Big Finish Doctor Who/Recap/006 The Marian Conspiracy

Tracking a nexus point in time, the Doctor meets Dr Evelyn Smythe, a history lecturer whose own history seems to be rapidly vanishing.

The Doctor must travel back to Tudor times to stabilise the nexus and save Evelyn's life. But there he meets the Queen of England and must use all his skills of diplomacy to avoid ending up on the headman's block...

Written by Jacqueline Rayner, The Marian Conspiracy was the first Doctor Who Audio story to introduce an original companion, Dr. Evelyn Smythe. It is considered one of the first "good" stories of the Big Finish range, and also one of the rare instances of a pure Historical story, unseen since the tenure of the Fifth Doctor.

Tropes
"Evelyn: I suppose all of that out there will be destroyed by the Great Fire.
 * Call Forward: The Doctor and Evelyn do eventually pop back to give Darwin some moral support. At a quite vital time, no less.
 * Continuity Nod:

Sixth Doctor: Uhh...yes.(uncomfortable sounds)"

"Sixth Doctor: (While being held captive in the Tower of London) I might not want to mention her (Lady Jane Gray) to the queen, it might upset her. Evelyn: And we wouldn't want to upset the queen, now would we? She might have us thrown in the tower!"
 * Cool Old Lady: Doctor Evelyn Smythe, as mentioned above.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: "I really thought you were ill!"
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: "Now Doctor, the chair!"
 * Deadpan Snarker: Evelyn has her glorious moments:


 * Establishing Character Moment: Being her first story (and the first instance of a new audio companion), Evelyn gets hers when she, during her first trip in the TARDIS, doesn't let the Sixth Doctor talk over or boss her around while deflating any of his attempts to puff himself up with a self-serving story.
 * Growing the Beard: This is arguably the first story where Big Finish got its awesome on.
 * Mood Dissonance: This is remarkably one of the more upbeat and light-hearted Doctor Who stories, which becomes quite jarring once you consider this is supposed to be during a reign of terror under one of the most ruthless female rulers of modern history, Queen Mary I.
 * Not That Kind of Doctor: One of the first conversations The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn have is over their professions.
 * The Woobie: William Leaf is worthy of a few "awwww"'s.