Young Winston opens the second volume of The Churchill Years and is rather a lot of fun. The story is Churchill narrating a much earlier encounter he had with the Doctor and, as such, allows the writer Paul Morris, to riff on a couple of different things which wouldn’t fit as well with the ‘contemporary’ Churchill.

Firstly, the story obviously echoes the film, also titled Young Winston. It isn’t a film I’ve ever seen but is one that has a strange place in my memories. A poster of the film adorned a wall in one of the classrooms in my secondary school – a striking image of a young Winston Churchill standing, gun poised and ready for action, amidst a flurry of other images. Oddly, my memory must be unreliable because try as I might, I cannot find that actual image on any contemporary posters of the film – although I can find ones which are similar. But that memory – accurate or not – helped establish the tone of this story’s opening scenes with WInston in battle in Cuba.

But even moreso, the scenes of Winston and his friend in Cuba, adventuring in war brought to mind, almost instantly, another ‘Young’ character – Young Indiana Jones. This story, at least for the first third or so, really felt like an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It has Winston flirting with an exotic local, it has battles, threatening mercenaries and a sought-after artefact with legendary properties. It was huge fun to sort of revisit that series through this story.

However, partway through, the story metamorphoses into a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Madame Vastra is this audio’s main guest star and, once back in London, Churchill crosses paths with her as she begins a case involving finding something Churchill encountered back in the Cuba – at the behest of his old flame. Churchill’s Cuban acquaintance even makes direct reference to Sherlock Holmes – and a pathologist and theatre impresario who investigate strange happenings! A wonderful throwaway line.

The London sections have swarthy foreigners, hansom cab rides to mysterious locations and unusual items being delivered through the post. It really feels like a Holmesian mystery.

The final part leans back into the world of Doctor Who when the 11th Doctor enters events properly and the artefact, and Churchill’s old flame, are revealed to be more than they first seemed.

Of the stories reviewed so far, this is my favourite. The mystery is paced well, the different ‘genres’ of story style work well together and it moves seamlessly from one to the next. Neve McIntosh is great as Vastra (a character who, on TV, I do have some issues with) and Iain Batchelor has a good stab at a young Winston. In the earlier 1895-set scenes I did think he sounded a bit too old but he settles into the role and is a good match for Ian McNeice.

What’s really interesting is that this story does not hero worship Churchill in the same way as The Oncoming Storm and Living History do. In fact, Churchill’s flaws are more emphasised throughout the story. Churchill’s arrogance and single-mindedness cause him to fall into more than one trap. Vastra certainly doesn’t see him as someone to be venerated, even though she is aware the Doctor has told her how important he will be in the future. Churchill is a far less appealing person in this story which is an interesting counter-balance to McNeice’s general performance.

A quite different style of story for this series and I’m intrigued to see if it is something which continues across the other stories in Volume 2.