"Daleks do not sing!"

When the TARDIS materialises on Earth in 1903, something goes badly wrong, the ship seemingly trying to land in two places at the same time. Attempting to stabilise things, the Doctor and Evelyn eventually step out into the Tower of London in 2003. But it's a 2003 that's radically different from established history.

Inside the Tower is a prisoner from an invasion one hundred years before. An invasion that was defeated by the Doctor and Evelyn. A Dalek invasion.

With the British Empire about to celebrate the 100th jubilee of this victory for humanity, could the Daleks be about to return? Are the Doctor's visions of the battle in 1903 significant? And can Evelyn really trust a 100 year old Dalek?

Jubilee is another triumph from the pen of Robert Shearman, author of the much acclaimed The Holy Terror and The Chimes of Midnight. Tightly plotted and well acted, its another dark tale, where the most sympathetic of the non-regulars is actually the Dalek prisoner!

The relationship between Colin Baker and Maggie Stables is a mainstay of these Sixth Doctor adventures. Their banter still sparkles, even in this, their eighth audio story. But this time around they are almost upstaged by another double act.

Husband and wife team Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres play husband and wife team President Nigel Rochester and First Lady Miriam Rochester. Mister Shearman, an old friend, wrote the parts for them and they tackle them with relish. Both characters are quite, quite mad, but that is also part of the appeal.

And who would ever have thought that a sympathetic Dalek would ever appear in a Doctor Who story? But there is one here, which is partly down to the writing and partly to the performance of Nicholas Briggs, who again doubles as director of the tale.

The moral of the story seems to be that we should learn from our mistakes, so long as we learn the right lessons. If we take the wrong ones on board, we are condemned to repeat our mistakes.

There are also some sly asides, especially on commercialism, highlighting the fact that "Anything with a Dalek on them, sells". Memories of the Christmas of 1964 will be rife for those old enough to have been there.

On a final note, the writer gives us a very bleak alternative future, well realised within the confines of the audio medium, which has no sets to convey the destruction of London or the general air of darkness and gloom.

A couple of things to listen out for. A Dalek finally fulfils its destiny. And a cracking episode two cliff-hanger, the misdirection for which is quite brilliant.

An excellent start to the jubilee year, not just of Doctor Who, but of the Daleks as well. A tough act to follow.