Elizabeth Klein is one of the odder “companions” of The Doctor. She starts off as an alternate reality Nazi, ends up in our reality, and then… well, lot’s of other stuff, but concentrating on her debut story you’d probably think I made some sort of mistake. Klein’s next three stories form one of the best “trilogies” in the main range, but since this all about debut stories, we have Colditz, one of the earlier stories from Big Finish, but a great little look into all sides of World War II through the eyes of soldiers and inmates of the infamous castle, plus David Tennant’s first Doctor Who role thrown in! Let’s take a look…

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Criss-Cross introduces us to the Sixth Doctor’s latest companion Constance Clark (though this was technically the second release featuring her…), a pretty tough, by-the-book WREN from WW2. The actual story has a pretty standard “foe”, but is also rich in Second World War spies and espionage plots, including the Doctor himself working and staying in Bletchley Park for some time. Let’s take a closer look…

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That’s right, just three stories later (in the audio / comic companions debut story marathon) and we’re back with a story ending in “of Thomas Brewster”. This is also the first of three stories in this list that the companion debuting doesn’t actually become a travelling companion until later, as yes, this is the debut of the frequently annoying Flip… It’s actually funny listening to it, how clear that the story wasn’t written with the character becoming a permanent fixture in mind. With all that being said, let’s take a look at “The Crimes of Thomas Brewster”…

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The audio and comic companion debut marathon reaches one of my favourite companions and an era of Who I’m looking forward to revisiting: Evelyn Smythe. The kindly older lady is the antithesis of what you expect from a companion, but she works so well alongside the Sixth Doctor, and her being responsible for his eventual softening is really well done. So let’s look at how it all began with The Marian Conspiracy…

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Eye of the Scorpion introduces us to Erimem, the should-be Pharaoh who ends up travelling with The Doctor and Peri (yes, the Fifth Doctor and Peri, which is a rare combo nowadays!) It’s also very nearly a pure historical, though the run of Doctor/Peri/Erimem has several actual pure historicals, so if anything it having a sci-fi element in its plot is more note worthy… Anyway, let’s have a look at Eye of the Scorpion then, shall we?

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Thomas Brewster is an odd companion, in that his two stints in the TARDIS are less Doctor-Companion and more “person forcing himself on The Doctor for a while”. It’s an interesting concept, but Brewster can be on the obnoxious side… As for his debut story? It’s good, full of atmosphere and some fun characters, though the music lets in down, especially when it’s played by itself for 20 seconds… Anyway, let’s take a look!

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