Subterfuge

Main Range #262

Released: 17 March 2020

Listened: 3/25/21

In this story, the renegade is the Monk, which isn’t particularly hidden, because you can’t disguise Rufus Hound. This time, he’s interfering in the 1945 election, trying to make sure Churchill wins. Churchill features prominently as a character, played by Ian McNeice as he was on TV, and again we’re given to believe that he’s met various Doctors in random order throughout the ‘30s and ‘40s. There’s a bunch of spying and double-crossing in this story, and pretty much nobody is what they appear to be, other than Churchill himself. There’s a German spy who wants a final revenge before he flees the country, some aliens who just want to go home, and the Monk...well, it’s not really clear what the Monk wants. Personal wealth and power, sure, but it’s not at all clear how helping Churchill win the 1945 election would accomplish that. The Monk just seems to enjoy messing about with English history for some reason. The Doctor is left to put things back on track, which means betraying Churchill -- or at least that’s how the Seventh Doctor handles it. I suspect some of the others might have been less manipulative. The point of this story doesn’t really seem to be the plot, but rather to let Ian McNeice get a lot of time as Churchill and give a famous speech. Which is fine, but not particularly compelling.