Jago & Litefoot Series 13

This is the final regular season of Jago & Litefoot, released a few months before Trevor Baxter (Litefoot) passed away. It's impressive that, seven years on from its launch, the series still feels as entertaining as it always did, although there's no sense of a planned finale here. In fact, the series continues with the usual tradition of odd-numbered releases tweaking the setting a little and, more significantly, ends on the usual cliffhanger.

• The Stuff of Nightmares – A strong start to the collection as our heroes experience strange visions linked to their own fears and insecurities. There's also a mysterious visitor from the future (who seemingly hasn't bothered with adopting 1890s fashion) bludgeoning her away across London on a quest that soon turns out to be related to their past. The result throws in a number of references to the Doctor Who television series, both classic and modern, and makes good use not only of the central characters, but of the sorts of professional acquaintances that each of them acquire. 4.5 stars.

• The Chapel of Night – We meet our second mysterious female villain in a story about a newly-formed religious charity saving people on the verge of suicide. Meanwhile, our heroes are finding that London doesn't feel quite right, with the changes initially too subtle to put their fingers on. Science fiction fans will (particularly given the ending of the previous episode) know exactly what's going on here, but it's the precise details, and the nature of the villain, that provide the real interest. In fact, after the prelude of the first episode, it's this which really kicks off the season's plot arc. 4.5 stars.

• How the Other Half Lives – The third episode once again follows up on the TV story that started it all, Talons of Weng-Chiang, coincidentally bringing the series back to its roots for its final regular release. The core of it is a look at an alternate London in which Jago and Litefoot ended up living very different lives, never having become involved with those seminal events. It does so brilliantly, adding a certain bittersweet tone to regrets that we know are well-founded, and culminating in a suitably dramatic action scene. 5 stars.

• Too Much Reality – The main series wraps up with a story that, the unusual setting aside, is closer to familiar territory, beginning with Litefoot investigating unusual corpses, and heading to a showdown with the season's Big Bad. It's the guest characters, and the nature of the plot arc, that raise this above the usual, following up on the themes of the previous episode. Inspector Quick also has a significant role here, although Ellie is unfortunately reduced to a bit part, as she is in the second and third episodes – to be fair, the number of characters is quite large as it is, although them all being men gives less variety than one might hope for. 4 stars.

The use of a cliffhanger ending is unfortunate, particularly given that the previous release had broken with that tradition. That wasn't something they could have known at the time, of course, and a single posthumous episode did follow, as part of a special release the following year.