Doctor Who: The Lone Centurion – Volume 1: Review

Big Finish has wasted no time in giving us some new adventures for the modern era of the show when they got the rights to produce audios up to the end of the Peter Capaldi era. So far, only Christopher Eccelston and David Tennant have returned in their roles as the Doctor, so we’ve had to enjoy some adventures for some of the companions instead. The Lone Centurion sees the return of Rory Williams, once again played by Arthur Darvill for the first time in nearly a decade since leaving the show in 2012. And Big Finish certainly don’t waste the opportunity.

The set opens with Gladiator from David Llewellyn. Right off the bat, the similarities between this adventure and the movie with the same name are obvious, coliseum battles, espionage and intrigue and a plot running down the middle of the script. What is also obvious is that this series will be set in the alternate timeline at the end of The Pandorica Opens, when Rory pledges to protect Amy until the Doctor can reboot the universe. This allows some room for new and imaginative stories with established historical figures and with the Pandorica having gone missing, Rory must find it.

With Rory having the survive as a gladiator, he finds he is incapable of dying, giving he is now in an Auton body and the fight at the opening of this story feels amusingly like something straight out of Street-Fighter, even down to the soundtrack in the beginning. It’s a great way of establishing the status-quo of the set and results in Rory finding himself working as a food-taster and bodyguard to Caesar.

Llewellyn really delivers on the comedy front. In Doctor Who Magazine and press releases about this set, it has been described as a Who version of I, Claudius, and it easily evokes the feel of that type of 70s/80s comedy series full of innuendoes with Caesar cheating on his wife Augusta with both men and women and generally laying about while Augusta secretly runs the Roman Empire. A plot to kill Caesar quickly rears its head with Caesar starring in a play, which like the diva, Joseph Tweedale plays him as he stars as the main character. With some funny commentary on what it meant to be a eunuch in Roman times, the plot unravels and Rory quickly finds history changed with Caesar dead and his wife taking control of the Romans properly.

Perhaps the weakest part of the script was that Rory did feel like a background character for some of this with the action and comedy unfolding around him but not really including him. It still worked but given how brilliant Arthur Darvill is here, it’s a shame he doesn’t get more to do in the opening story of a set about Rory. But that is a minor quibble in an otherwise fun and light-hearted opening tale.

Sarah Ward gives us the second tale, The Unwilling Assassin, which sees Rory now working as the Empresses Assassin. Given how this is Ward’s first contribution to Big Finish her handling of the characters is excellent and she gives Rory some brilliant moments here, as well as showing she completely understands the character, not something that can be said about the newcomer.

What’s really fun here is hearing Rory trying to find ways not to kill anyone despite his job description and how everyone is seemingly terrified of him and how confused they are when he doesn’t go through with their deaths. It’s also a really fun play on the moment in The Romans where Vikki accidentally nearly poisons Nero. Of course, through a series of errors, Augusta ends up ordering Rory’s assassination but Ward has a lot of fun in building up to the climax of the story using clues and hints she’s set up in the opening acts. If you are paying attention those clues will be obvious to the demise of some characters but it’s a great payoff.

Also getting more time to shine here is Terry Molloy’s Tacitus, a self-proclaimed seer, who is prophesying the death of Augusta. There is a sense that he seems to know things about Rory and the Pandorica and that he knows something is wrong with time. Even though he only features in the opening two stories and with the set travelling to Camelot in Volume 2, something tells me this still isn’t the last we’ve heard from Tacitus. And Molloy has made such a name for himself playing Davros over the years that it’s brilliant to hear him playing someone else for a change.

But despite the comedy at play here, there is still a genuine sense of danger as Rory tries to navigate Roman politics. And even though you know he can’t die you still feel concerned for him. Much like in The Romans, it’s all fun and games right up until the end when things go south for the characters very quickly. And what is great throughout all three stories here is that sense of danger just lying under the comedy, you genuinely get the feeling things might take a dark turn at any moment.

The set concludes with I, Rorious, from Jaqueline Rayner, which sees Rory now in the role of Emperor. But all he is looking for is a little peace and quiet. This is the story with the most similarities to I, Claudius, and he seems to be more concerned about people finding out that he isn’t human.

Rayner gives us some brilliantly funny moments including introducing us to this new timeline’s Emperor Hilarious while giving us some genuinely nice character moments. Much of this story takes place in a temple that Rory builds in memory of Amy or the goddess Amelia as he puts it and his conversations with the servant Anna, allow for some great conversations and reflections about what the Doctor asked him to do.

What Rayner does with Rory is show how he isn’t suited to be in power, especially in Roman times, where you have to be mad with power. Rory isn’t and what becomes clear to the listener and the other characters is that it doesn’t pay to be a nice emperor in Roman times. Ultimately I, Rorious is a story about power and the lengths people will go to in order to get it or take it away. It’s also a great character piece for Rory, a character who got little in-depth exploration in the television series, but here has had more character building done in an hour than he ever got.

Arthur Darvill has made a name for himself in science fiction, not only in Doctor Who but playing the character of Rip Hunter in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which sees a group of D-list DC Superheroes put in charge of protecting the timeline. You’d think that he might have forgotten how to play Rory after nearly ten years away from the role, luckily though, it’s clear he hasn’t and from the moment he steps into the arena in the opening segment of Gladiator, Darvill is clearly having a ball returning to this character.

The Lone Centurion was a set that I didn’t know where they stand. While I liked Rory, he wasn’t a particular favourite companion of mine, in fact, the entire Matt Smith era isn’t a favourite of mine, so a set of adventures set between The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang wasn’t particularly appealing to me. But from the opening moments, the mix of comedy and action and some genuinely touching character work won me over. If you are wondering whether to give this one a go, there are three strong scripts, some sterling direction from Scott Handcock and a tremendous performance from Arthur Darvill, The Lone Centurion is lots of fun and I’m looking forward to hearing where this series goes next!