Why You Need to be Listening to the Second, Third and Fourth Doctor Companion Chronicles
Big Finish are currently offering a number of stories free from their back catalogue to enjoy. So, over the next few weeks, I'll give you a review of the individual episode in question, as well as some reasons why you should be listening to the range or series the story hails from in full. We continue the series with - The Companion Chronicles of the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors…
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| The CD cover for "The Three Companions: Polly's Story", designed by Alex Mallinson. |
Like the Companion Chronicles of the First Doctor, the Chronicles featuring the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors all allowed the companions of the various Doctors a chance to develop beyond the confines of the TV series, and tell stories that the TV show of the time would never have done. While not quite as critically successful as the adventures of the original incarnation of the Time Lord, for a long time these were the only way we could get new adventures with these Doctors. And, even though there aren't as many clear standouts, the ones that do are some of the finest stories that Big Finish have ever produced, and are standout examples in the Doctor Who cannon.
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| The box-set cover for "The Companion Chronicles: The Specials", designed by Alex Mallinson. |
Part of the epic "The Three Companions", "Polly's Story" sees the Doctor's former companion Polly Wright (played by Anneke Wills) getting in contact with the retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (played, in his final ever performance as the character, by Nicholas Courtney). As they do, the world is facing a climate catastrophe: one that is familiar to both of the former associates of the Doctor. And, as Polly relates a story of her travels with the Second Doctor, Ben and Jamie, another companion of the Doctor's is watching... someone who's got himself in a whole heap of trouble. Originally released in 10 minute segments with the Monthly Adventures from "The Magic Mousetrap" to "Survival of the Fittest", this story was collected together in three parts in August 2011 in "The Companion Chronicles: The Specials" box-set. It's probably the Companion Chronicles' largest and most-expansive story, stretching over three hours and featuring companions Polly Wright, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Thomas Brewster. And, while it doesn't entirely work, it is a brave experiment that certainly delivers a huge, epic scale story. Unlike a lot of the Companion Chronicles, this isn't as focused on exploring its three companions as characters, finding out what makes them tick and so on. However, it does allow them each a moment in the spotlight, and, towards the end, a chance to save the day without the Doctor to help them. The story may be sprawling and huge, but writer Marc Platt does manage to keep it from losing cohesion and each segment has its part to play in telling this story of monstrous Coffin-Loaders, ecological collapse on three worlds and the same man reappearing in three different guises. Russell Floyd plays a con-artist with a ruthless streak with relish, and, while you never quite feel any sympathy for him, Floyd never comes across as an out-and-out villain. Of course, Thomas Brewster isn't quite the hero either, although you do feel much more sympathetic towards him than Gerry Lenz. Polly falls into the Doctor role here, with Anneke Wills given the chance to work out a lot of the plot, and come up with a solution to defeat the monsters. And, of course, the Brigadier is the stoic old soldier, willing to sacrifice himself in order to save the world that he cares so much about. As Nicholas Courtney's final appearance in the role before his sad passing in 2011, its a fine tribute to a much loved Doctor Who veteran, and a chance for Lethbridge-Stewart to, one last time, save the world. This was designed as an introduction to the Companion Chronicles, so, if you've never taken the plunge with this range, "The Three Companions" is as perfect a start as you are ever likely to find, to be honest. It may not be the most outstanding story in the range, but it gives you a good idea of what the series is like, while providing something fairly exciting for fans already familiar with the Companion Chronicles.
And, if you enjoyed "The Three Companions: Polly's Story", then here is a list of 3 reasons why you need to be listening to the rest of the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors Companion Chronicles:
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| The CD cover for "Old Soldiers", designed by Simon Holub. |
1. Development for the Companions:
This does go without saying, but it honestly always amazes me how much work these Companion Chronicles do with the Doctor's companions, and the places that it takes them to. Each one often functions as a mini-character study, allowing you to get inside the heads of each of the Doctor's friends and allies; their perspectives on their travels in the TARDIS, their past lives before meeting the Doctor, and even their deepest hopes, fears and thoughts. That's where the Companion Chronicles excel, as they allow us to go deep into the companions and see what makes them tick. Especially with companions who may have got slightly short-shrift on TV (like Zoe, Liz Shaw or Leela), the Companion Chronicles give not just the characters, but the actors too, the chance to show off how good they could be. Zoe, for example, was given a whole quadrilogy of stories depicting her struggle against a faceless Company who wanted her memories of travelling in time: memories that, of course, she doesn't believe she possesses. Wendy Padbury, in particular, gets the chance to really push the character of Zoe into some interesting directions, and build upon the end of "The War Games" and her character's fate in that story. Even well loved characters like Jamie, the Brigadier and Jo Grant are given some wonderful moments in the spotlight: "The Glorious Revolution" casts Jamie into his own history, and gives him the chance to avert the Highland Clearances, while "Find and Replace" sees the older Jo Jones taken back in time by trans-temporal rogue Iris Wildthyme to confront a past she can no longer remember, and an emotional reunion with an old friend. I must admit: there are a couple of companions who fare less well in these Chronicles, such as Victoria and the two Romana's, who, while not having necessarily bad stories, never really get one that really nails their character like the one's I mentioned above. However, I think there's lots of really notable stories that expand what the companions were doing on the show, and add to their characters with considerable finesse.
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| The CD cover for "The Great Space Elevator", designed by Simon Holub. |
2. Some Groundbreaking Storytelling:
The Companion Chronicles are also well known not just for their development of lots of different companions, but also for their original storytelling, in some cases becoming incredibly groundbreaking and daring. The restrained format of the Companion Chronicles allows for a more close, and intimate, form of storytelling than many Doctor Who stories permit, and, as such, can mess around with storytelling dynamics a lot more. One of the finest examples of this in action is the story "The Jigsaw War", which sees Jamie locked in a prison cell that, due to the influence of a nefarious being called Side, is jumping around in time. Jamie has to piece together the sequence of events in order to unlock the door and escape, with the Doctor able to momentarily 'hop' into Jamie's body and converse with Side. This idea is genius, and it allows the listener to play detective with Jamie, as we also try to work out the chain of events before it is too late. "Second Chances", meanwhile, starts out as a past adventure of Zoe's, related by her future self. However, as the story goes on, Zoe finds herself in the present drawn into the past, and forced to risk everything in order to keep history on track. "The Time Vampire", featuring both Leela and K9, plays a similar trick, while also chucking in a previously unseen adventure of the Doctor's in there as well, while "The Child" retools the whole of Doctor Who as a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, with the spirit of Leela acting as a guide to a young girl as she finds her way through the story and her own life. There are also plenty of stories that will directly tap into your love for certain eras of Doctor Who, if that's more your kind of thing. "The Selachian Gambit" and "House of Cards", particularly, are two stories that take the slightly off-the-wall, anything-goes format of Season 4, and brings them back to life in two stories with two highly creative monsters from other Doctor Who media (from the BBC Past Doctor Adventures novels and the Doctor Who Adventures comic strips respectively). "The Great Space Elevator", meanwhile, is a pitch-perfect Season 5 story, with an international and multi-national base under siege from an insidious alien threat. "The Beautiful People", on the other hand, is as outlandish and hilarious as "City of Death" or "Shada" from Season 17. There's plenty of variety in these Companion Chronicles, but it is in the more novel and groundbreaking stories that you will really find the best of the best.
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| The CD cover for "Ferril's Folly", designed by Lee Johnson. |
3. Some Peerless Acting:
Often we rant and rave about how wonderful the actors who play the Doctor are, and rightly so. However, the companions are, sometimes, to me, overlooked by fans in this regard, which is legitimately a crime! But seriously though, the Companion Chronicles give a lot of actors a chance to stretch themselves with some amazing material that shows how skilled they can be, when given more to do than say 'what's that Doctor?' I love the chances some of the actors are given here to push themselves: some notable examples include Anneke Wills in "Resistance", Frazer Hines in "The Glorious Revolution", "The Jigsaw War", "The Edge" and "Dumb Waiter", Deborah Watling in "The Story of Extinction", Wendy Padbury in "The Uncertainty Principle" and "Second Chances", Nicholas Courtney in "Old Soldiers", Caroline John in "The Blue Tooth", "Shadow of the Past", "Binary" and "The Last Post", Katy Manning in "Find and Replace", "The Many Deaths of Jo Grant", "The Scorchies" and "Ghost in the Machine", Richard Franklin in "The Magician's Oath", Louise Jameson in "The Catalyst" and Lalla Ward in "Luna Romana". There are lots of great guest stars too, including, for example, Nicholas Briggs, Toby Longworth, Jane Goddard, David Warner, John Sackville, David Troughton (reprising his role as King Peladon from "The Curse of Peladon"), Lex Sharpnel, Emily Pithon, Alex Lowe, Charlie Hayes, Nicholas Asbury, Dominic Maftham, Rowena Cooper, Melvyn Hayes, Sinead Keenan, Terry Molloy and Derek Fowlds. Oh, and, there's also one little story called "The Mahogany Murderers" that brought back Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter back to Doctor Who as Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot for the first time since "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". In fact, this release was so phenomenally popular that not only did the original print run of this story sell out in weeks upon its release, but it launched the Jago & Litefoot spin-off series, which ran for thirteen acclaimed series. Not bad, eh?
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| The CD cover for "The Companion Chronicles: The Second Doctor Volume 1", designed by Simon Holub. |
It's honestly hard to find anything wrong with the Companion Chronicles. While the adventures of the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors aren't as immediately headline grabbing as those of William Hartnell's incarnation, there's still loads to enjoy. For anyone who is looking for stories that develop those companions, or explore characters in great detail, then there are plenty of stories in this range that will be perfect for you. The Companion Chronicles are some of the finest Doctor Who stories ever, and this batch of stories covering Doctors 2, 3 and 4 are a perfect demonstration of that.
Until the 30th of November 2020, you can get "Polly's Story", the first episode of "The Three Companions", from Big Finish completely free. You can find it here:
You can also save up to 50% on The Companion Chronicles Series 1-8 until the 30th of November 2020 too. You can find a full list of the titles here:
Happy listening!
All pictures copyright to the BBC/Big Finish Productions. Thank you very much for reading.
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