Synopsis: Two years have passed since the Nestene creature vanished from UNIT’s top secret Warehouse... Suddenly and without warning the Nestene strikes, once again using Autons as its deadly foot soldiers. As mysterous UNIT operative Lockwood struggles to unearth the Nestene plan he finds himself drawn tot he remote Sentinel Island. There, the population have been caught up in a bizarre frenzy of religious activity. Lockwood is joined by Natasha Alexander, a new scientific advisor with her own, sinister agenda. To defeat the Nestene menace they must both face the terrifying power of a creature from before the dawn of Mankind...

• A Review by Stuart Gutteridge
• A Review by Richard Radcliffe

A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 30/11/98

Where Auton opened the trilogy, Auton 2:Sentinel, builds and improves upon established continuity, drawing heavily from both The Sea Devils and The Daemons. The story benefits greatly from the location work and an impressive script, bringing new aspects to the main players.

The Autons have been tracked to Sentinel island, where the local vicar is holding more than just morning service in the church,a nd Lockwood finds somebody knows more about him than he thought. In deciding not to centre solely on the characters, Michael Wade`s Lockwood loses some of his acidness, becoming instead more vulnerable; this is due largely to Jo Castleton`s Natasha Alexander, a UNIT operative with telepathic abilities. Here she serves as a replacement for Bryonie Pritchard`s Dr Sally Arnold, who is written out of the action early on.

Best performance should go to George Telfer who, as the local vicar, steals the show, being charming one minute and menacing the next. Surprisingly the Autons themselves don`t play as large a role as in Auton, being servants here rather than killers. The script, however, does give John Wadmore and Andrew Fettes, men in charge of the UNIT soldiers, more to do.

The atmosphere here also belies the fact that despite being set in the English countryside, everything will be all right; from the outset, it is established it won`t be. Add to this some CGI effects at the end, and you have an impressive production. Auton 3 will need to be something special.

A Review by Richard Radcliffe 9/10/04

As if conscious of the limited stage that the first Auton was acted out on, there seems to be a concerted effort here to go places. The first Auton was set in and around a warehouse. The second Auton is set on the Isle of Wight, and is on location all of the time. It thus distinguishes itself from its predecessor, and tops it.

The story is better too. Having escaped the warehouse, Winslet the Auton has set up his own community in a little village. He poses as the Vicar of the Parish, and controls the populace by force - a strict "Obey me or Die" arrangement. His soldiers used for this control are, of course, the Autons. There is something definitely more creepy about the Autons walking through the woods, rather than from behind boxes in a warehouse. This creepiness is used to full effect in some wonderfully directed scenes when UNIT, Natasha Alexander and Lockwood arrive on the island.

Lockwood is again excellent. His crustiness is still there in abundance, and this time he has a better foil in Alexander (played by BBV favourite Jo Castleton). Their interplay is very good, even though Alexander seems a little lacking in personality early on. Thankfully Lockwood carries the 2 of them in the first half, and Alexander really gets into the swing of the things in the second half.

What is most effective is the village that the Autons control. There's plenty of religious analogy, as the local church is the focus for the story. The church provides an atmospheric and realistic scene for much of the action, with the conclusion particularly sticking in the memory. This religious analogy isn't too intense, nothing really uncomfortable in there - but it does work well in this kind of story.

The story is presented very well overall. The production crew choose to set the action in the light throughout. Whilst this makes everything that transpires clear, it would have fitted the story more to have a few night scenes, or even some scenes in the crypt of the church. The story seemed to be heading in that direction, but stayed firmly in the light of day.

There is no doubt at all though who the star of both the Auton stories thus far is - Lockwood. His job reflects mystery and intrigue. His past a strange unknown, he is human, but something different too. His personality is unusual and alarming. Having created such a complex and interesting character BBV would be wise to feature him just about as much as they possibly can. Better than the first, and recommended. 7/10