The Kingmaker

Main Range #81

Released: April 2006

Listened: 12/12/19

Yet another historical, but hardly “pure.” This one is definitely strange, even goofy, almost right from the beginning. It’s Nev Fountain, so you expect some of that, but this goes a long way. The plot is distinctly timey-wimey, requiring parts of the TARDIS team to wait around for two years in 15th-Century England. There’s also references to the Doctor Who Discovers book series, which is bizarre. John Culshaw delivers his Fourth Doctor impersonation (by way of recordings the Fifth Doctor accesses), and Stephen Beckett plays King Richard III as sounding exactly like Christopher Eccleston, for absolutely no reason that I can determine. (And there’s an off-handed reference to the Ninth Doctor as well.) Not to mention Shakespeare playing a major part in proceedings. This is the first of the Peri/Erimem stories that was written after the new series premiered, so that may explain the lighter tone, but all the time-hopping and hanging out with Shakespeare hadn’t happened yet.