Wicked!: Backwards and in Heels

"The Doctor with an unknown companion."

Writer: Alcie Winter

Format: Audio

Released: October 2025

Series: Seventh Doctor Adventures 8.01

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis

The Doctor has offered young Ace a lift home from Iceworld, promising the scenic route home to Perivale. 

But when they are diverted to 1920s Soho on what appears to be shady business, Ace wonders if she's making the right choices, let alone in the right order.

Verdict

Backwards and in Heels was a great start to the Wicked! series of Seventh Doctor Adventures! I was a big fan of the concept behind this boxset when it was announce a couple of months ago and whilst it's not really anything I have ever considered before, there is certainly room before Remembrance of the Daleks to have Ace's first TARDIS trip. She is clearly still very new as a companion there but it's more than feasible to fit this series in. It's also exciting and new territory for the audio adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace. This is the earliest possible point in which they can tell stories and this brings a really strong and different dynamic as they're learning about one another which is fun. I like how this takes place immediately after the events of Dragonfire and Ace recalling the three rules there was terrific. It fits in nicely. Of course, given this is released nearly four decades after that serial was broadcast, foreknowledge can be used really well and that was certainly the case with the Doctor here. The way Ghost Light and everything that we learned there about the Doctor's involvement with Ace and the time winds was utilised was excellent. Just hearing the Treasurer refer to Ace as Dorothy shocked her and we really don't know a great deal about her at this point in chronology which is exciting. It's a very different Ace to what we're used to and I look forward to hearing how that is used in the next two episodes. I like the simplicity of her learning that the TARDIS is also a time machine and 1920s Soho is good enough for her! It's a strong setting and incorporating Lucian there was really intriguing. Even with this being the first chronological adventure for just the Seventh Doctor and Ace, he's manipulating things already. The idea behind the game that he was playing with Lucian was fascinating but it felt right in line with everything we know about this incarnation. I did think some of the clues the Doctor and Lucian were given to find the treasure were a bit far fetched or perhaps left too much to interpretation, but the idea of them combining forces with the understanding that they would both betray each other was great. That's some agreement! Ace's relationship with Wendy was nice and I like how she was keen to explore. The Doctor was clearly on business whereas she was just a traveller and I really liked that. How could you not be on your first TARDIS trip? The Treasurer's voice was perhaps a little too muffled for an audio story, but I would be keen to learn more about the Doctor's past with him. It was really interesting stuff and I just like the idea behind the game. The treasure changing feels a tad harsh on the Doctor and Lucian as the participants, but they seemed to take that in their stride. The element of things being experienced backwards was strong but perhaps not in the forefront enough. It would work well on audio too and I just think we could have had a little more. I thought the future Doctor in hologram form was a nice touch and I imagine it's how he looked for The Movie. That was excellent stuff and even the younger Doctor seemed surprised! The Treasurer seeing alternative timelines was really interesting and I liked that there was even one where the Doctor is travelling with Glitz! Now that's a series I'd love to listen to. The Doctor defeating the Treasurer by blowing him literally backwards into his own timeline was pretty sensational and is almost difficult to comprehend experiencing! And that's part of why I liked it. Overall, a really strong opener to what looks set to be a fun little series that I don't think anybody was expecting! A very good listen.

Rating: 8/10