No Place Like Home: The Houseguest

"One by one your neighbours have all moved out."

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: December 2024

Series: The Paternoster Gang 7.03

Featuring: Second Doctor, Vastra, Jenny, Strax

Synopsis

Vastra, Jenny and Strax return to London to find Paternoster Row changed. Houses lie empty, a crimewave grips the neighbourhood. A new criminal mastermind rules the underworld. What's more, Number 13 has an unexpected houseguest. And he claims to be the Doctor...

Verdict

The Houseguest was a terrific story to conclude the No Place Like Home seventh boxset of adventures for The Paternoster Gang! This was the main event of this instalment of the ongoing Trespassers arc by far and it certainly didn't disappoint. After the events of Jellyfish! took the trio of Vastra, Jenny and Strax away from London, having them return to 13 Paternoster Row and be unable to get inside was quite fun stuff. Strax immediately harked back to Doppelgängers in believing that's what Jenny was because of her key not working which was wonderful, but alas Vastra was also unsuccessful. Of course, the artwork and the build up of the series gives away who was inside, but it didn't make the Second Doctor's arrival in the story any less fun. It's such a barmy mix to have this incarnation of the Doctor alongside the Paternoster Gang because they really couldn't be from more different eras. It was quite the combination though and I think the money was certainly in the Second Doctor and Vastra. She was hugely suspicious of if he was who he said he was which was a fun dynamic and I also really appreciated how the Doctor didn't recognise Vastra as a Silurian. As far as I am aware, Doctor Who and the Silurians is his first chronological encounter with the ancient reptiles so this is fantastic. He does though recognise Strax as a Sontaran as you would expect from The Sontarans and beyond and his questioning on how long it took to tame him was brilliant. Strax also getting angered at the Doctor taking over his butler responsibilities was marvellous. I thought the Doctor having investigated the happenings at Paternoster Row was intriguing and the fact everybody was moving out suggested something very nefarious was at work. So of course the moving in of Dr Brownlow suggested he was responsible. Could he really just be buying at a good time with prices on the low? The Doctor was bullish in his questioning of him which didn't go down well with Vastra, although I really appreciated harking back to The Snowmen and having Jenny ask him the one word test to prove his identity. Well, he went on quite the diatribe and Strax's retort of thinking that was more than one word was magnificent. I thought getting some more information on the mysterious trespassing figure we have heard in the series so far was excellent and I loved the revelation that this was Brottac, a lone surviving Zygon! I can't believe that given the umbrella title for the series and the voice that I never suspected the orange shape shifters! It's quite the way to set us up for the final boxset this time around and the Zygon proclaiming that he was taking 13 Paternoster Row was superb! I enjoyed the red herring of the urchins in pointing towards something more being at play, and Strax enjoying their description of rats was glorious. Vermin! He was delighted. Brownlow being the mastermind behind uniting all of London's criminal gangs into one was good and I liked the twist of him having used Reginald Adams. He wasn't a fan of that at all! I thought the continuity with the ongoing Second Doctor Adventures was fantastic and the Doctor being on the run from the Time Lords again was good fun. Raven had caught up with him though and he wouldn't be able to stick around until the end which he wasn't too happy about in leaving a case unsolved! I thought that was good though and keeps things exciting with the Zygon reveal and the next boxset to come. Overall, a fantastic finale! 

Rating: 9/10