Doctor Who: The Marian Conspiracy Review

Released in March 2000, The Marian Conspiracy was the 6th Doctor Who audio drama to be released by Big Finish. It stars Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Maggie Stables as companion Evelyn Smythe. It is written by Jacqueline Rayner and directed by Gary Russell.

Big Finish's synopsis:

"Tracking a nexus point in time, the Doctor meets Dr Evelyn Smythe, a history lecturer whose own history seems to be rapidly vanishing.

The Doctor must travel back to Tudor times to stabilise the nexus and save Evelyn's life. But there he meets the Queen of England and must use all his skills of diplomacy to avoid ending up on the headman's block..."

After listening to the amazing Jubilee, I thought I should listen to some more Evelyn stories, and where better to start than her first adventure? More on Evelyn in a minute, for now I'm going to say that this story is absolutely fantastic. No aliens, just a pure historical story - something that has been very rare since the Hartnell era.

I thought Evelyn seemed like a brilliant companion in Jubilee and it turns out she's amazing from the second she first speaks! I really like the fact that she's a historian as history is one of my favourite subjects. Maggie Stables is an amazing actor, and it's a huge shame that she hasn't been in any recent audios due to her poor health - I really hope she gets well soon. A simply amazing character!

As for the acting, everyone is good but this is not The Doctor's story. This is Evelyn's story. Maggie Stables does a better job than anyone else involved, including Colin Baker (although he too does an amazing job!). Other actors involved are Sean Jackson (George Crow), Gary Russell (John Wilson), Jez Fielder (William Leaf), Jo Castleton (Lady Sarah), Anah Ruddin (The Queen), Nicholas Pegg (Reverend Thomas), Barnaby Edwards (Francois De Noailles) & Alistair Lock (Royal Guard). I can't fault the cast at all. Every single person in it does an amazing job and I'd love to see this entire cast in another audio!

The setting of London in 1555 is captured exceptionally well and the music is great too. The Marian Conspiracy features some of the production team's best work, even as of 2013.

My favourite character in this story other than the main two is Francois De Noailles. Barnaby Edwards plays him extremely well and, honestly, I wouldn't have expected him to be part of a plot to kill Queen Mary. (Highlight that to see it, but please note it's quite a big spoiler).

My favourite line is "What would you say if I were to tell you that I once destroyed an entire race, that I have led friends to their deaths and caused numerous wars, that my intervention has led to peaceful people taking up arms and good people having their faith or reason destroyed? Because I failed to act, millions upon millions of people have been enslaved or killed. What if I had done all of those things but had always, always believed I was doing the right thing?" from The Doctor. As I said before, it's basically Evelyn's story but it does have some very memorable moments for the Sixth Doctor such as this one.

Absolutely excellent story and that's all I have to say. I'd definitely recommend it as your first Doctor Who audio drama, it's a great re-introduction to the Sixth Doctor and I can't recommend it more. I feel I've been giving too many near-perfect & perfect ratings recently, but this one definitely deserves it. I'll review some more average (aswell as some extremely bad) audios soon.

Considering it's just the sixth Doctor Who release from Big Finish, The Marian Conspiracy is a masterpiece!

Overall Rating: 10/10

You can buy The Marian Conspiracy for £2.99 download or £5.00 CD here.

Doctor Who: Jubilee Review

Released in January 2003, Jubilee was the 40th Doctor Who audio drama to be released by Big Finish. It stars Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Maggie Stables as companion Evelyn Smythe. It is written by Robert Shearman and is directed by both Robert Shearman and Nicholas Briggs. It later became the 2005 TV story Dalek starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

Big Finish's synopsis:

Hurrah! The deadly Daleks are back! Yes, those loveable tinpot tyrants have another plan to invade our world. Maybe this time because they want to drill to the Earth's core. Or maybe because they just feel like it.

And when those pesky pepperpots are in town, there is one thing you can be sure of. There will be non-stop, high octane mayhem in store. And plenty of exterminations!

But never fear. The Doctor is on hand to sort them out. Defender of the Earth, saviour of us all. With his beautiful assistant, Evelyn Smythe, by his side, he will fight once again to uphold the beliefs of the English Empire. All hail the glorious English Empire!

Now that sounds like a jubilee worth celebrating, does it not?

This is a brilliant story! I was a bit hesitant on buying it because I thought it might be too similar to Dalek which I've seen so many times before, but it ended up being very, very different, hell, it was better than Dalek!

Other than The Marian Conspiracy, this was the first story I listened to that featured Evelyn and I must say I'm completely sold on the companion and will definitely be buying more stories that feature her!

So, the acting - Colin Baker is bloody brilliant and really shows us that with a good script, he's an amazing actor. Maggie Stables is just as good as Colin and as I said before, Evelyn is a great character. Martin Jarvis is very good, Rosalind Ayres is great, Nicholas Briggs plays all three of his roles extremely well. A story FULL of good actors.

Jubilee feels so different to Dalek... It's longer, darker, more developed. Just amazing, one of the best audios I've listened to so far. The daleks are at their best here and how could anyone forget about the Dalek song? We are the Daleks and this is our song, we are very naughty and do lots of wrong!

I LOVED the setting of the Tower of London. Thanks to the amazing production and direction, you actually feel as if you're there watching it if you're really in to it.

I loved how everyone in Britain seemed to love the Daleks so much and find them fascinating, despite hating them so much.

My favourite non-main character in this story is Nigel Rochester. Can't really say I know why, I just like him.

My favourite line comes from Evelyn - "You're still my dearest friend... Still the best thing that ever happened to me. The places you've taken me, the wonders you've shared... I know that whatever happened to me along the way, even death, it was worth it." - such a beautiful line that really helped me like Evelyn!

Excellent, interesting, entertaining Dalek story that really had me hooked. I really wish Dalek was a bit more like this, but still... Another fantastic Robert Shearman story and I really hope we get to see more of his work in future Big Finish audios! And again, if you're worried about it feeling too similar to Dalek, then let me tell you the two are nothing like eachother, and this still feels like a whole new amazing adventure! One of the best Doctor Who stories of all time!

I'd certainly recommend this as your first Big Finish audio, although I'd recommend listening to Evelyn's first story (The Marian Conspiracy) first... At £2.99 each, they shouldn't be too hard to afford!

Overall Rating: 10/10

You can buy Jubilee for £2.99 download or £5.00 CD here.