The Church and the Crown

The Church and the Crown
Big Finish Productions audio drama
Series	Doctor Who
Release number	38
Featuring	Fifth Doctor Peri Erimem
Writer	Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Director	Gary Russell
Producer(s)	Gary Russell Jason Haigh-Ellery
Executive producer(s)	Jacqueline Rayner
Production code	6QC
Set between	The Eye of the Scorpion and Nekromanteia
Length	1 hr 43 mins
Release date	November 2002

The Church and the Crown is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

Plot

The Fifth Doctor, together with Peri and Erimem, becomes involved with political intrigue in the court of King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria in Paris, 1626.

Cast

• The Doctor — Peter Davison
• Peri — Nicola Bryant
• Erimem — Caroline Morris
• Duchesse de Chevreuse (A Lady-in-Waiting) — Wendy Albiston
• Rouffet (A Musketeer) — Andy Coleman
• Morand (A Captain) — Robert Curbishley
• Buckingham (An English Duke) — Marcus Hutton
• Delmarre (A Musketeer) — Peter John
• Louis (A King) — Andrew MacKay
• Richelieu (A Cardinal) — Michael Shallard

Notes

• Marcus Hutton would later play another Duke of Buckingham in the Fifth Doctor audio drama The Kingmaker: Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The two characters are not related by either blood or marriage and are separated chronologically by almost 150 years.
• The Doctor says that the Duke of Buckingham is also the Prime Minister, an office which did not exist yet. However, Buckingham was, as a favourite of both James I and his son Charles I, extremely influential at the time.
• When searching in his pockets for money, the Doctor finds a membership card for the "MCC", meaning the Marylebone Cricket Club.
• The Doctor mentions that the year is 1626, and tells his companions that Buckingham only has a couple of years to live before his assassination by John Felton.
• The Doctor tells Peri about having helped François Boucher sneak into the Louvre. Boucher's patroness was Madame de Pompadour, who appears as a major character in the Tenth Doctor story "The Girl in the Fireplace".
• Rouffet and Delmarre mention an earlier adventure involving the Queen's diamonds, for which three other musketeers and their peasant friend got most of the glory. This is a reference to the events of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père.
• The Doctor tells Erimem that this is the second time that he has met Louis XIII in his personal timeline. From the King's perspective, however, that meeting will not occur until 1638, twelve years after the events of The Church and the Crown. The Doctor mentions that he has "had a nip and tuck since then," indicating that it was one of his previous incarnations.

External links

• Big Finish Productions - The Church and the Crown
• The Church and the Crown at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

Reviews

• The Church and the Crown reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• The Church and the Crown reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide