Doctor Who: Babblesphere

The fourth story in the series is read by Lalla Ward, who played Time Lady Romana in the TV series.

The Doctor and Romana arrive on an isolated colony world in the far future and immediately stumble across a dead body. The early sections of the story are atmospheric and quite surreal as the two Time Lords investigate their strange surroundings. By the time we discover what it is, the Doctor has been separated from Romana, and she remains the viewpoint character throughout the story; the Doctor's role in events is undeniably important, but most of the action happens to his companion, and there's a long stretch without him.

Once the explanation is finally revealed, the story switches from surreality to satire, with a personification of modern social media as the primary antagonist. Clearly, such a story wouldn't have been written for the '70s version of the TV show, because the thing it's satirising didn't exist back then, but it is reminiscent of some episodes that were (mainly The Sunmakers, for the satirical elements, but also, for other reasons, The Face of Evil and Underworld).

Morris has a good grasp of the Fourth Doctor and Romana, although Lalla Ward, as in the Companion Chronicles, struggles with doing Tom Baker's voice. (To be fair, I assume he'd have a hard time doing hers). There are a number of nice touches for the fans, too - I thought the brief plot arc sequence where the Doctor lists his worst foes was particularly fun. Whether you enjoy it may depend on your opinions of social media, but I thought it worked quite well. #eviltwitter