Hmm: I smile as soon as I hear Peter Purves’ First Doctor. It’s such an affectionate portrayal, it doesn’t sound anything like Hartnell but then it doesn’t have to because it is somebody else’s interpretation of a character he was very close to when he worked on the TV show. The good humour, burning intelligence and petulance shines through and those are all authentic traits of the first Doctor. The first Doctor always sparkled in historical comedies such as The Romans, The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters and you can just picture Hartnell having a lot of fun with a script as witty as this. The Doctor is constantly being mocked that he cannot control the TARDIS properly, something that would hound him until the New Series where it became less about his inability to get people home or to certain planets and times and more about the adventure of them travelling together. When Doctor overshoots by 12 or 13 centuries who can blame his companions for their cynicism. It’s rather lovely when the Doctor introduces himself and it is clearly a title rather than a name, that the person he is talking to does the same thing. The Doctor calls him ‘impudent’, which is a real pot kettle black moment. I was pleased for the end of episode two because the Doctor was running rings around everybody until that point, essentially charming his way into a position of power and knowledge. Finally, somebody is pointing the finger at him. There’s a wonderful scene at the beginning of part three where the Doctor argues hotly in court and you can just picture Hartnell giving his all to that scene (think of his magnificent ‘I hate fools!’ in The Crusade). ‘What foolish assassin would allow himself to be murdered by his own instrument of death, ay?’ says the Doctor as he agrees to drink the cup of hemlock (you know what I mean) to prove his innocence. A dangerous business, but then the first Doctor was never afraid to step into danger to sort things out (the end of episode three of The War Machines). The Doctor scoffs at the idea of plans within plans but that basically becomes his default setting in future incarnations (particularly his 4th and 7th). Besides, why would he be so shocked when he is dealing with Machiavellian machinations?
Aggressive Astronaut: Steven is a awarded the first cliff-hanger and delightfully it isn’t a useless moment of jeopardy but a choice that suggests exciting things ahead in the plot (kill, or be killed). Would Steven become an assassin to save his own life?
Alien Orphan: Rather wonderful Vicki plucks for any historical character of the period when confronted by Pope Leo X. It’s a dangerous business, history, when you’re not in full view of the facts. She seems like somebody who might be involved in the plots of the day, simply because of her clear intelligence. In a delightful moment Vicki has to quote a poem and she gives ‘Daisy Daisy’ a whirl, which is greeted with an enthused response. Poetry, politics and horse riding…is there no end to her talents? She’s a fine and swift negotiator. Every Pope needs his consort and that makes Vicki the bearded lady (don’t ask).
Standout Performance: Peter Purves and Maureen O’Brien together make a masterful narrative pair. Individually they have an excellent judgement of timing and pace, and when to stress the drama and relax into the narration. Lisa Bowerman bounces between the two during this story and in doing so the narration takes on a stride at times that is really easy to jump in and join them in. Because the script takes on an almost Donald Cotton style omnipresent tone during the narration (seriously, go and read his novelisations), it means we’re palling up with the narrators and watching the story unfold with them. They’re always one step ahead because they know the details but it always feels like O’Brien and Purves are providing an entertaining ride. I’m so pleased to see a further Khan and Salinski script for this pair on the horizon. I want to put the emphasis on Purves, who makes the material bounce for both dramatic and comic effect and whose interpretation of the first Doctor just dazzles me.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘What you call art and vanity, I call glorifying God almighty. You would do well to remember your debt to your creator.’
‘Compared to his brother, maybe. As a sour plum is sweet compared to an unripe lemon.’
The Doctor is described as an ‘ageing turnip.’
‘If I’m guilty, I will carry out my own sentence!’
‘I am in love with him!’ ‘With Machiavelli. With that funny looking creature?’ ‘That devious, manipulative, clever, profound, intelligent and extraordinary funny looking creature – yes!’
‘Will it take long? It sounds like you’ve got rather a lot to confess.’
Great Ideas: Guiliano is a despot ruler, murdering indiscriminately to satisfy his bloodlust. His brother knows this but hopes a position of authority will teach him wisdom. How many more corpses must be endured before his schooling is complete? His brother wishes to depose him but there is no way he can do so at the moment. The writers paint an exquisite picture of the Medici palace, one that I can imagine Barry Newberry conjuring up with ha’penny threepence. There’s an allusion to homosexuality that is so subtlety done that you might miss it, but it feels perfectly in place (as much as racism in The Daleks, domestic abuse in The Keys of Marinus, incest in The Crusade and mass murder in The Myth Makers and The Massacre). Machiavelli was a very influential man in the Florentine Republic but when the Medici came to power he lost his position and he’s been scheming to get it back ever since.
Standout Scene: The genuinely laugh out loud moment when one character throws themselves sexually at another in complete abandonment of the chaste ideals of the time. Mind you given Nero was trying to bone Barbara at every opportunity and the lustful glances the Perfect Victim gave Susan…perhaps I’m wrong about that. However, this overt, base and pointed in the direction of a member of the clergy!
Result: ‘The year is 1514, a wonderful vintage of time to taste and savour…’ Backstabbing, plots, torture, religious persecution…you can see why Khan and Salinski thought they could mould a great Doctor Who story in this period. The fact that they weave their tale of deception into a terrific character comedy surprises and delights. What you have here is a story that doesn’t skimp on historical detail, that plays to its regulars strengths and that trots along at a giddy pace with lots of twists and turns in the plot. If the average quality of Big Finish’s Doctor Who releases were of this standard I think people would be crying out for an even more saturated audio market. Khan and Salinski have an excellent grasp on dialogue and plot, which means the elements that we usually lean on when those qualities are absent (the score, the production, the performances) merely serve to emphasise how well written this story is rather than supporting it entirely. It’s very easy to skip over the importance of Lisa Bowerman, director of an entire catalogue of audio adventures now and often responsible for the stories that head back into the early years of Doctor Who. But she is masterfully good at her job, brings the best out of her scripts and her actors and can conjure up an atmosphere of comedy, drama, horror or whatever is asked of her seemingly at ease. She’s become my favourite Big Finish director (and if you want to experience her work at its finest then check out A Thousand Tiny Wings, it’s magnificent) and so reliably good that I rarely mention her now. That’s an oversight and Ravelli sees her at her irreverent best; pacing the narration brilliantly, allowing time for the actors to relish the dialogue, using sound design to evoke wonderful images and never forgetting to punch through the comedy with dramatic moments when the situation calls. The Early Adventures don’t seem to get the same sort of attention as the many of the other ranges (particularly the Main Range or the Companion Chronicles and certainly not the over-hyped new Series stories) but sometimes that isn’t a bad thing. It means they have been quietly doing their own thing, experimenting and building a range of stories that can pretty much do what they want. Sometimes that means pushing the boat out and doing something that would never have been attempted at the time (An Ordinary Life) and sometimes it means aping one of the style of the time and delivering a shot of nostalgia (The Wreck of the World). The Ravelli Conspiracy does both; it’s a Hartnell historical through and through with intriguing historical characters and lots of fun stuff for the Doctor, Vicki and Steven to do (so far so the Myth Makers) but it’s told in a contemporary style with pace and shot with smart wit and astuteness. It’s been my favourite of the Early Adventures to date, an effortless listen and a rollicking good time to boot: 10/10
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