Having never read the novel, I thought this story was okay, but just okay. It had a solid sense of atmosphere and some solid, but not really all that memorable characters. It also focused on big decisions by the Doctor and Ace and those decisions often lacked emotional foundation. Unlike in Human Nature, we're given little reason to believe the Doctor is about to retire and as for Ace's romance, I just couldn't buy it.

I have never read the novel, but had no trouble following this long and complex adventure.

It is very much a Fifth Doctor story with Seven in the background, but his manipulations make it as much about him.

The fun in the story comes from the different companions crossing paths with only the listener knowing what they have in common.

The quality of the story is shown not just in the complexity of the plot but also the subtle cleverness and accuracy in the writing of the characters. While Tegan and Bruce are a lot of fun with how outrageous they get, the scenes with Nyssa and Bruce are very well written and portray Nyssa as a young naïve traveller just as she was at the time. There is just a hint of regret in Seven's voice when he meets Adric, but that tells a lot. Moments like this echo across the story along with revelations about Gallifrey's past.

I will need to listen again to appreciate it all, but they will not be a chore.

All the way through, this feels like a cross-over, though a well executed one.
I actually put this one on without looking at the cover or the credits and I accidently entered it spoiler free so that the opening music and characters got my attention. This was the Sherlock Holmes music and this was Richard Earl speaking...
There is a very slow build up before the Doctor enters as a character and the story feels to flow very well despite its origin as a novel (one I have never read)

The plot itself is nothing special, but it serves as great scenery for a meeting between Holmes, Benny and the Doctor. Simply put it is Inter-dimensional aliens wrapped up in Holmes legacy with Seven playing the mastermind.

This adaptation of the novel adds up to a six part Doctor Who story, but with two doctors and five different companions running around and a massive epic plot involving a battle of survival between two universes, the story is definitely not padded.

The story has a great sense mystery. Wisely, the play focuses on the Fifth Doctor who has arrived after the Seventh Doctor and is trying to figure out what's going on, including what role his future self was playing in all this. (Although, he doesn't know it's his future self at the time.) Peter Davison is wonderful in this, managing to combine earnestness with a righteous fury at injustice that I really wish we'd seen more of on television. Sylvester McCoy is good as the man in the Shadow who really only begins to move slowly on to the stage in the second half and doesn't meet his past self until the last story.

Tegan has a very solid story and gets to show her anger at Chris for his "racist" attempt to impersonate an Australian with her last name. Roz and Adric also play off each other beautifully.

The plot is epic and we really only learn the full scope of what's going on in the final episode. My only big regret is that they didn't explore some aspects of the plot more fully. Still, this is a very impressive production and this has become the novel adaptation I'd recommend most.