The Marian Conspiracy

The Marian Conspiracy was a wonderful listen and an excellent jumping on point if you want to get into more consistently well-regarded Sixth Doctor stories. I love the historical elements of this and Evelyn Smythe is an incredible, outstanding companion - one of the few who has travelled with the Doctor that feels like she is able to hold ground with him and be on his level, to a certain degree.

There's a certain bittersweet element to all this, knowing that we lost Maggie Stables a while ago now, but it makes stories like the Marian Conspiracy all the more special and precious. Stables and Colin Baker are truly outstanding in this audio, and I also enjoyed Anah Ruddin as the Queen. They all do a great job and really make the well done writing around these characters leave that much more of an impression.

The writing and acting around Leaf and George Crow leaves a little more to be desired. The way they repeat each others names got a bit grating after a while, and it was a little less interesting than the religious strife and complex Protestant/Catholic politics that are the focus of the Marian Conspiracy. For the most part, this is a smart and thoughtful audio, reminding me of a few of the Short Trips I recently reviewed that dealt with these historical topics, yet the Marian Conspiracy artfully finds its own little niche and I do quite appreciate this audio on the whole. Definitely one of Big Finish's stronger early outings in the Big Finish Monthly Range.

The Marian Conspiracy feels like a classic Pure Historical adventure. While the plot isn't that complicate, it does provide a compelling story that will make the running time fly by. After all the intrigue, by the end of the story I was satisfied, if not a little sad for PLOT reasons. At first I wasn't sold on new companion Evelyn Smythe, her bossy and grating personality was a turn-off, but by the end of the story I was sold on her. Her temperament is a great match for the Sixth Doctor. The rest of the guest cast did an excellent job, with some of them being recurring names. Overall, this was a great flashback to early Doctor Who story telling.

It is a fabulous step back to the reign of Bloody Mary, the Tudor English Queen. AND a marvelous companion, Evelyn Smythe. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I love the personality of Evelyn; she is charming, sweet, optimistic, cunning, social, and sometimes quite severe character. She is the grandmother character. She is one of my favorite companies. Historicals fell out of favor on the TV show, but the audiobooks had a chance to return them. It fits in the short Marian reign and is pretty educational. Here, we are placed firmly in a period with clearly defined players and co-conspirators. Overall, it was a triumph.