Council of War

Companion Chronicles #7.12

Released: 11 June 2013

Listened: 7/4/21

This one is slightly unusual in a number of ways. It’s the only Companion Chronicle featuring John Levene as Sgt. John Benton, for a start. It also has the narration split between Benton and secondary character Margery Phipps, even though it’s told entirely in the present tense. Finally, it’s written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris (creators of the Scarifyers audio stories), which means it’s not a terribly serious story. Paul Morris admits that he wanted to take advantage of a throwaway line that Benton knew how to ballroom dance, and the story grew from that. It involves Benton going undercover as a town councillor in Kettering, a task that would normally go to Mike Yates, but Mike is still recovering from being mind-controlled in “The Green Death,” which is why the story is set here. Benton and Phipps end up being kidnapped by aliens for extremely silly reasons, but Benton’s knowledge of military history allows him to come up with a plan, yet without involving much in the way of violence, which keeps it as a fitting Doctor Who story. There’s a bit of Doctor-ex-machina at the end, but that’s only to be expected in a Companion Chronicle. In this sort of story, the main narrator is called upon to voice several characters, and it must be said that neither John Levene’s Doctor nor his Brigadier are very believable. In fact, this is probably the poorest rendition of the Doctor I’ve heard from a former companion actor. Fortunately, they’re not really in it that much. It’s a fine story, good for a laugh.