c60: The Wrath of the Iceni

I’m not a huge fan of Tom Baker’s BBC Audio adventures – the Nest Cottage series.  To be fair, I’m not a huge fan of Tom Baker full stop.  When Big Finish announced they had achieved the unachievable and got the originally reluctant Baker to agree to return as the 4^th Doctor, I didn’t react with the wild excitement of many of the fan community. 

 
However, I’m a sucker for any new stories with Doctor Who stuck on the front, particularly if they’re made by Big Finish, and I knew it wouldn’t be too long before I got around to finding out whether BF could rein in the excesses of Baker’s return to the role in the Nest Cottage audios. And of course, they have.

The Wrath of the Iceni is the third release in the original run of 4^th Doctor adventures.  I have listened to the first two, Destination: Nerva and The Renaissance Man and quite enjoyed them (particularly the latter – which is enormous fun), so was looking forward to this release.

This is very much Leela’s story.  Like Barbara in The Aztecs, Jamie in The Glorious Revolution, Donna in The Fires of Pompeii and Steven in The Massacre, this is the story where she wrestles with the difficulties of changing established history.  John Dorney, the writer, mentions in the accompanying interview extras that his initial pitch was ‘Leela meets Boudicca’.  It’s such an obvious combination that it is a shame that Leela’s adventures on TV rarely visited historical periods; and when they did it was more about how her ‘savage’ ways offended 19^th or early 20^th century sensibilities.  Seeing Leela in a period of history where her ideologies actually fit is fascinating.  Leela and Boudicca are so alike and yet so different and, with this series of 4^th Doctor adventures revolving in part around the Doctor ‘educating’ Leela, this is brought into sharp relief.
Louise Jameson and Ella Kennion are superb in their respective roles.  Initially enamoured by this strong warrior, Leela’s growing disillusionment at Boudicca’s methods and tactics is performed brilliantly by Jameson.  Kennion’s expression of the difficulty at understanding Leela’s point of view, having believed she had found a kindred spirit is equally affecting.

The 4^th Doctor takes a back seat in this story and Baker’s performance never attempts to outshine any of his co-stars.  For much of the story he is paired with Bragnar, a cook who overhears the Doctor discussing Boudicca’s ultimate defeat and finds herself an outcast for her troubles after telling Boudicca what she had heard.  Their scenes together are rather nice and slightly reminiscent of the chemistry between Baker and Elisabeth Sladen.

The interview extras note how small the cast is for this story and the only other characters are a couple of Roman soldiers who get slaughtered in the opening scene and an Iceni second-in-command.  But this is of little matter as the story is carried by Jameson and Kennion.

The soundscape is impressive (and returns us to the early days of this marathon – swords clashing, warriors shouting) and builds an excellent picture of the time and place.

Historically, the story centres around Boudicca’s attack on what is now called Colchester.  This is historical fact and the Doctor goes on to detail Boudicca’s further revolts against the Romans culminating in her capture and suicide.  There is a bit of an infodump at the close of the story when the Doctor imparts all this information to Leela, but Baker has a way of still making it sound interesting and not laboured.  There is also explanation of Boudicca’s anger at the Romans and Leela’s response to finding out what happened to Boudicca’s daughters is heart-breakingly played by Jameson.
In this review, I keep returning to how wonderful Louise Jameson is and that’s because she simply is.  She is the lynchpin of this story and it is wonderful to see this character given the breadth to grow in a way she didn’t on television.  This is what Big Finish has been good at, ever since the renaissance they allowed for characters such as the 6^th Doctor and Mel.  Leela hasn’t featured in the marathon prior to now and she isn’t a companion I have ever rated highly, although I’ve always enjoyed the performance.  These audios show how good Jameson is in the role and it is interesting to see how she has managed to adapt her performance back to the younger Leela of that time, rather than the older version seen more recently in the Gallifrey audios (and indeed the Jago and Litefoot audios which will soon feature in my marathon).

A strong script, superb performances, Baker on form and intelligent character development all contribute to a rather good entry into the enormous world of Big Finish.