Doctor Who: The Home Guard

The Second Doctor's run in this, apparently final, Early Adventures “season” is cut short, with just this story and the multi-Doctor finale that followed it. Where that uses Zoe, this one features Ben and Polly, with Anneke Wills providing the narration. Rather like Guerrier's previous offering in the series, the narration is overused; in places it does help to describe scenes that are largely visual, but for the most part it feels unnecessary, intruding on a story that has a large enough cast not to require it.

That aside, though, it is a good story. It starts in media res with the TARDIS crew living in an unspecified English town during what appears to be WWII. The way everyone is acting makes it immediately clear that something isn't right and this off-kilter setting continues for about half the story, even though some of the details get filled in around the 30-minute mark when the first cliffhanger introduces the villain. (Rather obvious from the cover who that is, of course).

Speaking of whom, the villain is reasonably well done, although he's not especially distinctive and his motives here don't really make any sense. I gather that the actor playing him only appeared once more in Big Finish before being ditched over some online comments and, judging from this, I don't feel strongly about that; he does a good job but he won't be leaving a gaping hole, either.

Despite the fact that the nature of the plot means the characters aren't acting as themselves for much of the story, the result is effective, as a mystery in the early sections and then a story of escalating peril as the action hots up in the second half. It's a good mix, with some nice characterisation, especially for Ben and Polly, and a few twists here and there.