Hounded

The Churchill Years #1.2

Released: 14 January 2016

Listened: 11/26/22

This is another of the Churchill stories, the first for the Tenth Doctor. Which means that David Tennant isn’t playing the part; Ian McNeice is more-or-less filling in for him, as well as playing the narrator. Much like the other stories in this set, McNeice doesn’t try for an impersonation, but rather tries to match the cadence and pace. Unfortunately, the Tenth Doctor speaks a mile a minute, and it’s kind of hard for McNeice to do. As a result, writer Alan Barnes gave the Doctor fewer lines, which is honestly uncharacteristic for him, and results in a sort of an “off” feeling to the story. The plot focuses on Churchill’s “black dog,” a metaphor he himself used to describe occasional bleak moods. Whether Churchill was actually manic depressive is a question for scholars, but this is Doctor Who, so of course the black dog is a creature that can physically manifest and drain the life energy out of people. A lot of the action falls to Hetty Warner, Churchill’s private secretary, who by 1941 is starting to take matters into her own hands regarding Churchill’s well-being, including summoning the Doctor. She serves as a nice companion-substitute, being quite capable and determined. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing her again.