‘A TRAGICAL HISTORY’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Ilyani at Hythe Prison in London, 1770 with the Eleventh Doctor
This is the fourth and final story in ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’. Whilst I don’t think this story is as good as the first two, it’s certainly a lot better than ‘The Melting Pot’ before it. 🙂
‘A Tragical History’ is by Tessa North, who makes her first contribution to ‘Doctor Who’ through Big Finish, I believe. She has also written for an anthology called ‘Operation Fall-Out and Other Stories’.
That’s a story called ‘The Fourth Floor’ and the anthology is part of a ‘U.N.I.T.’ series by Candy Jar Books. Tessa North has also appeared as herself in five episodes of the ‘Only Connect’ TV quiz show.
I enjoyed her take on the Eleventh Doctor and how she delved into history in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Tessa was recommended to Big Finish by John Dorney, since he happens to be a friend of hers.
In the episode, the Eleventh Doctor visits Hythe Prison in London in the year 1770. He’s determined to get the prisoners out of the prison, before he soon finds himself enthralled in an unusual mystery.
Not everyone is happy in Hythe Prison (understandably so). But it turns out some of the inmates are living out their idealised fantasies within the prison walls, connected to an alien wanting to go home.
One of the things I’ve noticed about this audio episode is how its guest cast is mostly female. There aren’t any male prisoners in Hythe Prison, which I found unusual, especially for a story set in 1770. 😐
Hythe Prison seems to be a debtors’ prison. I’m sure there were men who failed to pay their debts as well as women in those days, as I’m reminded by how ‘Little Dorrit’ had portrayed a debtors’ prison.
Not that I mind most of the guest cast being female. It’s just I wonder why this story didn’t depict the Suffragettes in the early 20th century. That could have been well-suited and made more sense. 🙂
Once again, Jacob Dudman continues to be excellent as the Eleventh Doctor in this audio adventure. It’s intriguing how determined the Eleventh Doctor is in seeing the prisoners at Hythe Prison set free.
Laura Aikman guest stars as Sarah Ellison, the Doctor’s one-off companion in this story. I wonder if Big Finish were attempting different companion characters for a future Eleventh Doctor audio series.
This isn’t Laura Aikman’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’, as she’s played characters in two episodes of ‘Time Apart’ with Peter Davison. I enjoyed her performance as Sarah Ellison in this story.
Sarah happens to be a pickpocket, who manages to steal things without people knowing it. She gets on well with the Eleventh Doctor and gradually helps him when trying to solve the prison’s problems.
I enjoyed it when Sarah kept singing ‘Three Blind Mice’ to keep an alien’s voice out of her head. I’m put in mind of the Fifth Doctor and friends singing ‘Three Blind Mice’ in ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’.
There’s Bethan Dixon Bate as Lady Dora Smith, who tries to help out at the prison with the inmates. Bethan Dixon Bate has been in Big Finish audios before this episode, including ‘Island of the Fendahl’. 🙂
Venice Van Someren guest stars as Mary Wainright, the daughter of the governor at Hythe Prison. Mary seems to be very young and inexperienced, and she easily comes under the influence of Ilyani.
Jenny Lee guest stars as Eliza Smith, an elderly pickpocket who dies early on in the story. Jenny Lee has been in ‘Doctor Who’ before, as she briefly appeared as an elderly woman in ‘Face the Raven’. 🙂
I’ve also seen her as Auntie Liz, Duncan’s aunt in the ‘Monarch of the Glen’ TV series. Jenny Lee has played others roles for Big Finish. These include two roles in a Series 1 episode of ‘Lady Christina’. 🙂
And there’s Paul Panting who plays the alien Ilyani as well as a bailiff at the prison in the episode. It was fascinating how Ilyani persuaded people to live out their fantasies whilst being stuck on Earth. 🙂
I enjoyed it when the Eleventh Doctor met another version of himself whilst telepathically communicating with Ilyani. 🙂 It did remind me of Eleven meeting ‘Mr. Clever’ in ‘Nightmare In Silver’.
I like how the episode ended with Sarah Ellison being freed from prison and Lady Dora Smith taking her on. The Eleventh Doctor almost lost his TARDIS key once Sarah managed to pinch it from him. 😀
‘A Tragical History’ is an enjoyable pseudo-historical ‘Doctor Who’ episode. Apparently, the title comes from ‘The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus’, according to Tessa North.
The CD extras are as follows. There are behind-the-scenes interviews with Jacob Dudman, Laura Aikman, Bethan Dixon Bate, Venice Van Someren, Jenny Lee, Paul Panting, writer Tessa North and producer Alfie Shaw. At the end, there’s a ‘thank you’ from Jacob Dudman to us as listeners for listening to ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’. There’s also a preview by producer Alfie Shaw on what the future ‘Eleventh Doctor Chronicles’ box sets are going to be like.
When you purchase ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’ as a CD or as a download from Big Finish, you’ll get the following extra. There’s a music suite by Ioan Morris to enjoy.
Jacob Dudman in ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’.
‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’ has been an enjoyable collection of ‘Doctor Who’ audio episodes featuring the Eleventh Doctor, as played by Jacob Dudman. I would have preferred stories featuring the Eleventh Doctor with Amy, Rory and Clara, but this is a very decent bunch of episodes.
Looking ahead, after I’ve checked out ‘Timejacked!’ in ‘The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles’ range, the rest of ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles’ audio series seems fascinating, especially when dear Eleven is joined by a new companion in Valarie Lockwood. I look forward to checking out those audio adventures.
‘A Tragical History’ rating – 7.5/10
‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Volume Two’ CD rating – 8/10
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