Broken Memories: The Queen of Clocks

"Dead flesh don't bleed."

Writer: Jacqueline Rayner 

Format: Audio

Released: March 2024

Series: Classic Doctors, New Monsters 4.02

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

The Sixth Doctor and Mel come to the rescue when they find a castle under siege from Clockwork Droids. But in a kingdom run with painstaking precision, time is running out for the Queen of Guyenne...

Verdict

The Queen of Clocks was an excellent story to continue my way through the Broken Memories fourth series of Classic Doctors, New Monsters! This is a fine story from start to finish and unlike Harmony Shoal in the previous outing of Invasion of the Body Stealers, the Clockwork Droids are definitely a monster I am not surprised to see return! It had a similar vibe to their only on screen appearance in The Girl in Fireplace with the art decor description and imagery, with Guyenne having a very Victorian vibe despite being centuries in the future! I liked that and whilst it wasn't massively touched upon, Mel mention the appearance of the Droids was terrific. They're an iconic design and the way the clockwork make up is hidden is very good and that continued here. It was nice for the Doctor to not have any knowledge on this monster with also no allusion to his future encounter as it just felt fresh. The pairing of the Sixth Doctor and Mel was fantastic and the comments at the end regarding the exercise were very amusing. The Doctor having two hearts meant he needed twice the workout! I'm not sure he would agree. I must admit with Jacqueline Rayner as the writer and her position in the ongoing Sixth Doctor Adventures, I was expecting a little bit of continuity there but it wasn't missed or a problem that it didn't come. I'm a sucker for a story about time and I usually do enjoy when things get all timey-wimey, but this particular adventure was a little more niche for a time story. Not unsurprisingly, it was a story about clocks and I thought that was marvellous. The Doctor and Mel were thrust right into action after exiting the TARDIS and they didn't really stop from there. Learning about Guyenne and the passage of time there was intriguing with different Clock Maidens passing and responsible for each hour. It was almost exhausting how they knew the time to the very second and had to mark this on numerous clocks to ensure they all complied with the Master Clock. I thought that was good and I really enjoyed how the traditions were passed down through generations. This had been ongoing for over two hundred years which was quite the scale. The race to reach midnight and the reset of the Droids was intriguing and it was their only chance to get out. A rescue ship was on its way at 1.37am which wasn't long to hold out, but the devastating truth was soon revealed. The Doctor along with Harbolt would reach the Master Clock and cut off the signal which would provide the people of Guyenne with their freedom and eliminate the Clockwork Droids. Except Mel was too late to reach the Doctor when she worked out the truth once she convinced the Queen to smash the clocks in order to discover if the Droids were close. Except they were closer than anybody know. The entire population was Droid Spawn, robots made of human parts, which is a disturbing concept. The reaction of the Doctor when he realised after Mel reached him was honestly devastating! He'd wiped out the entire Droid population who were reliving their day over and over again. That was quite incredible despite it being a little predictable, but the way it was sold on an emotional level was marvellous. It was a pulling of the heartstrings moment for sure. The Doctor and Mel reaching the source of the repeated message from Annette's son was a sombre way to conclude the adventure as he revealed it had been over 67 years since they detected no life signs and never made landing. Overall, a superb audio adventure with a big emotional appeal! 

Rating: 9/10