Brief Summary
This video provides a comprehensive guide to the Big Finish audio dramas featuring Evelyn Smythe, a companion of the Sixth Doctor. It covers her introduction, key stories, character development, and the impact she had on the Doctor's evolution. The video also touches on the actress Maggie Stables, who played Evelyn, and her contributions to the role.
- Evelyn Smythe was the original Big Finish companion, designed to "house train" the Sixth Doctor.
- Her stories range from historical adventures to experimental and nuanced narratives.
- The video highlights key stories like "The Marian Conspiracy," "Jubilee," "Arrangements for War," and "Death in the Family."
Introduction to Evelyn Smythe
The video introduces itself as a quick guide to Big Finish classic Doctor Who, focusing on the character of Evelyn Smythe. It explains that Big Finish stories are being organized by companion due to the lack of a strict timeline, making it easier to follow individual story arcs. Evelyn was the original Big Finish companion.
Evelyn's Character and Actress
Evelyn Smythe is described as a 55-year-old, cake-making, knitting-loving history lecturer with a hidden heart condition. Her strong personality was created to help the Sixth Doctor evolve into a kinder figure. Maggie Stables, a retired French teacher, portrayed Evelyn. She got the role after performing in local theater with Nick Briggs. Her time with the series was brief due to her retirement in 2013 and death in 2014.
Availability of Evelyn's Adventures
Evelyn's adventures can be purchased second-hand or downloaded from Big Finish's website. The digital downloads are among the cheapest options available. Once purchased, the MP3 copies can be downloaded as many times as desired.
The Marian Conspiracy
Evelyn's first appearance is in "The Marian Conspiracy," where she is giving a history lecture that is interrupted by the Doctor. She is a temporal paradox that the universe is trying to erase. The Doctor decides to correct this, and Evelyn joins him, traveling back to Elizabeth's court. They become involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Queen Mary. This story is a pure historical piece.
Suspects
In "Suspects," the Sixth Doctor officially meets the Brigadier. The story involves a renegade Time Lord called the Rani and a local man in Cornwall who is siphoning power from alien eggs in suspended animation. The story includes Cornish history, such as the description of a fogou, an ancient man-made tunnel. The villain, Dr. Smythe, is portrayed as a ridiculous character reminiscent of a bad Hammer horror film. Evelyn uses her middle-class Karen powers to verbally spar with him.
The Apocalypse Element
In "The Apocalypse Element," the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn meet Romana, who has returned to normal space after leaving E-Space. This story marks the Sixth Doctor's first encounter with the Daleks and is part of Big Finish's first cross-promotion story arc, "Dalek Empire." The Daleks are portrayed as particularly brutal in this story. The story also explains the human retinal scan needed to open the Eye of Harmony in the TV movie.
Bloodtide
"Bloodtide" is the first Big Finish Silurian story, set in the Galapagos Islands with Charles Darwin on the Beagle. The plot involves Silurians and their conflict with humans. The voice acting has some silly accents. Evelyn and the Sixth Doctor meet Darwin and discuss the origins of life. The story reveals that humanity was created by a Silurian mad scientist.
Project Twilight
"Project Twilight" begins an arc dealing with the recurring villain Nimrod, a vampire. Nimrod is the head of the Forge, an evil science organization working for British intelligence. The story is gritty and violent, involving vampires, gangsters, and gothic elements. One of the characters, Cassie, has a son, Thomas, who later travels with the Seventh Doctor under the name Hex.
Real Time
"Real Time" was made with the BBC as a webcast with basic animation. It is a remake of a Cybermen story told in real time. The story ends on a cliffhanger with Evelyn revealed to be the Cyber Controller. There was no follow-up to this story. The webcast introduced the Sixth Doctor's blue suit.
The Sandman
"The Sandman" presents the Doctor from the perspective of the Gayari, a chameleon-like species who see him as a mythical figure who causes bad things to happen to them. The story explores the structure of a society within an interconnected space fleet. Annika Wills, who played Polly on TV, plays one of the antagonists.
Jubilee
"Jubilee" is considered one of Big Finish's earliest triumphs, written by Robert Shearman. It served as the basis for the "Dalek" episode of the new series. The story is set in an alternate 2003 where the English Empire rules the world after the Great Dalek War of 1903. The Doctor who fought in 1903 is trapped in the Tower of London, mutilated and driven mad. The story is a meta-fiction about Dalek Mania, Empire, fascism, xenophobia, and the media.
Doctor Who and the Pirates
"Doctor Who and the Pirates" is an experimental story where Evelyn tells a colleague the story of her travels with the Doctor and meeting pirates. The story becomes increasingly weird, with the Doctor turning it into a musical featuring Gilbert and Sullivan. The pirate captain is played by the comedian, Arthur Billiard.
Lazarus
"Lazarus" is the second Nimrod story, split into two parts. Cassie from "Project Twilight" is now a vampire working for the Forge. Nimrod tries to induce regeneration through torture. Cassie dies freeing the Doctor and Evelyn. The second half features the Seventh Doctor years later, with the Sixth Doctor working for Nimrod.
Arrangements for War
In "Arrangements for War," Evelyn is on the verge of leaving the TARDIS due to the Doctor's emotional distance. To save their friendship, the Sixth Doctor brings Evelyn to the planet Vilag, a modern Australian world on the verge of international peace. They inadvertently disrupt events and must correct them before an alien invasion occurs. Evelyn falls in love with a military officer named Rossiter. The Doctor almost changes his personal history to prevent the planet from being destroyed.
Medicinal Purposes
"Medicinal Purposes" features David Tennant as a guest star. Set in 19th century Edinburgh, the story involves Burke and Hare, notorious body snatchers. The main villain is Dr. Robert Knox, a human from the future who uses a TARDIS to conduct medical tests on people in a time loop. The story includes a discussion of morality.
Peer Pressure
"Peer Pressure" is set in 1930s Brighton. The Doctor and Evelyn hang out with local celebrities and take down malevolent aliens possessing dog Bradley. Max Miller, an early 20th-century music hall comedian, is one of the supporting characters. Billy Hartnell makes a cameo appearance.
The Nowhere Place
"The Nowhere Place" involves something truly alien and Lovecraftian. The TARDIS travels forward a few hundred years and finds nothing where a thriving space-based humanity should be. A door appears on a human ship called the Valiant, leading to nowhere. Evelyn sees an infinite number of faces screaming in pain inside a giant monstrous mouth.
100
"100" is the 100th release in the Big Finish Doctor Who Main Range, consisting of four one-part stories with the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn. Each story includes the number 100. The stories are diverse, with two of them written by new Who TV legends Robert Shearman and Paul Cornell.
The Assassin in the Limelight
"The Assassin in the Limelight" is a sequel to "Medicinal Purposes" and "Peer Pressure." Dr. Knox is working for the Indo, the monsters from "Pure Pressure." Set in 1865, Knox is making inroads into the theater and has murdered John Wilkes Booth. He is posing as Oscar Wilde.
Evelyn's Final Adventures
Evelyn's final released appearance is in a trilogy of adventures that bring back Thomas Brewster. Maggie Stables retired from acting after recording the trilogy and died the next year.
A Town Called Fortune
"A Town Called Fortune" is a Companion Chronicle set after "The Nowhere Place." Evelyn and the Sixth Doctor land in a train heading west and discover that the Doctor is being blamed for a murder. The story involves a slave-driving mayor, a gold mine, and an unrequited love.
Thicker Than Water
"Thicker Than Water" is Evelyn's swan song for the Sixth Doctor, set between "Medicinal Purposes" and "Peer Pressure." It opens with the Sixth Doctor visiting the planet Vilag and finding Evelyn living there, married to Rossiter. Flashbacks depict Evelyn leaving the TARDIS.
Death in the Family
"Death in the Family" features Evelyn's death. It is a Seventh Doctor story where Evelyn is a minor character. The story involves a Time Lord from an alternate reality where language controls reality. Evelyn dies, taking Nobody No One with her.
