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Big Finish: Monthly Range #82
Doctor Who: The Settling
Sir,
Having brought the army belonging to the Parliament of England before this place, to reduce it to obedience, to the end effusion of blood may be prevented, I thought fit to summon you to deliver the same into my hands to their use.
If this be refused, you will have no cause to blame me.
I expect your answer and rest your servant.
O. Cromwell.
Having brought the army belonging to the Parliament of England before this place, to reduce it to obedience, to the end effusion of blood may be prevented, I thought fit to summon you to deliver the same into my hands to their use.
If this be refused, you will have no cause to blame me.
I expect your answer and rest your servant.
O. Cromwell.
Audio CD
First published May 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Simon Guerrier
168 books61 followersSimon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 7, 2021
A fantastic pure historical as Hex takes his first trip into Earth’s past as the TARDIS arrives in Drogheda in September 1649.
Just like Ace I’ve heard of Oliver Cromwell but my knowledge is patchy to say the least, this audio drama surrounding his campaign in Ireland was compelling.
These are the types of stories that work so well audio, the accompanying scene setting backdrop of the screams in battle adds a gigantic scope of the horrors during this period.
There’s some great standout supporting roles both in Clive Mantle as Cromwell and I really liked Clare Cathcart as Mary.
Just like Hex this adventure was a real learning experience, it’s these types of stories that Doctor Who does best!
Just like Ace I’ve heard of Oliver Cromwell but my knowledge is patchy to say the least, this audio drama surrounding his campaign in Ireland was compelling.
These are the types of stories that work so well audio, the accompanying scene setting backdrop of the screams in battle adds a gigantic scope of the horrors during this period.
There’s some great standout supporting roles both in Clive Mantle as Cromwell and I really liked Clare Cathcart as Mary.
Just like Hex this adventure was a real learning experience, it’s these types of stories that Doctor Who does best!
August 6, 2019
I love Doctor who stories that are just pure historical. Like the Witch hunters, this had no crazy time travel scheme or aliens taking over the world, but just brutal history taking part and the consequences of being involved.
Great story.
Great story.
October 11, 2013
This was an excellent audio. A proper historical with drama and characterisation and a fascinating plot. I liked how the adventure slipped back and forth between Hex and Ace talking in the TARDIS and the adventure as it unfolded. It was good to see how much everything was affecting Hex and how almost delicate he was. It was lovely to see that much investment in a companion. Simon is one of my favourite big finish writers and this one was no exception.
November 18, 2017
A grim straight historical about Oliver Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland. So that's not going to be controversial, then. It probably helps to have some idea of the real-word background to this, but it's not essential, focussing more on the human level, and being in the style of, say, The Massacre. The challenge is as much to simply make it out alive as to actually change or improve anything, but if you don't mind the grimness, it's quite well made, and Cromwell is suitably complex.
February 13, 2025
this one has a relatively high rating on here and I don’t know why.
I admire the ambition to cover a tragic and complex historical event, and the attempt to make a famously .. well villainous.. historical figure a more nuanced character. and of course I enjoy the development of hex.
but none of the historical stuff is actually believable. I know that generally there are allowances that should be made for when doctor who does history. it is a sci fi show after all. but since this is a pure historical, and there is no alien threat to focus on, it makes the historical accuracy aspect, or rather often lack thereof, ever more noticeable. I just fundamentally didn’t buy in to the setting or the characters - oliver cromwell was very poorly drawn for instance, and came off as both foolish and cartoonish, and in a mostly pretty anachronistic way too. and the general idea that the writer seems to have of how war was conducted in the 17th century (or in any century) was so simplistic and naive - if you’re going to attempt a darker story and make an actual atrocity the focal point - do your research and make it believable and real. since it’s not on television, it doesn’t have to be strictly family friendly in tone, as many other audios also prove, so don’t just gloss over the actual history.
it just made no sense. I don’t think anyone would have talked like that, nor acted like that, all those years ago. and as it had nothing else going for it, there was nothing else to cling on to.
plus the feminist comment irked me. so 2006. why on earth *wouldn’t* ace be a feminist for godsake? oh the early 2000s. what an annoying time they were!
this is the first real skip of this run of stories. I won’t be revisiting this one.
I admire the ambition to cover a tragic and complex historical event, and the attempt to make a famously .. well villainous.. historical figure a more nuanced character. and of course I enjoy the development of hex.
but none of the historical stuff is actually believable. I know that generally there are allowances that should be made for when doctor who does history. it is a sci fi show after all. but since this is a pure historical, and there is no alien threat to focus on, it makes the historical accuracy aspect, or rather often lack thereof, ever more noticeable. I just fundamentally didn’t buy in to the setting or the characters - oliver cromwell was very poorly drawn for instance, and came off as both foolish and cartoonish, and in a mostly pretty anachronistic way too. and the general idea that the writer seems to have of how war was conducted in the 17th century (or in any century) was so simplistic and naive - if you’re going to attempt a darker story and make an actual atrocity the focal point - do your research and make it believable and real. since it’s not on television, it doesn’t have to be strictly family friendly in tone, as many other audios also prove, so don’t just gloss over the actual history.
it just made no sense. I don’t think anyone would have talked like that, nor acted like that, all those years ago. and as it had nothing else going for it, there was nothing else to cling on to.
plus the feminist comment irked me. so 2006. why on earth *wouldn’t* ace be a feminist for godsake? oh the early 2000s. what an annoying time they were!
this is the first real skip of this run of stories. I won’t be revisiting this one.
November 17, 2021
So far, this is my favorite out of these Hex stories I’ve been listening to. He is more introspective than in other adventures. Kinda weird that the TARDIS has a mountain range inside it, but fun. The soundscape is great. I feel like I’m actually there on the battlefield. And the baby plot fueled some suspense. And I suppose Hex being accused of being a witch did that too.
November 14, 2022
This showed up right when I could use a 2 hour sci-fi/historical fiction radio play. We have our time traveling aliens; The Doctor (McCoy), Ace & Hex.
Told in flashbacks that paint the actions attributed to Oliver Cromwell in the 1600’s Ireland in a different way, to make you question if things could have happened the way you think or could he be a sympathetic pawn written poorly in history.
Told in flashbacks that paint the actions attributed to Oliver Cromwell in the 1600’s Ireland in a different way, to make you question if things could have happened the way you think or could he be a sympathetic pawn written poorly in history.
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September 25, 2023I can't say I enjoyed this one. Love Ace anytime though.
August 16, 2024
I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but I liked Hex here, and it's nice to see him getting some character development.
March 8, 2017
While I didn't care for the story itself (admittedly, I knew very little of Cromwell going into this) I did enjoy the character moments that came out of this. Hex continues to grow on me, and Ace continues to be awesome, here acting more as the emotional anchor for Hex than her usual bombastic force of nature. It was somewhat surprising to hear Sophie Aldred utter the line "when I was a teenager" in reference to traveling with the Doctor, and realize just how much time has passed in universe with them together. The Seventh Doctor also gets some great moments to shine as well. For a full review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com
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April 8, 2009The Settling, by Simon Guerrier, takes the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex to Drogheda and then to Wexford in 1649, where, inevitably, they get mixed up in Cromwell's invasion of Ireland - Hex ends up as a confidant of Cromwell's, while the Doctor and Ace get involved with the civilian victims of the unfolding tragedy.[return][return][return][return]Doctor Who has, in general, almost no relationship with Ireland. The Irish characters in the entire TV canon can be counted on the fingers of one hand (Sean in The Underwater Menace, Flannigan in The Wheel in Space, McDermott in Terror of the Autons and Casey in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, with a generous half a finger for each of Chip in New Earth and Brannigan in Gridlock, neither of whom as characters can ever have been near Ireland). Irish people are less visible than black people in Who of any era; meanwhile entire stories are set (if not necessarily filmed) in Scotland and Wales.[return][return][return][return]It's not too difficult to understand this reticence, at least from the Old Who perspective. Doctor Who is, after all, an entertainment show, and for most of its run it was rather tricky to engage with Irish issues both tastefully and entertainingly. (Supporting evidence: So You Think You've Got Troubles, the unsuccessful sitcom starring Warren Mitchell as a Jewish businessman sent to Belfast.) A couple of the Pertwee novelisations mention the Northern Ireland troubles in the background; if any of the spinoff novels go there, I have not yet encountered them. Turning the focus around, Daragh Carville's magnificent play Regenerations (download link here) takes Sophie Aldred and Tom Baker to Belfast to bring peace both to the local Doctor Who fans and to the city more widely.[return][return][return][return]Guerrier's choice of setting for The Settling, therefore, is pretty brave. Making the story a pure historical tale is also pretty challenging - you can just play it for laughs (which can be done successfully - The Romans, The Crusaders, The Kingmaker and stretching a point The Unicorn and the Wasp) or, as Guerrier has done, go for the more risky didactic approach, more demanding of both cast and audience. This can fail miserably (eg The Marian Conspiracy), but it can work well - witness the early Hartnells, The Witch Hunters or The Council of Nic
July 21, 2015
On Hex's first trip into Earth's past, the TARDIS takes him, the Seventh Doctor and Ace to 17th century Ireland where he comes face to face with Oliver Cromwell and his invading army…
April 26, 2023
The Doctor, Ace and Hex show up when Oliver Cromwell is fighting for independence. As always they get involved when they shouldn't and Hex wants to leave the tardis after what he took part in.
May 26, 2024
Ireland 🇮🇪 is co o ol, Cromwell is an asshole.
March 9, 2015
A straight historical adventure with Seven, Ace and Hex. Oliver Cromwell pillages Ireland.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews