This particular Companion Chronicle centres on a very unique companion, one who entered and exited the TARDIS in a single story. During Doctor Who’s third season we were given a monster story in The Dalek’s Master Plan, an epic twelve part story (that’s five hours runtime!) and one of the best episodes of the First Doctor era. It was also the first story to kill off a companion, not once but twice! The first being Katarina of Troy who joined the TARDIS in only the previous story, The Myth Makers, in the chaos of her beloved Troy being sacked by the Greeks, but sadly not long into her travels she was blown out into space. Taking her place within the same story we had Sara Kingdom, a far cry from most companions , a formidable agent of the Space Security Service, one of the toughest companions the Doctor’s ever travelled with. But once again, just when it seemed like she was well on her way to becoming a full time member of the team, Sara met her end in the climax of the story, being aged to dust by the Dalek’s Time Destructor. The Dalek’s Master Plan was one of the boldest and bravest episodes the show had ever put out, to kill off two companions when Modern Who barely has the guts to kill off one, and even then they always throw in a loophole or cry Bad Wolf.

Despite her short onscreen tenure, The Dalek’s Master Plan presented a somewhat justifiable gap in between episodes, specifically the bizarre Christmas episode they squeezed in the middle where Big Finish have been able to create many more adventures where the Doctor, Steven and Sara evade the Daleks whilst in possession of the core of the Time Destructor, a full M of Teranium mined over fifty years from Uranus (said the old fashioned way much to my amusement). The earliest depiction was in a short story The Little Drummer Boy from one of Big Finish’s Short Trips books as an experiment but Home Truths was when they took that first big step in a trilogy that succeeded so well it spawned several more audios, all with Jean Marsh reprising her role as Sara right up until 2014 when she retired from acting.

The basic premise is that the Doctor, Sara and Steven arrive in a large, empty house with two dead bodies and honestly that’s as far as I’m gonna go because this is one of those special stories where it’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. This is hands down one of the legit scariest Doctor Who stories I’ve ever come across, with one of the most effective sound design work Big Finish have put together, everything from the foreboding narration delivered beautifully by Jean Marsh, the sound effects, the ghostly noises, it all just creeps under your skin and creates this wonderfully chilling and tense atmosphere, I personally call this Big Finish’s Blink.

I wouldn’t say it’s necessary to have seen The Dalek’s Master Plan or even be that aware of it to be invested in the story and Sara’s character, I’d say quite the opposite really as not only does the story do an adequate job in explaining the wider events and who Sara is without feeling like exposition but it may even lead to fans looking into The Dalek’s Master Plan for themselves.

The true triumph of this and the rest of Sara’s trilogy (The Drowned World and The Guardian of the Solar System) is not only developing the character of one of Doctor Who’s shortest lived companions but also addressing the event of her killing her own brother and the guilt she feels at her mistake, something that seemed to be brushed under the rug in the televised story. Of course if you do know the events of The Dalek’s Master Plan and what becomes of Sara, her involvement at first may raise questions but it all builds to a brilliant twist ending that I won’t give away. You’ll just have to listen for yourself! And I’d also recommend the rest of the trilogy also written by Simon Guerrier, it perfectly nails that theme of regret and gives Sara a perfect ending while opening the doors for many more stories with her later on