The Wormery

Alone once more and reflective again, the Doctor arrives at Bianca's; a watering hole for lost souls, broken hearts, and trans-temporal aliens, although as far as anyone knows the speakeasy is located in a backstreet in Berlin. And just as the Doctor finds himself somewhere where he can be alone, in comes the boozy brassy Time Lady herself, Iris Wildthyme, convinced that she is hearing voices when she gets loaded. Bianca's is not what it seems, though, and Bianca herself has more secrets than anyone can guess at - and all is revealed on a series of recorded tapes from that last fateful night at the club...

If there was ever a proper foil for Iris Wildthyme, it would have to be Colin Baker's sixth Doctor. Unlike Peter Davison's fifth Doctor, this one is not patient with Iris and her obsessive ways and spares none of her feelings putting her straight - something Iris reads as playing even harder to get and thus she tries harder. Despite the danger around them within the club, and the strange voices that Iris is hearing, the two play off each other magnificently. Katy Mannings' gravelly protrayal of Iris is a delight, especially when she's bombed, or singing on stage in Bianca's place, or even going nose to nose with the heavily-accented and mysterious Bianca herself.

This is exactly the sort of thing that Doctor Who needs every now and again - the Doctor on his own and having a guest star companion for an adventure, just to keep things fresh and interesting. It's a shame that there were no future encounters between the Doctor and Iris in the Big Finish universe (although the range is still going on, so who can say), and she makes a few appearances in BBC novels with the third and eighth Doctors, but I am not sure how well her loud ways would go off against the more brooding seventh Doctor.

At the end, everyone goes their separate ways, even a mysterious stranger with the audio tapes, and the sixth Doctor continues on his solitary way... for now.

NEXT EPISODE : HER FINAL FLIGHT