteps on cobbles, the rowdiness of the Red Tavern, the Colonel's technological devices hissing and steaming, machines exploding.

Isn't it Odd: I found the first half of this story quite wanting in comparison to everything that has come before it. I was halfway through the story and nothing of great significance seemed to have happened. Jago & Litefoot were aware that there was something sinister about the Colonel that didn't add up but as far as furthering that plot was concerned it took an age before things started moving. The slack was taken up with endless scenes of the two men waiting around for something to happen to them. Don't get me wrong, spending any time in the company of this delicious duo is a ball but it is far more effective when married to a strong plot that they can engage with. It wasn't until Litefoot was kidnapped by the Colonel and Jago discovered that Agatha was in the employ of the Queen that my interest really perked up. I wasn't entirely sold on the idea of the Colonel suddenly turning into the villain of the piece either, simply because his background is so sketchily scribbled in. We don't find anything detailed about his time in the Queen's employ, just that he disapproved of her approach to running the Empire. Without any additional information about that might be he comes across as a tenapenny bad guy who simply wants to conquer for the sake of it. Was the Colonel's plan so badly thought through that a string of sentences loaded with alliteration can take out his army of machines that he plans to use to take over the world?

Standout Scene: The climax is a memorable one, with Quick appearing to report that Jago is dead and the Professor being arrested for his murder. Can this all be true?

Result: Very much part one of two and not a story in its own right, Military Intelligence is the weakest of this set of adventures for the intrepid investigators because it takes an age to get going. When it does there is a list of problems with the story that continued to grow. The Colonel's makes an unconvincing shift from ally to enemy and his motivations are baffling beyond simply wanting to take over the world. His plan to use technological machines to take over the world is old hat and is foiled in the most unproblematic of methods. I could not help but feel that this is nothing but a prelude to the season finale when it should have been the finale itself. It certainly thinks big but it doesn't have much substance behind the usual all-conquering threats to the globe. Season six feels a little looser in its plotting and lacking the strong backbone of previous years. We've gone from an atmospheric chiller to a psychological drama to a world invasion story with only tenuous links between the three. The Colonel's plans should feel like a spectacular surprise but because the season has barely begun it feels far too soon to be dropping major revelations about characters we have barely had the chance to get to know. Perhaps that is the problem with having such short seasons but it never seemed to affect my enjoyment before. Because of the presence of Baxter and Benjamin this is still a cut above average - I don't think any story that features these characters could ever be boring but it is certainly lacking in the usual areas that I expect Jago & Litefoot to deliver. A disappointment, but given a massive lift thanks to a dramatic cliff-hanger: 6/10

The Unquiet Dead written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn

This story in a nutshell: The Doctor, Rose and Charles Dickens team up to take on an alien menace…

Northern Adventurer: There’s a real feeling of wanting to explore all facets of the Doctor/Rose relationship from the giddy thrill of landing somewhere that is a complete mystery to the conflict that arises from their different takes on the morality of the situation. I especially like the angle the episode takes with the Doctor being Dickens’ biggest fan because it allows Christopher Eccleston to speak passionately about something rather than overemphasising the joy of his life to the nth degree. The Doctor is as rude to Dickens here as he was to Rose in her debut episode but the difference is he finds a quiet moment to apologise for that. Within their argument we get to see what both the Doctor and Rose are made out of; he can see past the discomforting notion of bodies rising from the grave en masse to the core of the problem which is a race that is suffering and she understands the social and moral implications of the situation and acts for all intents and purposes as the mouth piece for the human race who would object strongly to this solution. Contrast this with the Eastenders back biting between them in Father’s Day (a little bile just came up just writing those words) and Gatiss shows you how to inject tension into their relationship in a very intelligent way that allows both characters to shine and without making you swallow down a mouthful of bile. Cornell take note. It was at this point that I really started to see the pattern emerging of the Doctor encouraging guest characters to wrap up the plot for him. Rose was responsible for the defeat the Nestene Consciousness, The End of the World featured Jabe burning to ashes in order to allow him to get back into the thick of the action and The Unquiet Dead sees another innocent lose their life to stop an alien menace. It fits the characters backstory perfectly, he’s afraid to get commit completely because the last time he did that Gallifrey fell. He's afraid to act because he consequences frighten him.

Chavvy Chick: The TARDIS materialising whilst being caressed by a gentle falling of snow and Rose taking her first excited footstep into history crunching down on the icy depths…it's certainly an enticing moment for the character and the show. The nature of her life with the Doctor is spilled out before her and makes her re-examine her doubts from The End of the World and take a far more positive approach to the adventures they could have. Whilst this style of optimistic pontificating on the nature of time travelling would become wearying as early as New Earth it is definitely something that they got bang on the money in the first series. I don’t think there was a single boy and girl out there who didn't want to be in Rose’s shoes at this point and that is exactly the feeling they needed to be aiming for to keep people interested. Had she been as thrilled to time travel as, say Tegan, things might have been very different. You certainly couldn't have kick started the series with the same sort of reaction to it's possibilities as Donna had in The Runaway Bride. Rose is quick to react when she thinks there’s injustice afoot and is more than capable of standing up to Mr Sneed after he drugs her and exposes her to terrible danger. The protracted scene between Rose and Gwentyh is vital to the emotional core of the episode but also the sort of slow character building exercise that was excised after the first year when the production team were asked to tart the historical stories up a bit more. It exposes Rose as the people's companion, championing the ‘little’ people (for want of a better word) and it offers a great way in to a section of the audience who might not otherwise be interested (it's basically a girl chat across the centuries). I especially liked the sexual undertones that creep into the conversation, Gwentyh declaring Rose a ‘wild thing’ because she talks about boys so freely (‘ask him out - give him a cup of tea or something…that’s a start!’). So much more amiable and charming then the constant barrage of bawdiness we are exposed to these days. News that Rose’s dad is dead works twofold because it sets up Father’s Day later in the season but also further reveals Gwentyh’s ability as a medium. The moment when Gwentyh tells Rose she can speak for herself and that she isn’t as stupid as she thinks she is makes me punch the air every time. We all need a little reminder when we are being condescending every now and again. Finalising all the great work that has been done with the two characters in the first three episodes, Rose and the Doctor take each others hands and insist that they are going to go down fighting. It’s a wonderful affirmation of their friendship and that they have a bright future together…if they make it out alive.

Mr Dickens, I Presume?: ‘This morning I thought I knew everything in the world! Now I know I’ve just started!’ One bone of contention between a friend of mine and I is our different takes on the works of Charles Dickens. I read a great many of his works during my formative years and found his use of language stylish and his plotting and creation of character up there with the greats. She on the other hands finds him an overrated hack who over dramaticises his work and over articulates his language (‘why use one word where ten will do?’). Another friend is a bit of a literature snob and considers Dickens the height of sophistication and condemns a lot of contemporary fiction as paling in comparison. It's odd because there is a general feeling of uniformity about other respected writers amongst my mates (Austen and Shakespeare to name a couple) but it is only Dickens who really provokes a really good argument. Although please don’t think that we sit around discussing literary classics all the time…more often than not the jibber jabber is shockingly lowbrow! If I was going to compile a list of historical characters for the Doctor to hook up with Dickens would be somewhere in my top ten so to say I was excited to see what this episode delivered is an understatement. For them to capitalise on the interest and the talent of Simon Callow only served to whet my appetite even further. You know with Callow involved it is going to be as authentic as possible and that he will approach the part with real dignity and stamina. It’s a star turn and one that has rarely been bettered (marrying a name to a character is a tricky business) when I think of the guest stars that have appeared in the series since. I personally think that Dickens’ work stands up on its own merits but if you want proof of his talent as a storyteller but can’t stomach the prose then check out the spellbinding BBC adaptation of Bleak House from a few years back and the version of Great Expectations that has not long been released at the cinema. I love that it is Dickens who figures out the Gelth’s Achilles Heel and becomes a vital component in the execution of the climax. Giving him the knowledge that his books last forever is a wonderful gift for the Doctor to bestow. There are few endings jollier than Charles Dickens walking the streets drunk with laughter at his new lust for life. It really makes me smile.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Mind you I’ve gotta say that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what’s that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean it was rubbish, that bit.’

‘Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you truth be told its been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.’

‘Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o’-lanterns. In which case have I wasted my brief span here Doctor?’ 

‘Incredible! Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers!’ – can you imagine a line that sums up Doctor Who more than this one? And Callow plays it for all its worth.

‘What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War V, I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party and now I’m going to die in a dungeon…in Cardiff!’

‘I shall be subtle. At first…’

The Good:

• I have heard complaints in the past that The Unquiet Dead offers a stylised picture postcard view of the Victorian era that completely misinterprets the period. I hate to break it to you but Doctor Who always offers a stylised version of history from the overly theatrical tone of The Aztecs, The Crusade & The Massacre to the jolly adventure romps like The Smugglers & The Highlanders right through to the colourful cliché ridden delights such as The Time Warrior, The Talons of Weng-Chiang and Black Orchid. None of these stories is a particularly accurate portrayal of any of the periods that they are set in because you are making the choice re-interpret the era to suit the story that you are trying to fit in it. Any of the stories I have listed above could be massively moulded to suit a different tone and would suggest an entirely different take on the period. I just don’t think you can discuss and criticise the integrity of how a writer paints a picture of the period when they are going to do something as anachronistic as dumping a time machine and time travellers within in it. The Unquiet Dead offers a whiter than white, huddle into your jacket and cuddle up to loved ones view of the Victorian era but that is fine for the mock Dickensian romp that it is trying to tell. I don’t think it spoils the effect of the episode at all that the show chooses to Disney up its first step into history. Davies and Gatiss are trying make the idea appear fun and engaging for the fresh audience they are introducing the shows basic concepts to and it feels all part of the game plan of series one to reach out to as wider audience as possible. The Unquiet Dead might make history ‘safe’ (aside from a ravening horde of zombies) but that works within the context of the story they are telling. And besides, it looks gorgeous.
• Structurally this is one of the tidier episodes of the New Series and a great example of squeezing a classic Doctor Who adventure into 45 minutes. In days gone by we would have enjoyed an introductory episode to the period with grumblings of something amiss leading up to the cliffhanger of Mrs Pearce waking from the dead and strangling her son. Here we cut to the chase within seconds but it's nice that Gatiss does seize upon the opportunity to indulge in a classic cliffhanger in the pre-credits sequence (the long unearthly scream as she makes her way across the courtyard and towards the camera is one of the best of its kind’). Gatiss makes Sneed light the gas lamp as the first thing we see in the episode, exposing both the nature of the threat and the method of its vanquishment before the events have even kicked off. Gwentyh being both the cause of the disaster and its solution is so neat I could write a thesis. In fact, I think I just did.
• The gaseous Gelth might be one of the least substantial ‘monsters’ the show has coughed up physically but they represent a very different sort on a dramatic level. Inhabiting the bodies of cadavers allows for a macabre Doctor Who spin on your typical ghost story and before the end we have legions of zombies attacking en masse, The Walking Dead style. Zombies are not really my bag (I am on the fence about Shaun of the Dead) but I like how Gatiss finds an approach here that in true Doctor Who style makes logical sense (these are gaseous aliens that need to live inside people in order to actualise and corpses don’t put up a fight) but still allows for the scares like the best of the genre. There’s a rather wonderful camera angle from the point of view of a corpse as Dickens lifts the coffin lid and stares inside. The effect of the spectral figure looming over Gwentyh at the séance is absolutely gorgeous. These are the kind of effects that I have always dreamt of the show commanding. I can understand in dramatic terms why Gatiss tried to pretend that the Gelth were innocent refugees but anybody who has watched enough television will realise that things aren’t as legitimate as they appear. There’s still another fifteen minutes to go for a start and you definitely need a good twist in that time. It's almost a shame, a benevolent alien race that exploits the dead of other races is actually quite an intriguing idea. Moving down into the morgue is a stroke of genius, Euros Lyn glides across the deathly space highlighting the erect bodies lying on slabs and giving a good idea where this episode is heading. Sneed having his neck snapped and being reanimated is a great shock moment (especially since he was the lovable comedy character) but also important because it proves that the revived show isn’t going to be as neutered as some might have suspected.
• It says something about the effectiveness of the writing that she has been given since that her first role in the series is still probably Eve Myles’ most successful in any Doctor Who related media. Had Torchwood’s Gwen turned out to be anywhere near as likable as her name sake in the past then that show could have really have been something special (given she is the POV character most of the time). Gwentyh is a victim of circumstance which makes her easy to sympathise with whereas Gwen is more often than not a victim of her own bruised character and that is far less forgivable. Myles plays the part with great restraint and doesn’t do that distracting wide eyed look that has become indicative with her style of acting (seriously, you would think that Gwen was hypnotised half her life the way she stares off camera goggle-eyed). She’s extremely good and I have to wonder if she may have been an effective companion under different circumstances. I’m not the biggest fan of the self sacrificing climax but this works a treat because of the injustice of it. Gwentyh isn’t trying to redeem herself, she’s just a nice person that was exploited and is doing the right thing to make sure that her mistake is rectified. It's an entirely selfless act from an entirely selfless character. It is rather touching and fully deserving of the pause to reflect on her actions that they give her (even if the camera raise is a little too self conscious).
• There is a real Talons of Weng-Chiang vibe about setting the early scenes around a theatre and I love the image of the zombie old dear sitting in the audience staring out at the camera. It takes you a little while to spot her but then your eyes never leave her. It's like Where’s Wally, Victorian zombie horror style! Something about an audience being enraptured by one man standing on stage reading his own story beguiles me. The last three or four shows I saw at the theatre were spectacular displays of colours, songs and effects. Rather than considering Dickens’ recitals as a more primitive form of entertainment, it actually exposes a more sophisticated audience.

The Bad: I’m almost tempted to knock a mark of or two for setting up the basis of Torchwood in the future. But I’m not that mean. Huw Rhys is one of those actors that always delights me when he shows up because he pretty much always plays the same daft character. He has some great lines here and is very funny for the most part but the performance is a little mannered in places. Like he is trying to be funny. Plus the character as written veers between a treacherous old leech and a comedy Wesh bumpkin depending on what the script asks of him. Callow manages to be funny without any effort but Rhys is really trying. The zombie advance probably should have been scarier than it is in the climax but I often find that is the way with zombies...a lot of moaning and shuffling but not much else. Rattling some bars isn’t perhaps the best utilisation of such a terrifying monster but then we were hardly going to see corpses being disembowelled and eaten so perhaps keeping them at a distance was a good idea.

Blaidd Drwg: ‘The big bad wolf…’

Result: In recent years it has become quite fashionable to knock The Unquiet Dead but to my mind it is a great little chiller that re-invents the historical genre in the ‘celebrity character’ mould. If that seems like a fatuous thing to do to you then you should cast your mind back to a period when Doctor Who avoided the past altogether. If we have to big up a particular person (and in any case there is a great deal to celebrate in Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Shakespeare and the rest) in order to be lavished with a trip into history then I think that’s a fair trade. Take a large pinch of Dickens’ own work, add some supernatural trappings, shove in a slavering zombie horde and wrap it all up with some gentle character drama and lots of funny lines and you have a handsomely written tale that captures Gatiss’ work with the League of Gentlemen better than any of his other scripts for Doctor Who to date. The Unquiet Dead reminds me so much of Doctor Who in general; you’ve got the slower, historical scene setting of Hartnell, the conceptual monsters of Troughton, the horror of Hinchcliffe and the wit and character of Williams all wrapped in 80s gloss. There’s even an element of Gatiss’ previous Doctor Who work as well with the animation of corpses explored to riveting effect in the NA Nightshade and the world of table wrapping exploited in his Big Finish audio Phantasmagoria. It's not the most demanding of adventures intellectually but there is such a feast of performance, direction and dialogue that it's easier to just go with the flow and just relax into the episode that dishes out so many treats. Any five minute segment of this story is packed full of memorable imagery, great lines and acting to knock your socks off. This is a time where Doctor Who commanded a cast that saw Christopher Eccleston and Simon Callow acting their hearts out together and that’s definitely something that should be celebrated. The Unquiet Dead is a cosy slice of teatime horror (or as cosy as something with animated cadavers, neck snapping and suicide can be) and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that when it is presented this well: 8/10

Return of the Repressed written by Matthew Sweet and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What's it about: After returning to Victorian London, Jago and Litefoot are approached by the enigmatic Colonel and offered a role they cannot refuse – investigators by Royal Appointment to Queen Victoria! Their missions include a mystery on the Suffolk coast where strange things lurk in the sea mist, an encounter with Freud and a threat to the realm itself… But who can save Professor Litefoot when he is accused of murder, and no one can be convinced of his innocence?

Theatrical Fellow: A little peek into the psyche of Henry Gordon Jago as we get to experience one of his dreams first hand and it appears to consist of a theatrical performance including Sigmund Freud and a baboon and everybody appearing on stage naked! The idea of Dr Freud and Jago working together to uncover the truth behind his dreams was probably enough for the commissioning script editor to give this story the green light, it is a highly intoxicating notion and one that is full of imagery that is (as the story itself suggests) is open to interpretation. He doesn't give much thought to his family but most theatricals are the same. In one of his dreams he visits his home on a hot summer but not all of the details are right, it is much grander than he remembers. His mother (as interpreted by Lisa Bowerman) is a real dragon of a woman, ranting and raving at him as he tries to appease her. Jago is capable of restraint on occasion, when he is awake. For Henry the baboon is a monstrously powerful signifier of repressed desire; the fury he feels towards his father for abandoning him as a child and the fear he has of the suffocating influence of his mother.

Posh Professor: He is sad that he cannot do more for Henry but psychological evaluation and diagnosis is not really his field. When he talks about being taken to the zoo by Nanny it is clear that Litefoot and Jago had very different upbringings. He empathises with one of the escaped baboons, considering they were both born millions of miles away from London and having both been put through the mangle on several occasions. Once a week his father would take them to see the Commissioner because he had a pair a boys that were roughly the same age as his children and they spent every Sunday there. Litefoot used to dread going but not because of the boys - they were the only real friends that they had there. No, they had go through a ghastly ritual of feeding live rats to a baboon in the garden before they left. Her mother hated the commissioner because he once made a pass at her and would never accompany them. Litefoot has unexpressed anger about the incident. The two sides of his nature are exposed in his dreams, Anna Litefoot encapsulating his reason and the baboon his unreason. The civilised side always seeking to control the fury of the other.

Sparkling Dialogue: 'It is the most hyper inflated element in his symbolic mental economy and you took him to a place where you could feed one a bag of nuts?'

Great Ideas: Some writers love dropping their audience in the middle of a tale that has already begun and expect you to catch up. Matthew Sweet is one such writer and he is one of the few on Big Finish's payroll that is intelligent enough to guide you along until the proper information can be dropped in to get you up to speed with what has been going on to reach the point at which you joined the story. Litefoot is concerned that since they returned from Suffolk, Jago has been infected by a kind of madness and has dragged in Dr Freud to peek into his mind and see what is going on. How are we to judge which desires to act upon or ignore? And yet there are those who would take it upon themselves to insist upon which ones we should indulge in or not. Bizarrely, Peggy Mitchell seems to be alive and well in Victorian London and working as a taxi driver ('Get aat of my cab!'). The thought of somebody dying in their dreams and never waking up is a terrifying one and a conundrum that Dr Freud cannot rightly answer. Is that what it is like for people who do slip away in their sleep? Does their mind take over and  dream up a scenario that can display through imagery a way for them to pass satisfactorily? According to Freud every dream is a window into wish fulfilment, a visual landscape that expresses what we want. Lawrence Miles struck upon the imagery of slavering, out of control baboons breaking loose in Victorian London in the chilling novel The Adventuress of Henrietta Street and Matthew Sweet utilises the same kind of imagery in this tale. It almost seems to be a metaphor for the whatever beastly force is trying to break its way free of Jago's dreams. If our secrets reside and our true natures are hiding in our unconscious minds, what if you are yet to determine the nature of our true nature? The madness that has infected Jago is manifesting itself as a baboon in his dreams and has broken free out into the real world. For the last few nights both Jago and Freud's dreams have been following the same script. The madness was shipwrecked on the Suffolk coast, lost in the fog. The story makes us believe that it is Jago who was infected when it was Litefoot all along, mastered by its madness. He thought to lift the monster from his own back and pass the burden onto Jago and all the ape wanted was to escape. They rushed through the night of the universe and were broken when they fell but thanks to the a little psychological merging they are whole again.

Audio Landscape: Audience clapping and laughing, a baboon shaking a cage, ticking clock, screaming baboons...to be honest I stopped listening to the soundscape after a while and had to focus entirely on the story.

Standout Scene: There are lots of wonderful little moments that take you by surprise but I especially enjoyed the reversal of expectations at the climax when we realise just what Litefoot's role in this story really is.

Result: I always say that the three dullest topics that anybody can talk about are the interpretation of dreams, endlessly banging on about children and talking about your pets as though they were siblings. Everybody is guilty of the first, I know a fair few people guilty of the second and I am one of the worst perpetrators of the third. Return of the Repressed obsesses about one of these subjects but it doesn't turn out to be a bore at all. Like The Spirit Trap and The Theatre of Dreams, Return of the Repressed is a Jago & Litefoot tale that manages to tell an entirely different sort of adventure from the norm, one which is more like a puzzle box to be figured out and where reality has to be questioned at every point. Listening to the behind the scenes featurette is fascinating because both Trevor Baxter and Lisa Bowerman read the script for this one and were horrified at how out of place and different it was to anything they had ever done before...but on subsequent re-reads they saw how it not only slotted in perfectly but also revealed a great deal about the series' titular characters. I think the audience might have a similar reaction, sheer incomprehension at first (the mixture of being dropped in at the middle of the narrative and to then start questioning reality at every turn is a big ask) but upon giving it another a go with a few salient facts in place it is actually one of the mot dense and clever pieces the series has attempted. And I'm saying this after only listening to it once. Getting both Jago & Litefoot on the psychiatrics couch allows us to discover much more about both characters, their pasts and important details about their childhood. Saying that this isn't simply a counselling session, Return of the Repressed is a story full of nightmarish imagery and soundscapes, moments to make you laugh and a climax that sees the mystery come together in a very rewarding way. I was very keen on this madness shared by three: 9/10

The Skeleton Quay written by Jonathan Morris and directed by Lisa Bowerman

What's it about: After returning to Victorian London, Jago and Litefoot are approached by the enigmatic Colonel and offered a role they cannot refuse – investigators by Royal Appointment to Queen Victoria! Their missions include a mystery on the Suffolk coast where strange things lurk in the sea mist, an encounter with Freud and a threat to the realm itself… But who can save Professor Litefoot when he is accused of murder, and no one can be convinced of his innocence?

Theatrical Fellow: 'Her Majesty? Corks!' As much as I enjoyed their perambulations in other times and places, there is something very satisfying about having Jago & Litefoot back on their home territory and off to solve a supernatural mystery. They are the heart and soul of this range and the period it is set in and whilst it is fun to shake the formula up from time to time it is always a relief to see them back at work in their natural setting. Jago is thrilled at the thought of being able to spend some time in the illustrious company of the Queen and given his service to her domain over the past five seasons I would say that an audience is the very least she could provide him with. He thinks that some official recognition for their services is long overdue. His recent experiences on Venus, the New Frontier of America and the 1960s are still playing on his mind and haunting him in his dreams. He has not been blessed with an athletic physique and yet he seems to keep getting dragged into escapades that requires one. He's not a strong simmer either. Camilla is declared a woman after his own heart when she offers Jago a warm place to rest and a brandy to lift his spirits. Whilst rolling a body off a cliff, Jago does the victim the honour of saying a few words for him.

Posh Professor: Litefoot strikes up an immediate rapport with Camilla but rather lets his mouth run away from him...awkwardly suggesting that she might be a prostitute and instantly apologising for the misunderstanding. He is finding that his memories are starting to fade, that their adventures together are starting to become something of a fog. Jago's easily pleased whereas it is clear that Litefoot is observing Camilla the whole time, fully aware that not everything adds up. He's quite the stickler for a tidy ending and justice when it needs to be dished out - when Camilla is herded towards the cliff edge by those her father killed he insists that Jago stands back let's justice be carried out. I rather like this dark side to his nature, I hope we see more of it.

Standout Performance: Francesca Hunt made a memorable appearance in the eighth Doctor adventure Other Lives, a performance I can still remember almost a decade after its release. She's just as strong in The Skeleton Quay playing a part that isn't a million miles away from her previous appearance and she is just as natural behind the microphone as ever. Her character isn't all she appears to be and she makes the transition from innocent victim to protector of a family secret with effortless aplomb.

Sparkling Dialogue: 'There is something about the sea that makes ones feel so small, so insignificant' - precisely the reason I love living on the coast.

'I've heard of ghost ships but not ghost pubs!' 'I wonder if they serve spirits?'

'Haunted by spectral skeletons and nearly taken at the flood!'

'In my experiences the more people you kill, the easier it is!'

Great Ideas: How the writers of this range continually strike upon such gorgeous ideas for adventures never ceases to amaze me. If you had told me that a Jago & Litefoot series had legs after their appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang I probably would have believed you. If you had told me that it would stretch to ten series and beyond, constantly bring out the best of any writer who contributes to the series and would be able to consistently allow its central characters to play comedy and drama without them ever getting boring...well I might have suggested that was suggesting credulity somewhat. But  it is the truth and this season looks like it is going to be hung on an idea as intriguing as that of series five (which took the Victorian duo forwards in time to the 1960s), that of Jago and Litefoot serving as ghost hunters for Queen Victoria. That's a notion so deliriously tempting it surprises me it has taken six years to bring it to fruition. They are being sent to investigate some mysterious sightings that have occurred on the Suffolk coast, a part of the country that has been overcome with expectedly dense sea fog. The fog comes in without warning, an icy chill filling the air and if the wind is the right direction you can hear the screams of the people who have died here. The truth behind the ghostly apparitions becomes unnervingly clear when we realise that the inn slipped into the sea when the cliff edge gave way to subsidence taking all those inside with it. A grisly fate. Shingle Cove fails to live up to its name, the shingle having been removed at an earlier date. Camilla's father had all the shingle transported to help build the dockyard that brought them their fortune. It left the sea wall dangerously exposed and resulting in the destruction of the village and death of all the inhabitants. He knew that it would cause a disaster and yet went ahead with it anyway, the blood of all of those innocents most definitely on his hands. Camilla has been trying to kill them ever since they arrived, something that is only apparent when it is pointed out! Her fate at the hands of the dead of those her father killed is beautifully apt. What on Earth is going on with Jago & Litefoot's memories? The reason that Her Majesty wanted the Suffolk coast mystery investigated was because they are testing a new experimental warship along that part of the coast...I can't help but feel that every story this season is going to run along similar lines with Jago & Litefoot performing duties that culminate in some dastardly scheme being cooked up the Crown. But what...?

Audio Landscape: Church bells, footsteps, Jago snoring, a train hooting through the countryside, seagulls screaming in the air, crashing waves, the ground giving way, the echoing depths of the miasma, a crackling fire, pub chatter, the tide coming in around Jago & Litefoot, rolling a body off a cliff, screaming ghosts coming out of the fog.

Isn't it Odd: I don't think we needed the additional twist about Issac being the fog...I rather like the idea of this being a revenge story with supernatural leanings. The dead returning to right a wrong.

Standout Scene: A ghostly inn appearing out of the fog filled with bar staff and customers that are all skeletons. I was wondering how Morris was going to justify his smirksome pun of a title and this was a very exciting way to do it. I would love to see this sort of supernatural madness filmed.

Result: An investigation into supernatural sea mist in a coastal town, yokels spinning a spooky yarn to get us in the mood, some genuinely creepy moments lost in the miasma, Jago & Litefoot on a mission from Queen Victoria herself and some delightful guest characters to get involved with and a story that is wrapped up simply and satisfyingly...Jago & Litefoot is back home on traditional ground and it is as confident as ever. Of all of Big Finish's output I find this the most reliable range of all. It rarely disappoints and even if a story isn't perhaps as interesting as the rest of the set there is always the charismatic performances of Benjamin and Baxter to enjoy and the ever reliable direction of Lisa Bowerman. The Skeleton Quay has nothing to worry about in that regard though, it knows exactly what it is doing (telling a spooky ghost story by the sea) and achieves chills and laughs in equal measures. I know this isn't a very fair observation to make to either series but this is precisely the sort of simple, ghoulish, characterful adventure I would like to see the television series of Doctor Who producing. The Doctor and his assistant being drawn into a creepy mystery at a seaside with no clever clever plotting and sex gags, just real characters to engage with and some terrifically creepy moments. But that's a complaint for another series. Jago & Litefoot is back doing what it does best, providing fantastic entertainment in a beautifully realised location and setting up lots of mystery for the season ahead. If you don't own this already, this is a must buy: 8/10