Doctor Who: The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill

Starring: Michael Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury, Emma Noakes

Originally released: August 2026

Listened to: August 2026

Episodes:
1. The Haunted Windmill

2. The Crystal Ship

3. The Hungry Glass

Context: I listened to this one in one go, on a long bike ride in a very beautiful and sunny Devon, delightful, if not a little tiring!

THE REVIEW

What I thought:

1. The Haunted Windmill – lovely episode this one, starting with a recall to Gallifrey for this TARDIS team, and Raven finding a way for the TARDIS crew to avoid capture. This means landing on an alternative version of Earth, a timelord created timeline in which the Doctor has not influenced/protected Earth. This therefore leads to alternative versions of Zoe, Jaime (not that you would know neccersaily to start with) and then a very amusing version of the brigadier, who is a police detecitive in this reality. We have a plot line running where the TARDIS ends up as a book, part of the ship anyway, and some funny stuff with poor dim Lucius becoming a maths genius thanks to the TARDIS latching on to him. Its a lovely episode, really enjoyed this one, and lovely revelations about Luciu’s and Bertie’s ancestors (who could they be : )!

2. The Crystal Ship – another very strong episode, building nicely on the premise of the first episode, with the second doctor, Raven and the ‘kids’ Lucius and Bertie, bloody lovely (as well as ancestor versions of Zoe and Jaimie). The thought of the second doctor setting up a lab in a windmill is brilliant, and works so well for ths incarnation (M Troughton is so brilliant as the second Doctor). We also have an alterantive Liz Shaw, a rocket ship, Quatermass wannabe shit bag Professor Quigley, and th ereturn of those pesky south African crstalline monsters, the Krotons! Cant say I know much about them but they are great fun in this one, well used and lovley episode, Liz gets lost in this one, Crystal Liz (at least I think that is what happened) and Lucious and the Doctor see to the Krotons, Raven in the background doing her thing. Really enjoying this boxset!

3. The Hungry Glass – this one I didn’t follow quite as well as the first two episodes (I was getting pretty tired on my bike ride at this point I think) and there is quite a lot of weird, dream, mirror related shenanigans here that I couldn’t quite get my head around. Nonetheless it’s a good episode, with Daleks returning and also Victoria! Which is pretty cool, I love the interactions between her and the second Doctor, lovely stuff. I am not familiar with the Evil of the Daleks at all so I suspect that is at least partly why this one didn’t quite gel for me. Still good though.

Rating: 4 out of 5 recorders – very much enjoyed this one, these 2nd Doctor boxset create the 60’s vibe perfectly, and the episodes are delightful. The brig is comedy gold in these, lovely to have Liz in one as well, the Krotons are cool and Victoria in the final story is a real treat, highly recommended!

What am I left thinking?

Memorable bits