Transported back into the middle ages, the Doctor finds himself in an abbey where the poor misguided sisters are harbouring a divinity which is actually a pig.
They don't hear the pig's grunting; all they see is the light dancing in its eyes – a
nd so they worship it.
But the Doctor knows better, realising that the pig is in the power of the dreaded hornet queen. He also realises that the hounds – against which the poor nuns try so valiantly to defend themselves – are the hornet drones wanting to hook up with the boss once again.
All of which is great fun to listen to. After that, however, the adventure slows considerably, a prolonged and fairly undramatic confrontation offering little to spark the imagination compared with the rest of the series and indeed with the rest of this particular episode.
Ultimately, A Sting In The Tale is too much one of a series – too intent on explaining episode three and too keen to set up episode five, both of which are superior.
But for the sake of completeness, it's certainly worth listening to – largely because it offers Tom Baker hamming it up in the grand style, which is always a treat.
Phil Hewitt
