Doctor Who: Dark Eyes

This four-hour story kicks off a new plot arc for the Eighth Doctor. As such, it's a good stepping-in point, not absolutely requiring knowledge of previous stories - although, since it is somewhat influenced by the events at the end of the previous arc (ending with To The Death) if you are going to listen to both, you'll probably want to do so in order.

The story concerns a demoralised Doctor being hired by the Time Lords to protect a woman who, of course, goes on to become the new companion. Although he doesn't work it out until the end of the first ‘episode', there are Daleks on the cover, so no prize for guessing who the main villains are. Fortunately, given the limitations of Daleks for doing much beyond exterminating people, they are assisted by a mysterious, but apparently human, character, who is very ably played by Toby Jones.

One of the delights of the story is companion Molly O'Sullivan, played by Ruth Bradley (of Humans and Primeval, among other things). Her forceful personality comes to the fore right from the off, and she makes an immediate impact as a companion who doesn't entirely trust the Doctor and who has a scathing tone somewhat reminiscent of Donna from the TV series.

The story begins in the trenches of World War One, where Molly works as a volunteer nurse, and this is probably the strongest of the four parts, atmospheric and with a great soundscape. The second part, while still well-made, is largely just running away from Daleks, but things pick up again once we begin to unravel the mystery of Molly's past, meet some rather strange Daleks, and head towards the final confrontation. Exactly what's going on is a little complicated, and does involve time paradoxes, but isn't quite up to the level of some of Moffat's more convoluted TV stories.

There are a number of hints in here linking to the modern TV series, and it's easy to see this as the start of the road that leads to Night of the Doctor, although, for licensing reasons, the connections are never explicit. At it's best, though, it's a story about the Doctor and his companion, and how she helps him recover from a low point in his life. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.