Helter Skelter: Land of Fools

"There's always a price."

Writers: Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle

Format: Audio

Released: April 2026

Series: Fifth Doctor Adventures 10.03

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in London, 1980, but something has gone wrong with the timeline. The city is a quasi-police state, overseen by a mysterious new company, Luqos, which promises miraculous gifts to its followers. 

As Tegan takes off to reconnect with an old friend, and the Doctor teams up with young activist Zan, Turlough is pulled into the heart of Luqos by the shadow 'M', where they discover an old enemy at work beneath the city.

Verdict

Land of Fools was a strong episode to conclude the Helter Skelter series of Fifth Doctor Adventures! I thought this was a really intriguing story that I honestly think would have benefitted from a bigger gap to Field of Miracles with it being a direct sequel. I think I was a little too clever for my own good with this episode as I noticed beforehand that it was written by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle and thought that was a tad odd considering they’d written the series opener. With only three episodes, it’s quite unusual for them to not have three different writers! With talk of an old enemy returning in the synopsis and no sign of anyone in the cast list fitting that bill, I pretty much worked out that this was a follow on from the opener quite early on. That didn’t take away from the episode a huge amount as it’s always fun to be proven correct, but it did take away a little bit of the element of surprise. I think the 1980 setting was strong and I always enjoy exploring an alternate timeline because the rule book is thrown out of the window! Who knows what we could find? Tegan wanting to catch up with her old friend in hospital who she never got to say goodbye to was actually pretty emotional. It tied in nicely with Logopolis and it was quite sad that she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye whilst she was away travelling. What an opportunity for her now through time travel to get that chance! Turlough though was not happy that Tegan got to have free reign on their travels which I’m not entirely sure I agree with but he was standing firm. They were back on Earth again and basically in Tegan’s time and the Doctor soon backed down after a protest over what potentially could change in time or history. It was good for Turlough to stand up to that as I think he’s been somewhat quiet this series. I thought the mystery of M was intriguing and it actually being the baby who lost his mother in the series opener was fascinating. He knew all about the TARDIS trio from 1950 and thirty years on now history had very much changed! Tegan’s reaction to finding Jan alongside her in the hospital was amusing as she was assumed to be the first arrivals of greeting her after she was healed! I thought the reveal of the Asteri was good at the cliffhanger and the Doctor realising just ahead of time also was strong stuff. One crystalline form survived the stardust sonic screwdriver cancelling them out and continuing the theme of wishing upon a star and getting what was desired was superb. I think that’s a really good concept and I liked how the Doctor acknowledged that it was the origin for the wish upon a star phrase. Zan was a really good character to fill the companion role with Tegan mostly absent at the hospital and I enjoyed how she fostered a strong relationship with the Doctor. She was surprised by his lack of Luqos knowledge and that company being in control was terrific. I liked the mystery behind them and the way things were in this alternative timeline were just that. They were the way they were just because. I thought Zan spilling her heart out to the Asteri at the end about free will was strong stuff. I think a little more information on the timelines being fixed or just more clarity/focus there at the end would have been beneficial to round out the series as a whole, but overall a really good listen to conclude a strong and consistent boxset!

Rating: 8/10