The Flames of Cadiz (2013)

The first companion chronicle of 2013 is the first one for Carole Ann Ford since 2008’s Here There Be Monsters which won a Toms Tardis Award that year. Since then we have had Lost Stories featuring Susan so its not like it’s a big return like Bonnie Langford’s. The previous year saw two companions tell a story and Big Finish have decided to do the same here. One of the things that I instantly notice about this story is how similar it is to the Lost Stories featuring William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. It’s something that I’ve commented on about the Lost Stories that they sound like Companion Chronicles and now its interesting how I felt this sounded like a Lost Story.

There are interesting themes that are discussed in this story such as the not changing history thing that always crops up in a historical story. The opening 15 minutes was interesting as Marc Platt helped set the scene rather well and it laid down the ground rules of the plot and who was who and as the story was progressing, I was starting to wonder what was actually going on and apart from the Doctor trying to stop Ian and Barbara from stopping the Spanish Armada from happening there isn’t really a great deal happening. I must admit that I don’t find this part of history to be that interesting so that’s why I didn’t really connect with any of the supporting characters. By the midway point I had come to conclusion that I wasn’t really warming with the story as it hadn’t gripped me in the way that a companion chronicles normally do.

 

Another positive that I have for this story is that at least it feels like a First Doctor story. The pace of the story mirrors that with what we would get from that period in the show’s history. The story does have a funny moment when the Doctor rushes into a situation where he has a go at Ian and Barbara for ruining the history of the human race which leads into a cliffhanger before its revealed that they are a year out from when they thought they were. I thought that was a rather funny moment in a story that was decidedly low on laughs.

William Russell puts in another fine performance. Coming second in the Best Companion in the Companion Chronicle, Russell does well with what is fairly slow story. He gives its his best go and gets some of the best scenes. Especially when Ian is a prisoner. After that he has some interesting scenes and so does Carole Ann Ford who despite not doing the worlds best impression of William Hartnell but still manages to make Susan sound more grown up than she ever did on TV.

The Flames of Cadiz is not going to be in my top ten at the end of the year. There were things that were fun in this story and its hard to dislike anything that William Russell and Carole Ann Ford are in but I just have the feeling that there are going to be stories in this series that are going to grab my attention more than this did. There is no real reason why it has to be four episodes as it would have worked well in two. It’s not terrible, it’s just ok.