"Tea, anyone?"

The Doctor has unfinished business. A mission he wasn't able to complete, long ago. One that had slipped his mind. Until now that is.

Stopping off on Gallifrey to collect President Romana and K9, he sets the TARDIS down in Cambridge where he has been summoned by retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis, who wants him to return a book to Gallifrey. If only he could remember what it was called and where he put it.

However, the book has unexpected properties and unimagined power. It is the key to a forgotten Time Lord prison, where a very dangerous criminal was incarcerated many years ago. But everything will be fine unless the book falls into the wrong hands. Oh dear!

Paul McGann confidently leads an all star cast in this BBCi/Big Finish co-operative effort, finally bringing the lost Douglas Adams tale to a wider audience, via an Internet broadcast and a CD release.

Indeed, it might have been thought that McGann could flounder a little, given the dialogue that was originally written for Tom Baker. But he rises to the challenge with aplomb, making the lines his own and stamping his unique interpretation onto the production. If any fans out there still doubted his ability as the Doctor, this should dispel any such thoughts.

The only member of the original cast to return this time around is Lalla Ward as Romana. But this is a more mature Romana, having been President for some time. However, she does seem to enjoy her chance to get out of the office for a change and it is easy to see why the big cheeses at Big Finish decided that she and Louise Jameson could carry the new Gallifrey four part series without needing the Doctor around. A polished performance, with the added bonus that her scenes with Paul McGann really sparkle.

Not forgetting John Leeson of course, as the voice of K9. The TV version of Shada was filmed (or partly filmed) with David Brierly filling the role of robotic dog. It is good to hear K9 get his original voice back for this story.

I mentioned above the all star cast, and that is no understatement. Getting an accomplished character actor of the calibre of James Fox alongside comedy stalwarts Andrew Sachs, Melvyn Hayes and Hannah Gordon is a coup for the producers of epic proportions. And the younger members of the cast are no slouches either, with the talents of Susannah Harker and Sean Biggerstaff filling their roles neatly.

Of course, one of the lures that no doubt attracted such names would be the biggest name of all, the one on the title page. The late, great Douglas Adams. Penned originally when he was still script editor of Doctor Who and around the time he would be working on the original radio version of Hitch Hiker, this is an author at the height of his powers. It is a great shame he never got to see or hear this story finally get a completed version, in the medium where his work always shone brightest.

So, a triumph for all concerned. Had this story not been hit by a BBC strike back in the late 70's and actually made it to transmission, it would probably have been an above average tale, while not ranking up there with the top stories, let down by the limits of the visual nature of television. On audio, with a stellar line-up of talent and the much better special effects that the mind's eye can create, this is a superior story.