The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Steven and Vicki to the Italian city of Ravenna in the year 540 – besieged by the army of the celebrated Byzantine general Belisarius. Caught up in the fighting, Steven ends up on a boat bound for Constantinople, the heart of the Roman Empire.
Rescuing Steven, however, is the least of the Doctor’s problems – because he shouldn’t be mixed up in this particular adventure at all. Someone has sabotaged his own personal timeline, putting him in the place of his First incarnation… but who, and why? The truth is about to be revealed – but at what cost to all of the Doctors, and to the whole future history of the planet Earth?
THE SECRET HISTORY
Multiple ranges of Doctor Who and related spinoffs have come and gone throughout Big Finish’s history, but the monthly Doctor Who range has remained a constant since 1999 – and Eddie Robson’s “The Secret History” is the landmark 200th release in that range as well as the conclusion to the “Locum Doctors” trilogy. And it’s quite good! There’s no anniversary feel to it whatsoever, but given some of Big Finish’s previous bites at that apple, that’s probably a good thing.
Robson does a better job of embracing the trilogy concept than either of his two predecessors. “The Secret History” is a Hartnell historical through-and-through: the Doctor and his companions land in Earth’s past, witness a significant event, become embroiled in affairs by accident, and ultimately just want to get back to the TARDIS and escape. And while the Fifth Doctor’s approach to this is not much different from the First’s, the plot puts a significant twist on the formula. This feels like a Hartnell story starring Peter Davison, something the other two stories in this trilogy never really accomplished. Robson skillfully evokes the setting and provides some convincing historical characters in Procopius (Tony Millan), Belisarius (Giles Watling), and the Emperor Justinian (Tim Wallers).
The most significant part of the story, though, cannot be discussed without major spoilers, so be forewarned. If you’re wondering why the mysterious physician seen throughout the first episode is uncredited, it’s because he’s played by Graeme Garden and is better known as the Meddling Monk – though he humorously points out that only the Doctor calls him that! In an interesting twist on Big Finish continuity, this is the “present-day” Monk last seen in the final Eighth Doctor Adventure, “To the Death.” He’s still gravely hurt by Tamsin’s death, he still blames the Doctor, and he’s trying to gain some measure of revenge. He’s still interfering in the past with his usual gleeful, childlike motives – note the scene where he describes a fleet of warships as “cool” – but this time they’re tempered by his sadness. He has the means to stop the plague from spreading, but he refuses to use them, offering them instead to the Doctor to present him with an impossible choice.
It’s a compelling listen, especially the scenes that set Garden and Davison against one another, but unfortunately it goes off the rails a bit by the final episode. The Monk wants to remove the Doctor from history and take his place – and perhaps save his friends, though that’s not explicitly discussed – which is a fascinating idea, but I’m not sure about Robson’s decision to start the final episode as though it’s a Doctor Who story starring Graeme Garden. I like seeing how things would be different if the Doctor was more interventionist, but the implication that he’s been behaving like this through all his travels stretches credulity to breaking point, especially since Vicki and Steven don’t seem at all on board with his actions. The conclusion is great, though, especially the confrontation between the two Time Lords in the TARDIS.
The performances are strong across the board, especially from the regulars. All of the Doctors seem to up their game with better scripts, and this is no exception as it features one of Davison’s finer performances. Special mention should be made of Peter Purves, who gets the “action” role as he becomes a chariot driver! Barnaby Edwards directs, and he always does a good job with these sweeping, large-scale stories. The sound design from Andy Hardwick is solid as well. Overall, “The Secret History” is a strong release, a good end to the “Locum Doctors” trilogy, and a fine way to mark Big Finish’s 200th monthly Doctor Who story. It has a couple of flaws that keep it from joining the all-time classics, but it’s still well worth hearing.
Highly recommended.
8/10