The Settling

"I made a mistake. I fought."

Writer: Simon Guerrier
Format: Audio
Released: May 2006
Series: Main Range 82

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

Sir,

Having brought the army belonging to the Parliament of England before this place, to reduce it to obedience, to the end effusion of bloody may be prevented, I thought fit to summon you to deliver the same into my hands to their use.

If this be refused, you will have no cause to blame me.

I expect your answer and rest your servant.

O. Cromwell

Verdict

The Settling was an outstanding audio adventure and certainly must go down as one of my all time favourite Seventh Doctor stories of any format! It really was that good. Listening on a train, I didn't even pause the story once and listened to it entirely in one sitting which, even whilst travelling, is not something I often, if ever, do. I had absolutely no clue what the story was going to be about prior to listening as I had not read the synopsis and all I had to base pre-listening assumptions from was the name and knowing which TARDIS team would be appearing. It was the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex and I thought the trio worked wonderfully well together. I liked the style of storytelling for this one with Ace and Hex reminiscing on its events in the TARDIS even before we listened to anything that had happened. They sprung up throughout the audio which I thought was very good and we got to learn a lot about their relationship. I thought it was very interesting that Hex clearly wanted to get intimate with his fellow companion and he even seemed to think that the Doctor wouldn't at all mind. Ace's reaction was rather dignified though and I think this story really highlighted how far she has come as a companion and how much her character has developed. At this point in chronology, she's very mature which is quite refreshing and she works so much alongside Sylvester McCoy's Doctor than was the case on television. The setting of Drogheda in 1649 with the English siege led by Oliver Cromwell was right up my alley as it is a hugely significant historical event. I was actually just delighted to be getting another pure historical from Big Finish and the emotion that came out of this story proves that they have so much value. Hex went through quite a lot in this audio which allowed for some serious character development. That was needed I think as we now know a lot more about Hex who is still a relatively new companion following his arrival in The Harvest. The reactions he got at this time when he told people he was a nurse were great and I thought his interactions and challenging of Cromwell was superb. He really did push him and risked being sentenced to death on more than one occasion. The Irish characters were wonderful and I really adore the accent having visited the country twice so I really did love Mary and Kieran. The latter's death was extremely heartfelt and we would then meet his brother James who was a similar and good character. I really liked the cliffhangers in this story and with the running time at 104 minutes, it wasn't at all too dissimilar to a traditional televised four-parter. Had this story aired on TV, I think it would have gone down a treat as it was simply wonderful. Applying visuals to this adventure would have been a real treat but the music that accompanied the audio in the background really was sublime and helped with the telling of the story in a huge way. The impending massacres at Drogheda and Wexford along with Mary going into labour were real highlights of the story but I think the main thing I liked was how emotional this was for Hex. Ace was there to console him but he was deeply affected by what he had witnessed on this adventure. And who could blame him? He couldn't change history but I did like how he and Ace realised they should always listen to the Doctor. Overall, a stunning audio!

Rating: 10/10