Jago & Litefoot: Series 5

In a plot arc vaguely reminiscent of Adam Adamant Lives!, this fifth season sees the titular Victorian investigators stranded in 1968 for some unaccountable reason. (That is, it makes perfect sense in-story, but it's less clear why the writers thought it was a good idea). This at least gives the series the chance to play with some different ideas for a change, and we also get a modified theme tune to match the era.

* Age of Revolution – The early part of this story sees a police detective (the descendant of one of the recurring characters in the previous seasons, and played by the same actor) trying to unravel the mystery of Jago and Litefoot, and includes a substantial reprise of the end of the special episode that saw them travel through time. The bulk of the story, however, concerns a group using mind control to try and bring Britain back to an imagined Victorian golden age, and so nicely contrasts the usual 1890s setting with the new one, giving our heroes particular relevance. There are also some nice touches of humour, and the story works better than I had expected. 4 stars.

* The Case of the Gluttonous Guru – Jago, now working in the Leonard Sachs role on what's obviously a fictionalised version of the BBC show The Good Old Days, becomes embroiled with a sinister hippy cult. It's hard not to imagine the main villain as being inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, although the latter presumably wasn't murdering people in service to a giant toad. For much of the episode Jago is wandering around feeling ill, and the story feels like it's dragging in places. It's well-acted, and it's certainly playing up the Sixties aspect, but it really lacks the usual charm. 3 stars.

* The Bloodchild Codex - Beyond the fact that it takes advantage of Litefoot's temporary occupation as an antiquarian bookseller, this story about sinister individuals hunting down a magical text could just as well be set in the Victorian era. Which makes it unfortunate that it isn't, given that it lacks the atmosphere of both the regular setting and that of the rest of this season. Jago's lack of bravery is rather overplayed in places, but more seriously, there just isn't much to the plot, with our heroes having little influence on events until the final denouement. In fact, the segments dealing with the season plot arc, which comes more to the fore here than in the preceding episodes, are the most interesting thing about it. 3 stars.

* The Final Act - As with the first episode, this successfully ties the two eras together, in this case by building events in the '60s around the fall-out of Talons of Weng-Chiang, the TV story that introduced the title characters. Raquel Cassidy does a superb job as the villain, and there are strong parts for both Ellie and Sgt Sacker, concluding their roles in the series (although only chronologically, in the case of the former). It perhaps isn't quite as good as the TV original, but it's a well-written story nonetheless. 4.5 stars.

This averages to 3.75 stars, which in turn rounds up to 4. It's good to see that the series returned to Victorian London for the next season, though.