There's a new Time Lord in town...

"The Broken World"

The Tolkienesque environs of Tantillion aren't as rustic as they seem. With science outlawed and the populace living under a new police state - having only just got rid of an old one - there are, strangely, rockets to be seen flying over the vast forests of the nation. But it must be magic, because magic is all that is allowed, with the study of science outlawed and all the 'charlatans' who practiced it long since plucked into obscurity from the country's universities. With the exception of Professor Cantha (Jenny Agutter), who is in hiding but visited frequently and secretly by the young foundling barmaid Kitty (Lauren Crace). This time Kitty has brought with her a very scientific stranger indeed - a Time Lord called The Minister Of Chance (Julian Wadham), able to bridge time and space with the creation of intradimensional doorways. And he seems to want Cantha to help him build a telescope...

Over in the corridors of power at the city, new allegiances and cabals form in the wake of the dead king. The Witch Prime (Sylvester McCoy), political and military overlord of the region, arrives in the city with Lord Rathen (Paul Darrow) to express his fury at Ambassador Durian (Paul McGann) for apparently vying for greater political power; but when the canny Durian welcomes his leader with a public display, diplomacy must win the day, and the Witch Prime settles for leaving Rathen in situ with Durian - who he has been forced to promote instead of kill. But Rathen has his own ambitions and his own agenda. The land is on the verge of war with a neighbouring country, and the perquisition of an uncivilised island tribe who happen to occupy strategically important land between the two foes could mean that the balance of peace is shortly to topple over.

None of which is helping The Minister to rid himself of the awfully persistent and tomboy-ish Kitty. It must be some Time Lord pheromone, but it seems that when a bolshy young woman sees a Galifrean on his own, there's just no getting rid of her. Having inadvertantly led the militia to capture Prof. Cantha, who is being inveigled by Durian into researching military weapons of a very non-magical nature, The Minister is determined to meet up with his friend, 'The Horseman', though we don't yet know why, or what The Minister's business is at all in this region. Needless to say, The Minister and Kitty's unorthodox entrance brings them more attention than they'd like...

The Minister Of Chance is a new Doctor Who spin-off which revives a Galifrean character last played in 2001 by Stephen Fry in the webcast (now available in most audio formats) called Death Comes To Time. It's lively, witty, beautifully rendered and splendidly cast, and since the long-term future of the production will depend on sales (from the iTunes store, initially), I can heartily recommend that it's worth supporting with the very meagre asking price of £1.49 an episode.

Be prepared for some bad language. It's certainly not Tarantino-level, but it does turn the air blue a couple of times; and it does reinforce the refreshingly adult feel of a well thought-out and intriguing array of characters. Paul Darrow's mellifluous but serpent-like brogue is particularly well-placed as the clearly-scheming Lord Rathen; Paul McGann is a silkily-smooth ambassador with an icy line in hard talk behind the facade; Jenny Agutter, as ever, has such a fantastic and beguiling voice as to be a welcome addition to any audio production; Sylvester McCoy is delightfully irascible and explosive as The Witch Prime; and Julian Wadham does a fine job of negotiating some very witty dialogue. The only slight caveat with the latter is that the Minister's part does seem to have been originally written with Stephen Fry in mind, and it's hard to deliver that dialogue in any other way.

Looking for an analogue of the Doctor/companion relationship that's being set up in Minister Of Chance, one probably has to imagine splicing Peri and Ace together; Lauren Crace does a fine job as the beligerent barmaid who wonders how this strange feller can make doors that lead to impossible places, and the West Country accent she uses (which is the accent of the proletariat in the region) gives her a distinctive voice against Julian Wadham's Oxbridge-style scattiness.

The production values in themselves are as good as they could be, and listening on plain old headphones, you'll feel like you just upgraded them. The only minor complaint I have is some confusion in the last few minutes, where there isn't quite enough information being explicitly or implicitly given to make me understand exactly what's going on. But I certainly got that our heroes (and this is hardly a spoiler in a Who-derived serial) are in big trouble. And I'd rather struggle to understand than have it all terribly dumbed down. It's ironic that audio-based Who projects are the ones that give dialogue room to breathe, as in this effort, whereas the TV episodes frequently force the actors to spew out dialogue at double-speed.

This is very promising stuff, with a fair bit of potential to go visual in some way in a later version, so do give it a try. I think any Who fan is probably going to like it a lot.

'The Broken World' is available to download now.

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