An Introduction To Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles
By James Aggas
Credit: Big Finish
With a brand new box set just released in the series, here’s an introduction to the successful range of audio stories, Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles.
The Companion Chronicles was a very popular range of Big Finish’s Doctor Who audios. Each of them would be told mainly in the first person by one of the Doctor’s many companions. While the cast would be limited, there would also be another actor present. Sometimes, it would be another former companion, but most of the time, it would be a completely new character.
Originally, this was simply a nice way of telling stories that focused on the first four Doctors. Big Finish’s main range of full-cast audios was only able to focus on telling stories of the later Classic Doctors. (These included the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth incarnations.) With the original three actors dead and Tom Baker initially being very reluctant to work for Big Finish, the Eighties and Nineties Doctors where the only ones they could tell stories with, at least for audio.
Credit: Big Finish
Companions: What Happened Next
The Companion Chronicles changed all of that. With the stories narrated by the Doctor’s companions, it meant tales could finally be told of the earlier Doctors. More than that, though – it was also a great way of revealing more about their companions.
While some of the stories were told more or less with a “present” perspective, a lot of them were essentially told in flashback. Stories could begin and end a long time after a companion had left the Doctor, with the character telling someone else about one of their adventures long ago. It certainly provided a great way of presenting a glimpse of “what happened next”. And it did it in a way that didn’t require the Doctor to show up years later.
The Companion Chronicles was also able to tell stories with very clear arcs. Not so much with the individual stories they told, at least not usually, but instead on the portions that focused on “what happened next”.
The Sara Kingdom trilogy by Simon Guerrier is a great example. Beginning with Home Truths, the stories revealed not only more about the travels she had with the First Doctor and Steven during the events of The Daleks’ Master Plan. They also reveal exactly who and what she is, and how she can be telling stories at all. You see, in case you don’t know, her character didn’t exactly get a happy ending at the end of her single TV story…
Credit: Big Finish
Dramatic Stories
The format also allowed for a surprising amount of flexibility in exactly how it told its chronicles. For example, while the stories did usually focus more on narration than on drama, occasionally, you’d get some stories that were exclusively two-handers.
A good example is Second Doctor story The Jigsaw War, by Eddie Robson. Set entirely in one room, Jamie McCrimmon is trying hard to work out what’s going on. To confuse matters further, he starts living his life in the wrong order.
It’s a very clever time travel story, and there’s a lot of back and forth between Jamie and his interrogator, Moran. Neither’s entirely sure what’s going on or whether the other’s telling the truth, so it allows for great drama.
An even more interesting example is Solitaire. In this story, Eighth Doctor companion Charley is on her own, playing a deadly game against the Celestial Toymaker. One of John Dorney’s earliest scripts for Doctor Who, it was notable for focusing on a much later Doctor than the rest of the Companion Chronicles at the time. Despite this, and its distinct break from the format, it was very well received by fans. Admittedly, it’s something of a personal favourite of mine. (And not just because it’s an Eighth Doctor story, who hardly shows up in it at all.)
Credit: Big Finish
The Non-Companion Chronicles
But sometimes, it wasn’t just the Doctor who didn’t show up. In some chronicles, it didn’t even focus on actual companions. For example, The Mahogany Murderers was a tale entirely narrated by Jago & Litefoot, a very popular duo from The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Neither the Doctor nor a companion made an appearance in this story. It was a bold move for the range. It was also successful enough to lead into their very own audio spin-off series.
Another companion-less highlight is Mastermind. Set in a UNIT vault, it focuses on what the Master got up to after the TV Movie, as he tells his story to two UNIT officers. You can read more about my thoughts on the story here, but suffice it to say, it is another personal favourite of mine.
However, having said all of that, I’d say that what made the range most successful was its focus on the companions. Sometimes, the Classic Series wrote its companions well. (I’m particularly fond of the characterization of Ian, Barbara, Jamie and Ace.)
But at the same time, there were definitely many missed opportunities. Sometimes, it was simply not revealing more about a companion’s personal life back home. (This was definitely common in the Classic Series.) Other times, it would be companions making snap decisions to leave, with absolutely no build-up. (Usually to get married to someone they literally had just met.) In some cases, a companion might not have received an exit on-screen at all!
Credit: Big Finish
The Continuing Success of the Companion Chronicles
The Companion Chronicles really did help to fix all of that. I could list just a few of the examples where a companion had been given extra depth. Or motivation had been given for why that companion chose to leave. Or simply explored their strengths and weaknesses in a way that hadn’t been effectively done on-screen.
But it would take too long. The fact is that The Companion Chronicles was one of the most consistent and successful of all of Big Finish’s ranges. In some ways, it’s a shame that range came to an end, at least on a monthly basis. But, considering how much it costs to buy just one Big Finish story a month, and how overwhelming it can be to a newcomer to discover so many stories, it was also understandable.
Thankfully, the range hasn’t completely come to an end. The series has instead continued in releases of yearly box sets of four stories each, with each set focusing on a particular Doctor. The first two box sets were very successful, and The First Doctor: Volume 2 has just been released. Expect a review on that very soon.
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