The Council of Nicaea by: Caroline Symcox directed by: Gary Russell: Just The Aztecs But Set in Rome

The Council of Nicaea stars Peter Davison as the Doctor with David Bamber as Emperor Constantine, Nicola Bryant as Peri and Caroline Morris as Erimem.  It was written by Caroline Symcox, directed by Gary Russell and released in July 2005 by Big Finish Productions.

 

Doctor Who has often tackled the debate of science versus religion, but rarely has it taken on the idea of religion versus religion.  That may be because it is something too close to the ideas of the real world and much too complex to do well in a short period of time, but The Council of Nicaea is a story that does the closest to that particular theme.  It isn’t done to the letter as the story takes a lot of liberties with the topic as the religious debates are rather small as it is a pure historical taking on the titular Council of Nicaea where Catholics established their main creed and cast out Arius from the Church.  The audio fails in one major regard in how the debate is presented in that a debate like this must be done in a way that is as unbiased as possible and this audio does the problem of picking a side.  It plays Arius out to be almost a martyr type figure which by all historical accounts he really wasn’t.  Yes there are details that are quite accurate with the man not getting to give his say and exposing the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, but the major failing point is that Emperor Constantine is blamed for this even though he was only hosting the council.  Constantine, while still morally dubious, didn’t have a say in how it would be run.

 

The plot is pretty much the story of the Council of Nicaea, but with the Doctor, Peri and Erimem arriving to oversee the events.  Then the story becomes The Aztecs but with Erimem playing the Barbara role as she tries to change the outcome of the council, seeing it a part of her own personal future and not a part of history.  Of course she does rash actions that only confirm the course of history where Arius is exiled and it is all because of Erimem’s actions in an attempt to changing history that causes it.  Caroline Morris does a great job playing Erimem which is a highlight as she can’t stand seeing the Doctor and Peri just sitting back while people are being persecuted for their beliefs.  Her animosity is only impacted further with the performances of Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant who are only there to enhance Erimem’s character arc.  This is not a story about the Doctor, it is about the life of Erimem.  It’s her decisions in this story to try and change things which shows just how much of an interesting character she actually is.

 

I also have to make mention that the writer Caroline Symcox is highly skilled in painting the picture of Ancient Rome during this era.  Constantine has allowed for the tolerance of Catholicism for the first time in history which was already a big step towards adapting religious tolerance in the western world and Symcox does it really well.

 

To summarize, The Council of Nicaea is a great stgory but it really doesn’t do much more than The Aztecs did in terms of coming across.  80/100