To start with the setting, then- Cornwall, the present day. It’s a healthy departure from the south-east and, to its credit, the story avoids the cliché of muttering six-toed locals- in fact there isn’t an oo-arr to be heard throughout. And although the setting ties in nicely with the nature of the menace (Doctor Who and the Cornish Piskies, anyone?), it’s a shame that a story set in such an unspeakably beautiful part of the country should, confined to audio, fail quite so singularly to communicate that atmosphere. There’s no real reason why it couldn’t take place in any other part of Britain- but then again, it’s hardly a major failing. Looking at the cast list and characters, it’s also tempting to conclude that with this release Big Finish started getting serious actors and serious money- although James Bolam and Susan Jameson perhaps aren’t exactly A-list these days, neither are they the kind of performers who’ll do a limited-circulation CD drama at the drop of a hat. Playing characters who want to use the "Spectre" in different ways, their respective roles are crucial to the story- as the aristocratic occultist Sir Archibald, Bolam is suitably unsettling, particularly when he begins to torture Evelyn, while as Mrs Moynihan, Jameson successfully portrays a character whose apparent jolly housekeeper persona belies a deep sense of having been betrayed and manipulated all her life and a subsequent desire for power.

What’s particularly striking about the Brigadier’s presence in this story is how natural it feels- there’s absolutely none of the artificiality of a contrived meeting here, as this is an older and wiser Brigadier who accepts without question the Doctor turning up in a new body. Evelyn is also good, especially in the short scene just after Nikki has been killed and she’s taken a bit faint- it’s a nice touch of realism all the more welcome for the way in which the Doctor’s companions so often walk away from the deaths of supporting characters. And although Colin Baker can resume his Sixth Doctor persona in the wink of an eye, the titular Spectre is perhaps a little less assured. In fairness, the idea of a villainous alien goblin must always have been a difficult one to execute well, Toby Longworth’s Sancreda voice is, well, odd- never wholly comic or malevolent, it’s just a little hard to imagine the creature behind the voice, although Longworth does rather better with Professor Morgan (the Idwal Morgan of ‘The Stones of Blood’?) who does come across as a three-dimensional character in spite of sounding dangerously like Errol the Hamster at times. Like many of Doctor Who’s attempts to explain famous mysteries and bring science to the supernatural, it’s perhaps at its strongest in the early stages of the story when the mystery is being evoked, rather than to wards the end when it fumbles around in search of rationales. There comes a point when aliens with the ability to focus mental powers through rocks, crystals or jam doughnuts starts to become unsatisfying from a narrative point of view, although in this case it’s redeemed by the Brigadier’s courage and readiness to sacrifice himself. In recent years there’s been an increasing sense that if the Doctor is Time’s Champion then the Brigadier is in some sense Earth’s Champion, so this is entirely fitting.

There’s a little more confidence and ambition about this story- not only is it conventional Doctor Who, it’s an attempt to do conventional Who well and with the kind of ambition the BBC could sustain, but a small number of enthusiasts would struggle to sustain. Nearly all the ideas are good ones, and if occasionally little bits here and there don’t always hang together, it’s still looking to do Who on the scale of the television series and for that alone deserves praise.