The Cloisters of Terror

Fourth Doctor Adventures #4.6

Released: 4 June 2015

Listened: 4/8/22

Unlike the last story, this time they really do land in 1977, at a women’s college that’s part of Oxford. Like the last story, K-9 doesn’t feature at all. The Dean of the college is Dame Emily Shaw, mother of Liz, and still the most well-connected and influential woman in England, aside from the Queen. I can’t see any reason for her to return, aside from the fact that she’s awesome, and Rowena Cooper is awesome, so that’s enough. It does save time to have an authority figure who trusts the Doctor completely, once he establishes his credentials. Because the college is haunted by three nuns, girls are disappearing, and all the living nuns seem to be determined to hinder the investigation. Naturally, the explanation turns out to be less supernatural than it appears, as it almost always does, but it takes a good while to unravel. Leela gets to engage in a good bit of action, and has a solid respect for Dame Emily, who admittedly earns it. I think this one would have done quite nicely on television.