"Mother Russia"
by Marc Platt

Following a successful first run, a new series of four Companion Chronicles audios launches with Mother Russia, a First Doctor story written by Marc Platt. Our narrator is companion Steven Taylor (Peter Purves), who tells a tale of a holiday-gone-wrong which he shared with the Doctor and Dodo. The trio plan to take a lengthy break in nineteenth-century Russia, but there's an alien with strange abilities who's poised to interfere.

Mother Russia's main problem is that it tries to keep the listener as confused and curious as the narrator with regards to one of the central mysteries, but fails to do so because what's happening is fairly obvious. On my first listen, I had worked out that something was up before Steven had, and it took a matter of minutes to figure out what it was. The idea of a shapeshifting alien - or "shape thief", as this one is referred to - is such a staple concept in science-fiction in general (and even in Doctor Who specifically) that many listeners will guess what's going on, and will probably have the same experience I did - the revelations were unsurprising and the plot ultimately suffered.

Like the first season's Frostfire, the audiobook element is framed within a conversation - here it's between Steven and the Interrogator, who's played by Tony Millan. As with that other story, the link between the framing device and the story itself is not hard to guess once you've worked out who the Interrogator is, which is disappointing. Additionally, it's not really made clear when the conversation is taking place in relation to the main plot, or indeed why the Interrogator wants the events recounted in the first place. Structurally, the ideas are sound, but the execution seems a little clumsy.

Those two points aside, his release is a good one. Marc Platt has lovingly recreated the feel of the First Doctor's episodes just as he did with Frostfire, demonstrating his impressive 'ear' for the tone and characters of the time, and the sound design boosts his world-building to create an atmospheric Russian setting.

The person whose work shines most of all, though, is definitely Peter Purves. His acting is startlingly good, full of realistic emotion, guiding the listener through events and making the audience feel the things he felt. He brings the weaker parts of the story to life, diving eagerly back into a role that he hasn't played for forty years but still managing to reproduce Steven with impressive accuracy. His impersonation of the Doctor, too, is tremendous - an almost-perfect imitation of William Hartnell that made me shiver when I first heard it. Even when some of his attempted accents don't work, his enthusiasm and effort are substantial enough to compensate, and listening to his reading really is good fun.

In line with the main range of audio plays, the releases in this season of The Companion Chronicles will feature some special extra features, exclusive to the CD version. For Mother Russia, we're treated to a lovely interview with Peter Purves, and a nice suite of music used during the story.

On the whole, the good outweighs the bad in Mother Russia, and the problems with the plot and structure are insignificant in comparison to the sheer brilliance of Peter Purves' reading and most of Marc Platt's writing. A slightly shakier start than the first series received, but a strong adventure nonetheless.