Ride or Die

"I won't wage war for you."

Writer: Rochana Patel

Format: Audio

Released: January 2026

Series: Thirteenth Doctor Adventures 1.04

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz

Synopsis

The Doctor and Yaz have been sent a list of coordinates, each one pointing to a location in time and space where people are disappearing – but why? The trail leads to a war-torn world, where conscripted humans battle the terrifying Banshee. 

Can the Doctor end this conflict before she loses her best friend? 

Verdict

Ride or Die was another great episode to continue my way through the Thirteenth Doctor Adventures! I'm absolutely loving that we have a whole new series with the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz an it actually still feels very current considering it has barely been four years since Jodie Whittaker's departure in The Power of the Doctor. The chemistry she has with Mandip Gill as Yaz is fantastic and I liked how addressing their relationship didn't feel hidden or in the background quite as much as it did on television. It was essentially openly addressed when Megan Miller was on the scene. I thought her history with Yaz was intriguing and it was fun to think how she had a crush on the now companion, and the Doctor mentioning how she had good sense must have felt really good for her. It would certainly be a confidence booster for me! Once Megan got a sense of what was happening after the transportation to the war-torn world, she could see that Yaz fancied the Doctor. I mean who can blame her but it was important for Yaz to subtly be learning more about who she was and realising that she might actually like women. I thought that was impressive and I was glad it wasn't at the forefront because it didn't need to be. She can find who she is in her own time and I look forward to that character growth continuing over the course of the next eight episodes. There seems to be a story arc building which I'm all for and the Tourist seems to have some part to play there. I'm fascinated and I like how only inklings are there but it appears that someone familiar will be returning. I could be completely wrong of course but that's the sense I have at this point in the series. I thought the story had a lot of similarities to The Doctor's Daughter with both sides of the war not exactly knowing how things started or even what they were fighting for. It was a good take on capitalism too with the whole thing basically being about profiteering. The concept of playing both sides was a bit of a shock and felt horrible as Yaz had persistently questioned if the motive could really be just for money. Newsflash! The answer was of course yes. I work in finance so hearing some of the lingo here was amusing as shell companies aren't actually all that secretive, or illegal. But the Doctor just being able to buy out the entire stock of Prospero shouldn't be possible either no matter how much she was paid for her UNIT redundancy! That was an amusing idea though in tying in with Flux. I thought the Banshee was a good monster and the origin of the name was purely logical. No arguments there! Sergeant Johnson was also a really good character and I liked how he had a military mind and understood all about UNIT. The Doctor's reaction to the psychic paper actually telling the truth in labelling her the scientific adviser was glorious. I thought Megan dying was a powerful moment but I loved that someone close to Yaz perished because of the growth it brings to her character. I'm not a fan of companions not constantly staying in the TARDIS, but I could understand how she related to Ryan's reasons for departing at the end of Revolution of the Daleks. She needed to keep up with what was happening at home and her taking the responsibility to tell Megan's parents of her death was strong. Johnson succumbing to a potential profit was disappointing from his character perspective but the Doctor using maths and stocks to save the day was good stuff. Overall, a really good listen! 

Rating: 8/10