Matthew Kresal meets the mother of modern computing.
The
Doctor meeting Ada Lovelace? Who might have thought that idea would
have story potential? Chris Chibnall, for one, as the recent secondpart of Spyfall will attest. It also occurred to writers Paul Morris
and Simon Barnard at Big Finish over a full year before that episode
aired. Their story, The Enchantress of Numbers, featured the
grandmother of modern computing meeting an earlier Doctor and their
latest companion for an adventure of their own.
Released in
January 2019 on CD as part of the Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 8
Volume 1 and separately on download, The Enchantress Of Numbers is a standalone tale
despite its being part of the set. With Jane Slavin's WPC Ann Kelso
as the companion, the pair arrive in 1850 Nottinghamshire at Newstead
Abbey. It's there they meet Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron,
who seems to have put her mathematical career behind her and taken up
a newfound interest in her father. A father who, as it happens, has
begun to appear to her a phantom. The Doctor and Ann aren't without
their own motives, either, as it turns out that human history has
been threatened with Ada at the heart of a plan millennia in the
making.
Big Finish, understandably, put the download versionof Enchantress on sale in the wake of Spyfall Part Two's airing and
it's interesting to listen to it after that episode's broadcast.
Portraying Ada some fifteen years after the events of Spyall are set,
Flinty Williams (the actress daughter of Judi Dench and the late
Michael Williams, as it happens) is fine casting for the role of this
slightly older version of a woman who died far too young. There's
both a feistiness and a world-weariness to Williams' performance that
perfectly suits the character, especially in the latter half of the
story. It's a different side of the character, an interesting one to
be sure, and which also means that it and Spyfall can nicely co-exist
alongside one another.
Enchantress is also a different kettle
of fish as a story as well. Setting their story entirely in the past,
Morris and Barnard set their story around the Abbey (the ancestral
home of Lord Byron) and Ada, building their science fiction plot
around it. Astute Classic Who fans (and those of this Doctor's era
specifically) will likely catch on to what is happening quicker than
anyone else but that doesn't detract from the fun of the piece. For
Morris and Barnard create a compelling mix of historical drama and
science fiction, playing with the tropes of both genres to create
their tale that uses Ada's work as the anchor upon which the story
pivots. If one needs a good example of the "celebrity
historical" subgenre of Who, Enchantress of Numbers is as fine
an example as any.
If Spyfall has you wanting more of the
Doctor with Ada Lovelace, or perhaps seeking a different way of
putting them together, than The Enchantress of Numbers is precisely
what the doctor ordered. From its mix of genre tropes to Williams'
performance as Ada, it's an enjoyable hour of listening telling the
sort of story that Doctor Who excels at. That it does so on audio and
through the ever strong work of Big Finish makes it all the more
delicious.
Matthew lives in North Alabama where he's a nerd, doesn't
have a southern accent and isn't a Republican. He's a host of both the
Big Finish centric Stories From The Vortex podcast and the 20mb Doctor Who Podcast. You can read more of his writing at his blog and at The Terrible Zodin fanzine, amongst other places.
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