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

It seems that the Time Lords have finally caught up with Romana.

After all, she was only supposed to help the Doctor in the quest for the Key to Time. Trouble is, she doesn’t want to go home. (From what we saw in The Deadly Assassin and The Invasion of Time, can you blame her?) If only there were some hole in the fabric of space and time through which she could fall …

“Too much patience goes absolutely nowhere.”

The Doctor, Full Circle: Part Three

All flippancy aside, for me Full Circle never quite lives up to its terrific opening episode.

With the Doctor and Romana taken off course and almost beyond their comprehension and the coming of Mistfall mysteriously wreaking havoc on Alzarius, it’s a great premise — one that does ultimately deliver intriguing revelations and resolutions on both counts.

Even if I found it a bit tougher-going in the middle, Full Circle is nevertheless a stronger tale than the slightly uneven stories that preceded it in Doctor Who‘s eighteenth season.

No supporting cast that includes George Baker and Alan Rowe can be truly disappointing, although there does seem to be an awful lot of Alzarians just standing about. But perhaps that’s the point. They do seem to be busy doing nothing a lot of the time. (Or swimming.) In a way it’s surprising Varsh’s band of rebel brother (and sister) Outlers isn’t bigger, given such entrenched apathy.

“We’ve come full circle.”

The Doctor, Full Circle: Part Four

But I quibble.

If Meglos was a bit silly and The Leisure Hive a bit too flashy, Full Circle seems to be where JN-T era Doctor Who found its feet.

Not only does it have the first mention of a Charged Vacuum Emboitment (CVE) and the first appearance of Adric, but it has spiders that nest in watermelons — their attack on Romana amused my son no end! — and we get to see a bit of more of the TARDIS interior to boot (Well, Romana’s room at least.)

That it was also written by a Doctor Who fan brings hope to us all!