brings together the fantastic First-Doctor team of Peter Purves and Jean Marsh as Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom, in a story set immediately after the Christmas episode of the Daleks' Master Plan; something mysterious is up with the Tardis, and the crew encounter the peculiar and violent survivors of another timeship. The best bit is the third of the four episodes, where Steven and Sara find themselves in a very well-realised 1966 Berlin, though nothing (and nobody) is quite what it seems. Purves does a very decent Hartnell, though the unfortunate consequence is that we hear less from Marsh as she is given less to do (though gets a cracking end to the Berlin subplot). The extra track is particularly squeeful, with Guerrier complaining that he lost much of the script in a computer crash and Marsh enquiring politely if he has ever thought of using an A4 pad. The recording must have been made just before her recent bout of ill health; I do hope she recovers and is able to do more. ( )

What was good? The three Companion Chronicles by Simon Guerrier about Sara Kingdom. What was great? The three Companion Chronicles by Simon Guerrier about Steven Taylor. So what could possibly be even greater except a Companion Chronicle by Simon Guerrier featuring both Jean Marsh and Peter Purves as Sara and Steven? Doctor Who: The Anachronauts, this year’s double-disc/double-voiced Companion Chronicle is exactly that, uniting the Doctor, Steven, and Sara in the gap in the middle of The Daleks' Master Plan.

Suffice it to say that The Anachronauts is another minor triumph for all involved. It's more of a "normal" adventure than we've seen for Sara and Steven in other Guerrier stories (no post-mortem tales or new companions), but Guerrier continues to write the two characters with a depth of characterization they probably never received on screen. I especially like the moments in the second episode where Sara and Steven talk by the fire in the cave, and much of their arguments in the last episode were very good, too. There are no life-changing events here as in the other Steven and Sara stories, but we do get some small flecks of added depth for both characters.

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