If The Fearmonger is the story that put Big Finish Productions on a
solid footing to continue to be great, The
Marian Conspiracy is the story that truly began the redemption of the Sixth
Doctor from what we got on television to the character fans know and love
today. Yes Colin Baker’s Doctor was a
bit softer in The Sirens of Time, but
when Whispers of Terror was released
it was straight back to bickering with Peri throughout the story. Here he does try to bicker but the
introduction of the new companion Evelyn Smythe stops any of that from
happening. Evelyn right off the bat is
one of the most inventive companion characters Doctor Who has ever had. She is a woman from present day Earth yet
instead of being young she is a fifty something year old history lecturer. She has a bad knee and has a family history
dating back to the rule of Queen Elizabeth I.
She gives her students chocolate cake for succeeding in class and has a
penchant for hot cocoa. Evelyn is
masterfully portrayed by the late great Maggie Stables who hits it off
immediately with Colin Baker’s Doctor.
This first play they have together shows just how great the relationship
would become and how dynamic her character would be. She also jumps at the chance to see history
and ends up tricking the Doctor into taking her along as her family history is
being unraveled leading us right into what this story is about.
The Marian Conspiracy’s plot is a purely historical one as it sees the
Doctor and new companion Evelyn Smythe thrust back into the reign of Queen Mary
to make sure history stays on its correct course. Really the story is a character piece
analyzing the reign of Queen Mary and public opinion on her stance on the split
between Catholicism and Anglicanism. In
actual history Mary had a very narrow-minded view on the issue, choosing to
burn at the stake anyone who thought differently to her Catholic views. Yet Rayner’s script doesn’t portray the Queen
as a complete and total monster, but as misguided into putting things in the
wrong and causing countless deaths. You
can’t help sympathize with her as she tries her hardest to convince herself she’s
pregnant, but history dictates that she isn’t.
She eventually suffers a breakdown.
This is all helped by the way the Doctor is able to change Evelyn’s
views on the Queen as Evelyn believes Mary was weak as she only relied on her
husband to make any real decisions. You
also have a flavor for the citizens of London and how much fear they’re under from
the threat of being burned at the stake.
There are three main
parties of the supporting characters.
First you have the Protestant peasants who are just as bad as Mary in
they want to see all Catholics burned at the stake. They allow for some great debate with Evelyn
who has her views challenged throughout the audio. You have the French ambassadors who want to
wage war on England to take the crown of course. You also have the Queen’s Lady in Waiting who
just wants to be with the man she married as a Protestant when it was still
legal.
Colin Baker’s Doctor also
gets to develop his Doctor really far throughout this audio play as he is able
to soften his portrayal and peel back a few layers. It hasn’t been very long since his Trial and
he’s trying to continue on. While it
doesn’t come out much you can tell the Doctor is trying to find a new companion
even though he is initially aversive to the thought of Evelyn in the TARDIS
with him. By the end he gives in to her
desires to see the universe and it looks like it could be the beginning of a
beautiful friendship.
The pacing of the audio
is also great as it doesn’t play out as one four part story but more like four
one part stories. It really allows the
characters to flesh themselves out and not fall into the Hartnell trap of
starting out really promising then getting really boring by Part Two.
To summarize, The Marian Conspiracy is a flawless
story that holds up remarkably well after all these years. The beginnings of Evelyn and the Softer Six
really makes this a necessary audio for anyone to pick up. It also holds to my theory that women can
write the best Doctor Who. 100/100
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