Jago & Litefoot: Series 2

The second season of this Victorian Doctor Who spin-off once again consists of four hour-long episodes. There's slightly more of a sense of a story arc to this season than there was to the first, as well as a milieu that's leaning more to the supernatural than to the mad science.

* Litefoot and Sanders - Litefoot investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire (this is rather obvious right from the start, even were it not for the artwork on the CD sleeve). To do so, he teams up with an expert on the creatures, abandoning Jago, whose reaction to this forms much of the core of the story, along with some good use of guest characters (notably the Blind Match Girl). There's a dramatic conclusion, as well as a major development for one of the regular supporting characters. 5 stars.

* The Necropolis Express - This direct follow-up to the first episode is notable in part for writer Mark Morris clearly having fun with Jago's sesquipedalian grandiloquence. Other than that, the first part of the story is a little weak, being a not particularly persuasive excuse to get them to the scene of the action. At any rate, once they're there, the story picks up, in the one episode of the four with a healthy dose of mad science. There's another big development in the plot arc, although it's not exactly a surprise when it does happen, and you may find yourself waiting for it to turn up. Nonetheless, overall, a good bit of fun, with some great scenes in the graveyard, and, when the denouement does arrive, it's certainly satisfying. 4 stars.

* The Theatre of Dreams - A surreal meta-fictional story about a troupe of sideshow performers who can (apparently) grant their punters' deepest desires. Jago is in his element, even as Litefoot gets some more mysterious corpses to examine. The focus of the story, however, is on the nature of what our heroes' own desires might be, as well as a scene in which the fourth wall is, quite literally, broken. Similar stories have been done before in Doctor Who, going right back to the 1969 TV episode The Mind Robber, but this is an excellent example of the type. 5 stars.

* The Ruthven Inheritance - The climax to the season's arc, although it does leave a fairly major thread dangling, even before the tacked-on cliffhanger ending (which is really just a teaser for the next season). Our two heroes are, unfortunately, apart for much of the story, which makes it weaker than it otherwise might be - their playing off of one another is one of the main strengths of the series. Other than that, the story works well enough, with the main villain bringing the central characters low and then luring them to their doom as part of some rather vague plan. But it's still probably the weakest of the four. 3.5 stars.

Which gives an average of 4.4 stars, rounding to 4.