7.7 - The Flames of Cadiz

A solid historical that finds the First Doctor and TARDIS crew dropped into Spain during the Inquisition and just before the time the Spanish Armanda went to war with England.

As is usual, writer Marc Platt does superb historical research, capturing the horror of the era in all its ugliness. Ian is put through the ringer. In the first half, he faces the Inquisition and the second half a rush to meet his childhood hero, Sir Francis Drake. There are also nice hints of the evolving relationship between Ian and Barbara. The Doctor has some great moment in this, showing both his wiliness as well as his potential to be cantankerous and determined to teach the two School teachers a lesson in the dangers of changing history. But there's a surprise outcome to this as well as a shocking reveal of one character's identity.

I do this could have better, a tad shorter, at three parts rather than four. Still, this was a very interesting listen.

Historical romp with Ian, Susan and the first Doctor (played by William Russell - expertly as usual). We are back on trip through time again with the first Doctor and his granddaughter and Ian Chesterton. This time we are bound for Spain at the time of the Armada and the Spanish Inquisition. On arriving in Spain, the Doctor and his companions need to determine what time and where they are, as normal the Doctor although confident that he has piloted his ship really as not a clue where he is. The trio are in Cadiz, and with the Inquisition in full flow they are extracting their immoral and brutal extraction of the unbelievers in the church of Rome, in to the masses. With the attack on a Moor household, were they put to flame the premises, the crowd are drawn to see the morbid circus. Ian cannot standby and watch as one of the inhabitants will surely burn, so he intervenes and ends up in prison, to face the inquisition and potential death by being burnt, along with the man he saves. The adventure that follows is both informative, and educational, so Newman would have been proud of Big Finish, and Marc Platt for a relatively historically accurate account of the war on the high seas between Britain and Spain at the time. The story is right on the money for a First Doctor tale, so it more than ticks all the boxes. William is perfect as he reprised role of Ian, and Carole is and always will be Susan, with the characterisation of the first Doctor being handled with aplomb it all comes together, and what is more Platt as written a story that is not so bogged down in historical effect at the cost of the story

Almost as long as a First Doctor serial, and with a setting that wouldn't have felt out of place in the least, Flames certainly captures the trappings of early Who. Though as I've noted in other reviews, I find that sort of fidelity to be a bit of a letdown in a format that permits so much more than the TV budgets allowed. Still, it does what it does quite well, and (as I've also noted in other reviews) William Russell always does a top-notch job. Plus, he's only getting better at emulating the prickly and puckish First Doctor. Ford seemed to feel more comfortable in this outing, too, and it's nice to see the character of Susan continue to get more in the way of character development and just plain respect than the show ever managed. The story isn't the greatest, with its share of moments that would probably raise hackles with continuity fetishists, but there are also some really smart elements, such as Ian's (decidedly post-1960s) encounter with a personal hero, Francis Drake. Flames doesn't dazzle, but it's never dull. It's the sort of effort for which adjectives like "workmanlike" and "yeomanly" are appropriate, and in the best possible way.