Interesting to read about this serial afterwards, and to understand the context that one of the people behind it had issues with the tax office and made this dig at them as a result. This produces some slightly amusing puns and produces a serial that has comedy as its core while delivering a standard escape/get caught/escape plot. The problem is that this comedy core is really not up to much. Its value is mostly that it is a surprise to find it on the heels of a few serials in the horror vein; Theo Robertson makes the same observation actually – that the variety of the show is a strength, and I suppose in a way that he is right.
This is different from saying that variety can carry a weak serial though, and mostly this is quite weak. The comedy is mostly poor puns and satire which is really farce. There is an enjoyable chunk of ham throughout, and I did enjoy the Collector as a silly character, but it probably wasn't enough to carry four episodes. Around this we get plenty that doesn't work, not just in the comedy but also in the plotting, which is not the best in terms of pacing and story. In the end I wanted it to have much more teeth – not to be more punny or exaggerated, but really have some meat behind the farce. It didn't, and dramatically it has no weight to speak of.
The cast do their best with it. Baker seems to have fun with it. Jameson is better, although it does seem she is leaner than ever and increasingly skimpy in her outfits. The long flat corridors used frequently in the serial may look dull, but they mean K9 can play a part in the serial, and he is quite fun and has some good comic timing. Woolf and Leech are great fun; the rest of the supporting cast offer less – but then they also have thinner material.
All told, it is amusing, and it is different from the previous serials so stands out a bit. However it is nowhere near funny or clever enough to carry such a weak story. Some fun elements do stick in the mind, and it has a cruel bitterness within it, but it isn't up to much once you spread it over the four episodes.