The Marian Conspiracy [AUDIO/2000.3.12]

★★★★☆

  Having released The Fearmonger and this back to back was a sign that Big Finish was onto something special. Introducing a new companion specific to the expanded universe is always tricky business, but Jacqueline Rayner makes it look so effortless. Evelyn Smythe, played by the dearly missed Maggie Stables, is the kind of character you have no choice but to immediately latch onto; she's a historian who doesn't suffer fools gladly, she carries a tin of cocoa around and her chocolate cake is renowned for being delicious (the secret is using actual melted chocolate), and she'll feign a paradox-induced headache just so that the Doctor would interfere with history and save two innocent souls from unavoidable death. In other words, she's absolutely perfect!

  Colin Baker seems delighted at the chance to take the mantle of Doctor Who again, and his performance in The Marian Conspiracy is no different. He can be petulant if he wants to be, but he's generally a very quick-witted and amicable fellow of the universe, showing sympathy to even the most reviled of historical figures. From the off, it's clear that the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn were a duo meant to be; their personalities create the best symphonies imaginable, with Evelyn never hesitating from pointing out whenever the Doctor's being impossible but enjoying his presence dearly, and the Doctor being more than willing to indulge in Evelyn's historical curiosities (only he pretends not to be). 

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  If you always wanted a taste of what a pure historical could be on audio, there is no finer introduction than The Marian Conspiracy. Politics, Queen Mary I and assassination attempts aplenty, this is the kind of delightful experience you'd find hard to forget.