Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs - not forgetting our honoured guests from the Gestapo - tonight, it is my privilege to present to you the star of the Théâtre des Baroques! A man who has died on stage near ten thousand times! The Most Assassinated Man in the World... Max Paul! And joining him, in a playlet we call The Executioner’s Son, from Blackpool, England... the enchanting Lucie Miller! Ah, la belle Lucie. She’s got no idea what she’s let herself in for. Should you feel faint or nauseous, never fear. Tonight, we have a Doctor in the house! Just pray he lasts till the interval...

With The Scapegoat, Pat Mills (the author of Dead London and numerous Fourth Doctor comic strips) has turned in another weird and wonderful adventure. He really lets his imagination fly with this tale of theatrical goat-headed aliens in Nazi-occupied France.

Playing the lead aliens Mother Baroque and Doc Baroque are Samantha Bond and Christopher Fairbank, both of whom are well qualified to portray such archly sinister characters. Bond, of course, played Mrs Wormwood in The Sarah Jane Adventures, while Fairbank was utterly chilling as the travelling performer Johnny Jack (“with his children on his back”) in the sixth assignment of Sapphire & Steel. Meanwhile, Clifford Rose, who is best known for his role as Sturmbannführer Ludwig Kessler in Secret Army and Kessler, and who appeared as Captain Rorvik in Warriors’ Gate, is well cast as another Nazi, Major Treptow.

In addition, as in the recent The Angel of Scutari, some interesting things happen to the TARDIS, and there’s humour as Sheridan Smith plays Lucie trying to act on stage.

The hilarity continues in the interviews at the end of the CD, as Smith admits that she initially misread the story’s title as Spacegoat. It’s an understandable mistake to make under the circumstances, especially when you consider that Mills once co-authored a rejected Who TV script about a space whale (which is soon to be adapted by Big Finish).

This highly original and polished production certainly didn’t get my goat.

9

Richard McGinlay