In terms of the first series of “Fourth Doctor Adventures” this was the story I was most looking forward to revisiting as I remembered strongly liking this story at the time. It’s a simple but effective idea: send Leela back to the time of Boudica and watch the Doctor look on in horror as she finds a kindred spirit she wishes to help, despite the fact history has other ideas. Let’s take a look!
The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Leela (Louise Jameson) arrive on Earth as part of the latter’s current history lesson into her ancestors but after a brief stroll they see Boudica (Ella Kenion) getting attacked by two Romans and Leela naturally helps her fend them off. The Queen of the Iceni is impressed and asks them to come back to her tent and although The Doctor tries to make excuses and leave Leela hears none of it and heads off with her. Leela is told what happened to Boudica (half her husband’s Kingdom was supposed to be hers but Emperor Nero took all of it, had her flogged and her daughters publicly raped) so is very much on her side but a short while later The Doctor explains to Leela what happens to her next (Boudica takes her tribe and attacks a Roman camp ending in the slaughter of her whole tribe) and that it’s part of established history and can’t be altered. Leela hears none of it, says they’re always helping the unfortunate wherever they land and she doesn’t see why this should be any different and heads off to be by Boudica’s side. The Doctor talks to a cook called Bragnar (Nia Roberts) who overheard and believes The Doctor, who takes her up on an offer to save her (and only her) as that won’t effect history too much. Sadly this just brands The Doctor and Bragnar as traitors to the tribe so Boudica rounds them up on horseback and brings them back to the tent, sparing their lives only because Leela claims The Doctor has visions of the future that could help them.
The Doctor naturally refuses to alter history by telling Boudica anything but she soon threatens to disembowel Bragnar, causing The Doctor to spill some info on what happens to the Iceni during their attack. While Leela rides off alongside Boudica to fight with her she slips The Doctor her knife and tells him to flee and save himself…
It’s a really fun pseudo-historical, with the pairing of Leela and Boudica inspired. Tom Baker is on fine form too.
The Continuity:
A very rare example of a guest actor/actress being on the cover, and in “costume” no less! (Great cover overall, by the way)
Nothing really to go on here, The Doctor has encountered Romans in and out of Britain many times, including recently (as of this writing) the Fourth Doctor & Leela audio story “The Last Queen of the Nile”, where Leela mentions having met Romans in the past, a reference to this story.
Overall Thoughts:
“The Wrath of the Iceni” is the easy standout of the first series of FDAs and frankly still to this day a standout of the Fourth Doctor on audio. Obviously if you’re into Doctor Who just purely due to the sci-fi aspect you won’t find a lot to like here, but if you just like a good “the dangers of time travel” and historical-set story you can’t go wrong here.
As The Doctor and Bragnar head to the battle Leela sees Boudica killing the young, old, enfeeble and completely harmless slaves alike and finally sees the writing on the wall: Boudica isn’t fighting for her tribe, she’s killing for revenge. Leela confronts Boudica and after admitting she let The Doctor go free the two enter combat, a fight that Leela eventually wins. Leela reunites with The Doctor and the two head away from the battle with Bragnar alongside them. On the way back to the TARDIS The Doctor admits he lied about the day’s battle and that historically it went just as it was supposed to: a Roman massacre by Iceni hands, but that soon after Boudica will be cornered and her whole tribe killed as a result of her hubris. Leela admits she doesn’t have the lust for battle she once did, which The Doctor takes as a good sign that her education is going well. We then hear the end of the story being told by Bragnar to her daughters, showing that she did indeed survive.
Hogan Reviews 