I Was Churchill's Double

The Churchill Years #2.3

Released: 15 February 2018

Listened: 10/14/22

This story, from the second Churchill set, doesn’t take itself particularly seriously; even narrator-Churchill comments to that effect. It’s the middle of the war, Churchill is PM, and he’s no fan of television, as the Germans can intercept the broadcasts. Scotsman John Logie Baird (inventor of the television and head of the BBC, who'll eventually appear in "The Giggle"), however, is picking up strange transmissions that can’t exist. When Churchill retires for the evening, he finds a strange mirror in his room, through which he can see a different Churchill. Upon touching the mirror, they swap places, and our Churchill finds himself in a parallel world, in which the US never entered WWI, and Britain was forced to surrender to Germany. This Churchill is a freedom fighter, although WWII isn’t happening. The Doctor, for some reason, is in the parallel world, and wants to get back. Churchill, as it happens, is conversant with parallel worlds, as he (in the real world) once wrote an essay imagining what would happen if General Lee won the battle of Gettysburg. Alan Barnes pumps this story full of references, to the R101 and Colditz, to the “howlaround” effect, and to the Doctor’s penchant for carrying a banana. There are also a number of sly TV references, especially when Baird is around. Ian McNiece is more willing to attempt the Doctor’s accent in this story, although it’s still not a very good likeness. It’s fun and goofy, if you like that sort of thing.