The events of 1688-90 period in England, Scotland and Ireland are ever so slightly controversial, among the decreasing minority who care, so I was interested to see how Jamie, Zoe and Two would fit into it - Big Finish has tackled similar bits of history very badly (The Marian Conspiracy) and very well (The Settling). Jonathan Morris is definitely towards the upper end of the scale with The Glorious Revolution, which takes Jamie back to the precise origin of his own personal history, with the crew landing in London in 1688 as James II's rule is tottering; on the one hand, we get a fair perspective that the Glorious Revolution was not especially glorious if you were not an English Protestant; on the other, James II was a pretty bad king, even though he had been an excellent military strategist in his brother's reign. Fraser Hines is excellent as a Jacobite who discovers that his hero has feet of clay; likewise Andrew Fettes as both James II and a Time Lord sent to investigate a potential time anomaly. I felt the plot itself didn't quite cohere in terms of the time-paradox sub-genre, but Morris's mostly excellent writing distracted me for most of the time. (The arbitrary executions of Judge Jeffreys, as depicted, are however out of place for 1688 in London; even the notorious Hanging Assizes actually had assizes.) ( )

After the release of Helicon Prime, Frazer Hines was widely acclaimed for his performance as not only Jamie McCrimmon, of course, but also his ability to play the second Doctor in a manner eerily reminiscent of Patrick Troughton. I didn't hear Helicon Prime myself, but as a big fan of both the second Doctor and Jamie, I eagerly awaited the release of The Glorious Revolution.

The Glorious Revolution has a fairly middling story-- it's well-trod ground in Doctor Who, but it’s well-trod for a reason, and Morris manages to do a few new and interesting things with the story type that elevates it above others of its ilk. But what really elevates this story is Hines's excellent performances, which just captivate the listener; it's easy to see why it's just been announced that he;ll be reprising his role as Jamie for a Big Finish mini-season with the sixth Doctor in 2010. Forty years since the end of The War Games, and it’s like nothing’s changed. The second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon live on.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.

4,5 ( )