Audio Catchup: The Minister of Chance

written and directed by Dan Freeman
released February 2011

starring
Jenny Agutter as Professor Cantha
Lauren Crace as Kitty
Paul McGann as Durian

The Minister of Chance, Prologue: The Pointed Hand

I’m a big fan of Death Comes to Time, the 2001-02 webcast that recast Doctor Who as a sprawling, interplanetary, operatic epic along the lines of Babylon 5, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings. But even so, I was mighty sceptical when it was announced that Radio Static was bringing back the Minister of Chance, the Time Lord played by Stephen Fry in that series, in a new audio (or “radiophonic,” as they like to say) spin-off written by Dan Freeman.

The Pointed Hand is the free prologue to The Minister of Chance, a quick nine-minute story that’s largely one long scene featuring a few characters, though a few others put in brief appearances. A rocket from the nation of Seswan lands on Tanto, bringing Ambassador Durian, played by Paul McGann. Most of the prologue is the negotiation between Durian and the King of Tanto, where Durian attempts to gain permission to place military base on Tanto. McGann is as good as he always is, and plays nicely against what I expected of him after 11 years of listening to him in Doctor Who.

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written and directed by Dan Freeman
released March 2011

starring
Julian Wadham as the Minister
Jenny Agutter as Professor Cantha
Lauren Crace as Kitty
Sylvester McCoy as the Witch Prime
Paul McGann as Durian
Paul Darrow as Lord Rathen

The Minister of Chance, Episode 1: The Broken World

The Broken World is the first full episode of The Minister of Chance, and our first opportunity to hear Julian Wadham play this new incarnation of the Time Lord, taking over from Stephen Fry, who played the previous incarnation in Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time. It’s written and directed by Dan Freeman, who also wrote and directed Death Comes to Time, and that production’s lush sound design and music is also back here. I always loved how Death Comes to Time used classical music (that scene were the Doctor confronts the Minister is simply gorgeous), and that flair is back here.

What particularly struck me was how like Death Comes to Time the setup for The Minister of Chance is. We’ve gone one nation occupying another, with head of state of the occupying nation itself feeling threatened by the actions of the member of their government doing the occupying. A Time Lord has come to the occupied nation, but not to help per se, but because something is “wrong” with the universe, and so he can’t spend much time helping out. But this is early days — The Broken World is only 35 minutes long — and there enough intriguing parts to the setup that I don’t think it’ll be a problem. The occupying nation of Seswan is democratic, and trumpets this fact loudly, but they are also anti-science, and ruled by a “Witch Prime”. The occupied nation of Tanto, on the other hand, is ruled by a king who ascended to the throne by killing his predecessor, but has an accomplished university. Also interesting are the hints about how the Minister travels between worlds.

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written and directed by Dan Freeman
released May 2011

starring
Julian Wadham as the Minister
Jenny Agutter as Professor Cantha
Gethin Anthony as Sutu
Lauren Crace as Kitty
Sylvester McCoy as the Witch Prime
Paul McGann as Durian
Paul Darrow as Lord Rathen
Peter Guinness as the Horseman

The Minister of Chance, Episode 2: The Forest Shakes

My sense that The Minister of Chance was hitting several familiar story beats from Death Comes to Time was only heightened by its second full episode, The Forest Shakes. In this episode, the pacifist Professor Cantha ends up in a Sesian prison, and much of the discussion she has mirrors what Saint Valentine says to Nessican. In addition, Cantha’s comments to the Minister about his loneliness sound similar to what Senator Sala said to him, and Governor Durian’s return to Seswan is a lot like General Tannis’s return to Alpha Canis, and there’s a prison break here, though its connection to the Death Comes to Time prison break is admittedly small.

But though it’s distracting, it’s not overwhelming. The exploration of how pacifism can be a form of strength actually goes further here than in Death Comes to Time, and I quite liked the scenes where Cantha talks to her well-meaning guard. And given Julian Wadham’s much gruffer incarnation of the Minister of Chance, the loneliness angle will probably play out differently as well.

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