They were summoned back to Earth by the Brigadier to assist UNIT, and later flew off to explore lethal progress in the future. And now, the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Sarah Jane Smith (Sadie Miller) visit two distinctive historical settings in the third and final volume of 4DA Series 15, with Harry Sullivan (Christopher Naylor) joining them in the grand finale.
With Pyramids of Mars notably being the only pseudo-historical serial in Season 13, Big Finish doesn’t miss the opportunity to explore niche aspects of Earth history in this anthology. And it just so happens that it’s already more than 50 years since The Masque of Mandragora, the Season 14 opener, began airing September 1976.
We begin with Daughter of Destruction, a two-parter by Katharine Armitage, as a rebellion takes place in Ongud, 1211. The Doctor and Sarah are soon caught in the middle of the carnage and ally with Alakhai Bekhi (Susan Hingley), the titular daughter of warlord Genghis Khan (Paul Courtenay Hyu). But there is also the risk that one small thing could alter the course of history, along the lines of The Aztecs.
My knowledge of Genghis Khan may be limited, but I was highly intrigued yet unaware of his daughter being front and centre in the conflict. Despite there being no pure historical Doctor Who serials in the 1970s, the script feels very realistic in its storytelling which brilliantly highlights the feminist qualities and strengths of Sarah and Alakhai.
Although not entirely relevant to the plot, I couldn’t stop laughing when the Doctor and Sarah joked about desserts at the beginning, because it reminded me of when my old school friend used to refer to a dessert spoon as a “desert spoon”. The story works very well as a spiritual prequel to the sadly missing, pure historical serial Marco Polo, which features Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan.
Bringing the series to a close is A New Occupation (which shares the same title as the boxset), a four-parter by director Helen Goldwyn. The Doctor and Sarah reunite with Harry at a hotel in Jersey, but a temporal anomaly sends the trio through a time tunnel to the island under Nazi occupation in 1944. There may be no way back to reach the TARDIS three decades later, and personal timelines could end up being rewritten with all of reality at stake.
As I’m familiar with tidbits of Jersey during the occupation, the pseudo-historical script is radically different from Operation Werewolf (The Lost Stories) and Operation: Vengeance (3DA). I love how it maintains the realistic aspects of World War II, with character-driven elements also being central to the narrative. Despite there being a lot to unpack, the story itself makes the island’s culture and history all the more interesting.
After three volumes, it’s a real joy to have more Season 13 audios with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah, which I’ve highly anticipated for since Sadie Miller made her debut as the iconic role in Return of the Cybermen (The Lost Stories). The best way to honour her beloved late mother Elisabeth Sladen! Like with The Ministry of Death, the same mistake of using the boxset’s overall title is repeated for A New Occupation, despite Lethal Progress thankfully avoiding it. If I could think of a better title, I’d go for “Historical Conquerors”, hence the theme of this anthology.
Overall, I consider A New Occupation to be an outstanding conclusion to The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15, and one of the best boxsets in the range. A perfect opportunity to do two stories focusing on overlooked historical periods. Whatever happens next year, I hope Series 16 will feature Sarah Jane Smith as the companion… and perhaps a boxset comprising of a six parter.
A New Occupation is available now from Big Finish.
