‘THE BROKEN CROWN’
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Andrew and 1861 Hexford with the Fourth Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey
The audio narration-less aspects of ‘Serpent Crest’ didn’t last long in this audio story, did they? 😦
I’ll get back to what I mean by that shortly. ‘The Broken Crown’ is of course the second story of the ‘Serpent Crest’ saga in ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ of ‘Doctor Who’, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Elements that were in the previous story ‘Tsar Wars’ do return in ‘The Broken Crown’.
One of the things I appreciate about ‘Tsar Wars’ as well as being a full-cast audio story is that it took the Fourth Doctor away from Earth. Most of ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ with Tom Baker’s Doctor have been set on Earth. ‘Sepulchre’ and ‘Tsar Wars’ are the only stories that are off planet Earth so far.
I’m not sure if Paul Magrs prefers more earthbound stories compared to outer space stories, but the trend of stories featured in ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ has mostly been set on Earth. Not that’s a bad thing. The theme of earthbound settings in these stories fits, as they’re ‘focused’ on Nest Cottage.
But it’s going to mean less variety if you limit a set of linked stories to mostly one planet. That’s the impression I got when checking out ‘Demon Quest’ and currently with ‘Serpent Crest’. Maybe my thoughts will change on this, but glancing ahead to the rest of the saga, it doesn’t seem that likely. 😐
Anyway, we pick up from where we left off at the end of ‘Tsar Wars’, as it turns out the Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey are in the year 1861. They’re in the right place but at the wrong time in Hexford village. Yeah, that’s the name of the village that Nest Cottage is in. Hexford happens to be in Surrey.
I haven’t mentioned that the village Nest Cottage is in is called Hexford until now because…well, it wasn’t very important to mention beforehand. Also, Hexford seems to be a fictional village in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe. That’s fine, as I’ve done that myself when writing ‘The Railway of Time’ story.
The villages Huttle, Kelton and Thursdan are just as fictional as Hexford is. 😀 The Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey investigate in Hexford village to find out what’s going on. They soon learn that there’s an ill-tempered vicar at a rectory and he has a young ward named Andrew who hides his face with masks.
Going back to what I said at the beginning of the review, there are occasions where the story is narrated by Andrew. I hoped that ‘Serpent Crest’ would be a dramatic change in ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ and that all five stories featured in the saga wouldn’t have narration featured in them. 😦
To be fair, there are plenty of full-cast drama interactions between characters and there isn’t a lot of narration by Andrew to get in the way of the story. It’s just when Andrew is narrating to us, it can be a little bit distracting. On one occasion, I did find myself drifting from listening to Andrew’s narration.
In the narration given to us by Andrew, played by Guy Harvey, he happens to be very unhappy in 19th century Hexford. This is especially when he’s forbidden to read books containing fantastical stories, either by Reverend Dobbs or by his governess. Also, Andrew has to keep wearing paper masks.
The reason for this is because it turns out Andrew is actually Alex, the cyborg heir to the Robotov Empire. Apparently, it’s been 10 years since the Fourth Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey last saw him in ‘Tsar Wars’. Alex wears the paper masks to cover his true cyborg appearance from others in Hexford.
Alex also has the Skishtari gene egg, which he becomes possessive with when he manages to acquire it. He won’t let go off it when the Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey try to get it off him. Alex also sucks people to into the egg itself and manages to release a fiery dragon which attacks the Hexford village.
From listening to the story, Alex does seem to be a rather unreasonable soul, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering he’s an adolescent and thinks himself superior when being from aristocracy. It’s a shame ‘The Broken Crown’ doesn’t present him in a good light, particularly when we reach the climax.
Terrence Hardiman guest stars as Reverend Dobbs, the vicar at the rectory looking after Alex/Andrew. You’ve probably come across Terrence Hardiman before in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, as he was in ‘The Beast Below’ with Matt Smith. He’s also been in ‘The English Way of Death’ audio adaptation.
Outside of ‘Doctor Who’, Terrence Hardiman is well-known for playing the Demon Headmaster in the original 1996-1998 BBC TV series. He’s also been in an episode of ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ and an episode of ‘The Brittas Empire’. It was good to hear Terrence Hardiman in this audio adventure. 🙂
Reverend Dobbs is a pretty ill-tempered person, particularly when he refuses to acknowledge the Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey upon their arrival in Hexford village. It also doesn’t help when Dobbs tries to get the Skishtari egg off from Alex/Andrew that causes him to be absorbed inside the egg itself. 😐
Incidentally, as I’m reviewing this audio story for my 2023 Easter review season on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, it’s quite fitting that this story should happen to have an egg. I suppose everyone in Hexford village should be lucky that the Shishtari egg didn’t turn out to be a deadly Easter egg in this.
Joanna David guest stars as Mrs. Audley, Alex/Andrew’s governess in the episode. I’ve seen Joanna David in quite a number of things, including 1995’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, an episode of ‘Monarch of the Glen’, a ‘Miss Marple’ BBC story with Joan Hicks, and a couple of episodes of ‘Downton Abbey’. 🙂
She also voiced Trufflehunter in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ by the BBC. Mrs. Audley is rather hard on Alex/Andrew whilst being his governess. She goes missing when following him out in the night and she presumably got absorbed into the Shishtari egg when Alex/Andrew used it on her.
What’s sad is we never get to know the fate of Mrs. Audley, as Joanna David doesn’t return in the next story ‘Aladdin Time’ in the ‘Serpent Crest’ saga. Unless it’s told to us in exposition next time. Either way, it’s a shame Joanna David didn’t get to return in ‘Serpent Crest’ like Terrence Hardiman.
Simon Shepherd returns as Boolin in ‘The Broken Crown’, following his previous appearance in ‘Tsar Wars’. Apparently, he escaped via a wormhole with Alex. He crashed and lost his memory, eventually gaining the alias: Mr. Bewley. When reunited with the Doctor, he remembers his true life.
Unfortunately, he ends up being absorbed into the Skishtari egg when Alex/Andrew is having a temper tantrum and refuses to give up the egg to anyone. I liked the scenes Boolin/Bewley has with Mrs. Wibbsey and the Fourth Doctor, especially when trying to get him to remember his former life.
The story also features Charlie Mitchell as Jake and Elinor Coleman as Sally. These are two kids in Hexford village who happen to be friends of Alex/Andrew that he tries to meet up with. Jake and Sally become shocked when Alex/Andrew uses the Skishtari egg, and he unleashes a fiery dragon. 😐
There’s Geoffrey Leesley as Harold, the landlord at the pub in Hexford. Apparently, Geoffrey Leesley has had a varied career in terms of acting. He’s been in soap operas like ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘EastEnders’. He’s also been in an episode of the original ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.
He’s also been in ‘Hetty Wainthorpp Investigates’. As well as this ‘Doctor Who’ story, Geoffrey Leesley has also been in ‘Arrangements For War’ with Colin Baker. His guest role as Harold in ‘The Broken Crown’ isn’t huge, but he isn’t willing to serve Mrs. Wibbsey alone in his pub without the Doctor. 😐
And there’s Su Douglas who plays the Cook. She unfortunately gets sucked into the Skishtari egg by Alex. Su Douglas has her fair share of Big Finish audios in ‘Doctor Who’. In ‘The Company of Friends’, she played Venhella in ‘Benny’s Story’ and Gem Weston in ‘Fitz’s Story’. Su has also met the Master.
Specifically, Derek Jacobi as the War Master in an episode of ‘The War Master’ story ‘Rage of the Time Lords’. It’s a pity about what happened to the cook, as all she did to Alex/Andrew was stopping him from stealing some food. I’m sure the cook had a name in the story, but I can’t recall what it was.
The story ends on a cliffhanger where the Fourth Doctor and Mrs. Wibbsey, in an attempt to stop Alex, find themselves absorbed into the Skishtari egg and they end up inside a cave. The cave happens to have a lot of treasure. I wonder if the two will meet a magic flying carpet in the next story. 😀
Tom Baker and Susan Jameson are very good in this audio adventure. Despite the absence of Mike Yates so far in ‘Serpent Crest’, I’ve been getting used to Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor and Susan Jameson’s Mrs. Wibbsey as a TARDIS duo. They work well together, both as characters and as actors.
‘The Broken Crown’ has been an enjoyable audio story to listen to in the ‘Serpent Crest’ saga. I can’t say it’s as good as ‘Tsar Wars’. The audio narration by Alex/Andrew ruined it for me, but I appreciate how the story continues from ‘Tsar Wars’ and I’m fascinated to find out more on what happens next.
It’s intriguing that ‘The Broken Crown’ doesn’t conclude on a satisfactory resolution like most of ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’ I’ve listened to have done so far. We’ve not even had an appearance of the Skishtari yet. I wonder if they are serpent-like and dangerous as they seem to be, according to the Doctor.
‘The Broken Crown’ rating – 7/10
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