Jamie

My dear Raven, this isn’t chaos; this is life. This is humanity, hurtling through space by its’ fingernails.

The Second Doctor

Synopsis

Mysterious dreams of lives never lived haunt an ailing prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, in the year 1776. Meanwhile, the Doctor arrives on another reluctant mission for the Time Lords, with the enigmatic Raven observing his every move.

How is the Doctor’s erstwhile travelling companion, Jamie McCrimmon, connected with the terrifying deaths that plague the streets in the shadow of the castle? And will Jamie ever really know his true self again?

Review

The Second Doctor Adventures takes a big step by bringing back the Second Doctor’s longest-standing companion in the shape of Jamie McCrimmon, albeit sometime after his travels with the Doctor are over. In terms of release order, Frazer Hines is the second actor to play an older version of his character, after Katy Manning did the same in The Return of Jo Jones and Maureen O’Brien, Wendy Padbury and Peter Purves have done the same since.

You don’t seem entirely pleased to see me, Doctor.

Raven

Mark Wright writes a story about the power of memory, giving it a scary spin in the process by way of the Hollow Wraiths. As we see various scenes from Jamie’s life, the story does feel disorientating and discombobulating. I will be honest and state those elements did throw me off when I first listened to this story, but on a re-listen, the story worked a lot better for me. I had a far better understanding of what these visions represented, as I probably was listening to this story whilst doing housework on my first listen. If you find yourself getting lost whilst listening to this story, I strongly recommend stopping what you’re doing and giving it your full undivided attention for its’ hour run time. Wright has the task of getting Jamie through the barrier of his memory wipe, and I appreciated that the story does this in a surprisingly unsentimental way until the closing scene in the TARDIS. The biggest problem are the Hollow Wraiths, who are ultimately a little bit generic, despite giving a few decent scares, and the ultimate resolution of that plot line feels a little rushed. That’s my only real complaint about this one.

The story reunites Jamie and the Doctor following the events of The War Games, which saw Jamie’s memory of his time travelling with the Doctor erased. In this story, Jamie finds that his travels with the Doctor have led to a malevolent alien entity exacerbating the trauma of the memory wipe, enabled by the Time Lord technology in his brain. As the Hollow Wraith gives him visions of his past and alternate realities, Frazer Hines does a great job of capturing the various aspects and ages of Jamie, and the pain and trauma that the character is going through. I understand that the visions that we hear Jamie experience are a nod to various other stories told about him after leaving the Doctor in other mediums, which is a nice way to attempt to ensure that they can all co-exist. Jamie is definitely amongst my favourite companions from the Classic era and so I am pleased to see Big Finish bring him back into this Season 6B of the show.

For a lot of the first part of the story, the Doctor is teamed up with Raven as he investigates the murders of the homeless in 18th Century Edinburgh, which is an interesting dynamic. Raven is definitely a by the book Time Lord, complying with the non-interference policy and very much sticking to her academy teaching. There is a sense of delight listening to Emma Noakes making snarky comments about humanity and the Doctor’s fondness for it, as she essentially heckles him. Equally, there’s inexperience here. She is disgusted by the sight of the dessicated corpse killed by the Hollow Wraith, noting that this is not what she has been prepared for, either by the CIA or the Academy. In that way, she definitely reminded me of Romana at the start of Season 16, who is definitely academically clever but has no practical experience. It does show that the character is fallible, despite her attempts to cover this up. Ultimately, the Doctor is able to pull the wool over her eyes and get to travel with his old companion once again.

Michael Troughton continues to excel in his late father’s role as the Second Doctor. He really captures everything that works well about this incarnation and grows in strength each time I hear him play the role. Ultimately, it is in his reunion with Jamie where his performance really shines, as it genuinely feels as though it is the same Doctor reunited with his trusty friend. Michael Troughton and Frazer Hines have a delightful chemistry which really helps in the latter stages of this story.

Verdict: Jamie sees the Doctor and his titular companion reunited in a creepy and discombobulating story. 8/10

Cast: Michael Troughton (The Doctor), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Emma Noakes (Raven), Alec Newman (Dr Breck), Daisy Ashford (Elen/Trader) & Glen McCready (Innkeep/Robertson/Captain).

Writer: Mark Wright

Director: Nicholas Briggs

Producer: Mark Wright

Music: Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Sound Design by: Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Release Date: 25 July 2023

Cast Notes

• Alec Newman played Ed Driscoll in Blue Forgotten Planet and Dr Julius in The Silent Scream (The Fourth Doctor Adventures).
• Daisy Ashford plays Liz Shaw for Big Finish. She is the fourth regular cast member of the Third Doctor Adventures to appear in The Second Doctor Adventures, following Tim Treloar, Jon Culshaw and Katy Manning.
• Glen McCready has appeared in multiple Big Finish stories, including Expiry Dating, Dark Universe and The End of the Beginning.

Best Quote

In some ways, seeing all this: the console, the wee circles on the wall, it feels like no time has passed at all, but in others…

…it’s been a lifetime.

Jamie McCrimmon and the Second Doctor

Previous Second Doctor review: Wrath of the Ice Warriors

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