Most Wanted: The Dimension of Lost Things

"Are they dreams or memories?"

Writer: Lisa McMulin

Format: Audio

Released: January 2025

Series: Fugitive Doctor Adventures 1.03

Featuring: Fugitive Doctor

Synopsis

Fleeing Cosmo through the Vortex, the TARDIS gets sucked down a temporal plughole, and the Doctor emerges into a weird landscape. Finding other lost souls in the form of mountaineer George Mallory and scavenger Athelia, the Doctor soon stumbled across another, more surprising denizen of this strange dimension – herself! 

With Cosmo still in pursuit and memory-stealing winds threatening to wipe her mind for good, the Doctor senses a complex trap in action. But whose trap is it, and how can she possible escape?

Verdict

The Dimension of Lost Things was a decent episode to conclude the Most Wanted first series of Fugitive Doctor Adventures! This wasn't quite the finale I was hoping for after two excellent episodes to kick off the series, but judging on its own merits this was still a good story as my rating reflects. I thought the concept behind the titular lost dimension worked well and whilst the gags about lost keys and phones was a little on the nose and shake your head worthy, the other contents of the dimension were really intriguing. I thought Sandy was a terrific character and the highlight of the piece to be honest as I thought it was brilliant to touch upon his efforts with George Mallory in scaling Mount Everest. It's an incredible task and feat and for them to actually do it here is so impressive, but unfortunately history won't write them as victors on their ascent as it is unknown if they ever reached the summit because they didn't make it back down. That's pretty sad and hearing how George's body was recovered in 1999 was a bit of a shock, and Sandy's never was! That must be the worst way to deal with a death as without that evidence of a body the hope must be there that somehow you had survived. Sandy would head off with Athelia which was a nice end to his character, and her position as a scavenger was pretty fun. I thought Jo Martin was excellent again as the Fugitive Doctor although I am not sure having to tackle playing two different versions of herself works all that well on audio. This is not something new and I have mentioned it before that without the visual aid having two different versions of the same character becomes a little frustrating as a listener. I do like the concept behind what was happening here though with Cosmo not being the only Time Lord out to capture the Fugitive Doctor. The alternate version of the Doctor posing as her future self was fun when it was revealed that she was actually her past self working for Division. I think some fans might be disappointed by the lack of lore and answers regarding the Fugitive Doctor's time at Division, but I think it's great to delve into that mystery and explore her being sent on a mission to capture her future self. As Cosmo stated, it wasn't exactly logical as if they had the past version then surely she would just become the version they wanted, but things were a little more complicated than that! I thought the threat of memory winds and time storms was pretty good although I was never actually worried that they would be hit. Bevan's fate was a little horrifying though! I enjoyed the Doctor's defiance towards Cosmo although another side of her character in this incarnation was clearly revealed as she looked to break apart the Time Vortex if it meant avoiding capture. That was telling. The chameleon circuit playing up and not always being a police box was very interesting and I do wonder if that is the fault the TARDIS was being repaired for as seen in The Name of the Doctor? It would be awfully convenient for the landing in 1963 in An Unearthly Child, but it would explain the dilemma of the TARDIS police box exterior with the Fugitive Doctor supposedly being pre-First Doctor. I like that explanation so if it became canon that would work for me! I thought the ending to this one was slightly lacklustre in how the Doctor and company just jumped into another time track within the dimension and were sent back slightly, but it does leave things open for the next boxset which will still have the Fugitive Doctor on the run. Overall, a good episode to conclude what was overall an excellent boxset! A fine debut for the Fugitive Doctor's own set of audios. Keep them coming!

Rating: 7/10