Gallifrey: Enemy Lines

This three-hour story follows on directly from the open ending of the previous, rather weak, offering... by immediately retconning it out of existence. Which is rather easier to do in a story about time travel than it might be elsewhere.

That, however, is just in the first few minutes of the story. What follows is a return to form for the series, with the original characters returning and the plot once again resembling a political thriller more than an action adventure - although there are elements of the latter. Time travel is also a key element, enabling some events to occur out of sequence from the perspective of the main characters.

In fact, there's quite a lot going on here, using the unusually long running time to tell a complex story, with political skullduggery, assassinations, and time paradoxes all playing their part. What you don't get, and which might be implied by the cover, is anything to do with the Time War (beyond a few hints that it's on the horizon) or with Daleks - perhaps the strongest reference to anything in the new series is a throwaway line about the Sycorax. It may also be worth mentioning that this is primarily Romana and Leela's story, with Ace playing a relatively minor role, although she is key to one of the six 30-minute segments.

For me, neither of these things detracted from the story, which is far more reminiscent of the first couple of seasons than anything that's happened since. That's a good thing from my perspective, although it does mean that it's the kind of story you'll want to pay close attention to, given how much is happening, and it isn't one for those who want straight-up action with monsters. The story wraps up with a good ending that leaves no obvious loose ends, and, while there are plenty of references to earlier releases in the series, it's largely self-contained.