Doctor Who: Quicksilver

There are really two stories going on this particular release. The main one provides the science-fiction element, with the Doctor being drawn into protecting a fugitive being pursued by alien warriors. This, however, leads him to occupied Vienna in the early days of the Cold War... and, more importantly, into the middle of something with considerable personal relevance to his current companion, Constance.

The alien plotline is not, perhaps, terribly interesting. It's good enough, and some parallels are drawn with historical events of the time, but there's nothing really special about it either. The human side of things, however, raises this distinctly above the average. A lot of this is, of course, due to Constance - among other things, it becomes clearer why she was willing to travel with the Doctor when, unlike most of his other companions, she's married. She gets some good characterisation here, her '40s-era morality struggling with the personal situation she's placed in.

Just as welcome, however. is the return of Flip, last seen plunging to near-certain doom in Scavenger. Unfortunately, we're not told how she survived that cliffhanger ending - we're presumably just supposed to assume she was lucky and not worry about it. But, that aside, she's great here, not least because of her strong contrast with Constance; the scenes with them together are some of the highlights of the story, and she gets some great one-liners.

In amongst this, there's plenty of Cold War espionage, with a number of the themes and locations being borrowed from the classic film The Third Man - although I confess to not having seen that film, so I can't comment on how well it works as an homage. However, if other writers can do as well as Fitton has with this particular TARDIS team, I'll be looking forward to their future appearances.