So, to the last of the ‘Sara Kingdom’ trilogy. In the moving prologue, Robert’s 21-year old daughter, who Sara helped save, leaves to see the world, never to return, but Robert stays in the house – shouldering the burden that Sara has carried for a thousands years. It is made explicitly clear that the impression that Sara left in the house in ‘Home Truths‘, has given the house judgement. A judgement it didn’t possess before she arrived and accidentally killed the original occupants on the whim of the woman of the house. Sara offers to tell one last story, one which is more explicitly tied into ‘Dalek’s Master Plan‘ than the others have thus far and features an appearance by Mavic Chen and Bret Vyon.
The story she tells is one referenced in ‘Home Truths’ – that of the old men trapped inside a clock. TARDIS lands in a city, contained in which is the mechanism of an enormous mechanical clock, oppressive and noisy. There are old men working in the clock, part of the mechanism – it is revealed later that they are prisoners responsible for the running of the clock. The lock itself is almost a physical presence here – alive – the soundtrack a monstrous tick tocking, pounding of a pendulum and huge mechanical machinery. It is very oppressive and conveys the scale of the clock and teh nightmarish conditions very well.
Ingeniously, the TARDIS has taken Sara back to a time before Master Plan – and she meets Bret and Chen at the facility. The clock is at the heart of Earths’ empire and its hyperspace lanes. Chen as a manipulative politician is well drawn here, trying to persuade Sara that the clock is needed, until he has the taranium being mined, which he says will power space/time travel. His charm almost wins her over – he makes her feel important, like all such politicians do and offers her a job. Despite trying to change the future, Sara fails – saving the Doctor and Steven from the workings of the clock and sadly seeing Bret leave her for the last time before their meeting in ‘The Traitors’. Rather neatly, the destruction of the clock cleverly leads into Dalek’s Master Plan as Chen is forced to come up with another plan, without the hyperspace lanes.
In the house, Robert has switched places with Sara – she is alive again now – feeling the cold again. He has the ability to grant her wishes now and she wished for life and to see the world outside. Finishing the story – Sara just completes the circle and wraps up her story and that of Bret. At the end Robert summons someone to help Sara and provide some explanations of what happened to the other ‘real’ Sara – the TARDIS arrives, containing a later changed Doctor (we don’t know which one). We leave Sara as she has to decide whether to talk to the Doctor or not.
This could be the worst kind of fan fiction, but it is actually much better than that. It ties in beautifully with Dalek’s Master Plan, but more than that it explores Sara’s grief, loss and guilt at her killing of Bret, along with her love for her brother and well, it also looks at the nature of existence – what it is to be alive. Given that Master Plan veers between the great and the frankly bizarre, the trilogy often transcends the source material. It is thoughtful (with well-placed pauses and moments of silence) and has a haunting, eerie quality. This is compounded by the setting – the house at Ely surrounded by the flood waters and the terrific, sparse sound design. I believe that Jean Marsh is rather unwell now and not able to do more work fro Big Finish, however this wonderful trilogy and. a number of other Big Finish releases, plus the narration of the Target audiobooks of ‘Daleks’ Master Plan‘ are a real treat – a lovely coda to the career of an actor who gave great performances in three different roles in ‘Doctor Who’ – she is terrific in these stories and I will continue to revisit them every few years. Very much recommended.
A Journal of Impossible Things 