Doctor Who: An Alien Werewolf in London

This last instalment is easily the strongest of the “werewolf trilogy” which sees Seven paired up with reluctant lycanthrope Mags. Fortunately, it's entirely standalone and (so long as you're willing to accept that Mags happens to be a companion) there's no requirement to have listened to any of the others to follow it.

It begins with the Doctor and Mags arriving in London in 1990 to meet up with Ace, who wants to rescue an alien being held prisoner in a country mansion. The first half-hour deals with the set-up and attempted rescue, until things suddenly change at the 30-minute mark. From there on, we're in a story that's a mash-up of Gothic horror, science fiction, and the soap opera Neighbours.

The connection to Neighbours and its ilk are not the only late '80s/early '90s references in the story - in fact, it's riddled with them. (And, yes, I know that Neighbours is, as of this writing, still going, but that era was very much the heyday of its popularity). There is also a running gag about architecture and the story certainly can't be accused of taking itself too seriously.

The plot, however, is quite complicated and does require some exposition at times. It does mostly hang together, however, although there is a science gaff when it comes to a key part of the final resolution. Other flaws include incidental music that's a little too intrusive and an overreliance on flashbacks.

On the plus side, the fact that it doesn't rely on Mags repeatedly changing shape is a plus; when she does so it's directly relevant to the plot, but we don't get a lot of growling, running around, and other elements that work poorly without visuals. Which, in fact, allows us to explore here a little more as a character, although it's fair to say that that's not the real focus of the piece.

Which is the enjoyable mash-up of genres, more '90s references than you can shake a stick at, and taking the mick out of daytime soap operas.