The Flames of Cadiz

"We are all sinners."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: January 2013

Series: Companion Chronicles 7.07

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in Spain in the late sixteenth century. The country is at war with England – and the travellers find themselves on the wrong side of the battle lines.

When Ian and his new friend Esteban are captured by the Inquisition, the Doctor, Susan and Barbara plan to rescue them.

But these are dark days in human history. And heretics face certain death...

Verdict

The Flames of Cadiz was a decent Companion Chronicles audio! I thought this was a pretty solid adventure for the most part and a welcomed extension of the format for this range in that it was a four-parter spread over two hours rather than usual two-parters. It allowed for some more development the of the plot and one thing that I thought was hugely beneficial with the time was the way the setting was presented and the allowance for the TARDIS crew to interact with its elements. I liked the setting of the sixteenth century and the unique spin of having the TARDIS land in Spain rather than the usual England was terrific. I was a big fan of that and the problem of Ian and Barbara being English but stepping foot in Spain when the two countries were at war was fantastic. That was a really fun dynamic and it was also intriguing for the Doctor and Susan to almost be disassociating themselves with being English. The indication that Ian and Barbara had forgotten that fact was very interesting indeed. As is inevitable with a historical story set during this period, the religious theme worked very well and I liked how Barbara was using her knowledge as a history teacher to try and maintain the safety of herself and her friends. That safety didn't last for too long as we might expect and I thought her reaction to Ian being lost was great. She was devastated because she knew what this era entailed which was very good indeed. I thought the Doctor was a lot of fun during this Chronicle and his continued insistence that the planet's history couldn't be meddled with was terrific. I liked how the historical event at hand was the Spanish Armada which is of course a crucial part of history that almost anyone raised in the four nations of the UK would have learned about to some degree. Ian struggling to recall some of his history lessons at school was really good as well and I enjoyed that he didn't have much more than micro-bits to fall back on. His befriending of Esteban was a nice touch and he was a pretty decent character that served as another voice for the main cast. The cliffhangers were pretty impressive and definitely worked well for the historical fans like myself. I particularly enjoyed part three's where it seemed that the Spanish Armada had been thwarted before it even set sail, only for the Doctor's embarrassment to follow as he'd got the year and his historical facts wrong as we were actually one year prior to that sail and Ian's actions with Francis Drake had actually ensured history took the right path as he caused damage to the Armada enough to delay it a year in its advances. Utilising the First Doctor here was brilliant because at this early stage in his travels, he clearly wasn't so well versed in Earth's history. Despite all of the good, I thought the pace could have been a bit improved and I wasn't a huge fan of Ian going off for three days to fulfil his desire of meeting his hero Francis Drake. I was very surprised that Barbara was so willing for that to happen so soon after he had been freed and that was just something I couldn't buy into happening freely. However, the Doctor's reaction to finding out what he'd done was terrific, although he could have been slightly more chastised once they were reunited. Regardless, this was still a good audio adventure! 

Rating: 7/10