The Sixth Doctor is nearly a completely different character to who he was in the television series. He is kind, caring, and thoughtful. This is why the Sixth Doctor has become my favourite big finish Doctor.
I loved the interaction between the Doctor and the Queen. When he heard that she was pregnant, I could see the look on the sixth Doctors face! It was strange to find myself being so sympathetic towards "Bloody Mary." But when she told the Doctor that he could speak freely, I just knew that she was no where near as bad as the history books make her. I would like to see a Doctor Who episode that makes me have sympathy for Hitler. It would take a lot of effort, but it'd be so good if it worked. In the sixth Doctors own words, "Queen Mary is a remarkable woman."
The Doctors inspirational speech in episode 2 to Queen Mary- about her brother, and the faith of her country. I studied this era of history a few years back, and it was good to have Bloody Mary finally characterised for me.
During the same conversation, the Sixth Doctor says to Mary "I'm a Doctor. My job is to save lives, I can't approve of taking it." Which I thought was a brilliant line, and Colin Baker executed it perfectly.
The french bloke that visits the Queen asks for Elizabeth to be released from house arrest. Mary resists, as she believes he's asking for his own good, since Elizabeth's mother, Ann Boleyn had sympathy for the french, so she guessed Elizabeth may have as well. The Doctor seemed to be a little harsh to this French guy, which threw me off guard a bit. The guy was only trying to get history back on track!
Evelyn Smythe was great. I'm so happy that an older companion worked out! This paves way for older companions in the future. (No more "Flip" characters please, Big Finish.) It made me laugh when she asked one of the Londoners to unzip her bag, and he got really excited with it. I'd imagine that I'd be the same, if I was introduced to a zip for the first time!
George Crow played the part of a typical bloke, who didn't like change. He refused to drink hot chocolate because he saw it as a "children's drink." He was another character who annoyed me- along with the French bloke and the Reverend.
The paranoid queen stays in her tower, sick, with a phantom pregnancy. And for obvious reasons, she takes to the Doctor automatically.
The Sixth Doctor had some fantastic quotes, in this story. Posing as Queen Mary's medical Doctor, he tells one of the Queens ladies "Doctors ought not to marry, they should adopt their time to the common good. Quite like priests." Which shows him not only as a medical Doctor, but as a character. He doesn't marry because he puts everyone else before himself. The Sixth Doctor seemed to have been traveling a lot since his televised adventures. He's much more experienced, and much calmer.
I'm slightly unclear when it comes to episode three, because I got a drunken text from my beautiful and very good friend Eleanor. After laughing at her texts for ten or so minutes, I realised that I'd missed something. The Doctor and Evelyn were now trying to pick the lock in the tower of London. I remember from my history course that Sir Thomas Blood escaped from the Tower of London, so I was sure that the Doctor could.
But why was the sixth doctor upset, and sheepish about hitting a guard over the head with a chair, but he didn't flinch when he pushed a bunch of guards into acid, in the televised adventures? His character really has developed completely.
I honestly do love it when Doctor Who does purely historical episodes, and it works. Historical episodes stopped being written in the first doctors era, because the alien ones were proven to be most popular. But the new series needs to try it! Just once, see if they can do a purely historical episode. Come on, Moffat! If anyone can do it, you can!
In conclusion, this is another one of my favourite Big Finish stories. Just comes to show how brilliant the Sixth Doctor has become.
10/10
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