"Did I even know my own past anymore?"
Writer: Paul Magrs
Format: Audio
Released: September 2010
Series: Companion Chronicles 5.03
Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo
Synopsis
Christmas 2010, and Jo Grant finds herself stuck in a department store elevator with an alien creature called Huxley.
Huxley is a narrator from Verbatim Six, and he is here to let Jo revisit the best time of her life – when she was the plucky companion to that eccentric Space/Time traveller known only as... Iris Wildthyme.
Confronted with memories she knew nothing about, Jo agrees to a meeting with Iris inside her transdimensional bus, and together the three of them take a trip back in time. Back to the 1970s, to UNIT HQ, and a meeting with the only person who knows the whole truth...
Verdict
Find and Replace was a brilliant Companion Chronicle audio! I really enjoyed this one from the off and I thought it was great that we had a story featuring the Jo Grant, or Jones rather, of today instead of her just recalling a previously unseen/unheard adventure she had with the Doctor. It definitely helped with the telling of the story and throwing in the Noveliser as what appeared to be the villain for most of the adventure was just subtly perfect. There weren’t any pauses for narration because that’s what Huxley’s character was all about! Starting things off with Jo rushing her Christmas shopping at Selfridges on Christmas Eve just before closing time was humorous and exactly what I’d expect of her clumsy and loveable nature. It was her luck though that she ended up stuck in the lift that was serving as a temporal bubble. Thank goodness for her that time wasn’t going by on the outside or her nieces and nephews wouldn’t be too thrilled with their Christmas presents. Jo disliking the narration that was taking place right in front of her was excellent and you could clearly hear just how frustrated she was getting by events. Huxley’s proposal that Jo could get to relive the events before her marriage was interesting as that obviously included her time with the Doctor. Huxley wanted to know all about that time she was a companion to an eccentric time traveller. But it was a her, and this was not the Thirteenth Doctor he was talking about. My interest was peaked right there and I suspected the Rani for a second despite how far fetched that might be. Huxley changing into his more comfortable five-figured form was humorous and I enjoyed Jo’s reaction and how she was pretending to not know about aliens and other planets. Katy Manning was just terrific throughout this audio. Finding out that Huxley was trying to suggest that Jo had never travelled with the Doctor was a great development and I liked how offended she seemed by that. He claimed that the Doctor had never actually been exiled and that it was Jo’s memories that had been altered to make her believe that she had travelled with the Doctor. I liked that. Was she really having doubts? I was a little surprised by that despite her determination that her memories were in fact true. The suggestion that it was actually MIAOW that were employers instead of UNIT was very humorous. The emergence of Iris Wildthyme into the audio was wonderful and whilst I have very little knowledge and experiencing of her travels, I knew enough to enjoy her presence a great deal. I loved that she too was just playing along with Huxley’s nonsense about the past but she was getting a little too carried away. She was almost enjoying herself! Iris seemed to have a plan and that involved going along with the noveliser’s ridiculousness and trying to latch on. Wildythyme then getting Huxley in a vicious death lock that was followed by a tussle was terrific and I enjoyed the confidence with which the traveller knew that she and Jo were needed so there would be no mind burning as Huxley had been threatening. The whole prospect of trying to write the Doctor out of their personal histories was superb and playing with that is excellent. It should have been obvious really that it was the Doctor all along who was the culprit! But alas, Jo would never think that so off to the 1970s they went for a good cliffhanger and an emotional set up for part two. Huxley being tied up as Iris and Jo travelled back in time in a whacky bus was intriguing and it seemed quite funny that he still enjoyed the observations. It would make for abilities to tell stories consistent. Jo pondering over Wildthyme’s earlier statement about the Doctor being an old flame was a lovely moment as she saw the Doctor in a different way for perhaps the first time. Could he? One thing that did confuse me a little was why Huxley came with them out of the bus. I didn’t get that at all but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story which is all you can really ask for. The arrival at UNIT HQ in the ‘70s was magnificent and it really must have been quite a feeling for Jo to step back into her past. I loved the suggestion that the events of The Three Doctors was actually a case of seven incarnations of Iris Wildthyme all fighting the Zarbi and Quarks in a game of backgammon in the Obverse. Now that’s an image! The enjoyment that Jo had at being able to see Benton again was terrific and I found it quite humorous that Iris spoiled the events of Invasion of the Dinosaurs with regards to Yates. The idea of Jo being locked up in the holding cells below UNIT HQ was fantastic because of how preposterous it should be! She couldn’t keep her identity from Benton for long and her feeling the presence of the Doctor above her was marvellous. Benton gazing in wonder at his friend was a powerful moment and I loved how he thought that Jo had come back to give the Doctor the components he needed to fix the TARDIS. After all, she had clearly come a long way. Benton had let them out once he knew who was being held, but Iris took precautions and knocked him out for an hour with her deadly spray scent. Jo didn’t approve of that. The feeling she had when stepping foot into the Doctor’s laboratory was a sublime moment and I loved how she took in something that was so routine for her in the past. I didn’t expect Jo to meet the Doctor if I’m honest so I loved it when they did! The embrace must have been phenomenal for Jo. The moment Iris flung herself at the Doctor injected some comedy to along with the raw emotion previously on display. The revelation that the events that the Doctor was told were actually his own doing amazed me to be honest because it’s just so horrible! He admitted the case quite early on which added to my surprise that he was in cahoots with Huxley all along. Iris getting to spray the Noveliser was a good moment though. The Doctor had been trying to write himself out of both Jo and Iris’s lives to keep them safe and potentially have them travel together. It didn’t quite work that way though with Iris showing no respect for the Laws of Time which wasn’t much of a shock! The use of the exile that pained the Third Doctor so dearly was brilliant as the Novelisers had been after the Doctor for a long time, but he was always moving around too much. Not on this occasion though. He was stuck. So he concocted a plan with Huxley to basically place Jo in a witness protection programme whilst ridding himself of the Wildthyme nuisance. That sounded a lot like him. The Doctor not expecting Jo to doubt the truth about her memories was a foolish mistake and her emotional outburst was absolutely warranted. She wasn’t supposed to come back, but he didn’t know how much he meant to people which I thought was nice. The Doctor getting rid of Huxley by sending him on a mission to keep tabs on the Master was good and I liked the narrative line about that not going well. Jo had to leave in hasty fashion now as her younger self was returning to HQ and Iris forcing her into a quick exit was better for her and the Doctor. Goodbyes were tough, but he’d promised a visit once the TARDIS was operational again. Jo being happy that her past was intact and living with potential danger was good and I loved that she was able to touch it again. I’d love to go into my past! Overall, an excellent audio adventure!
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