Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – Home Truths

Sit down and stay for a while. There's a story to tell that you won't soon forget~

Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles – Home Truths

Written by Simon Guerrier

Directed by Lisa Bowerman

Starring Jean marsh as The Old Woman and Sara Kingdom

And Niall MacGregor as Robert

Across the water there sits a house. Inside this house lives a comforting old woman who will shelter you from any storm. Sit down with her, relax in the warmth of her house and let her tell you a story you won’t soon forget. Every once and a while Big Finish throws us a curve ball that not only surprises us, but explodes into a billion pieces of delicious jelly babies. Such is the case with the Companion Chronicles trilogy featuring Sara Kingdom. Sara Kingdom as some of you may know is a short lived companion of the first Doctor, introducing and dying in The Dalek’s Master Plan television story. Sara holds a special place in my heart because of these Companion Chronicle stories. I listened to them in my early days of discovering Big Finish and instantly fell in love with her. I myself am far too young to have enjoyed The Dalek’s Master Plan when it aired, and now most of the 12 episode story are lost to time, with only two episodes remaining in circulation. Don’t let that stop you though as the first story in this three part arc will fill you in on the missing gaps.

                This review will cover the first part of the Sara Kingdom Companion Chronicle trilogy, but before that let’s starts with a little about the companion who stars in these masterpieces. Sara Kingdom isn’t your average companion. She’s a strong female character worthy of playing a lead role. Her career of choice has her being a space security agent, who works for Mavrick Chen, the Guardian of the Solar System. As I’m sure you can already gather she has a pretty important job which basically boils down to her being a police officer for a vast agency that protects the known galaxy from threats such as the Daleks. Sara is an independent woman who struggles to uphold the law, to the point of being merciless at times. Her brother works for the same organization, Bret Vyon, but he has discovered something greatly wrong at the heart of the organization his sister and him work for. Maverick Chen is in league with the Daleks! Chen discovering Bret’s knowledge of his treachery has sent Sara to end Bret’s life and to kill anyone he may be working with. Sara unknowing that Chen is using her to cover up his dealings with the Daleks. Of course it wouldn’t be a Doctor Who story without the Doctor. The first Doctor and his companion Steven are helping Bret throwing them in Sara’s cross-hairs. Sadly though Sara ends up killing her brother only to discover soon afterwards she’s been used by Chen to hide his dealings with the Daleks. Sara knowing she’s done wrong now joins the Doctor and Steven in their fight against the Daleks. Being a very long arc, the longest television arc in Doctor Who history thus far, things aren’t set straight so quickly and Sara travels with the Doctor for an unseen amount of time on the run from the Daleks and Chen, many of their adventures being unseen by the viewers. However, all stories must come to a conclusion and all companions eventually leave the Doctor, but for Sara she simply doesn’t leave the Doctor she dies at the end of the story, literally turning to a pile of dust by the conclusion. It’s a sad ending for such a strong and passionate character, but it does make her a very memorable woman for those watching her back during its original airing on television. Fear not though, as Big Finish has chosen not just to expand upon her story but to give some pleasant surprises as well in regards to Sara.

That smug looks tells you she knows her gun is bigger than yours~

                Our trilogy starts with Home Truths a chilling tale where the mind can be a very dangerous thing if left unchecked. The story starts when a man named Robert, played by Niall MacGregor, visits an old house; within it an old woman greets him and offers him comfort. This woman, played by Jean Marsh, begins to tell Robert a story about three travelers coming across a lone house, much like the one they’re sitting in now. This story features not only Sara Kingdom, but Steven and the first Doctor. They have stumbled upon a house during their adventures together in The Dalek’s Master Plan. The house is mostly empty except for some pictures and gifts for two newlyweds who the house seems to belong to. It soon becomes clear that despite the house being apparently empty that something is gravely wrong. The house begins to answer the calls of their mind automatically provides them with such simple things as a glass of water simply by any of them thinking about it. Quickly after this revelation a body is discovered, a young woman. The corpse’s identity is quickly made apparent as it belongs to the young woman in the pictures. A fresh bride sent to an early grave. The house has quite a few surprises in store for the Doctor and his companions, and one of them will be changed forever before whatever forces at work are through with them.

                Home Truths does an excellent job of mixing a suspenseful story with aspects of the paranormal. It’s a nice departure from first Doctor stories which largely feature historical and science fiction settings. We’re given this house that is obviously paranormal in nature, but after the discovery of the houses subservient nature there is a murder afoot and from that point on things starts moving fast until we reach a conclusion that opens up new realms of possibilities for Sara Kingdom. I really enjoyed the departure from the norm; a long story arc for a character with limited screen time deserves a start that sets the trilogy apart from what people generally expect in Doctor Who. Of course some of you may be wondering why our heroes simply don’t leave the house, well like any good haunted house story they simply can’t. The doors and windows are locked and the house isn’t going to let them out.  Trapped in this house with a dead body makes Sara and the other restless, the old lady telling the story helps us feel this hopelessness that they are truly tapped inside the house and the only way out is to solve the mystery of the body and the overly accommodating house. As the story goes on the old storyteller begins to tell us things from Sara’s perspective, it’s almost as if she was there in Sara’s shoes. It’s within this and the stories conclusion we discover a link between Sara and our story teller. A house that can grant any wish that comes into your mind, and old lady who many have claimed has lived there for years upon years, the threads begin to draw together forming a singular line. Sara died at the end of The Dalek’s Master Plan she couldn’t possibly be this old lady. Even if she was the old woman's lived there for at least over a hundred years. The answer though to the question of how the old lady and Sara are linked is answered in the end of this first story, and it paves the way for two more amazing stories.

                Jean marsh has a wonderful voice that can be both soothing and engaging. I’d trust her to comfort me into a relaxing setting, or to engage me in a thrilling adventure. Her voice reminds me why I so thoroughly enjoy audio stories; her gift of playing a character like this elderly woman who gifts travelers with a tale of suspense really lets me sink into Home Truths while forgetting everything else around me. I feel at times as if I’m in Robert’s shoes, in the house, letting her tell me the tale of three travelers trapped inside a place thay can’t hope to escape.

                Going into Home Truths I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that it involved a house and Sara Kingdom in it. Niall MacGregor  and Jean Marsh do a phenomenal job of bringing us this wonderful look into an untold first Doctor story featuring Sara Kingdom, a character who after listening to this I believe deserved a far longer stay aboard the TARDIS. Not only is Jean marsh a wonderful engaging woman, but Sara’s character is now only finally getting the consideration that she so rightly deserves. Sara is far more than your average companion, she’s strong and engaging, as well as having enough going on with her character that certainly warranted further exploration. Big Finish really has done a remarkable job. Home Truths is a outstanding feat in storytelling, it stands on its own feet regardless of it having two more parts. The fact that there are two more stories further exploring Sara and the house is just extra icing on an already remarkable cake.

Rating: 5 out of 5