Baker Street Irregulars

"The Doctor isn't the only sucker for a stray."

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: March 2021

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures: Stranded 2.03

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen, Tania

Synopsis

The Doctor takes Zakia and Aisha to see some family history: their grandmother had her own secret life in Baker Street, during World War II. As Tania and Liv try to defuse an unexploded bomb, the sisters face explosive revelations of their own.

Verdict

Baker Street Irregulars was a decent episode to continue my way through the second Stranded series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! This felt like the pace of the series slowed down a little after having the Doctor test the TARDIS by going to the future and then to the past. I'm not sure if here it felt like a little bit of repetition by venturing to the past again so soon with another overcrowded TARDIS? The Doctor isn't exactly hiding the fact he has a time machine which is intriguing and certainly fun, but I suspect that this overzealousness might come back to bite him. The prospect of a World War Two bomb being found outside Baker Street was good and it was soon clear that the Doctor was going to venture back to the time of it being dropped. It's incredible really to think that this kind of thing is still happening and finding an unexploded bomb must be exciting and terrifying at the same time! Eighty years on and they're still being found. I thought Tania was intriguing in this episode as she clearly knew more about the bomb itself and that was angering Liv slightly. The pair were trying to build their relationship on a basis of no secrets, but given Tania's connections to Torchwood and Liv's status as a companion, that was never going to work! Tania knows about the Doctor's future and that puts her in a difficult position. I like how well she gets on with Andy and the pair clearly know more of what's to come with this bomb scare seemingly just the beginning of something. That sets us up nicely for the finale and I've quite enjoyed how there hasn't feel like an obvious threat building towards the boxset's final episode. Going back to 1941 is an exciting setting and whilst the Doctor seems to be getting a bit bored of Camden no matter when he is, it's still an incredible luxury to travel in time! I'd definitely be up for listening to a story covering the New Age of the Autons! That period in history would be fascinating with Camden as the basis. I enjoyed taking Helen back to 1941 as that's a time that she actually lived through. Her comment about surviving the same air raid during the Blitz twice was tremendous because that's just ludicrously extraordinary! The threat of the Blitz is obviously not new to Doctor Who but I'm all for it. I wasn't overly fussed in having Zakia and Aisha joining the TARDIS regulars as it just felt uncharacteristic of the Doctor despite his obvious boredom and need to show off. I'm just not sure we know them enough yet for them to have warranted a trip to their past. Exploring their family history was good though and the revelation at the end was unexpected to say the least! Their sisterly relationship was lovely but finding out Aisha was actually Zakia's mum was a big surprise. I didn't see that coming at all, but I don't think we stuck around with them long enough for the impact to be lasting. I hope they're around for the finale in adjusting to the news being out in the open. I can't imagine how Zakia would be feeling as her whole world and everything she thought she knew about her family was turned upside down. It did help sell the threat of venturing to the past because Aisha thought she might lose her own daughter and didn't want her going on adventures again. The use of the past was done well here and I liked how Nisha's story became crucial. It was impressive for her to be so pivotal to putting back Hitler's plans by blowing up the power station, but I'm not sure how I felt about her great-granddaughter taking her place. I know she was able to orchestrate the electronics fine, but it took away from the historic tale a little for me. I did like Adi questioning the Greek nationality of the Doctor and his companions and the blurting out of being Pakistani-Greek before the former country was even formed was fun. The beauty of time travel! Overall, it was a decent episode and I did like the concept of needing to get history back on track, but it never felt like things were in trouble. 

Rating: 7/10