Vengeance on Varos has a lot going for it: the introduction of Sil (Nabil Shabin), the Colin Baker era’s most popular villain, and an interesting story about televised violence, with viewers eagerly tuning in to watch the suffering of others… long before our current trend of reality television. Despite its potential, this Who outing falls a little short. Some lacklustre performances and unconvincing situations leave it sitting in the “could-have-been-great-if…” pile.

Like The Caves of Androzani it’s been given a PG rating for its adult concepts and level of violence.

And, as with Caves, there are stacks of extras of varying quality on this DVD release. The commentary with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nabil Shabin is interesting, although lacks punchiness. The highlight has to be Shabin describing his character as looking like “a cross between a tadpole and a turd”.

There’s some forgettable behind-the-scenes stuff, but the deleted/extended scenes are worth a watch. The trailers and like are also, for the most part, a bit forgettable.

All up, this is a good release. Let’s hope the BBC continues this trend.