Echoes: Lost Hearts

"This is as close as you will get to eternity."

Writers: Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle

Format: Audio

Released: May 2024

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures 13.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen

Synopsis

Michaelmas term, 1903. In one of England's ancient universities, strange apparitions float between quads and cloisters.

While Liv and Helen protect a naive undergraduate from a sinister society, the Doctor finds a ghost-hunting ally. One who happens to be the era's foremost chronicler of things that go bump in the night...

Verdict

Lost Hearts was another excellent episode to continue my way through the Echoes series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! This was another stellar story with what is slowly becoming one of my all time favourite TARDIS teams. The trio complement each other so well and that was evidenced yet again here. There’s a real camaraderie which is lovely to hear and there’s something special about them visiting the past, especially in the twentieth century. This was very much early with the 1903 setting and that was really interesting to hear. Having a setting like a university felt very Twelfth Doctor, especially with the Eighth Doctor here having given lectures on Einstein theory a few years before the great scientist himself had published it! That was good humour. I was a little surprised that the trio had been at the university for a month already as that kind of direction didn’t feel like it was going to be the case coming off Birdsong, but that really does add depth to the episode which I can appreciate. I’m enjoying the continuing theme of exploring Helen’s family and it’s good to focus on her. That’s not to say Liv isn’t a focus but she’s been around as a companion a lot longer and even stars in her own spinoff series! So after exploring the pain of her past in Albie’s Angels, this was really intriguing to now encounter her grandfather! Robert Sinclair was a strong character and his outbursts towards Helen at first about her being a woman and how she should know her place was incredibly uncomfortable. It’s so sad to think of how women were viewed in this era that really isn’t all that long ago in the grand scheme of things. Helen just casually stated how she thought and was immediately met with a visceral outburst about how it wasn’t her place to think. It’s pretty awful stuff! But it’s also powerful listening and really stands out. I thought Alistair Gray was a fascinating character and his position as a Time Lord was very exciting. I always love when the Doctor gets to encounter one of his own species, especially when it’s someone who’s gone a little rogue. The efforts of Gray here to drain the regenerations from the Doctor was really good and the separation across time from Liv and Helen was sensational! It really did feel like this was becoming a two-parter with the building point to that moment, and maybe that’s how the writers wrote it? It seems that way. It was a really strong build to a fantastic moment. The use of a TARDIS on an incredible and impossible scale was really interesting stuff and I loved the concept of a TARDIS being materialised inside of itself. We saw something similar in Logopolis with the respective TARDISes of the Master and the Doctor, but this was entirely different! I loved that and taking things further with the disciples of Gray and them assay baring the image of himself was staggering. It was a little mind boggling and that was part of the appeal. The initial throw away line of the sonic screwdriver being used as an emergency bookmark was amusing but then Gray utilising it to impact pain on the Doctor was quite something. Except the Doctor knew his own devices inside out and used it against Gray to defeat him which I liked. I also enjoyed the emotional appeal of Liv utilising the telepathic circuits of the near destroyed TARDIS in the alternative future. That was really well done and she arrived just at the right time. Overall, another eery episode that fitted in with the overall theme of the series very nicely. It had that creepy and dark factor whilst being excellent listening. A terrific episode.

Rating: 9/10