Doctor Who: The Roots of Evil

The Fourth Doctor's entry in this series is penned by Philip Reeve, whose Mortal Engines and Larklight series hold a special place in my heart.

The Heligan Structure is a marvel, a gigantic, space-borne tree housing an entire civilisation in its branches. Yet at the heart of the Heligan Structure's root bole is a dark and brooding malice; a long-nurtured hatred, waiting to exact a long-delayed vengeance against an ancient enemy.

Once again, Reeve shows a good grasp of his assigned Doctor's character and style, incorporating jelly babies and a scarf rescue. The Companion is not forgotten either. Leela can become a two-note character, misunderstanding words and then hitting something, but Reeve also captures her intuition, the instinctive sense of danger and wrongness which the Doctor so often dismissed, but which was rarely wrong.

The Roots of Evil successfully integrates many of the elements of the series, combining weird science with mild social commentary, and action and peril with humour to create a convincingly Whovian cocktail. It's not an easy act to accomplish, especially in the limited space provided, but this is another good entry in the series.