Start to Finish: The Mists of Time

Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd

Like Freakshow, Jonathon Morris' story The Mists of Time was originally released as an exclusive, promotional bonus to readers of Doctor Who Magazine, but is still a full-fledged, full-length story.

Jo Grant is lost. She is in a strange facility, with a strange man, and she doesn't know why, or where the Doctor is. To remember, she'll have to work through the story of how she got there, but the answer may not be one that she likes.

The framing narrative of The Mists of Time is perhaps a little contrived, even for a Companion Chronicle. Jo, apparently suffering from amnesia, is urged to recall how she came to be there 'as if you were telling a story'. I think this was the first Chronicle released through the Magazine, so perhaps a little lampshading was felt necessary.

The story itself is a pretty classic Third Doctor with TARDIS. You can absolutely see the whole thing being shot in a series of quarries and sound stages with the benefit of every smoke machine in the BBC's arsenal, and the twist is good enough that I'm not going to give it away in advance. Katy Manning remains an excellent narrator, and Andrew Whipp's Calder provides good support. Interestingly, as the story is being told to Calder, Manning provides his voice in the story itself, which hasn't been done previously.

The last of the specials is The Three Companions, which was originally presented as a series of short episodes appended to the main range of monthly releases, featuring Polly Wright, somewhat obnoxious audio companion Thomas Brewster, and the swansong of Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier.