Ace joined her “Professor” for the scenic route back to Perivale, but what happened when she first jumped on board the TARDIS?

Joining Doctor Who at the end of Season 24, Sophie Aldred’s Ace became the Seventh Doctor’s essential companion. However, a year later, she was a seasoned time traveller and ready to take on the Daleks.

We recently spent some time with the pair in the Lost Story ‘Alixion’. Now, Big Finish Productions take us right back to the moment after ‘Dragonfire’ with three 2-part tales.

Backwards and in Heels

We’re not joking – Alison Winter’s story picks up with Ace bringing her possessions on board. Promised a trip around the twelve galaxies, she soon also discovers that the TARDIS is a time machine, as the Doctor is lured to 1920s Soho.

With a mysterious game in play, they head to the After Dark Jazz Club. There, the Doctor introduces Ace as his daughter and creates a world of trouble.

An engaging mystery tale ensues, as Ace forms a friendship with a flapper girl Wendy (Alexandra Barredo) and her policeman beau PC Stan (Paulo Vieira). Meanwhile the Doctor puzzles out clues with his frenemy Lucian (Luke Barton), a future human.

The Price of Snow

Katharine Armitage’s story brings us to 2076,  and Europe’s last remaining Ski resort with real snow – apparently due to a mysterious glacial microclimate.

However, Val du Cam Belle holds secrets greater than the impossible snow as visitors begin to go missing. Obviously, the Doctor can’t help but get involved! No one at the exclusive resort is who they appear to be, from Ace’s weary snowboarding instructor Mhairi (Sophie Kennedy Clark), to the Doctor’s new posh friend Teddy Watson-Smythe (Tom Alexander).

The Ingenious Gentlemen

Finally, the set is rounded out with Simon Callow. Best known in the Whoniverse as Charles Dickens, here he plays Miguel de Cervantes’s heroic Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Alan Ronald’s story sees him encountering the Doctor while tilting at windmills. Soon, the pair – with their trusty companions Sancho Panza (Ekow Quartey) and Ace – end up on a quest together. One which must free the land from an evil shadow and forces Ace to consider her position. Is she more than just an assistant to the Doctor?

And the Time Lord himself, as a big fan of Quixote, reveals just how much the mad man with a horse inspired him with shades of ‘The Unquiet Dead’, as well as ‘Vincent and the Doctor’.

In Summary

Taking us back to the early days of this popular Doctor and companion paring is such a good idea that it’s a wonder that it’s not been done before. The repartee between Sylvester and Sophie is spot on, and it’s great to hear Ace experiencing time travel for the first time. The set also sports a gorgeous cover by Rafe Wallbank which captures the pair perfectly!

For us, the only real shame is the format. Each of these stories could have done with more time to expand – especially the first where the London based mystery was rattled through at breakneck speed.

Let’s have more of these wide-eyed adventures before we get to Shoreditch in 1963, please!

Doctor Who – The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Wicked! is out now from Big Finish.