3.1 – The King of Sontar by John Dorney

3.2 – White Ghosts by Alan Barnes

3.3 – The Crooked Man by John Dorney

3.4 – The Evil One by Nicolas Briggs

3.5. – Last of the Colophon by Jonathan Morris

3.6 – Destroy the Infinite by Nicholas Briggs

3.7 – The Abandoned by Louise Jameson and Nigel Fairs

3.8 – Zygon Hunt by Nicholas Briggs

Starring Tom Baker and Louise Jaimeson

Originally released : January, February etc 2013

Listened to: August to September 2025

Context:

Rather than reviewing these as individuals, I have decided to put all eight episodes into this one review, as I did with the previous season. I am in a little bit of a BF listen go slow, so these took a while to listen to, and my reviews are late as well, so it’s an overview of the whole season, and I am playing catch-up.

THE REVIEW

What I thought:

The King of Sontar is an intersting take on the Sontarans and a great start to this season. The action starts really quickly, lots of excellent knock around here and there, with Tom and Leela on good form. The sontarans are used in an interetsing way here, with a mutant giant sontaran and a coward-esque sontaran assassin/general that teams up with Leela. A satsifying baddie and real threat, sorted out in a classic Dr Who way, rebellion and lots of explosions type of conclusion. Some great stuff with Tom and Leela at the end here, very much an expansion of this classic Doctor and companion tea. Lots of mileage in this one.

The White ghosts is an interesting idea, although I am not convinced I completely followed this one, in no small part due to distractions at the time, what i was up to at the time etc etc however the whole ghost, plant vampires is a pretty cool idea, as is the way Leela deals with her little adventure within an adventure. I probably should listen to this one again to give it another chance.

The crooked man is right up my street and a highlight of the season for me, a return to the land of fiction, monstrous deaths via books and a villain who is all arms and malice. The music, that creepy backwards reverse style when the crooked man turns up is super creepy and sets the scene really well, makes this episode very memorable for me. The story makes perfect sense and is really easy to follow, not a negatve, all the actors are supurb and this feels like a very satisfying and pretty moving conclusion to a relative short episode, kudos to the writer here.

The Evil one is also a highlight, (SPOILERS) the crispy Master back for more evil shenanigans. Beevors is on great form as the slimy and this delightfully evil incarnation of the Master. Great use of Leela and a return to the face of evil themes (somewhat lost on me to be honest as this is one of the rare TV episode I haven’t actually seen!). Leela has lots to do here and it feels like genuine peril in the finale, Janus thorns and all. Great expansion of the character of Leela, great episode, very much enjoyed this one.

The Last of the Colophon is another strong story after the previous excellent master story. The set up works terribly well here, the music magically elevating the text to something really good and exciting. Leela fighting Morax is a highlight, and the baddie himself is creepy and dastardly, so well played by Gareth Thomas. Great stuff.

Destroy the Infinite is one of the weaker episodes for me, as it brings back the Infinite (although it’s set back in time canon-wise to explain their origin), a villain I wasn’t particularly interested in, but it’s interesting enough. However, writing this now, I am struggling to remember much about this one. The Abandoned was a big surprise, the quality of the season going right back up again. Its a pretty crazy episode, Stephanie Coleman is friggin amazing as Marianna and the idea of someone has been trapped in the tardis ever since he stole her in the first place blows my mind, what a brilliant idea. The whole episode is brilliant. The finale of the season, Zygon hunt, really good fun (I have listened to this before via the Vinyl release of this episode), good fun, nice the Zygons are back and they are naughty as ever. I think perhaps this episode wasn’t needed, I can see how strong the Abandoned is and it would have made quite a statement to finish the season on a massive high. Still, Zygon Hunt is a good knock-around episode.

Rating:

What I felt: 4.5 out of 5 scarves: bloody great set of episodes, no clunkers and some very very strong indeed! What a great set of episodes that manages to enhance, add and evolve this classic Tardis team.

What am I left thinking?

• Will they continue with this much more complex and stronger relationship between Leela and 4? (I hope so!)
• I really wish I listened to these as they came out
• I continue to wish that Tom B could live forever (although I suppose in many ways he will live forever in my head as long as I am about)

Memorable bits

• A prison in the TARDIS, that has always been there from the beginning!
• The return of the Master!
• The return of the Zygons
• The Doctor and Leela falling out
• The return of the land of fiction is so so good and the music in all these episode is brilliant