N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

But just before we get to Tom Baker there’s this …

It’s been a while since I’ve taken one of these sidesteps, and, as with The Curse of the Daleks, it’s thanks to Big Finish that I’m able to experience Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday.

Publicity shots from its original run suggest Trevor Martin’s costume and look was a mixture of the first three doctors and his performance evokes his predecessors on TV – certainly in the occasional bout of irascibility. Very good he is too.

“Knowledge is always useful.”

The Doctor, Seven Keys to Doomsday

We also get the tried and trusted clamber-inside-and-impersonate-a-Dalek method of escape that has served Doctor Who well since its inception.

And we hear the Doctor say he invented the sonic screwdriver himself. I’m not sure if this had had a previous mention on screen, but I certainly don’t remember it. These days he seems to fashion himself a new model every five minutes, so it’s interesting to note the assertion here that it was his creation all along. (Of course he also once claimed he’d built the TARDIS so whether we’re to take this information with a pinch of salt is another matter!)

Whilst it thrashes about a bit early on in the first act, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday soon settles down and by Act Two for me the story wouldn’t have seemed out of place if it were an episode of the television series, although I’m not so sure the Doctor would be recommending visiting Metebelis 3 after the events of Planet of the Spiders.