Right, that’s it decided: I very much prefer the audios with linking narration to the fan reconstructions of “lost” Doctor Who episodes. Especially (though not only) if Peter Purves is doing them. The Savages is a real little gem of a story, even if it does have one of the most amusing lines in the whole of Doctor Who. The incidental music is particularly impressive (which of course makes more of a difference for a story that’s on audio only); it is by Raymond Jones, who also wrote the music for The Romans, and very little else (Wodehouse Playhouse, according to imdb).

The story itself is a clean and simple classic Who plot: the Doctor arrives in an apparent paradise, discovers the evil going on behind the scenes, and fixes it. No aliens, no monsters apart from the human beings and their misuse of their own powers, and indeed nobody dies; several important ethical themes are addressed (as explored by Fiona Moore in one of her excellent essays); and we have the first case of someone other than Hartnell playing the Doctor, or at least part of him, for the first time. Steven gets a decent farewell scene, rather unlike Dodo who lasted only two episodes into the next story.

Anyway, the audio CDs are strongly recommended.