The Perpetual Bond lands a grieving Doctor and Steven in 1960s London, a location that Hartnell-era Doctor Who rarely visited itself. One of the nice things about the story is that it really throws itself into its contemporary time: the visual of all the men with suits, bowlers, and umbrellas on the floor of the stock exchange is great, and there’s even a reference to the Beatles-- which is appropriate, in light of The Chase. But the setting is the sort of thing the programme itself wouldn’t have done in the 1960s, I don’t think, which means that The Perpetual Bond hits that Companion Chronicles sweet-spot between invoking nostalgia but doing something new at the same time.

The stock exchange is where the Doctor and Steven encounter the alien Fulgurites, and this is where The Perpetual Bond falls down a bit, because although they're a good concept, as executed here the concept doesn't quite make sense. Avoiding too many spoilers, but given what the Fulgurites are ultimately revealed to be up to, there's no actual reason for them to be on the stock exchange floor except that it makes for a cool visual. Also, the rules of who can see the Fulgurites and when seem to get pretty arbitrary by the story's end. The climax itself is cool, though, with a cool idea from the Doctor and a nice execution by Steven.

Despite its problems of plot, The Perpetual Bond is one of those Companion Chronicles that do what Companion Chronicles do best, and I enjoyed it all the way through. I look forward to more of a new TARDIS team for an old TARDIS... especially if we get to learn what the HORRIBLE AWFUL SECRET of Oliver Harper actually is.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.

Big Finish have played some brave tricks with continuity in the past (eg Peri's two-year sojourn in fifteenth century England set in the gap between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani), but it is particularly brave to invent a new First Doctor companion. But the potential gap is there, between The Daleks' Master Plan and The Massacre, and Tom Allan (best known as a comedian) joins Peter Purves for an adventure of alien invasion of the City of London in the mid-1960s. The plot is fairly standard, but the story scores for a) the brilliant evocation of Hartnell's Doctor (doing a turn as galactic legal expert, for a change) by Simon Guerrier's script and Peter Purves' performance, b) the Swinging Sixties soundscape, not overwhelming but decently scene-setting, and c) Tom Allan's young commodities broker Oliver Harper, who has a secret of his own which we do not yet share. There's also a slightly odd moment involving Purves and Allan trying to sing the Marseillaise as performed by the Beatles in All You Need is Love. We know that Oliver returns with Steven in another play scheduled for release in June, and Steven and a bunch of other companions will be back in August, so hopefully Big Finish are setting up for a decent story arc (an enterprise where they are generally quite succcessful). ( )