Doctor Who: The Stuntman
(Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions)
by Lizie Hopley (Big Finish, 2022)
A fast-paced mess with running about galore and great dollops of exposition. The pairing of David Tennant and Sarah Sutton will warm fans’ hearts, but Dr Gommen is a bog-standard evil scientist (and mostly absent). John Leeson enjoys a rare non-K9 outing.
K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend
by Terence Dudley; dir. John Black (BBC, 1981)
A bizarrely misjudged attempt at a Doctor Who spin-off. Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Sears do well but the opening credits scream allegiance to Metal Mickey and this synth-schlock carries over into the incidental music, flambéing all menace from the Devil’s End plot.
The Sarah Jane Adventures, Series 3
(BBC, 2009)
Series Three maintains a good mix of serious and silly SF, shifting the focus slightly away from Sarah Jane and towards her young companions. The stories are imaginative but at their weakest where mainstream Doctor Who elements (K9, the Tenth Doctor) feature.