Doctor Who: Plight of the Pimpernel

The story starts in media res with the Doctor standing in for an injured Sir Percy Blakeney as the Scarlet Pimpernel, rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine. Which, of course, introduces the central mystery since both Blakeney and the Pimpernel are as fictional in the Doctor Who universe as they are in ours. So why is everyone acting as if they're real?

And, yes, it's much, much better than Robot of Sherwood.

The main part of the story is a typical DW adventure, replete with daring escapes and a sinister villain alongside the main mystery. Not to mention that Peri gets to be heroic and far more capable than her TV persona. It also soon becomes clear that this isn't a straight historical and, in fact, it doesn't even indirectly reference TV episode The Reign of Terror which is set at about the same time. (This despite the fact that Robespierre gets a couple of name-checks). It's good, fast-moving, and with plenty going on, even if the first episode is marred by some particularly bad French accents.

It's worth noting that the whole “superhero secret identity” trope originated with The Scarlet Pimpernel novel in 1905, before being picked up by the likes of Zorro and Batman. Secret identities are at the heart of this story, too, and it's when the last of those layers is peeled away in the final section that it really rises above the average to earn 4.5 stars from me. Not so much because of what's revealed, but because of the way it allows us to examine the Doctor's morality and his approach to life. This is well-written and acted, posing some interesting questions about the limits of redemption and it's also notable for showing a far more positive relationship between the Sixth Doctor and Peri than we ever got on TV.