"Why would someone in the government kidnap a child?"
Writer: Ken Bentley
Format: Audio
Released: April 2026
Series: UNIT: Eras 1.02
Featuring: Kate, Osgood
Synopsis
2017. UNIT has been shut down, its heroes targeted.
After an attempt on her life, Kate Stewart fights from the shadows, doing what she can to protect the people of Great Britain. Reunited with Petronella Osgood, Kate goes undercover to save a child refugee with psychic powers. It's a race against time, and now a new enemy is determined to win.
Verdict
The Indigo Child was another strong episode to continue my way through the Hostile Universe first series of UNIT: Eras! This is perhaps the era I was most intrigued to explore because the state of UNIT during the events of Flux and nearly all of the Thirteenth Doctor era was one of uncertainty to say the least! Touching upon that here was really well done and I enjoyed that we got something of a more mature Osgood. The prospect of her no longer being tied to UNIT almost seems unfathomable but here she is basically on the run with Kate but still with the planet's best interests at heart. The mentions of Prentis were good continuity and I liked how even Osgood was surprised by Kate name dropping him as being far from what he appeared! UNIT was infiltrated and defunded which meant that somebody within the UK Government didn't have the country's best interests at heart. Get rid of UNIT and a strong line of defence is out of the way. I thought the dynamic between Kate and Osgood here was certainly different to what we're used to but when the latter thought the former was potentially dead or captured after her house was blown up, it's not going to be all lovey dovey! Osgood was though clearly still a little irked by Kate not reassuring her she was okay despite now getting the confirmation that she was alive and relatively well. The titular element of this episode was a good plot device and I think incorporating immigration into a story set in the 2010s is a brave choice! That has become such a huge part of politics currently to a somewhat uncomfortable level so hearing lines about the boats and dismissing that the girl had come from Syria as if it could be any other country and it didn't matter was quite startling. I liked how it felt very much of the real world though and the girl being mute or refusing to talk was good stuff because we then have Osgood showcase her qualities. She is a reassuring presence and instantly could ascertain when things were getting too stressful for the refugee. Kate and Osgood posing as members of the Home Office was fun stuff as they tried to protect the girl with Angela of Safe Haven actually getting there first with the correct authorisation. Favager as the one who initially had her safe was a bit of a knob in how he treated or viewed her. He didn't exactly treat her humanely! He barely acknowledged she was around and just saw her as a bit of an inconvenience. That was a little sad. The Woman With No Name is an interesting title for a character supposedly of the Home Office and the reaction of Favager when he told her the child was already released was terrifically hilarious. I enjoyed how this episode showcased a number of strong female characters with authority and Kate still managing to get the upper hand showed her qualities too. She was clearly hurt and damaged by recent events as she still tried to do good from a small underground association, and she was doing what she could with the limited resources she had. It was a far cry from the UNIT of the next era to come alongside the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors! I thought Kate and Osgood teaming up and particularly utilising the technological skillset of the latter to save the child was really strong stuff. It was a somewhat simple resolution and a decently straightforward plot, but it just worked. I wish a little more focus was placed on the state of UNIT and what Prentis had done, but that story can still be told. Overall, a great listen to continue my way through the series!
Rating: 8/10
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