The Rings of Ikiria

Mysterious crop circles have appeared in Britain and upon investigation, UNIT and the Doctor meet a beautiful female alien named Ikiria, who offers the world golden rings of friendship. But all that glitters and all that, and Mike Yates finds himself the only person who has not fallen under Ikiria's spell.  With the Doctor missing, and being hunted and betrayed by even the Brigadier, Yates has to save the world himself this time.

Okay so not really huge new ground for Doctor Who as we have seen the story of someone beautiful offering friendship with an ulterior motive before (hello Claws of Axos) and Big Finish would use this idea again to an extent in Storm of the Horofax (this one was written first) but the real story here is Mike Yates himself. The tale happens somewhere before Jo Grant joins the UNIT family so the Doctor is operating without an assistant, although Mike is telling it from somewhere else in his own future, sounding wistful and sad that what he considered his home and family were no longer there anymore.

Filling in the blanks in Yates' backstory is something that has given us as fans some interesting stuff to work with, even if that total only amounts to three stories (this, Scales of Injustice and Eye of the Giant) but as he just appears out of nowhere in Terror of the Autons it's all good stuff. Big Finish have taken a great deal of time to include Yates in some of their latest work in the era of the third Doctor, so the mystery man feels like more of a team player. This makes his eventual fall from grace pack a lot more of a punch, and his reflecting upon his UNIT days seem much sadder.

Still, no-one ever really leaves Doctor Who. Yates will be back eventually, but not for a while still.

Meanwhile the Doctor...

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