‘A SHARD OF ICE’
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Albert Tiermann and the Ice Queen with the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates
It’s time for another Fourth Doctor story in ‘Demon Quest’…but with only Mike Yates joining him. 😐
Yeah, I expected it to be both Mrs. Wibbsey and Mike Yates joining the Fourth Doctor in the rest of the ‘Demon Quest’ saga, since ‘The Relics of Time’ and ‘The Demon of Paris’ featured both the Fourth Doctor and Wibbsey as travelling companions in the TARDIS. I couldn’t help be disappointed.
Now this would be made up for in the next story ‘Starfall’ where the Fourth Doctor, Wibbsey and Mike are clearly a team in that story, and I suppose they’re following what was depicted in the fairy tale pages of the book Four and Wibbsey found. That Four and Mike had to be together in this story.
Still, Wibbsey could have joined them. Or was she given the choice to not to go with the Fourth Doctor and was allowed to stay behind and wait for Four and Mike to return? All that we get from Susan Jameson as Mrs. Wibbsey in this is at the tale’s end. A recorded phone message in the TARDIS.
This is something similar to Mike’s recorded phone message in ‘The Relics of Time’. One wonders when these actors came in to record their pieces of dialogue. Maybe Susan Jameson recorded Wibbsey’s phone message either after doing ‘The Demon of Paris’ or before doing the ‘Starfall’ story.
Anyway, ‘A Shard of Ice’ is the third story of ‘Demon Quest’ by Paul Magrs. Surprisingly, the story is not narrated by Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Nor is it narrated by Richard Franklin as Mike Yates. Instead, the story is narrated by one of the supporting characters – Samuel West as Albert Tiermann.
You may have come across Samuel West before in ‘Doctor Who’, as he played Cyrian, the Rani’s companion in the 30th anniversary special ‘Dimensions In Time’. He’s also been in Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ like ‘Serpent In The Silver Mask’, ‘Mask of Tragedy’ and ‘The Vengeance of Morbius’.
He’s also been in two episodes of ‘The Diary of River Song’. Outside of ‘Doctor Who’, Samuel West played King Caspian in the BBC’s version of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’. He’s also appeared in the BBC’s 1995 version of ‘Persuasion’ and he’s been in the 2018 film ‘Darkest Hour’.
He’s also been in the first episode of Series 4 of ‘Grantchester’. Most significantly and recently, Samuel West is well-known for playing Siegfried Farnon in the Channel 5 version of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. After seeing him in that series, it was very exciting to hear him in ‘A Shard of Ice’. 🙂
Albert Tiermann happens to be the author and editor of the book of fairy tales that the Doctor and Wibbsey received in the church sale bag given to them by the Demon character in ‘The Relics of Time’. In this story, Albert is on his way to meet a local king somewhere in Germany in the year 1847.
Apparently, he is the king’s official storyteller. In fact, it turns out Albert is narrating his story to the king after the events of this adventure. In ‘A Shard of Ice’, Albert’s journey to the king is interrupted and becomes rushed, especially when he’s snowed in at Germany’s Murgin Pass: this story’s setting.
The cause of Albert’s interruption is the TARDIS arriving in the middle of the road and the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates step out to meet him. Albert is fearful for his life in not keeping his appointment with the king, but he becomes mesmerised by what the Doctor shows him in this story.
The Doctor shows him the book of fairy tales that brought him and Mike to Germany’s Murgin Pass in 1847. Throughout the story, Albert is tempted to look inside the book to gain the inspiration he wants for his next set of stories to tell his king. The Doctor dissuades Albert to check out the book. 😐
Tom Baker and Samuel West in ‘A Shard of Ice’.
I don’t mind that this episode is being narrated by Albert instead of the Fourth Doctor and Mike. It makes a change from what we’re used to in ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ and at least there is now more variety in terms of who can narrate these episodes compared to what was in ‘Hornets’ Nest’. 🙂
Apparently, Albert happens to have a father named Ernest Tiermann, which is a reference to the professor character that the Tenth Doctor would meet in the book adventure called ‘Sick Building’ by Paul Magrs. I’ve yet to read that book, but it’s interesting to find the connection to that certain story.
I liked it when the Doctor told some of his stories to Albert Tiermann in this tale, including the two Yeti stories ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ and ‘The Web of Fear’ as well as ‘The Keys of Marinus’, the Doomsday Weapon from ‘Colony In Space’, ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and almost ‘Pyramids of Mars’. 🙂
Albert doesn’t seem to be interested in those stories by the Doctor, which is rather unusual. It turns out that Albert happens to have ‘a shard of ice’ wedged inside of him, which was planted there by the Ice Queen to inhibit his emotions and prevent him caring. This is quite essential to the story’s plot.
I found it funny when Mike shared with the Fourth Doctor that he told their ‘Hornets’ Nest’ adventures to their friends, including Liz Shaw, the Brigadier and Jo Grant. The Doctor doesn’t seem to approve of that. I don’t know why since the alien hornets are gone and there’s no chance of them coming back, right?
The guest cast also include Carole Boyd as Frau Herz, the owner of the lodge that the Doctor, Mike and Albert stay at to whether out a storm. She seems to be quite a strong, no-nonsense woman, especially when being attacked by the mysterious beast that comes to haunt everybody at the lodge.
Jan Francis plays the Ice Queen in the episode, who happens to be Albert Tiermann’s angel, before it’s revealed that she’s the same Demon character that the Doctor faced in the previous two ‘Demon Quest’ episodes. She unveils her true colours when the Doctor and Albert confront her inside a cave.
Incidentally, Jan Francis would go on to appear in the ‘Respond to All Calls’ audio anthology that features Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. She’s also been in TV shows like ‘Just Good Friends’ with John Ringham and ‘Secret Army’ with Clifford Rose, Christopher Neame and Valentine Dyall. 😮
There are echoes of ‘The Snow Queen’ story, which I vaguely recall seeing in the 1995 animated film, with the Ice Queen’s character in the audio episode. Just before the Ice Queen is defeated in this adventure, the Doctor learns from her that she originates from a place simply known as Sepulchre.
There’s also Tom Lawrence who plays Hans, Albert Tiermann’s footman in the episode. The only contributions that Hans gives in this are when he sees a driver frozen in the snow, and he saw the woman, which happens to be the Ice Queen/Demon, before the driver went out in the cold snow. 😐
Normally, I wouldn’t talk about the covers for each episode of ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’, but this is a special case, since the cover art for ‘A Shard of Ice’ happens to be by June Hudson. June Hudson was the costume designer on several ‘Doctor Who’ TV adventures during the Tom Baker era.
This includes ‘The Ribos Operation’, ‘Destiny of the Daleks’, ‘The Creature From The Pit’, ‘The Horns of Nimon’, ‘The Leisure Hive’, ‘Meglos’, ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and ‘Logopolis’. She’s also been in an episode of the spin-off show ‘Class’ called ‘For Tonight We Might Die’, where she played Mrs. Linderhof.
June Hudson has also provided costume designs for the guest characters in ‘One Mile Down’, one of the episodes of Volume 3 of ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures’ by Big Finish. She’s also been in photos with Tom Baker and John Leeson during the recording of ‘The Doomsday Contract’ for some reason.
I quite like the artwork June has provided for ‘A Shard of Ice’, as it’s a painting that features the Fourth Doctor and Mike Yates fighting against the Ice Queen, who begins to turn into a hideous monster. This is of course central to the plot of the story, as established in ‘The Demon of Paris’ story.
After the Fourth Doctor and Mike drop off Albert and Frau Herz near the palace – Hans got killed off, I believe – they return to the TARDIS. Incidentally, I’m not sure how the Doctor and Mike were able to drop off Albert and Herz near the palace, as the TARDIS doesn’t have the entire spatial geometer.
Speaking of which, Mike reveals to the Doctor that he picked up a strange item in the lodge, which happens to be another piece of the spatial geometer. The Doctor is delighted about this, especially as he’s getting closer to having the spatial geometer restored before he gets to travel in space again.
They then receive the recorded phone message from Mrs. Wibbsey, who tells them that the final item in the church sale bag happens to be a 1970s-era comic book. It features the Doctor, Mike and Wibbsey, and it appears the next trip they’re about to have in the TARDIS will be in 1970s New York.
‘A Shard of Ice’ has been another enjoyable episode in the ‘Demon Quest’ saga. I’m finding ‘Demon Quest’ more enjoyable than ‘Hornets’ Nest’ so far. The quest romp feel to this set of audio stories might have something to do with it. I also enjoyed Samuel West as Albert Tiermann in the episode. 🙂
I’m looking forward to what will happen next in the fourth instalment of ‘Demon Quest’ and what the Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey will find when they visit 1970s New York. Will the trio learn more about the Demon creature and why it initially stole the Doctor’s spatial geometer? 😐
‘A Shard of Ice’ rating – 8/10
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