The Time-Splitters

"Stop killing time."

Writer: Colin Brake

Format: Audio

Released: January 2026

Series: Audio Novellas 1.01

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Dodo

Synopsis

A TARDIS materialisation accident at the Lunar University causes Steven to be separated from Dodo and the Doctor. Steven is now eight years in their future and the university is mysteriously abandoned. As he tries to survive the threat stalking the corridors, can the Doctor ever find him again?

Verdict

The Time-Splitters was a good start to the Audio Novellas range! This is a spinoff series I was very much looking forward to because it's something different and despite owning the first two releases, I haven't yet managed to dive into the Audio Novels series. That's a big shame but I will get there at some point, it's just such a commitment to put aside six or eight hours! There's no rush though and they aren't going anywhere so this range is terrific to dive into. I'm always a fan of a First Doctor tale and it's good to dive into the era of Season 3 as that's often one that gets forgotten about. Incorporating the start of the Doctor's toothache that would lead into The Gunfighters was great in terms of timeline placement and I thought it was fun to have the cloister bell ringing in the TARDIS at this early point. He's still calling it the ship! I think Steven exiting the TARDIS before it had fully landed was fascinating and especially during this era because we didn't explore the capabilities of the TARDIS all that much so I liked that this felt a little different. The Doctor and Dodo landing on the Lunar University some eight years before Steven had was intriguing and I just thought the setting was extremely strong. It was futuristic but yet the atmosphere also felt like it was in space which is good to capture in this format. It's no problem in the slightest, but I must say this didn't feel much like I was listening to a novella. It felt like an extended Companion Chronicle which was great an it was a delight to listen to Peter Purves perform the adventure. He brought Steven and the First Doctor to life and his accent for Dodo was unexpectedly good too! It helped make things feel authentic which is always beneficial to the listener experience. I think finding out about the Great Disaster was really interesting and the cliffhanger with Steven get caught inside as the Lunar University and Prator went with it. His experimenting with time was intriguing and I liked how when he was just trying to find an energy source, he'd inadvertently created a form of time travel! That is pretty impressive and having the Doctor on hand is obviously helpful in that regard with his knowledge. The way he was reacted to when he explained the entire principal behind the time-splitter just from looking at it was brilliant. I thought the lines about the Doctor feeling that his body was wearing thin felt a little early and he didn't seem all that excited about the prospect of regeneration which echoes what we saw in Twice Upon a Time quite nicely. The emergence of the Baleen felt a little off to me and I just found them pretty unimpressive which is a bit of a shame. Their voices didn't cut it for me and I wasn't wholly convinced by their motive. The shapeshifter element also felt a little bit like overkill, even if there were some fun reminisces of The Chase in having a duplicate of the Doctor! Talper and Fam were good characters although I did find they later got lost in the shuffle a little bit. There were a few too many characters I think for this kind of story with only one performer. Chief Stone was a good villainous kind of character and I liked that she was female and able to inject fear just from her name alone. Aritt being alongside Dodo as she enrolled at the university was good but again she just felt a little lost by the end. I thought Steven turning out to be the Planner was really good and a twist I ought to have seen coming! Dodo's reaction was fascinating though as she wasn't wholly accepting of his actions. How could he kidnap when he knows what that feels like? She had a point to be fair. I thought the Doctor's reaction to him interfering in history was amusing too as even though he was saving six thousand people, he still shouldn't alter events. However, he had some leeway with the alternate timelines at play and how he was incorporated into one in exiting the TARDIS prematurely. The Doctor giving the Baleen two chances and warnings before turning the electric shock onto them to finally kill them off was really good stuff and definitely showing echoes of his future self. Overall, a good concept but I felt the monster was a little bit of a let down and a few too many characters for the format. It was also a little long as well, but still a more than worthy listen! A fun adventure for sure.

Rating: 7/10