The Plotters by: Gareth Roberts: Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

So Gareth Roberts basically just took The Romans and transplanted it to the backdrop of the Gunpowder Plot, adding in elements from The Crusade to sweeten the pot.  This should make me furious, but really I cannot feel angry as The Plotters is a novel that somehow captures the era of television, but could never be done on television.  Sure the sets would be very easy to pull off as it is a historical adventure, and the story is very dialogue heavy, but Roberts would probably be charged with treason as his story doesn’t exactly paint King James I in the best of lights.  Now I’m not really an expert on British History.  I’ve taken a European History course, but that really didn’t go into too much depth on the reign of King James, so I’m not sure how well he’s portrayed in the novel, but Roberts writes him as a gay man child.  James actually develops a sexual attraction for Vicki, whom he thinks is a boy, and Vicki has to avoid his advances while the Doctor is mischievously working to see the outcome of the Gunpowder Plot.  He’s at least a good character for the most part and the flamboyancy of his homosexuality is way too over the top in places.

 

Yes this story splits up the main cast into three main groups.  Barbara is captured by a Spaniard and taken to the lair of the titular plotters, Ian is searching for Barbara with a pair of comedy cobblers, and the Doctor and Vicki go to King James’s court to look on the translation of the Bible into English.  They’re all plots that Roberts has to juggle in between and he does an excellent job on that front of things.  He’s obviously having the most fun from the Doctor and Vicki whom he characterizes as mischievous schoolchildren.  The Doctor tricks Vicki into dressing up as a boy because why not.  He thinks it will be funny and allow her to be passed off as his ward Victor while he is a priest of all professions.  Really, the Doctor as a priest, that really would never work.  It of course attracts the attention of King James who falls for it and falls head over heels for her, which is a bit creepy in places, but still a bit funny.  The Doctor also has to take a stance on religious arguments which is just hilarious as he uses circular reasoning and avoids the questions like the plague.  Also he misquotes the Bible which I find quite humorous, as it feels like a classic Hartnell fluff that would have happened on television.

 

The plotline with Barbara is much simpler as it’s the basis for the background of the Gunpowder Plot.  She meets Guy Fawkes, and while of course realizing her love for Ian, she can’t help but feel a bit attracted to Fawkes after he is the one to be a gentleman to her after everyone treats her horribly.  Barbara is written not as a screaming wreck, but someone who is at least good in a crisis which helps in the believability of her character as she has to fend for herself in the novel.  Ian’s plotline, if you will excuse these plot related puns as Gareth Roberts started them, is the weakest of the three as while the comedy cobblers are good characters and examples of how diverse early England was, there really isn’t much to say about them.  The villains of the story, Robert Catesby and Hay the Spaniard are both good however as they feel like villains of old fashioned political drama.  Of course everything is written in a completely irreverent way for just about everything in the novel.

 

To summarize, The Plotters manages of course to be historically inaccurate and overall a comedy romp, but it emulates an era from the television program to an almost perfect tee as you have characters who feel as if they came from that era.  The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki all get great characterization in the novel and King James while a bit irreverent in just about every way for the monarch is very enjoyable.  Don’t read however if you want historical accuracy.  90/100.