Death Match

Fourth Doctor Adventures #4.4

Released: 16 April 2015

Listened: 4/5/22

After a rather impressive cliffhanger, in which Leela left the Doctor and then found herself kidnapped by the Master, we find out what’s going on. The Master has used Leela to take over a multi-system deathmatch competition. With her as his champion, he’s amassing plenty of resources and attracting the attention of the rich and powerful of this corner of space. It’s a little small-fry for him, but he seems to be enjoying himself. Marshall, the reformed Rocket Man with an attachment to Leela, calls in the Doctor to help, and amazingly, he shows up in time. This story is much more straightforward than the previous, with the Doctor and the Master in their accustomed roles, because this is a Matt Fitton story, not a John Dorney one. Which means that there are layers of emotional content, Marshall’s for Leela, Leela’s more complex ones for Marshall, the Doctor’s for Leela, and even K-9’s, although he claims not to have any. Of course we know what the outcome has to be, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking, mostly because Louise Jameson is awesome.