The Third Doctor Adventures – Series 8 Review

In October we were treated to two sets of adventures for the Third Doctor and his friends and allies. With his own series continuing here, River Song would also pop back to 1970 and team up with Liz Shaw in The Diary of River Song. Series 8 of The Third Doctor Adventures instead focuses on two very different eras in the Third Doctor’s time on the show. We’ve got the Doctor and Jo coming up against the Draconians once again and then a more grounded and gritty Doctor and Sarah Jane adventure.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a fan of Frontier in Space, its six episodes of people running around and getting captured, so the idea of the Third Doctor meeting the Draconians again didn’t really fill me with excitement. Conspiracy in Space sees the Doctor, recently freed from exile, taking Jo on a holiday but getting called away on a Time Lord mission. It’s clear throughout how much author Alan Barnes enjoys this era of the show, filling it with plenty of little nods to other events from other Third Doctor adventures.

I appreciated that Barnes took great care in detailing how life is on the world of Draconia, especially as we only see a little bit of it in Frontier. We very quickly get introduced to the powers of the planet, with an emperor having just died and his Grand Widow preparing to name her successor. In the middle of this, there are two humans fleeing with a doomsday weapon as well as the machinations of the evil, Lady Zinn.

As with many Draconian stories that have come out in the extended media, this story feels like a complicated game of chess, as the Doctor and Jo try to find out what is going on while avoiding getting captured. When the Doctor and Jo are quickly caught at the beginning he goes to great lengths to show the beauty of Draconia with the cruel life of the Draconians. But their treatment of Jo and the Doctor did make it very hard for me to sympathise with them throughout the story.

I did however like the character of Lieutenant Ruji, a young officer who gradually falls for Jo throughout the story. Pairing the two characters up leads to a number of great moments throughout the story and adds to the sense of time that has passed. It also gives Jo something to do when the Doctor isn’t around and allows her to navigate the Draconian empire without too much hassle. I did appreciate the little Romeo & Juliet storyline that was going on here, but it also ties nicely into the idea that throughout Series 10 of the television series, we were seeing Jo finally growing up, before getting engaged and leaving the Doctor at the end of The Green Death. Here, she handles herself well, proving that she has learnt from the Doctor and their adventures.

And Katy Manning puts in an excellent performance. And her chemistry with Ruji actor Sam Stafford makes the doomed aspect of their friendship even sadder, even though you can see it coming a mile off.

For the Third Doctor, seeing him jumping through hyperspace and navigating alien bars and brawls, as well as trying to grapple with the fabled doomsday weapon is something that could have never been achieved on a 1970s budget. I think they’d still struggle now, but it doesn’t feel out of keeping with the Third Doctor. It isn’t hard to imagine Jon Pertwee performing half of the stunts that would be needed, jumping out of spaceships and throwing villains over his shoulder with Venusian Aikido. Tim Trelor has stepped into Pertwee’s shoes perfectly with this series, making the Doctor his own, while honouring the original performance from Pertwee and his chemistry with his co-stars really helps sell the idea that he is the Doctor.

I might have not been a fan of Frontier in Space, but Conspiracy was a lot more enjoyable to me, even if I felt at times it got a little bogged down trying to navigate its way through Draconian life. Alan Barnes is a perfect love letter to the Third Doctor’s era, and Tim Trelor and Katy Manning are clearly having an absolute blast.

The Devil’s Hoofprints sees the Doctor and Sarah Jane returns to Earth in a Robert Holmes-esq story, from author Robert Valentine. It feels like it should be partnered with The Time Warrior, with the first episode seeing the Doctor, Sarah and UNIT having to deal with a threat to the modern-day. Valentine doesn’t really keep anything back from us in the opening episode, with Sarah and the Doctor learning that a scientific institute they are investigating has been built on the site of a historical mystery. When The Doctor and Sarah find themselves in 1885 to see what happened to the village they are in, the Brigadier finds himself trapped in the institute with the head scientist who is clearly insane.

Jon Culshaw does a great job as the Brigadier. I know as an impressionist, it’s his job to sound like certain people, but over the last few years, his take on the late-great Nicholas Courtney has come along fantastically. So great in fact that there are times you wonder if Big Finish have somehow conjured the spirit of Courtney into the recording booth. However, if there was one aspect of this story that fell a little flat, it was the modern-day action, which finds itself inter-spliced with the 1885 plot thread and as a result makes the action in both eras feel choppy and hard to follow.

Luckily though, there are some great bits in 1885, including Valentine putting a Holmes double act into the story, giving them a modern LGBTQ+ twist which really makes them a lot more listenable too. It’s also interesting to hear how the action’s going on in 1885 are affecting the time that the Brigadier is in. But it does get a little muddled along the way. It feels like there is a little fear in taking this story to the fantasy realms it feels it wants to go.

And that’s a shame as along with its shades of The Time Warrior, The Daemons looms over this story. In fact, The Daemons is a great example of how this story should have delved into the more mystical side of Doctor Who. But something here just feels a little held back, like the production team weren’t really sure how far they could go. It isn’t a big problem, as the story is interesting enough to listen enough but it feels like it never quite gets into the gear it wants.

Sadie Miller continues to impress as Sarah Jane. Miller’s take on her mother’s role has come along fantastically and there are moments when she sounds exactly like Elisabeth Sladen. Much like Culshaw’s and Trelor’s take on their roles, Miller’s performance feels like she is evolving the original character while honouring the legacy of the actor who originally made the performance as famous as Sladen did. I said in a previous article that Elisabeth Sladen would no doubt be proud of what Sadie is doing and that continues here as she steps into her mother’s shoes with ease and grace.

There is a great story hidden somewhere in The Devil’s Hoofprints but it’s slightly stuck in the (fear?) of taking the mystical side of the story a little too far. That’s a shame because there is a lot to recommend about this story but it does feel like the weakest one in this set.

The time of the Third Doctor has always been underexplored in the extended media, even when BBC Books were putting out their Past Doctor Novels and Virgin was doing their Missing Adventures range there wasn’t a lot of outings for the Third Doctor. It’s great now though that after eight-series we’ve finally gotten a great exploration of all the different times for this Doctor, from Liz to Sarah Jane, the Third Doctor continues to get some brilliant adventures, and this set is no different. The love and attention to detail are apparent from the opening line of dialogue to the last. And the writing style and tropes on display in this set really show how to tell classic stories with more modern Doctor Who ideas.