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It's May 1940, and Vice-Admiral Ramsey is about to finalise one of the most daring plans of the Second World War: Operation Dynamo. But something else has got inside the War Tunnels, a parasitic Nemonite from the crashed sphere. Its aim is to possess all humans and spawn millions of young.

The Doctor and Donna must fight for their lives in order to save both Operation Dynamo and the world at large.

COMMENT

It's hard to keep up with the stunning (and high quality) releases from BBC AUDIO. DOCTOR WHO abridged & unabridged novels in addition to narrated TV soundtracks followed by the legendary Elisabeth Sladen reading for THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, and a range of TORCHWOOD adventures.

However, all of the above could be pushed aside to gather dust when the company releases another exclusive-to-audio double-disc story.

With aural senses literally throttled by THE NEMONITE INVASION , only to be reassuringly nursed by the professional & comforting tones of Catherine Tate, this new BBC AUDIO exclusive release is remarkable.

No, not remarkable; cinematically aspiring.

Unfortunately, David Roden's new-to-audio story is not suitable for release as a BBC AUDIO - it should have been produced by BBC WALES as a televised drama as part of SERIES 4. Unsurprisingly so as the author's background is more filmic than audio - even though he did pen the disastrously puerile 1993 DIMENSIONS IN TIME (for BBC's CHILDREN IN NEED).

Like the Tenth Doctor, Roden's dynamic story, set on the eve of World War II's "operation Dynamo" (the rescue of thousands of Allied troops from Dunkirk), rattles from one destination to remonstration to retribution with a heart. Even the abrasive Donna Noble is softened by the effective affection of a "sailor-boy" leading to a "What if." question on her behalf.

Unlike the WWII-set 1989 story, THE CURSE OF FENRIC, Roden's is coherently observed, focusing less on the fantasy and more on the ordinary with an extraordinary twist of fate delivered by the Nemonite (strangely, until "Part Two", the alien is demoted to a "supporting artist" whilst the conflict within "the ranks" is magnified).

The dialogue is as lively as a rabid animal in quarantine; "dialectally" precise as the TV series with the Doctor & Donna particularly poetically satisfying.

"How cold is this water?", she shivered. "My underwear is waterlogged; I'm freezing cold and I've had mouthful of Chateau De Channel. So, on reflection, Joe 90, no, I'm not alright". She brushed her hair off her sopping wet face.

Tate's character delineation (including Russian, Irish, "Cockney" and, of course, "Chiswickist") is simply exquisite and rewarding, as are Roden's "in-jokes" (including Dame Vera Lynn's classic wartime song, Chris Carter's USA drama series - the alien within this story is reminiscent to human-alien infestation broadcast in THE X-FILES itself - and the "frequently asked question of bigger-on-the-inside-than-the-outside".

THE NEMONITE INVASION is like tasting that first sun-ripened, freshly picked nectarine or that first English strawberry. Contentment. Pure pleasure. And with an ending that Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart would be satisfied by, who could ask for more?

If there ever could be a "page-turning" audiobook then THE NEMONITE INVASION would be it.