Doctor Who: The Time Museum

In a story that doesn't feature the Doctor directly, an elderly Ian is abducted by an alien and brought to a time travel museum just as the exhibit based on his life is being attacked by mysterious monsters. The basic story is quite straightforward, with Ian and the curator initially fleeing through the exhibit and then discovering the true reason behind events once they reach the main body of the museum.

In itself, there's nothing particularly special about this, but it works because of the backdrop and what it does with it. In the first half, we see a number of locations featured in the TV series, as well as some from previous Companion Chronicles, but they become increasingly jumbled up as Ian's memory of the real events comes under attack. Certainly, you do have to be familiar with the source material for this to make much sense, but if you are, it's quite a good nostalgia-fest.

But we also see, particularly in the second half, some great reflections on the events of the first two seasons of the TV show, and of Ian's relationship with the Doctor. Yes, it's revisionism, in that the script-writers of the day weren't planning any sort of story arc about the Doctor's transformation from cautious traveller to time-spanning hero. But, knowing what was to come, it is possible to look back on those early stories and interpret them in that way, and this play does a good job of doing just that, with some evocative writing and acting.

As I noted above, the plot itself isn't really worth much, and there's clearly an extent to which this is aimed at the dedicated fan (although, let's face it, who else listens to these anyway?). But the atmosphere is good enough - it's another one that it's hard not to ‘see' in black-and-white - that I'll give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.