This is a full length Companion Chronicles from 2013--although unlike ‘The Beginning’ and ‘Hunters of Earth,’ it is not tied into the series’ 50th anniversary. Like ‘The Beginning,’ the writer is Marc Platt. Carol Ann Ford is joined by William Russell as co-narrator, and there are moments where this alteration really helps the flow of the story. There are a couple of moments where Russell and Ford trade off rather quickly and, with Russell giving voice to the Doctor and Ford giving voice to Barbara, it feels more like a full audio drama. Granted, once Ian and Susan follow two different plot threads, that feeling is lost, but it’s refreshing in spots.
The crew land in the middle of 16th century Spain during its conflict with England. They come across the Inquisition burning down the house of Esteban (guest voice Nabil Elouahabi), a Moriscan (a Moor who had converted to Catholicism) who apparently stole from the church. Not being able to stand by as Esteban is brutalized by Spanish soldiers, Ian intervenes--and ends up being captured along with the young man. The Doctor and the ladies take refuge with the sympathetic Catalina. It turns out Esteban’s family ‘stole’ from the church by not agreeing to donate the books they made for the church instead of getting a fair price. As Ian bonds with Esteban in the Inquisition’s cell, the Doctor, and especially Barbara, are determined to free their friend and leave this time...even as the Armada of Francis Drake approaches.
I placed this here because Platt makes it, if not clear, much less implied that Barbara and Ian are kind of a couple, and has Susan pining briefly for a similar bond...so you could say this foreshadows the developments of ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ during season two of the series. But this is primarily Ian’s story; it is Russell who opens the tale, and his childhood hero-worship of Sir Francis Drake is a major aspect of the story of a whole. Focusing on this segment, however, it seems this is more about how corrupt and evil the Inquisition was, and how Earth’s history is ‘as cruel as any far-off world we visited,’ to quote Barbara. Platt seems quite outraged at this period, describing the Inquisition’s procedures with a proper loathing...and yet, the main representative of the Inquisition, Father Richard isn’t portrayed as being (too) one-dimensional.
You will notice that I haven’t mentioned anything distinctively Platt-ian in this half-hour. It seems that, judging solely from this first segment, that he’s doing this as a Pure Historical, which is super-common in the series at this time. Granted, there have been times where I have been listening to a Big Finish audio that I assumed was a straight historical only for it to veer subtlely (‘The Eye of The Scorpion’) or wildly (‘The Kingmaker’) into fantasy territory. But judging solely from this half-hour, it looks like it’s going to be showing me a side of Platt as a writer I haven’t been exposed to before...and it’s kinda exciting.
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