I Was Churchill's Double

"Where is the real Churchill?"

Writer: Alan Barnes
Format: Audio
Released: February 2018
Series: The Churchill Years 2.03

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Churchill

Synopsis

Alexandra Palace, 1942. Strange television signals show a paranoid Churchill urging on the resistance in German-occupied Britain. A man in a battered leather jacket makes a guest appearance. The broadcasts come from another world, one where the country is now part of the Kaiser's Empire. Of course, the Doctor is involved, and while Churchill claims to understand the notion of 'alternative histories', he never expected to be part of one.

Verdict

I Was Churchill's Double was a great little audio adventure to continue the second volume of The Churchill Years! Although the ratings have remained consistent for this boxset, I think this was slightly the better of the three audios so far. I liked how things started at the BBC at Alexandria in 1942 and Churchill telling of his distain towards television. That was really fun to think about it given the setting and how young TV was at the time. Baird made for a good character alongside television and it wasn't until the Doctor said at the end that I realised he was the inventor of television! That's a really fun addition to the story. The idea of a double for Churchill was terrific and I liked the idea of a broadcast telling Britain how the country had been infiltrated by Germans. The arrival of the Ninth Doctor was unexpected given that he'd just featured in Human Conflict, but any additions to his era are welcomed from me! It was a bit rich coming from Churchill to call him "the one with the ears". Louisa talking through the mirror was interesting and the Germans getting closer was good to play with given the Second World War setting. Von Moltke's arrival into the audio was very good and his voice was great for a villain. Louisa running a spy network was an unexpected revelation, but the story focusing on the mirror that saw into another really was fantastic. Churchill seeing and even hearing his alternate self through the mirror was good and I liked the contrast of things once he went through to the other side. His reaction to the fact that this Britain was ruled by Kaiser Willhelm III was excellent and that was unexpected given the 1942 setting. The tune of God Save The Queen being reworded to fit the Kaiser was outstanding. The description of Churchill's escape in a ship was intriguing and I liked how the Doctor had even managed to end up in the parallel universe. Finding out that Louisa was on the side of Von Moltke was very good and his conversation with the Kaiser was super interesting. With Churchill going through, it was excellent to have the alternate Churchill replace him on his side of the mirror and his reaction to being referred to as Prime Minister was wonderful. The idea of someone with Churchill's personality being held in prisons of the Kaiser was superb and something that could have been expanded upon more. Seeing his land occupied by Germans must have been startling. Louisa knowing where the TARDIS was and how it was the only way to swap the Churchills back was intriguing and I liked how she withheld its location because the Doctor would leave the issues of this parallel universe behind. The blueprints that the alternate Churchill had was a good plot device and Louisa's mission being to get them was logical and it was clear that he would never surrender them. Churchill trying to explain to Baird about an optical feedback in our reality was terrific as he had hidden the plans literally in his head! Those plans being to devise an atomic bomb worked well and his plan being to exchange them with the Americans for guerrilla war affront against the Germans was great. The reference to Storm Warning and the Doctor's reaction to the R101 was lovely continuity. The switch towards the end discovering that the reality was not a parallel world and was more so a distorted reflection of Louisa' reality. But then it turned out things were actually within the mirror! The idea that it was the source of Sleeping Beauty was marvellous and I liked the Doctor mentioning how the Grim brothers were German collectors of folklore. That was very fascinating. The Old Maid being revealed as the true enemy was probably a little late in the day and her replacing the mirrors was logical but the whole explanation about the mirror being in her family since Medieval times, whilst good, was just too late on to have full impact. I loved the concept of a utopia window and how within was an idealised world. The links to the Time War being like a tsunami and resulting in it washing up here was fantastic though. The window now was diminishing after the interference of evolving technology which tied back to the television stuff nicely, and it was good for the Maid to toy with the idea of giving Hitler the plans for an atomic bomb in 1942. How that would change things! But then we got another little twist that none of the characters were actually real at all and were just bits of plasma. That was intriguing, probably a twist too far. The sudden way things ended with the Doctor using the positive signal and everything exploded to get Churchill and the TARDIS back through to the right side of the window was pretty good, but the final blow came with the glass breaking emphatically and cutting up the Maid fatally. The Doctor confiscating the blueprints at the end was also quite a humorous way to finish things. Overall, a great audio!

Rating: 8/10