Doctor Who: Stranded 1

Unusually, all of the episodes in this collection have the same setting: present-day London. (Technically, it's 2020, although having been written no later than 2019, there's obviously no reference to the pandemic). The result is something that feels more tightly plotted than usual, and has the opportunity to contrast the mundane with the fantastic, building up a substantial support cast of recurring characters along the way.

Lost Property – The first episode, naturally enough, is devoted largely to setting the scene, making it relatively sedate by the standards of most Doctor Who stories. The Doctor and companions are staying in an apartment block in central London with no apparent means of repairing the TARDIS, forcing Liv and Helen to try to live something approaching a normal life. Much is made of the resulting culture shock, with Helen sixty years in her future and Liv nine centuries in her past. We're also introduced to the other residents of the building although we don't get a run-down of them until close to the end; this might have been better placed earlier on, given the relatively large number of them.

Against this, there are two linked science fiction elements that bring us towards something more typical of the series, perhaps reminiscent of The Power of Three or The Lodger (although the latter is companion-lite, while this is anything but). The threat is somewhat nebulous, with it never being truly clear what it is but it's there really to show us something of the characters rather than being important in its own right. The second element, however, is the presence of The Curator, puttering about in the background and being mysterious. This is likely foreshadowing some future plot development but, for the time being, it's welcome just to hear Tom Baker again, adding an extra something to a story that otherwise might feel rather slow. 4 stars.

Wild Animals – If the first episode was heavy on the mundane aspects of life, this second one is even more so. It is, in fact, effectively a straight historical... just one that happens to be set in the present day. That is to say, there are no science fiction elements at all, beyond the presence of the time travellers, and it's solely about them trying to adapt to the regular world that we all inhabit. This may have been done before in some short story or comic somewhere that I haven't encountered but, to me, it certainly feels refreshingly different.

I suspect some listeners won't be keen on it for that reason; it's not all domesticity, but there's precious little action, either. While the companions were more to the fore in the first episode, here the focus is on the Doctor and on how he is coping – or, rather, not coping – with a life that gives him no evil plans to thwart or monsters to overcome. It's a great character piece, with some strong scenes for Helen and character development for Liv alongside the central thread about the Doctor. It's not the sort of thing you'd be able to repeat – or would want to – but as a one-off it's both brave and surprisingly engaging. 5 stars.

Must-See TV – It's in this episode that the science fiction elements start to come to the fore as that element of the plot arc kicks in. Andy Davidson also makes his first appearance in the story here, bringing some revelations about one of the other characters living in the flats and aware that he has to keep the Doctor ignorant of the existence of Torchwood until he encounters them in his tenth incarnation. There are also other developments with the character elements of the story, with an LGBTQ romance being thrown into the mix (which, on past evidence from others' reviews, I can safely predict will delight some listeners and infuriate others).

The science fiction part of the story comes courtesy of televisions in the flats acting strangely just as a new tenant moves in. While we do discover what's going on, it's less clear at this point who's behind it or what their motive is. The result of this is that, even though they are written by different authors, this episode and the next one feel like a single story, with ongoing threads rather than neat resolutions. Indeed, this story ends abruptly, so that I almost wondered if I'd failed to download the last part of it... it's very much not standalone but that seems to be one of the strengths of this particular audio series. 4.5 stars.

Divine Intervention – We do get some answers in the final instalment of this volume as some aliens turn up and there's an element of action for the first time. Against that, we have some further character development for the other tenants, and the threads left dangling from the previous episode are followed up as the plot arc continues. Once again, however, there are more questions raised than answered and an entirely new element enters the mix in a scene that's clearly setting things up for later but whose connection to the rest of the story remains obscure for now.

It ends, if not on a cliffhanger, at a major turning point that hints things are about to turn in a new direction in the next volume. The long-term plotting of this volume left me eager to find out what's coming next, which is exactly what this episode should be doing, and feeling that the Eighth Doctor audios are truly back on form again after the somewhat lacklustre Ravenous arc. 5 stars.