Living History

The Churchill Years #1.3

Released: 14 January 2016

Listened: 12/18/22

We’re back to the Churchill stories, but this one is distinctly odd. It takes place in the middle of “A Christmas Carol,” in which the Doctor takes teenage Kazran to meet Churchill in his post-war era. On top of that, he takes them both to an era Churchill would like to investigate, Roman Britain, circa 55 BC. On landing, though, the TARDIS slips out of phase, stranding Kazran and Churchill on their own, and relieving anybody of having to do an Eleventh Doctor impression. Churchill gets to meet Caesar and even help direct a battle; Kazran meets a British queen; and everybody meets (spoiler, although it’s on the cover) a Dalek. In this case, Churchill knows what Daleks are, and even Kazran has heard of them, so there’s no time spent in subterfuge. Justin Richards really took the brief in both hands and ran with it – having Churchill actually travel in time is a first for this series (and for him), and combining it with Kazran gives another perspective on events, as well as providing an action-type to do all the running. Danny Horn returns as Kazran, and apparently loves every minute of it. There’s nothing at all Christmassy about this story, nor is there any advancing of Kazran’s development, but that’s about the only thing that’s missing.