Farewell, Great Macedon

"Seeing history unfold itself before my very eyes. I was once told one should look upon history objectively. But now, I find myself emotionally involved - and it makes me very unhappy."

Writer: Moris Farhi (adapted by Nigel Robinson)
Format: Audio
Released: November 2010
Series: Lost Stories 2.01a

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, in the year 323BC. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan meet Alexander the Great - but their excitement is tempered by the realisation that these are the final days of Alexander's life. As the travellers become embroiled in the tragic events, the inevitability of history unfolds around them.

But can they - and should they - change it?

Verdict

Farewell, Great Macedon is a wonderful and beautiful Lost Story audio. It's a great shame that this story wasn't taken further back in the 1960s and made into an official serial as it was just brilliant! It was obvious that it would have made a great historical adventure. The emotion behind Alexander was incredibly touching and it was extremely tragic what was happening. Of all the times to meet the historical legend of Alexander the Great, the TARDIS crew had to be there at his death. The description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was terrific and really allowed my imagination to create a spectacular setting. The cliffhangers were surprisingly intriguing and somewhat dangerous - this wasn't the kind of serial where danger was always going to be on the cards. William Russell and Carole Ann Ford did tremendous jobs telling this story and John Dorney put in an equally good and emotional performance as Alexander. I really loved the idea of an ancient historic story. Of course we had An Unearthly Child and The Aztecs, but they were prehistoric and recent historical stories respectively. I adored Barbara's knowledge of history, especially this far back and her detail in working out the year from Alexander's explanation of the calendar of 323BC, which is much different to how we know it now. The other characters were very good also; Antipater, Seleucus, Iollas and Glaucias were fantastic! The length of the serial was great, spanning around a month in all and six episodes was a good format and the pace was very well done. An emotional climax to a great audio!

Rating: 9/10