The TARDIS brings the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan to the last years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

Ignore the rather odd chronology that Barbara of all people gives in the opening episode – we’re in the late 16th/early 17th century for this story (actually February 1601, given the events in later episodes), and Sarah Grochala weaves an engaging tale of court intrigue in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the way that affected the ordinary people.

There’s enough source material for this to have stretched to a six-parter: Cecil, Essex, Shakespeare, the Queen herself – all are historical personages whose lives and involvement with each other are chronicled faithfully, albeit with dramatic twists to add the Doctor and his party. The Time Lord’s future history with the monarch is critical to the plot, and less well known characters get more due than they probably would have done had this story actually appeared in 1964.

Ken Bentley has a stellar cast for this, with Wendy Craig’s monarch the icing on the cake. Nicholas Asbury’s Shakespeare, Ian Conningham’s double turn as Cecil and Essex, Lauren Cornelius’ Jude and Liane-Rose Bunce’s Lady Penelope (no, not that one!) are all eminently credible characters and foils or allies for David Bradley’s Doctor, Jamie Glover’s Ian, Jemma Powell’s Barbara and Claudia Grant’s Susan.

Verdict: A great piece of historical drama. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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