The Keep

The original TV storyline was a three-parter set exclusively inside the House of Lungbarrow, just as Ghost Light never ventured outside Gabriel Chase. It was a Seventh Doctor and Ace story, so none of the other companions in the book - Leela, Romana or the K9s - appeared. Chris Cwej is in the book by proxy as the Doctor’s current companion, and a lot of his story was originally designated to Ace. The parts of the story set at the Capitol are only in the novel - the expanded book version was an excuse for plenty of political intrigue and conspiracy theory (at the time, we were all in the depths of X-Files mania.)

Romana has spent quite a while with the Tharils in E-Space, so the leonine time sensitives are her obvious choice to serve as the first alien ambassadors to Gallifrey for thousands of years. Haven’t things changed a lot since the Fourth Doctor refused to take Sarah Jane Smith home with him?

The two K9s were a pretty irresistible idea. The Tharils must have overcome the problems that stopped Romana’s K9 (the Mark II version) from leaving E-Space. So here they are, both wittering the obvious in those supercilious tones to anyone within hearing distance. K9’s best feature is his ability to speak the unspeakable, unconstrained by the human vices of politeness and consideration. It’s an endearing quality shared with Daleks and Cybermen if they’re written properly and with the adorable Anya in Buffy. Two K9s are even better than one. Fortunately we’re spared Sarah Jane turning up with her model as well.

Leela has been having quite an effect on Andred, leading him not just up the garden path, but right out into the woods where all sorts of things can happen to an unsuspecting Time Lord. When Andred says that their physical relationship is the sort of things that other Time Lords watch on screens, has it occurred to him that he and Leela might also be the subjects of higher scrutiny? He can have no conception of the importance of their liaison. And talking of conception, Romana and her retinue have all been sitting round the screen with their fingers crossed.

The courtroom visited by the Time Lord in black is the heart of the CIA’s domain. It’s also probably the chamber where the Second Doctor was tried at the end of The War Games. The courtroom in The Trial of a Time Lord was on that massive space station - or was it a time station? At least here, we are spared an inquisitor dressed as a wedding cake, complete with rampant doily as a ceremonial collar of office.

There was a sort of inevitability that Leela and Dorothée should team up. Two strong women, both fighters skilled in their respective weapons. But of course, to start off with, they don’t get on. It seems to be standard procedure for Ace/Dorothée to be spiky towards other companions. She was the same with the Brigadier in Battlefield and although she and Benny are friends in the New Adventures, they are forever circling each other like a couple of very wary cats.