Doctor Who: Terror of the Sontarans

This is a base under siege story with the unusual twist that the defenders are a squad of Sontaran soldiers. (The presence of Sontarans in the story isn't revealed until the 30-minute mark, but given the title, and I think it's fair to say it isn't a spoiler). It is very different from the previous audio story to use a vaguely similar premise, Heroes of Sontar in that, despite the odd humorous line here and there, this isn't played for laughs - the intention is something darker and more psychological.

This is achieved by keeping the real foe mysterious and having slowly affect the minds and sanities of those on the base. This gives us the chance to see Sontarans in a way that we normally don't, as much victims as anyone else, and slowly cracking under the strain. There are human prisoners in the story as well, to remind us of Sontaran brutality, not to mention a murderous crustacean that just seems to be there to jump out randomly at the other characters. But the personalities of the Sontarans are at least reasonably well done, and the one of them that, for whatever reason, is unaffected by the monster comes across as almost sympathetic - if only by contrast with his fellows.

Although she does get a chance to work on a computer program at one point, Mel is not particularly developed here, being mostly generic, if less irritating than she often was on TV. She is also unaffected by the foe, which was possibly missing a trick - not so much for the sense of peril, which she's in plenty of anyway, but because of the potential insight into her mind. We're also before the scheming, slightly darker, version of Seven from the final two seasons, which makes him less interesting, too.

In the end, the Sontarans are too single-minded, the prisoners too bland, and the occasional attempts at humour too ill-judged for this to be any more than merely average. It's an interesting idea, but one that doesn't quite reach its true potential.