Families: The Y Factor

"I have never been happier to make a misdiagnosis."

Writer: Christopher Cooper

Format: Audio

Released: April 2025

Series: Companion Chronicles 15.04

Featuring: First Doctor, Dodo

Synopsis

Aided by septuagenarian jujitsu expert Edith Garrud, the First Doctor and Dodo Chaplet encounter an alien fungus that warps evil thoughts into evil deeds.

Verdict

The Y Factor was a great story to conclude the Families fifteenth series of Companion Chronicles! I hope we don't have to wait three years again for the next series of this wonderful little range because it really is fantastic in offering us a more companion-focused set of stories. With the ongoing First Doctor Adventures from Big Finish, they are playing catchup on the adventures of the Doctor and Dodo between The Savages and The War Machines, and extending that gap again here is most welcomed. I think it was good to place a timeline on the story with it being shortly after the former aforementioned serial in which Steven departed. Taking Dodo to Detford in 1947 was a decent setting and I liked how that was pretty familiar for her with her coming from less than two decades into the future. The country being in adjustment following the Second World War is a good place to visit and I think that allowed some strong maturation from Dodo that we perhaps never got to see on screen. I did find it funny that she mentioned her constant screaming as a new skill she gained from her travels! Of all the things to pick up wondering the universe. The Doctor not being himself after coming into contact with the fungal contagion was amusing and whilst it's not that terrible of a mistake for him to mistake Dodo for his granddaughter Susan, his referring to Edith as Barbara was! I thought it was tremendous though for him to refer to his companion as Miss Chocolate instead of Chaplet. Tremendous stuff. I am more than used to Stephen Noonan's take on the First Doctor now and whilst I wouldn't describe it as authentic, the writing does help. He gets the mannerisms perfect but the voice impression is still leaving a lot to be desired. I thought the story having the traditional narration style that has dominated the range was excellent, although it was a nice twist for Dodo to be telling it in the present rather than recalling its events in hindsight. The Doctor needing the comfort of the TARDIS when subjected to the microscopic infection was a strong way to foreshadow the concluding moments of The Tenth Planet and I loved that he was delighted not to have regenerated. That echoed sentiments in Twice Upon a Time very nicely. The Doctor sharing a history with Edith's husband's jujitsu teacher was not expected, although it was fun for him to mention using Venusian aikido as his means of combat. The testing of V2 rockets when they were supposed to be German was intriguing and I liked the history behind Operation Backfire. Aubrey Kingston being amongst those testing was good and the disagreement with Saunderson soon opened up the truth about what was happening. The microscopic agent causing psychological trauma certainly explained the Doctor's actions in the first part and it also revealed what had killed the alien. The fungal life form propagating itself was a strong threat because it's almost a natural one! Saunderson had affected the workers at Patchworks and I liked how the Doctor deduced that the absence of a Y chromosome was key. Whilst that was a good concept, I'd have liked more clarity on why that had happened. The Doctor having a whole alphabet of chromosomes was fun to explore without saying he was a Time Lord too. It felt very of the era to have an enigmatic comment like that about his makeup and background. The danger of the nose cone of the rocket being set to invade the atmosphere with fungus was exciting and more could have been made of that being imminent to really get things on the edge! The inability to blow it up because of the ground level spread that would follow was good, and I was fine with the resolution in having the Doctor adapt the photonic drive to release light waves as radiation to attack it. The lead walls provided the necessary protection for the Doctor and company which was good even if things got perhaps a little too scientific for the average listener. It was a nice touch at the end for Dodo to want to look in on Edith after the events using the time space visualiser, and seeing her settled down in 1966 ended things on a lovely note. Overall, a strong conclusion to what has been an excellent series! 

Rating: 8/10