Review by Daniel Mansfield

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If there’s one word to describe Hooklight, it’s huge.

So huge, in fact, that it’s one of the biggest Doctor Who stories ever told, spanning six hours, twelve episodes and two boxsets, not to mention a plethora of planets and time periods.

The opening moments of this epic tale see the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Adric and Tegan arrive in the ancient realm of Morning, where a lamp containing the mythic force of Hooklight is about to be discovered. What follows is a sweeping quest across time and space to prevent the horrors of Hooklight from being unleashed. This is Doctor Who meets Lord of the Rings, or Game of Thrones, or Star Wars – mythic, grandiose, political and utterly, utterly spellbinding.

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) is at his compassionate best here, railing against a cosmos of injustice and fighting constantly to save the day, even when the odds are against him. His relationship with Celia Imrie‘s Kessica Myles, an academic pulled into a terrifying fight for survival, is a highlight, a tender rapport between equals.

Meanwhile, Adric gets to follow in his Time Lord idol’s footsteps, writer Tim Foley splitting the plucky young mathematician up from his friends so that he is forced to take the lead in ways we haven’t seen before. Matthew Waterhouse rises to this challenge, making Adric’s desperation to be a hero endearing, even if he doesn’t always do the right thing. Tegan remains the emotional heart of the TARDIS quartet, Janet Fielding‘s performance bringing humanity to this most alien of adventures, while Nyssa finds herself tempted by darkness, Sarah Sutton giving a chilling performance as a version of the character possessed by terrible forces.

While Hooklight‘s complex web of a narrative might confuse some- especially in its second half, where different time periods, timelines and versions of characters abound- it’s some of the most gloriously ambitious storytelling Doctor Who has seen in a long time, an 80s-tinged, fantasy-flavoured version of Flux full of twists, turns and revelations, as well as mysteries that will keep you guessing throughout.

The highlight of Big Finish‘s 2025 output so far, Hooklight is one of the best Doctor Who stories out there. An imaginative, emotional, rip-roaring adventure that zips along from start to finish – Hooklight is six hours of total brilliance. Bravo Tim Foley! You’ve done it again.

Hooklight 1 and Hooklight 2 are available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com