The Marian Conspiracy


The Marian Conspiracy by Jac Rayner 

Pure Historicals as a whole are mixed beasts. You need a subject like Rosa Parks or The Witch Trials or Bloody Mary to justify them, and if you don’t pick a heavy subject it’s a meaningless romp. (Two of the above mentioned stories aren’t pure historicals but I’m making a point) Most Doctor Who fans rarely if ever have pure historicals, and they tend to be lost in the hartnell era, or are incredibly divisive stories on the whole. Luckily, The Marian Conspiracy, the OTHER starting point for Big Finish, is fabulous. 
It doesn’t do much hand holding if you don’t know the subject matter either, so do a read on Bloody Mary before giving it a listen, but god is it well written. 
Entitled to Melodrama: The Sixth Doctor has a controversial, arguably bad television run, but from the very first Big Finish story, they worked on his redemption by giving him most of the best stories they had. God did it work. I saw one television story of him and then this, and he completely redefined how I felt about the character. (mostly thoughts obtained through the public consciousness) It's incredibly difficult to describe him under something other than very good. Because he’s very good. Someone else is even better though...
Evil Evelyn, Pirate Queen: Evelyn Smythe is without a doubt, one of Big Finishes finest creations, if not THE finest character they’ve created in their works. She fits into Sixes more mercurial personality perfectly, in the vein of 10 and Donna or 4 and Romana. She is in a way, the anti companion, not a modern girl with sass like most of Modern Doctor Who companions are. (Although She definitely possesses sass)
Evelyn utilizes her background as a history teacher in a way few Doctor Who characters do, and without someone like her in the story, it would fail. 
Thankfully, Evelyn exists, and why no one has started a religion around Her astounds me as one of the great questions science will never solve. The way she invites herself onto the TARDIS at the end had me grinning from ear to ear.
The Monsters: Bloody Mary could be considered one, but the story paints a morally grey background around her. Yes, she kills loads of people in the name of religion, but the story is incredibly honest about what she did, and how she felt. It’s rather eloquently written. 
Overall: The Marian Conspiracy is mainly a character piece to introduce Evelyn, and it accomplishes that exceedingly well. Even the bonkers bits where Evelyn glitches around in the 1500s and no one cares are done with style. 8.5/10

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