Ahead of the Sixth Doctor and Charley’s return next month, Daniel Mansfield travels back to 2008 to review their first adventure together: The Condemned.

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Manchester, 2008. The TARDIS lands inside a run-down tower block, beside a dead body – which leads to some awkward questions when the Doctor is found there by the police. Made the prime suspect, how can the Doctor prove to the no-nonsense DI Patricia Menzies that this is not the open-and-shut case it seems, and that she’s actually investigating the death of an alien?

Higher up in Ackley House, a girl named Maxine watches the Doctor being taken away in a squad car. Someone wants her to find out what happened in that room, and isn’t going to be happy if she doesn’t come up with the goods. But she’s got hold of someone who knows – someone very important to the Doctor.

A deadly conspiracy is at work – one whose effects will be felt far beyond the walls of Ackley House…

The Conspiracy by Eddie Robson kicks off a new era for the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker), putting him together with the Eighth Doctor’s former companion Charlotte Pollard (India Fisher), who left him at the end of The Girl Who Never Was (review here). There isn’t much time for the two to form a new dynamic here, as Robson splits them up quite early on, but what’s here is good, giving us a slightly more tense Doctor-Companion relationship than we’re used to, as Charley hides her past and the Doctor tries to work it out.

The Doctor spends most of this story in the company of Patricia Menzies (Anna Hope), a detective inspector who finds herself investigating the death of an alien. The two share a great rapport, Menzies responding to the Doctor with great skepticism as she tries to rationalise the strange goings-on she has become caught up in. Their dynamic gives this story the feel of a gritty police procedural, a very different kind of vibe for Doctor Who, but one that works really well.

The nature of this kind of story means that it’s quite talky, without many action scenes or big set pieces. This works, for the most part, but it does feel like things coast along at the same pace throughout, with no real climax to speak of. That said, the story itself has some great twists and the big reveal of what’s going on is really well done, and is delivered perfectly thanks to William Ash‘s performance.

Overall, this is a story that feels, above all, fresh. A cross between RTD Who and Life on Mars, The Condemned is a great way to kick off this new run of adventures for the Sixth Doctor, falling short of a better score only on account of the minimal Doctor/Charley interaction and the slightly sedate pacing.

The Condemned is available as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com