Doctor Who: Conflict Theory
by Nev Fountain; dir. Scott Handcock (BBC, 2020)
A fun, frivolous story that, beneath clever execution, explores the more serious question of the Doctor’s culpability in exposing his companions to danger. Fountain’s script is spot-on. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant revel in a character dynamic rarely done justice on television.
Doctor Who: Empire of the Racnoss
by Scott Handcock (Big Finish, 2017)
Peter Davison is in fine form and clearly relishing his freedom from petulant, dialogue deadweight companions. Unfortunately the Racnoss are equally hard to stomach, here proving themselves to be one of Doctor Who’s most incessantly shrill, one-dimensional and irrationally motivated alien races.
Doctor Who: The Rising Night
by Scott Handcock (BBC Audio, 2009)
A village in perpetual darkness; a devourer that makes the (companionless Tenth) Doctor retreat into his own mind: The Rising Night begins with great promise but doesn’t deliver, undermining its threat with a deus ex machina solution and an irksome moral quandary.