Doctor Who: A Death in the Family

This story follows on directly from the preceding one, Project: Destiny, with much of it taking place in the same setting, although there are no continuing characters, other than the regular cast. In the mid two parts, however, it does wander around rather further, taking the opportunity to bring Ace and Hex into the foreground and focus on their reactions to events at the end of the first part.

There are a number of good points in the story, most notably bringing back 6th Doctor audio companion Evelyn and pairing her, first with Hex, and later with the 7th Doctor himself. Although the character did appear in three later audios, this is the last from her internal perspective, and thus wraps up her story line. And, it has to be said, it does so well, giving her a good send-off.

Unfortunately, it's harder to give praise for the main villain. He returns from an earlier episode, and the inherent silliness of his concept is just as much on display here as it was there. He's played well enough, and one can see what the writer was driving at with him - an apparently unbeatable foe with essentially limitless power and a cavalier attitude to the world around him. But the way he works is just too daft to be believable, and in all honesty, it's fortunate that he's only in about half the story.

With a different villain, this could well have been an outstanding story, so good are the other parts, but unfortunately he drags them down, and, taken as a whole, the story fails to work. It's really quite a mixed bag.