Doctor Who The Auntie Matter

Tom Baker thrilled a generation of children during his time playing the Doctor in the 1970s and early 1980s, and for those of us of a certain age there will always be an affection for the eccentric bohemian fourth Doctor.

Like many working actors associated with a successful part, he was anxious not to become typecast, and somewhat understandably chose to distance himself from the very programme that had made him a household name.

Mary Tamm as Romana

After many years of gentle coaxing, the team from Big Finish Productions persuaded him to come back to the role in 2010. After a very successful first series of adventures alongside Louise Jameson reprising the part of Leela, a second series was recorded during the summer of 2011.

The Auntie Matter, penned by longstanding Big Finish contributor Jonathan Morris is the first of this second series to be released.

Listening to this adventure is a bittersweet experience, the joy of hearing my favourite classic series Doctor/companion pairing is offset by the sadness of knowing that the talented and beautiful Mary Tamm passed away the following year.

The Auntie Matter is set during the 1920s, the Doctor and Romana decide to take a holiday to recuperate after the events of The Key To Time. Sending K-9 off in the TARDIS to give the black guardian the runaround, they decide to move in to a London townhouse and live the life of a Lord and Lady.

In traditional classic series style, the pair are separated, and both affect the way the story unfolds without ever crossing each other's paths. The author is clearly a fan of P.G. Wodehouse, and the story is brimming with the humour and farcical fun synonymous with the creator of Jeeves and Wooster.

The Doctor has to outwit a psychotic robot gamekeeper and the eponymous Auntie, and Romana has to contend with the romantic overtures of a lovelorn bachelor!

There is a wonderful ensemble cast including Julia McKenzie as Florence and Alan Cox as Grenville (Wodehouse's middle name) the valet. But the star performances are from Tom and Mary, the chemistry between them is perfect, it feels like it's only been a week since the events of The Armageddon Factor.

This set includes bonus interviews which is usual with such releases plus a very moving tribute to Mary Tamm.

She will be sadly missed, but we are very fortunate to have a body of work, including her time on Who to remember her by.

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation

For the 16th series of Doctor Who, producer Graham Williams decided to create a linking narrative between the stories, rather like the story arcs used in present day Who (although not as successfully as messrs Davies and Moffat).

The Doctor's intended holiday is put on hold when he is summoned by the mysterious White Guardian, who asks him to locate the six missing segments of the key to time, which if made complete would be a weapon too dangerous for anyone to possess.

The White Guardian imposes a new companion on The Doctor in the (frankly gorgeous) shape of Romanadvortrelundar, or Romana for short played by the glamorous Mary Tamm.

The story, penned by long term Who script writer Robert Holmes is set on the planet Ribos, and centres around a pair of con men trying to sell the icy planet to the tyrant war monger the Graff Vynda-K.

Although the 16th series divides opinion, this story for me is one of the strongest of the 1978 run, and superior to Holmes' other effort that year The Power Of Kroll. Ian Cuthbertson and Nigel Plaskitt as dodgy duo Garron and Unstoffe are marvellous, Paul Seed, who plays the Graff (And would later go on to direct classic BBC drama House Of Cards) is somewhat shouty, but nonetheless entertaining.

The DVD is chock full of extras the stand out for me was 'A matter of time' an hour long documentary looking back on Graham Williams' time in charge of the programme, including interviews with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Lalla Ward and John Leeson, and archive interviews with the late Graham Williams and Douglas Adams.

The documentary, written by Nicholas Pegg, gives a very good insight into what the programme making process was like in the 1970's. The producer had to contend with ever diminishing budgets, a difficult to handle lead actor and problems caused by industrial action when the unions were at the peak of their powers. Graham's widow Jacqueline speaks very eloquently about how very tough it was for her husband, and how he cared very deeply for the ongoing success of the programme.

Other extras include a commentary with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm, 'The Ribos File' a making of documentary, continuities and a series 16 trailer.

While the Key To Time series is not perhaps the best in the programme's long history it is still very entertaining, and this DVD boxset is a real "must have" for fans in terms of the extensive extras.