1 – Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind – Doctor Who reading & listening adventures

Starring: Jon Culshaw, Gwithian Evans

Originally released: July/August 2026

Listened to: July/August 2026

Episodes:
1.1 The second Death – Written By: Alfie Shaw

1.2 The Broken Man – Written By: Rochana Patel

1.3 – The Beautiful and the Damned – Written By: Katherine White

1.4 – Wings of Steel – Written By: Alfie Shaw

1.5 – Duty of Care – Written By: Christian Markham

1.6 – The Second Death of the Daleks – Written By: Alfie Shaw

Context: So, I really liked 12’s BF short story appearance in 2025 and was very much looking forward to this first true boxset of 12th Doctor adventures, with John Culshaw as the Doctor. The 12th Doctor is probably my favourite new series incarnation and he deserves some good BF stories. Cant wait.

THE REVIEW

What I thought:

1.1 The second Death – a very strong start to this run of 12th Doctor adventures. I love the character of Ash, a kind of intergalactic bard/minstrel/chancer that is so well played by Gwithian Evans, a perfect companion for the 12th Doctor. Of which, I really like Jon Culshaws playing of this incarnation of the timelord. Its a pretty close match with Peter Capaldi’s voice, and is a performance rather than just an impression. The story is a fairly standard story of Aliens, invasion and resistance (I think anyway) but some pretty dark themes throughout, death, grief and moving on. This TARDIS team is going to work really well I think.

1.2 The Broken Man – so, we have our 12th Doctor and companion team and they are starting to get to grips with each other, so this is their first adventure proper in some ways. This one is Scotland based! Bloody love Scotland so this is a fav setting for me. This adventure is all about an archaeological dig, with an amber android, buried and an insectoid race turning up as well. It’s a pretty standard story but there is a continuation of the theme of loss and grief in here, which makes for some great scenes between Ash and the 12th Doctor. The Amber giant/robot, left in its role protecting the people of Earth for centuries is so cool.

1.3 – The Beautiful and the Damned – this one is all about vanity basically, with a planet focused purely on asthetics, hashtags and art (sort of)..interesting set up, not entirely sure I followed this one all the way through, although the 12th doctor is a great incarnation to but up against this shallow and ultimately horrifc society. Not an awful lot more from me on this one, I did like it but I got a little lost in the characters, which sister was which and exactly who was turning into what…I should probably listen to this one again as the fate of Sky is really important going forward.

1.4 – Wings of Steel – so (spoilers) the Krillitanes return! I didn’t know this beforehand so this was a nice surprise for me. Its a lovely adventure, with 12 and Ash clashing over how to deal with the monsters that the Krillitanes are. This leads to a fantastic ending in which Ash destroying the new breed of Krillitanes. The themes of facism and racial purity is as relevant today as it was in 1930’s Germany, a potent theme throughout this adventure. This leads to some fantatsic stuff, in particular the character of Paxor, and his narration of letters he is writing to his wife and child, and what it means to be an instrument of the horrendous first bloods (?!?!?). This is my standout episode of the run thus far

1.5 – Duty of Care – Written By: Christian Markham – so I very much enjoyed the last episode and this one is in fact just as good, if not better. This one starts with the Doctor and Ash arguing, fall out from the end of the previous episode, with the Doctor seeming to drop off/almost leave Ash with a strange women in a hut. What actually happened is the Doctor trying to teach Ash a lesson, putting him with Nna, a former tyrant who the Doctor brought low in past adventures. This then turns into lots of deep discussion about the rights and wrongs of killing, the difference between justice and revenge, and the specifics of some of the Doctors previous adventure in taking down other tyrants and bad dudes. The story revolves around these bad guys being assassinated, and what this means, and how the Doctor is involved. Some great stuff here.

1.7 – The Second Death of the Daleks – nice call back to the first episode in the title, and we are off to an interesting start with Ash minus the doctor in some kind of rebel role, in an incursion against or for the Daleks? This idea works well, and soon we learn there is some weird timeloop stuff going on, with the Dalek eternal aka Colonel Mustard (so funny) which makes for a great adventure. The story here in this final episode is very clever, with the Eternal literally being an Eternal being, a Dalek that can’t be destroyed and makes for an unstoppable force. The AAI from episode return, as do some of the characters from episode 1, and this leads to a great conclusion to this set. Breen is a fantastic villan (worst mum in the universe awarded here). Great cliffhanger at the end as well, the land of fiction!

Rating: 5 out of 5 velvet frock coats: I don’t often give 5 marks (probably should do so more) but this start of what I hope is a longterm set of 12th Doctor adventures. The performances are brilliant, the stories are all great with some truly outstanding moments. LOVED this boxset.

What am I left thinking?