Start to Finish: Introduction and 1.01 - Frostfire

Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd

Next month sees the release of the final title in Big Finish Productions' Companion Chronicles range, at the end of a seven year run. To mark this occasion, I've decided to re-listen to all 80 Companion Chronicles, plus the bonus releases The Three Companions, Freakshow and The Mists of Time.

A few words of introduction for the uninitiated. Big Finish Productions was founded years back to produce audio plays based on the adventures of Professor Bernice Summerfield, a Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who Companion-turned-solo adventuress. After a few years and modest success, the company gained a license to produce plays based on the adventures of the classic era (and at the time, only) Doctors, and attracted the regular participation of a great many original cast members, including Peter Davidson, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and - after the first year - Paul McGann and many of their original companions, as well as adding some of their own.

Of course, this left four of the eight Doctors unavailable, due to the death of three actors and Tom Baker's disinterest in continuing involvement in the franchise (a decision now reversed, leading to his involvement in the company's work). The answer to this was The Companion Chronicles. In each of the releases in the series, one of the original companion actors narrates the story of a 'lost' adventure, lying between episodes in the existing canon, with an additional actor providing one of the voices in the story and sound effects and music to add depth to the reading.

The first title in the series was and is Mark Platt's Frostfire, an adventure for the First Doctor narrated by Maureen O'Brien as Vicki, a young woman from the future who was rescued by the original TARDIS crew (in The Rescue) after the departure of Susan, and who eventually left in The Myth Makers to take the name Cressida and marry Prince Troilus of Troy and Carthage.

Like most of the Companion Chronicles, and all of the early offerings, the play is a story within a story, as Vicki narrates the tale to the Cinder, a sepulchral-voiced creature (the voice provided by Keith Drinkel) dwelling in an icy vault beneath the temple in Carthage. The story which she tells is of a visit to a frost fair in 1814, and an encounter with Jane Austen and the mysterious Phoenix Egg, an artefact which seems to suck heat from the world and exercise an unhealthy fascination on the minds of those who look upon it.

One of the themes which resonates through the Chronicles, and begins here, is one of melancholy reflection. Perhaps as a result of framing most of the stories as the reminiscence of a past companion now much older, and perhaps in part from the nature of the project, harking back to the early years of the beloved show, the story is a nostalgic reflection of Vicki's glory years traveling with the Doctor.

In connecting the past and the future versions of the companion through the tale, it also features a central plot device - the Frostfire, both phoenix and egg - which haunts the companion into their later life. It is this, the link between the story and the story within the story, that is perhaps the most effective part of the narrative. It gives the play its shape, and creates a wonderfully circular pattern which suits a series about time travel.

The story itself is effectively framed by the cold weather of frozen London and the ice-blue flames of the Frostfire. It feels cold, and the peril has a strangely desperate edge because of it. The plot has elements of Dracula (although the setting is much earlier) with a life-stealing force stalking through London's streets and setting its sights on our heroine, even featuring a 'Bloofer Lady' possessed by the same force that first consumed her. The historical setting is less effective than the science fiction elements, in part because of the similarity to the more dominant Victorian era, and the mass-slaughter occurring in the centre of London is striking in its lack of impact.

Also, Jane Austen appears in her later years as a slightly crazed adventuress, punches out a possessed fire-eater and saves the day, so there's that, even if having Jane Austen declare your story beyond her imagination as a writer is an unnecessarily ballsy move.

The Doctor is a somewhat tangential presence in this story, but then it dates to an era when he was only just beginning to be the star of his own show, coming into his own after the departure of his original 'crew'. Perhaps as a result of the early focus on Vicki's activities, his bravura appearance at the end of the story is a little deus ex machina, but not out of character. Maureen O'Brien's impression of the First Doctor is pretty good, although her Steven Taylor is less convincing.

Frostfire is a good start to what was, at the time, something of an experiment. It's not perfect, but it combines compelling imagery with a convincingly monstrous peril.

Next up is the second release of series 1, featuring Wendy Padbury and Nicholas Briggs in Fear of the Daleks.