Doctor Who: The Doctor's Tale

The second in this series of narrated multiple-actor stories reaches the classic show's second season, and thus replaces Susan with Vicki, with Maureen O'Brien joining William Russell as narrator. Perhaps more notably, however, it's a straight historical - one with no aliens or other SF elements. Unlike the modern TV show, Big Finish have, of course, written such stories ever since the beginning of their run, but it's a style particularly associated with the First Doctor (who had all but two of this type of story on TV).

Here, the action is set in the winter of 1400 during the events of the Epiphany Rising, when supporters of the deposed King Richard II attempted to restore him to the throne. For dramatic purposes, the timing of the events depicted here have been compressed, but they otherwise seem fairly accurate, with a number of historical figures making an appearance along the way.

The story itself is primarily a human one, with Richard II's infant bride Isabella a key focus, as is, in the latter half, the largely mysterious fate of Geoffrey Chaucer (hence the title) who probably died at around this time. It is a good piece of straightforward historical adventure, similar to some of the TV stories of around this time.

The usual limitations of the narrators having to play dual roles do come into play again, with the Doctor missing off-stage for a while, and Barbara absent for even longer. It's a little uneven in places, with part of the final resolution feeling as if it was tacked on when the writer ran out of ideas, but for the most part it works as what it's intended to be, and successfully evokes the tone of the era.