The Lady of Mercia (2013)

The Lady of Mercia is a story that if I'm honest I wasnt that eager about because I felt that it looked like a historical story and if there is one thing tht i'm not keen on at the moment is historicals and whilst there is a fair amount of historical in this story its mixed in with a lot of modern day (well 1980's). The story was written by Paul Magrs who has a good track record and so I was willing to go into this story with a certain amount of good will. The story starts off with the TARDIS crew arriving in 1983 and what struck me first about it was how Tegan didnt take this oppertunity to think about going home. Ok so she was about two years away from when she first stepped onboard the TARDIS but the same was true about Ian and Barbara when they finally left so it should have at least been raised here. Tegan is confused for an academic and the mere idea was quite fun.

I wasnt aware of the Aethelflaed who according to the wonderful internet was known for defeating the Danes at Leicester and Derby and by invading Wales. This character is very much like Iceni in 'The Wrath of the Iceni'. However Paul Magrs has put enough information into this story to not feel like were watching a history programme yet still makes the character interesting.

The Doctor knows what is going on but doesnt tell the others straight away. There is a conference going on and there is something going on with time travel and its the greed of these scientists who dont know what their doing that ultimatley leads to the problems that are faced in this story. There is a bit of a question as to whether they could have come up with a time machine in the early 1980's is questionable but to be honest I was enjoying the story so nuch that I didnt mind that much.

This is definetley Janet Fielding's episode because she has to pretend to be a historical figure and despite being a tad bit reluctant she decides to go along with the plan. It's a great performance from Fielding and she seems to thrive under what she is given. As the latter half progresses, Tegan goes from being slightly sceptical of the idea to bonding with Aethelflaed.

It's great how the character has been written for over the last couple of years. I must say that as a result I thought that Mark Strickson and Sarah Sutton are somewhat sidelined over the course of the four episodes. After being the centre of the story in 'Eldrad Must Die', Turlough takes a bit of a back seat here. The supporting cast were all very good with well written parts. Rachel Atkins was very good and actually the best of the supporting cast as Aethelflaed.

The Lady of Mercia is a wonderful adventure which if I had to sum up in a word it would be BONKERS. It starts off as one thing and then turns into something else and its done with such an effortless ease that it was sometime before I noticed that the story had changed. It's my favourite story of the year so far.