Doctor Who: Ravenous 4

This particular “season” of Eighth Doctor stories has not been the strongest, not least because the Ravenous are a rather dull enemy. In fairness, much of it has really been about the Eleven and that's something that continues here in a set of three stories the last one of which manages to redeem some of the weaknesses of the earlier collections.

Whisper – In an attempt to find treatment for the Eleven, the Doctor lands the TARDIS on a planet that contains a hospital and literally nothing else. Even before the theme music starts up it's already become clear that the facility is, as such remote bases are wont to be, under siege from an outside threat. The threat in question turns out to hunt solely by sound, hence the story's title. It's a reasonable idea in general, but not so great for audio, since it can sometimes be hard to tell who is whispering to whom. On the plus side, the scenes in which Liv is struggling as to how far she should go to stop the Eleven are strong, and there is some good interaction between her and Helen. The story has connections with the larger plot arc, but essentially, it's standalone and mainly consists of trying to escape from the monster as the guest cast are picked off. In that respect, it works, but it's not especially memorable. 3.5 stars.

Planet of Dust – We're back to something closer to the main plot here, as the Eleven's plan begins to become apparent. Indeed, this episode ends on a cliffhanger so that it's really the first part of the following story. While the Ravenous remain uninteresting villains, they're not in the foreground of this very much, being outshone by the Eleven and – as is apparent from the cover – the Master. I'm less convinced by the nature of the McGuffin that the Master is hunting, although his motivations and methods for doing so seem in character. But still, it's a classic set-up with some good turns from the villains and moves along quite quickly. 4 stars.

Day of the Master – The two-hour finale to this “season” of stories ties the arc together and also resolves some mysteries from earlier episodes. The main characters are separated for over half of the entire story, although each of them manages to encounter the Master in the process. In addition to some timey-wimeyness (the appearances aren't entirely in chronological order) this has the benefit of introducing no less than three versions of the Master into one story. This pays off in a major way once the Doctor and companions reunite and the three Masters meet up – something that's greatly enlivened by one of them being Missy, who is brilliantly written here and constantly flippant about her former selves. It's a great wrap-up to a season that has often been below par. 4.5 stars.