The Beast of Kravenos

Fourth Doctor Adventures #6.1

Released: 11 January 2017

Listened: 7/3/22

This new series of Fourth Doctor Adventures is meant to take place during Season 18 of the show (or a bit before), and carries the new theme music that John Nathan-Turner requested. However, the story itself is a return to Gothic horror, as it features Jago & Litefoot. It’s clearly later in J&L’s personal timeline, because they remember meeting Romana I (although they believe Romana II is a different person with the same name). Also, Inspector Quick is here, played by Conrad Asquith, who originated the role in “Talons.” And it’s written by Justin Richards, who created the Jago & Litefoot series. Outside of all that, though, the story is a bit low-key. Jago and Litefoot are now pretty experienced with otherworldly stuff, so they’re not as credulous or cowardly as they may have been earlier. The Doctor and Romana aren’t concerned about blending in this time either, so they openly bring K-9 around with them. And with K-9’s abilities of computation, scanning, and defense, they don’t actually need long to deal with a J&L-style mystery. Which is more or less fine, as it’s a one-hour story, but it does seem to be a bit of a wasted opportunity. Romana seems a bit more cheerful and less exasperated than usual, but who could be exasperated with Professor Litefoot?