The Kingmaker

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Council of Nicaea

I take back what I said about the last story, this one is the best historical in this run and maybe the best historical I've heard in general. This story really contrasts with the serious and dramatic Council of Nicaea by being one of the silliest, most whimsichal and meta stories out there. It's so ridiculous that I don't even know where to start with this review. William Shakespeare gets the Doctor durnk to time travel a hundred years into the past to make sure Richard III kills his nephews so that nobody accuses the Tudors of doing it instead, only for Richard and William to swap places.

It's wild and funny and every twist and cliffhanger leaves you reeling. By far my favourite character here is Richard III. He's used to explore a really interesting idea about the implications of time-travel, that being time-travellers going back to visit (in)famous historical figures and spoiling the events of their lives. It's interesting to see how jaded Richard is when people constantly appear to talk to him about how evil he is and how he's going to kill his nephews, before he even has any. Stephen Beckett performs this perfectly, he plays everything straight which really elevates the comedy throughout the story. It's a very unique take on a historical figure, one that knows of his own existence as a historical figure.

Honestly, there's no real way to get across just how good this story is without typing out the script word-by-word because it is just that good. There's so many fun details and all of them pay off in such clever and satisfying ways. This might be one of my favourite stories for a while and another phenomenal story for the Doctor, Peri, and Erimem.

Next Story: The Helliax Rift

This story is utterly hilarious. The jokes mesh perfectly with my sense of humour to create an incradibly enjoyable experience. Richard is brilliantly written and acted. Stephen Beckett's dry delivery is really funny and works perfectly. The plot itself is also increadibly solid. It's an interesting narrative with some fun timey-wimey-ness. There are lots of interesting questions throughout the story which are tied up increadibly neatly in a very satisfying ending. All in all, I cannot recommend this story enough.