The Lions of Trafalgar

Short Trips #4.5

Released: 10 August 2011

Listened: 4/11/20

Placing this story here because Tegan says they’ve come from 1982, so she’s presumably not trying to get back to Heathrow. The Doctor and company have arrived in Trafalgar shortly before Nelson’s Column was completed, when the architects hosted a large dinner atop the column. Except they’ve been taken over by aliens, who animate the lions (which aren’t supposed to exist yet) to attack the people in the square. There’s an unusual amount of action and bystander deaths for a Short Trip, and the Doctor solves the problem with an “I know you’re in there somewhere” solution, which isn’t terribly satisfying. They also leave behind an unusual number of anachronisms. I usually enjoy stories that take place around familiar landmarks, but this one kind of falls flat.