House of Cards

The TARDIS crew are in trouble again. While enjoying a stop at a casino run by a mysterious Madam and her serpentine henchmen, they find themselves suddenly on the run; Ben overextends a line of credit and Polly is hunted down for illegal use of a time travel device. All of this is new to Jamie, but the Doctor is an old pro and stays wary of the goings on. But Polly is not the only time traveller who is being hunted down, and in her search to solve her own little mystery she must try to save Ben from having to play the fatal Game of Life.

So it's another Steve Lyons script, and for the third time running now we've got our regulars in a claustrophobic setting: first a space hotel, then a space bank and now a space casino. I guess Lyons likes to have the cast effectively trapped and running out of places to run. And he also likes monsters, although this time there are no Selachians but there are the snake-faced Sidewinder Syndicate who have modeled themselves on 1920's style Earth gangsters. And among the many games being played at the casino there are robot dog fights for the punters to enjoy, which would have the PETA robotics branch going mad no doubt.

As you can see by the cover art up there it's another double act with Fraser Hines and Anneke Wills performing together as they did with Selachian Gambit although in the extras at the end it is revealed that previously they recorded their lines separately but this time they were working together in the studio in character for the first time in 50 years. That's a bit of a wow moment there. I didn't sense a disconnect listening to the previous one, but here together they do sound a bit more... live, I guess.

I have a feeling, though, that Lyons has been watching too much of the Moffatt era nonsense because out of nowhere Polly is existing two times over and trying to keep out of her own sight, crossing paths with her companions and seeing some of the same events twice. Hmm. When this happens on the TV series it just results in stupid chase scenes and goofy music and annoying visual sequences, but House of Cards manages not to go there at all (well as an audio it can't, but you get my point I am sure). It's proof that you can pen something about time travel overlap without having to force this whole "timey-wimey" crap on the audience.

There's still the whole question though of the Madam running the show, and I feel like there are a few things we never find out about her. Like, who is is. How she knows who the Doctor is and what designs she has on him. Simple stuff really, although I expect she could pop up once again somewhere.

I'll keep listening.

NEXT EPISODE: THE ROUNDHEADS