In Review: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 7: Volume 2

Synopsis: In the second and concluding box set of the seventh series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, the Doctor meets a terrifying old foe…

Review: In The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 7: Volume 2, writers Justin Richards, Dan Starkey, and Guy Adams crafted stories involving villainously destructive facades. The antagonists in the first two stories, however, are merely pale shadows behind paper masks compared with Sutekh.

I enjoyed the bait and switch aspect of “The Shadow of London” by Justin Richards. Even The Doctor was initially confused by a scenario that presented as alien and ended up being an evil he must help consign to Human history. 

“The Bad Penny” by Dan Starkey introduced a new alien that got up to centuries old temporal tricks. I appreciated that the focal point for all pain and death was literally a bad penny. It payed to simplify the story of cosmic manipulation and misguided ambition with such a small McGuffin.

“Kill the Doctor!/The Age of Sutekh” by Guy Adams was the two-part centerpiece of this box set. Adams did two really clever things. First, he set the tale after the events of The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 02: The Triumph of Sutekh. Second, he transformed Sutekh into The Great Intelligence version of himself. With those parameters in place, Sutekh was even hungrier and more vindictive than usual. Gabriel Woolf luxuriated in lyrical declamations and in portraying ancient all-consuming venom.

Throughout the four stories, Tom Baker and Louise Jameson (on a week-long theater hiatus), portrayed The Doctor and Leela with their usual perfection. My only quibble was the absence of John Leeson as K9. Although, Adams did come up with suitably adorable reasons to keep him in the Tardis.

• You can purchase The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 7: Volume 2 here. 

Written By: Justin Richards, Dan Starkey, Guy Adams

Directed By: Nicholas Briggs, Ken Bentley

Cast

Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Darren Boyd (Hemmings), Timothy Speyer (Fanshaw), Catherine Bailey (Maddox), Dan Starkey (Hadean/ Small Hadean/ Liddell/ Mr Richards), Keith Barron (Lord Tulip), Greg Haiste (Ron Tulip), Andrew Ryan (Edwin), Laura Rees (Deborah / Major Harris), Sophia Myles (Rania Chuma), Gabriel Woolf (Sutekh), Eleanor Crooks (Kendra), John Dorney (Charlton Joyce), Barnaby Edwards (Ash/ Stall Owner/ Shop Keeper/ Barge Captain/ Dupree). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Producer David Richardson

Script Editor John Dorney

Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs