The Tenth Doctor and Donna are back and this time they’ve brought the family! Yes, David Tennant and Catherine Tate are joined by Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble) and Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott). First in the Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 3 is the James Goss story No Place. Come on in!

No Place

First the synopsis:

It’s ‘Haunted Makeovers!’ The home improvement show with a spooky twist.

The Noble family are hoping to cast out a few spirits along with the old bathroom suite. Presenter Justin joins Donna, Wilf, Sylvia and the Doctor for the latest edition of his reality TV series.

Of course, Justin knows that any supernatural phenomena can be faked. Ghosts can’t possibly be real. Can they..?

It’s a tricky task fitting the Doctor, Donna, her mother and grandfather into a story as well as the story itself; luckily James Goss is a past master and keeps the action on track (with some very dark moments and great sound work from Howard Carter.) He takes a dig at certain types of TV show, the viewers, and the participants but all without causing offence. It’s highly entertaining from start to finish.

We’ve had Sylvia at Big Finish, we’ve had Bernard Cribbins at Big Finish, now we have them both and if I have one complaint about this story it’s I’d have preferred something longer to let the characters really shine. Sylvia and Wilf get plenty to do but I would have liked even more exploration of who they are. What we get instead is fast-paced almost slapstick comedy (David and Catherine are hilarious) and poor presenter Justin struggles to cope with events.

As fans we all know (as do the Nobles) something more is going on than just a few drafty corridors and a creaking door, but Justin is sure it’s all in the mind. And maybe it is!?

The plot works, even if the linkage between characters and locations is a tad over-contrived. It’s a great start to the set, and future appearances for Wilf and Sylvia can’t come too soon!