Doctor Who: You Are the Doctor and Other Stories

An anthology of four 30-minute stories connected by a loose meta-plot that essentially serves as a teaser for the next 7th Doctor story in the range.

* You Are the Doctor - An audio play written in the style of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, this is the strongest story of the four. The plot itself is simple enough, but the unusual style of the storytelling (complete with second-person narration) gives it a distinctive feel, and is directly relevant to what's going on. It's a slapstick comedy, using a villain that appeared less successfully in a previous story, but here fits right in with the style. Although one could actually listen to this in the style it's imitating (it uses numbered tracks) it's arranged in such a way that you can - and probably should - just listen to it in sequence. Unlike the other stories in the collection, it's also exactly the right length for what it's doing. 4 stars.

* Come Die With Me - Continuing with the theme of games, this time we have a murder mystery dinner type of event, with a reclusive genius inviting guests to his home to solve a series of murders. It's the sort of story that might have worked better if it were longer since, as it is, there's no actual mystery to solve and at times the characters have to do things without any apparent reason. There are some nice ideas in it, but it's too slight to be effective. 3 stars.

* The Grand Betelgeuse Hotel - A story that's told mostly in flashback, as Ace stands accused of a number of serious crimes before a kangaroo court. Once again, a longer story might have worked better, as there's precious little substance to this one. There's some attempt at characterisation of the one alien we see, but the humans are basically cyphers, and the resolution at the end of the story is about as predictable as it gets. 2.5 stars.

* Dead to the World - There's a slight improvement in the final episode, set on a doomed tourist liner marooned in space. The last surviving crew and passengers are fairly well drawn for such a short story, and the villains are at least different, if not hugely plausible. There's also a reasonable mix of humour and more serious threat, although the story isn't long enough for the tension to really build. Having said, it makes as good a use of the short run-time as can be expected, and suits the Seventh Doctor well. 3.5 stars.