First things first. It has been very hard to date this story accurately. The historical details are thin on the ground with only Churchill’s reference to a respite from the London Blitz – with the bombers moving on to other targets in the UK – being the only indicator. Whether this story happens before or after Victory of the Daleks is difficult to tell. That story is clearly during the London Blitz but that was happening from 1940 to 1941. Bombing of places such as Coventry also occurred during this time so where to place either story is tricky.

Going by story details, we might assume that this is set before Victory however. The story concerns Churchill and the Germans in a race to obtain a weapon of huge power – which is eventually revealed to be alien in origin. The fact that Churchill makes no reference whatsoever to the Ironsides – another superweapon which turned out to be alien – suggests that Human Conflict is set before Victory of the Daleks. Weight is leant to this theory if we suppose that Churchill, slightly annoyed at losing such an opportunity, renewed efforts for unique weapons and came across Professor Bracewell’s plans for the Ironsides.

So I’m plumping for placing this story in late 1940/early 1941 (there is a brief reference to winter if I remember rightly) and moving Victory of the Daleks to 1941 (which is where TARDIS wiki places it despite AHistory placing it in 1940).

Human Conflict is a rather entertaining romp. Churchill is drawn as a bit of an action hero throughout this which possibly stems from the fact that one of the main guest characters is Lieutenant Ian Fleming – the man who created James Bond. I have to admit to being oblivious to this fact until checking details of the story on TARDIS wiki before writing this review. But in hindsight, it make sense. There is a climactic scene at the end of the story where Churchill and a Nazi officer, Fischer, help each other escape from a building which has been demolished by an explosion. In retrospect, it does feel a little bit ‘action film’.

Fleming is played by Gyuri Sarossy who, neatly, also featured as one of the two Polish pilots in Their Finest Hour.

Central to the story is a superweapon which both the Nazis and Allies want their hands on. It apparently has the power to remove entire mountains from existence and is, unsurprisingly, alien in origin. It is being offered by an arms dealer called Bragnar. For most of the story it is easy to believe that Bragnar is what she says she is and the performance of Bethan Walker brings to mind characters such as Elsa Schneider from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: the intelligent femme fatale who is often more clever than the men around her that she easily manipulates. Her alien background is a tiny detail which is merely there to explain how the weapon can be so powerful.

The alien background is revealed by the 9th Doctor who, much as in The Oncoming Storm, is very much a background presence in this story. He pops in every now and again to despair at the Allies and Nazis and discouraging them from even pursuing the weapon and imploring them to let him deal with it (requests which, naturally, fall on deaf ears with Churchill’s desire to end the war as quickly and efficiently as possible – which leads in nicely to Victory of the Daleks and is another reason I have chosen to order the stories in the way I have.

All in all, an entertaining listen with some effective links to other Churchill stories.