Review by Daniel Mansfield

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Within the first half an hour of The Imposters, the Doctor and the Brigadier discover alien technology at an all-girls school; Sarah Jane butts heads with Mike Yates’ officious replacement, then breaks into a top-secret space tracking station; a Saturday night all-in wrestler defeats his opponent with Venusian karate live on TV then goes up against the Doctor; and Liz Shaw tries to bump off Sarah Jane.

If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, the rest of the story has got mutants, clones, villainous military officers, villainous civil servants, a plot to control Earth’s weather, sleeper agents, interplanetary wars, and alien reality TV.

You might be thinking blimey, that’s a lot of elements in one story. You’re right, it definitely is. But, somehow, writer Alan Barnes manages to juggle all of those moving parts and turn them into a pretty decent story.

Granted, this is no The Quintessence, which is still the absolute pinnacle of Big Finish‘s Third Doctor output to me. It’s not quite as brilliant as Kaleidoscope either, despite having the same author and a similar tone.

What it is, however, is a rip-roaring ride that’ll keep you guessing from start to finish, with some of the silliest twists, most left-field reveals and most exciting audio set pieces I’ve heard in a while.

The Impostors is certainly not Doctor Who at its most sophisticated. It’s not even Doctor Who at its most creative. What it is, however, is Doctor Who at its most fun, and sometimes that’s just what you need.

The Imposters is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com