Doctor Who review: The Robots reintroduces Toos and Poul

Two very familiar characters from Doctor Who serial The Robots of Death return in the second episode of The Robots 2, Toos and Poul.

This was an episode that many Doctor Who fans had been eager to listen to, ever since it was announced last year. Spin-off seriesThe Robots has naturally had strong ties to the classic Tom Baker serial The Robots of Death, particularly as it’s set on the same world and features exactly the same robots. But it’s with this episode that even greater ties are made. After all, this is the episode where Lish Toos (Pamela Salem) and Ander Poul (David Collings) return – two of the survivors of the original story.

There’s a lot of focus on Poul in particular. After being significantly traumatized in the original story, he’s kept himself away from Kaldor City, and indeed, from most people in general. His days as an Investigator are over. But when a murder happens near his home, will he be able to resist solving it?

Andrew Smith writes a great detective story for this episode. While Poul was originally an Investigator in The Robots of Death, we didn’t get to see too much of his detective skills in action. Along with being undercover as well as being overshadowed by the Doctor, he also had a severe attack of robophobia –  a condition that he still suffers from in this story, albeit to a far milder extent.

David Collings returns to the role of Ander Poul. Can he investigate a mysterious crime while suffering from robophobia?

Image courtesy Tony Whitmore, Big Finish Productions

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Resuming old roles

David Collings is fantastic in this story. He so easily and effortlessly returns to the role of Poul, over four decades after the original story. It’s particularly impressive after listening to him play the sinister Gabriel Sanders in Jago & Litefoot or even the Doctor in Full Fathom Five. He really could adapt to any role, and it’s great to hear him resume one of his old ones.

The same is true of Pamela Salem as Toos, although she’s no stranger to resuming old roles. For a little under a decade, Salem has been playing Rachel Jensen for audio series Counter-Measures, which she originally played back in Seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks.

She resumes her role of Toos equally well. While Poul is focused on more in this episode – due to the character struggling to overcome his strong sense of robophobia and his return to being an Investigator – she certainly gets plenty to do in this story. Not only is she a good fit for Poul and is able to provide him with enough distance and balance to help him solve the case, particularly when his own prejudices get in the way. But it’s also clear that there’s something she’s not telling him – something that ensures that we’ll be hearing much more from both of these characters in later volumes…

Not just a great reintroduction to these characters but also an intriguing detective story, Toos and Poul is another fantastic episode of The Robots, and an absolute joy for fans of the original TV story to hear. I’m already eager to hear their next appearance in the series.

If you’ve seen The Robots of Death, were you a fan of Toos and Poul? Do you think they’re worth exploring in greater depth? If you’ve listened to this episode, do you think it’s a strong reintroduction to these characters? Let us know in the comments below.