When Big Finish first got the licence to produce ‘new series’ audios, it took them a while to secure any Doctors (and even now have only enticed two into the fold). Consequently, they took a couple of approaches. One was to employ impersonator extraordinaire, Jacob Dudman; while the other was to create box sets such as The Churchill Years with a guest character from the modern series narrating adventures. The Churchill Years was actually one one of the earliest examples and featured stories featuring the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors performed by Ian McNeice and also featuring other guest characters such as Kazran Sardick, Lily Arwell and Madame Vastra.

The first adventure in Volume One has Churchill in his role of Lord of the Admiralty in 1939 encountering a 9th Doctor who is alone and chasing a rogue weapon from the Time War. Unfortunately, prawn-like androids are also after the device but with the assistance of Churchill and his secretary, Hetty Warner (played with aplomb by Emily Atack), the Doctor manages to thwart their plans.

The narration style of this release takes a little getting used to. McNiece doesn’t try very hard to ‘impersonate’ the Doctor – certainly not as much as people like Peter Purves or Frazer Hines (or even Maureen O’Brien or Katy Manning) do in the Companion Chronicles – but does give him a vague Northern accent. But this is very much, Churchill recounting a story with some scenes playing out as a little bit more full cast where appropriate or needed. The Doctor is, actually, kept in the background somewhat and there is a reason given that he can’t be seen to interfere or meet with Churchill at this point in history for fear of upsetting the timelines. This concern more or less goes out of the window later in the story but as a conceit to keep the Doctor on the sidelines and reduce the need to for McNiece to perform as Eccleston, it just about works. But Doctor-impression aside, McNiece is an engaging narrator and does well with both the narrated and performed parts of the story.

Emily Atack is excellent as pseudo-companion Hetty Warner (who gets a return appearance in one of the other stories in this set, due to appear later in my marathon (as it is much later in Churchill’s life). She has the traditional mix of bravery, incredulity and determination that a good companion needs and although she doesn’t get a huge amount to do, Atack invests her with a likeable energy.

The cast is bolstered by Michael Gould as the Prof (Frederick Lindemann) and Derek (Tooth and Claw) Riddell as McNish, colleagues to Churchill at the Admiralty. Lindemann is a historical figure who became the prime scientific adviser to Churchill during WW2. The friendship between them is evident in this play with Lindemann more than happy to put Churchill in his place when he thinks he is wrong about something. McNish – a lieutenant commander – seems to be fictional however.

The ‘monster’ for this story are the android RATS (Reactive Automated Trail Seeker). They are a fun creation with their idiosyncratic speech pattern which results in them giving 2 or 3 synonyms for the last word in their sentence, apparently part of their programming to make sure their intentions are clear. Their dogged determination to retrieve the weapon – a device which increases intelligence – gets a little repetitive towards the end but overall they are an effective threat.

One little thing which stood out to me during listening was a reference the Doctor makes to the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Churchill claims to not understand the reference and this made me wonder if that is chronologically likely. The original book was published a couple of decades before 1939 but in the US and I couldn’t seem to find any solid information on when it was first published in the UK. That said, even if it had been, is it likely that Churchill would have read a children’s story? The famous film version wasn’t released until August 1939 and therefore it’s highly likely this is set before that month and also that, again, Churchill was unlikely to have trotted along the yellow brick road at the cinema.

And now for the elephant in the room when it comes to stories featuring Churchill. Much has been said, in recent years, about how Winston Churchill was maybe not the honourable figurehead he is sometimes portrayed as. Less appealing aspects of his character, such as quite strong indications of racism, have been highlighted as reasons why we shouldn’t venerate the man. Of course, his leadership was key to victory in World War Two but some argue this isn’t enough to simply ignore the less savoury aspects of his character.

The Churchill we meet in Doctor Who is undoubtedly a softened, almost cartoonish version of the man – a version which is more of a fictionalised version of the man. Within the confines of Doctor Who, is this allowable? Are we really of the opinion that other real historical figures have been presented in all their three-dimensional fallible reality. Probably not. Part of the issue here, though, is that the Doctor is clearly good friends with Churchill. I’ll comment more in my review of Victory of the Daleks, but there is a clear warmth between the two (even if the Doctor resolutely will not allow Churchill access to the TARDIS).

The characters in this story spend a lot of it praising Churchill and protecting him at all costs due to his importance in government. The Doctor is aware of just how very important he will soon become and the script firmly places this story at the feet of the ‘hero’ Churchill.

I’m not entirely sure where I fall on this debate – I don’t feel I know enough about the real Churchill to make such a judgement. I do know that I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable teaching one our of writing units based around his speeches (which have some excellent hooks and devices that children find easy to replicate in their own writing).

Reservations about Churchill the person aside, The Oncoming Storm is a strong start to this box set and although I remember being a little underwhelmed by the other stories, I look forward to giving them another go and also experiencing the second volume which will be completely new to me.