I really like The Sontaran Experiment. It’s an underrated little two-parter, wedged between some heavy-hitters, i.e. The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it that can’t be smoothed over: I always presumed the Sontarans needed information about humans to invade the solar system, which likely had human colonists all over the shop (perhaps still afraid of background radiation on the third rock from the sun) rather than invading the decidedly empty Earth. But because it doesn’t do anything exceptional, it’s overlooked. It helps that this was one of the earliest DVDs I owned. I also wrote about this DVD coming out in The Doctor Who Companion #1 — that is, the physical fanzine that I used to write at school, its name, of course, inspiring this very site.

Even in this underrated story, there’s an underrated moment. We all love when Sarah sees Styre the Sontaran take his helmet off and she gasps, thinking it’s Linx, the clone she met in her very first serial, The Time Warrior. But we tend to overlook Roth, played brilliantly by Peter Rutherford.

Specifically, it’s his terror at seeing Styre’s robot again that fascinates me. He collapses to the ground, shaking and quivering in a really natural fashion, this mix of horror and exhaustion taking over. It’s a remarkable performance, one that really shows his PTSD beautifully. You really get the sense that he’s been through hell and can’t cope with seeing one of his tormentors again.

Rutherford keeps up this astonishing performance when he sees Kevin Lindsay’s Styre again. It’s a massive shame that, in Part Two, he’s dispatched with so quickly. He’s one of the best guest actors in Doctor Who Season 12.

I think that’s why I like The Sontaran Experiment so much (aside from the fact I love the Sontarans): the performances are excellent, making this tale feel very human. Superb stuff.