The Eye of Horus

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield #2.3

Released: 12 June 2015

Listened: 3/6/21

You may want to do your own historical research for this one, as Benny ends up in ancient Egypt, at the end of the reign of Hatshepsut, regarded as King of Egypt although she was a woman. (The production had a historical expert to ensure accuracy.) The Doctor is here as well, serving as Hatshepsut’s chief advisor, although he doesn’t recognize Benny. It feels like the Doctor is doing quite a bit of unwarranted meddling here, and it’s true that he’s hidden part of his mind so Sutekh won’t detect him. Which once again leaves Benny to do a lot of the heavy lifting, although in this case she’s more of an accidental bystander to events. Nevertheless, when Sutekh makes his move, Benny gets another rather wrenching scene as it seems she’s about to die (again) and the Doctor can’t help her. Of course that’s not the way it works out, but it’s a good scene anyway. Trivia: Sakuntala Ramanee, who was in “Survival” back in 1989 with Sophie Aldred and Lisa Bowerman, plays Hapshetsut.