Doctor Who: The Waters of Amsterdam

Set in the immediate aftermath of the TV story Arc of Infinity, the opening scenes take place before the travellers have even had a chance to step back into the TARDIS. That story, of course, is partly about Tegan having left the Doctor for a year, and this audio expands on that ‘missing' period, exploring some of what happened through flashback.

The main story concerns watery aliens (named for the ‘Nix' of Germanic mythology) rising from the canals of Amsterdam and, in all honesty, makes rather better use of the Dutch setting than the TV story did. That's largely because of a lengthy section set in 1658, with the Doctor and companions meeting Rembrandt, and becoming involved with the Dutch East India Company.

There's a lot to like in this story, which has an over-arching theme of loss and the way that different people respond to it. Much of it, of course, is Tegan's story, with some nice insights into her often prickly character, although Nyssa has at least one good scene, reminiscing about the death of her family with Rembrandt. The artist himself also receives an interesting portrayal which, at a couple of points, is explicitly contrasted with that of Van Gogh in Vincent and the Doctor.

Compared with the emotional and character-driven elements, the plot with the aliens is less intriguing, but that's useful here precisely because it doesn't detract from what the story is really about. Even so, it does have some nice touches and a few decent plot twists - although if you think that DW stories should only be about action and high-stakes drama, you might be disappointed with this. I found it a great kick-off to this latest trilogy.