Doctor Who: Shadow Planet / World Apart

The third and final release in a set of paired one-hour stories, here the two stories have a shared theme but, even though one ends on the cliffhanger that launches the second, they are narratively otherwise unrelated. It's perhaps most notable for revisiting an ‘earlier' time in the Doctor's audio adventures, when he was still joined by Hex (played by Philip Olivier) as well as Ace. As in the previous releases in the set, one story is good, and the other merely average.

* Shadow Planet - You'd think people would have learned by now not to establish leisure resorts on potentially dangerous planets, but apparently not. To be fair, in this case the danger wasn't apparent to the builders of the New Age-y retreat that allows people to literally come to terms with their repressed emotions. The set-up allows Aldred and Olivier to each play two contrasting roles and the split is more subtle than ‘good twin/evil twin'. But it feels simplistic, the sort of thing that's better than, say, Orphan 55 but that's fairly predictable in its course and doesn't do anything particularly remarkable. 3 stars.

* World Apart - The TARDIS lands on a planet that appears entirely uninhabited and that really shouldn't exist at all. For the most part, it's a battle for survival against the harsh environment, with the Doctor missing for almost half the story, leaving Ace and Hex to handle things on their own. This gives a great chance for personal interaction between the two characters, something well suited both to the shorter length of the story and to the audio format. You can almost feel the icy chill and the creeping sense of despair in the second half and the eventual climax does a great job of showcasing Seven's personality. 4 stars.