Jago & Litefoot: Series 1

Considering that they only appear in one story of the Doctor Who TV series, the 1977 tale The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Henry Gordon Jago and Professor Litefoot retain a remarkable degree of popularity among fans of the show. Here, following on from pilot episode The Mahogany Murderers they are given their own series, starting with this box set of 4x1 hour episodes.

Unlike the pilot, these are full cast audio plays, which arguably holds them to a rather different standard. It's also worth mentioning that the Doctor is never directly referred to, let alone actually present, and the threats that our heroes face, while science-fictional in nature, are original to the series, rather than borrowed from the larger DW universe. What you get instead is a rich Victorian atmosphere vividly brought to life, and some brilliant characterisation of the two leads.

* The Bloodless Soldier - We begin with a fairly standard werewolf story that re-introduces us to the regular characters, including Ellie, the barmaid who briefly appeared in the pilot episode, and Sergeant Quick, who honestly doesn't do very much at this point. I wasn't entirely clear what the recurring villain was up to, but the story moves along at a cracking pace, and comes to an emotional conclusion. 4 stars.

* The Bellova Devil - a rather weaker tale than the first episode, this tries a bit too hard to imitate Sherlock Holmes, with an infusion of Sax Rohmer. Although there are some good bits, it ends up rather confusing, and perhaps isn't ideally suited to the 60-minute audio format. There's also a couple of oddities, and while I'll forgive the author for apparently not knowing what formaldehyde is (he seems to be thinking of meths) it seems strange that Litefoot, having just met a werewolf, so casually dismisses the possibility of a vampire... perhaps more coordination between the episode writers might have helped? 3 stars.

* The Spirit Trap - my favourite of the four, this episode deals with Victorian spiritualism, giving us more of an insight into Ellie along the way, as well as linking back to the first episode. Here, it makes perfect sense that Jago is the skeptic; he knows all the parlour tricks used by fake mediums from his time as a theatre manager. Of course, what's going on is rather more sinister than a bit of fakery, and the characters really seem to shine here in a story perfectly suited to its era. 5 stars.

* The Similarity Engine - finally, we have a sequel and conclusion to the story in the pilot episode, which was intentionally left open. There's some good mystery elements to start with, and some dramatic moments, even if it's hard to believe that the titular characters of the pilot episode are quite as convincing as they're supposed to be. The story ranges rather more fully into steampunk than previous episodes, although there is a sound reason for it, and the ending is suitably dramatic, if a bit predictable. 3.5 stars.

Which gives an average of 3.75, easily rounded up to 4 stars.