The Return of the Doctor

"Are you sure she's not to blame?"

Writer: Rory Thomas-Howes

Format: Audio

Released: September 2025

Series: Thirteenth Doctor Adventures 1.02

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz

Synopsis

Having saved the peaceful Zaarians from an evil alien threat, the Doctor and Yaz sail off to their next adventure. Only this time, Yaz wonders if they're moving on, or running away.

Convincing a grudging Doctor to return to the planet, they are shocked to find the Zaarians in turmoil. What did the Doctor do? Why is the city in ruins? And what's that voice in Yaz's head...?

Verdict

The Return of the Doctor was an excellent episode to continue the magnificent Thirteenth Doctor Adventures series! I am loving the love that the Thirteenth Doctor is getting at the moment as it seems that this series is so welcomed and anticipated, helped by her shock cameo at the end of The Reality War and the feature-length interview with Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who Magazine. It's time for reappraisal from a large chunk of fandom and I'm so glad we seem to be getting it. The Thirteenth Doctor is wonderful and she was challenged in a big way here with the actions of her companion. I think the premise of the episode is good and not something we haven't seen before with the likes of The Ark coming to mind, albeit on a much bigger scale with the Doctor and his companions there returning some seven centuries after they departed. It was only a decade here but still so much had changed and not to the Doctor's liking. I welcomed that we got a decent little chunk of the Doctor and Yaz's initial time with the Zaarians and it felt like listening to the last five minutes of an unheard story which was enjoyable. That's something I'm surprised I liked because I'm not usually a fan of consequences of unseen stories. I'm still waiting to fill the gaps in the Third Doctor's timeline that saw his portrait present during the events of Timelash. It's just there is so much content and so many adventures out there, surely we should be aiming to depict everything? Alas, no such worries here although that's what I was expecting given the name of the episode. I loved the dynamic between the Doctor and Yaz being tested and initially I was quite uncomfortable with how quick Yaz was to challenge the Doctor in a rather aggressive way. It was certainly uncharacteristic of her but not so much so that I believed she was under any influence. Thankfully, she had been the whole time in a good slow burner of a developing internal takeover. The description of the cloudy eyes for the Whisper was really eery and right out of a horror film which worked well on audio, and I just enjoyed the concept. Hearing the Whisper almost taunting Yaz about the Doctor was fascinating and the gradual way in which she succumbed to it and actually started to believe the Doctor was responsible was excellent. I liked how nobody could actually explain what the Doctor was responsible for though! And yet she had been wanted for a decade. That was a fun angle I didn't expect. Taav was a strong character as almost a second companion for the story and the stark contrast of his reactions to the Doctor and Yaz coming back said a lot. He was only angered by the Doctor though and that was really intriguing. The Whisper coming for the Doctor worked really well and the realisation that it was within Talpa was pretty effective. I liked how Vashir was one of the few not impacted by the Whisper and the way they worked out that was because of her forgiveness was actually really nice. It was a weapon against the Whisper and the Doctor knew that the holder just needed to let them free. It sounds a lot more simple than it actually was, but it played out very well in quite an emotional conclusion for Valpa as he set the Whisper free. The moment Yaz was almost forced into executing the Doctor under the Whisper's will was tense but it was clear she was going to be too strong-willed to actually do so. The Doctor mentioning why she didn't like sticking around was powerful stuff and getting mentions of the likes of Amy and Bill was lovely and showed that despite a regeneration or two and a gender change, she still cared for them very much. That's really reassuring. I like the idea of Yaz getting to choose the next adventure and with the title of Lionesses in Winter, I somehow can't see us visiting the Jupiter Bake Off! There's plenty of time as this series continues over the next couple of years though. Overall, quite a powerful listen in the end! A very good story.

Rating: 9/10