The Doctor and Jo Jones face the original Cybermen from the doomed planet of Mondas. 

Pitting the Third Doctor against the Cybermen is always something special, as we didn’t see them during Pertwee era. While it’s happened before on audio, ‘The Quintessence’ offers an intriguing new spin; rather than the robotic sounding creatures who evolved across Patrick Troughton’s time, it’s the original cloth-faces men from Mondas with the sing-song voices who pose the insidious threat here.

This creepy six-parter also continues the adventures of the older Jo – Jones rather than Grant – who has taken up TARDIS travel again in the wake of her beloved husband’s passing. This allows Katy Manning to play the character closer to her own age, rather than as she was onscreen in the early 70s.

The Quintessence

The tale begins, unusually, with Jo having a disturbing dream from which she wakes up with space/time coordinates in her head. Indulging her, the Doctor programmes the TARDIS and the pair end up on the barren, stormy world of Nethara Reach.

Incongruously, the world holds a bizarre house where they’re welcomed by the hosts Arthur and Lucy Pepperdine. The pair live in “Always” amid walls of creepy paintings – all of the same foreboding landscape. They also have a sickly daughter, Emmeline who appears to be able to read minds and has never had a visitor before, but takes a shine to Jo.

However, she does have angels who watch over her and communicate with her parents via a séance. Angels with voices that the Doctor finds disturbingly familiar…

Horror

Writers Stewart Pringle and Lauren Mooney, clever multi-level tale develops as the Doctor discovers the truth of the family’s situation. Creepy soon gives way to horrific as we realise the lengths they have gone to in order to keep Emmeline alive. It takes us to Mondas, where we see the desperate fate of the civilisation there amid its devastated surface and cyber factories.

Along the way, we’re also challenged with some of the moral complexities of cyber-conversion and attempts to reverse the process, which is tantamount to torture.

Again, Tim Treloar and Katy Manning prove to be a dynamite combination. Treloar’s Pertwee is resolute against the treat of the Cybermen, while Manning brings Jo’s huge heart, weathered by her recent loss, to her relationship with Emmeline.

In the guest cast, Chris Larkin impresses as Arthur who fights throughout to save his family, while Felicity Cant heartbreaking brings to life the remarkable Emmeline.

In Summary

‘The Quintessence’ offers a brutal antidote to every pat “you blew them up with love” ending of the show’s modern era. The writers clearly thrived on the opportunity to stretch into a six-part tale and they’ve created a slow burning, horror-tinged treat. Albeit one for those who prefer their Doctor Who in darker hues.

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures – The Quintessence is out now.

It’s available on Collector’s Edition CD (+ download), or download only, exclusively from Big Finish.