The Sixth Doctor Adventures are back, and this time, they’ve got a third passenger aboard the TARDIS. Following on from “Red for Danger!”, Turlough has rejoined The Doctor and Peri for more adventures through time and space.

In their first instalment together, the trio are stranded in 17^th-century England. Their old friend Christopher Marlowe awaits, but so too does a deal with the devil.  

When the TARDIS is stranded in the path of a neutron star, the Doctor, Peri and Turlough have to flee. They end up in seventeenth-century London, where another old friend, Christopher Marlowe, is trying to get out of a pact he’s made. Marlowe’s soul is on the line – but has Turlough also made a deal with the Devil… again?

Big Finish Synopsis

The Reckoning is an interesting introduction to the newly formed trio by Nev Fountain. Rather than a typical run-around adventure, this story is deeply focused on character, specifically themes surrounding the dynamics of trust, growth and change. Fountain presents these themes through two interwoven storylines that, from the outset at least, seem to revolve around contracts and deals with the devil.

Never quite the most trustworthy of companions during his original travels with The Doctor, setting Turlough’s re-introduction story on this precipice of unknown motivations and the potential of falling into old habits seems more than appropriate. It’s a narrative that Fountain plays into with a great deal of success throughout the story. The fractured trust on display as we’re led to believe in the return of the Black Guardian, coupled with Sixie’s naturally less-trusting nature compared with his earlier counterpart, creates a kinetic antagonism between the two that drives the adventure’s steady momentum. At the start of the adventure, the two are looking towards the past rather than how things have changed, which leads to this sense of unease between them. As the story progresses, this weariness and focus on past actions pass, and their trust inevitably grows when Turlough shakes temptation, and The Doctor finally realises that their time apart has only seen him mature as a person.

What’s also great about this narrative is how it ultimately ties into the episode’s twist climax. As it turns out, The Doctor isn’t the only one who has trust issues with Turlough. The contracts, the setting, everything that happens during the story is an illusion set up by TESS, the TARDIS’s secondary defence mechanism. The TARDIS remembers all-too-well what happened the last time Turlough was given entry to the time machine, which is both a great callback and a nice nod towards exploring the TARDIS’s level of sentience.

Elsewhere, this story also provides a great introduction to the potential trio dynamics between The Doctor, Peri and Turlough. Separate from the opening moments of antagonism, there are flashes throughout that showcase potentially how strong this team could be. There are plenty of jibes, openness, and strong-willed personalities that can only lead to the beginning of a modern classic.