The Companion Chronicles


1.1 Frostfire


When the Companion Chronicles were first announced I preordered and was really looking forward to it. However when it came I listened to the first few minutes, turned it off and that was it. A narrated story wasn’t something I enjoyed. It wasn’t until I came to the Jago and Litefoot series, and their first series continuing from The Companion Chronicles ‘pilot’ they did that I gave that episode a go and rather enjoyed it. I asked for recomendations and pretty much started buying them up. So now I thought I’d go back to the beginning and see if my opinion had changed.


Vicky or Lady Cressida, now married with children, living in Earths past, writes down a story of when she was with the Doctor. She tells this story to something that lives beneath the city, an entity that only Vicky knows and who knows of the Doctor.


The story she narrates is from when she, The Doctor and Steven arrived in London, in the 1800’s - the Thames frozen over and the frost fair and when they encountered a phoenix egg.


Unfortunately this audio did as little for me this time as when I first attempted it. I thought that having got used to the medium my outlook would have changed, it has but only slightly.  It is a mostly narrated piece and as the first in the range it has yet to benefit from experience.


Maureen O’Brian is great as Vicky and I can’t fault her performance. The other actor in this plays the entity she tells the story to, so a somewhat limited role. But that was the bit I was more interested in. 


It just didn’t engage me, the setting is great, its a nice period. There’s the inclusion of Jane Austin, which seemed pointless as nothing of value was gained form her part in it. But I was never eager to learn more, I wasn’t gripped and I didn’t care what happened and glad when it was over so I could stop listening to it.


This seems to be a love it or hate it thing. I can see why it put me off the range, it isn’t the best story and personally I wasn’t interested in the tale it was telling.

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