The Angel of Scutari

Main Range #122

Released: 30 June 2009

Listened: 12/30/20

This was one of the first Big Finish stories I purchased, years ago, and my introduction to Hex, which mostly solidified my impression of him as a victim of the Doctor’s manipulations. It’s a rather unusual story, though. It technically should be a pure historical, as it takes place during the Crimean War, mostly in Scutari (part of Istanbul) and St. Petersburg. In true new-series historical style, it features famous figures as real people -- primarily Florence Nightingale, who was Hex’s inspiration for becoming a nurse, but Ace also gets to hang out with Leo Tolstoy. All of this is prompted by the Doctor sensing Hex’s frustration at being unable to help the patients in the last story, and bringing him to a place where his medical knowledge will be advanced, and he can make a real difference. Except, because this is the Seventh Doctor, that’s not the whole story, and that’s what prevents this from being a traditional historical. The Doctor and Ace leave Hex in Scutari in October 1854, intending to pick him up a month later, after he’s met Nightingale, but then travel backwards to September 1854, where they’re captured in fighting on the Black Sea, and the TARDIS is lost, at least some of which were events the Doctor knew would happen. All three characters spend quite a bit of time apart, which is unusual for these stories, and the Doctor has the least to do. Ace is still acting quite a bit like her New Adventures persona, being unusually capable, and more confident in her relationships. The story ends with Hex injured and wanting to go to St. Gart’s for treatment. More significantly, the TARDIS has turned white, or rather lost its outer blue shell and is regrowing a new one; this won’t be explained for quite some time.