To the Elders of a ruined world, Sara Kingdom is a ghost, a phantom that must be excised. She must prove her right to exist, and she does so with stories. One in particular could make a difference. The one about their trip to a world covered in water, where a human expedition is being wiped out. It’s a battle to survive, as the travellers face the horrors of the drowned world…
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE DROWNED WORLD
“Home Truths,” Simon Guerrier’s Companion Chronicle that resurrected Sara Kingdom and brought Jean Marsh back into the fold, was arguably the best-reviewed of the high-quality third series. So it’s no surprise that the fourth series opens with a sequel to that story, Guerrier’s “The Drowned World,” a story that makes the most use of the narrative frame of any Companion Chronicle thus far. This is done to brilliant effect, and so unfortunately it’s left to the main plot to let the side down somewhat.
We’ve already seen the sequel treatment to this point in the Companion Chronicles with Nigel Fairs’ Leela stories, but not to the extent seen here. “The Drowned World” spends much of its running time in the “present,” focusing on the ongoing relationship between Sara and Robert (Niall MacGregor). We learn more about the surrounding society – some sort of post-apocalyptic Earth, far in the future yet anchored to technology of the ancient past, superstition battling with science to control the new direction of humanity. Elders want Sara to be destroyed because they don’t understand her; Robert struggles with the conflicts of his duty and his knowledge. It’s surprisingly bleak, frequently sad, and leads to a surprising cliffhanger and an even more surprising gap of a decade between episodes. It’s some of Guerrier’s best work, and the conclusion is a brilliant setup for whatever stories follow.
Unfortunately, the actual Chronicle at the center of the play isn’t particularly interesting. There’s some great character work, especially with Sara herself: the moment when the Doctor hesitates about closing a door, and Sara makes the decision for him, is excellent, as is the alien recognizing her abilities through her memories of killing her brother. The Doctor and Steven are largely shuffled to the margins, though it is nice to hear Steven guiding the rescue ship to land – everyone seems to forget he’s a spaceship pilot! The miners, though, are an uninspiring pile of clichés, and while Guerrier certainly knows how to write suspense, there’s only so much you can wring out of a deadly pool of water. It’s certainly a solid story, but compared to the brilliant framing device it’s a bit of a letdown.
Jean Marsh turns in another excellent performance, and her scenes with MacGregor are utterly compelling listening. I also appreciated how Guerrier wrote the story: it actually sounds like people telling a story instead of reading a book. There’s a minimum of generic “…said the Doctor” prose, and not very much direct dialogue. It’s harder to tell a story in this way, but I’ve never been a fan of talking books and it’s great when the Companion Chronicles stay away from sounding like those.
The production is first-rate as well. Lisa Bowerman seems to be at her best with these atmospheric tales, while the sound design from Richard Fox and Lauren Yason is both believable and effective, the score in particular evoking dread and melancholy. It’s also a fine use of the 60-minute running time: nothing feels rushed, nothing feels drawn out. If I was grading this on the framing device alone, it’d be an easy 10/10, but the final score is still more than respectable.
Highly recommended.
8/10