Big Finish Productions The Rosemariners

Written by	Donald Tosh
Format	Compact Disc
Released	2012

Starring Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury

Synopsis: The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves on an almost deserted space lab in the Antares Galaxy. Earth Station 454 is being closed down, mothballed, its staff relocated. Years of research and co-operation are coming to an end and only distinguished xeno-botanist Professor Arnold Biggs remains on board. But is there more to the closure than meets the eye? For the operation is being supervised by the Rosemariners of the planet Rosa Damascena. Their terrifying Commander, Rugosa, seems to have something to hide. Who is he? What do the Rosemariners want with the scientists? And what is the secret of Rosedream?

• A Hartnell Story with Troughton by Jacob Licklider

A Hartnell Story with Troughton by Jacob Licklider 26/8/25

Donald Tosh never wrote for Doctor Who officially. However, he did take the position of Script Editor after Dennis Spooner left the position. He did ghostwrite The Celestial Toymaker and The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve and of course submitted a few script ideas that never went anywhere. One script survived in Frazer Hines's garage, The Rosemariners a story about aliens who have evil roses taken from the planet Kembel and are using the Doctor to find a cure to the Rosedream. It's a very convoluted plot on the whole, as it could be a six part story with a few more characters, but the four-part formula works rather well this time around. The story poses an interesting question for base-under-siege stories. What would happen if the Doctor didn't stop the siege? The titular Rosemariners have taken over a space station and have influenced xenobotonist Arthur Biggs to find an antidote to the Rosedream. It looks on the outset like it would be something different for the Doctor to go into, but Tosh just writes a story very similar to the base-under-siege format. This isn't a complaint, as the base-under-siege format works, and it works very well. The only real reason is that the sets wouldn't fit a Doctor Who budget, and that would be a shame as part of the story comes from the images of the rosarium, an enormous greenhouse filled with roses.

As this takes the style of a Companion Chronicle with only four actors, Frazer Hines takes on the role of the Doctor and Jamie here. Whenever the Doctor speaks, Hines's impression is so spot on you cannot help but think Troughton is back from the dead. The Doctor's scenes are all with David Warner's excellent Arnold Biggs. The two scientists have this chemistry together, which is really quite good for the story as they are working out what the Rosemariners really want. The opening episode is just the Rosemariners coming to collect the Doctor and Biggs, which allows what could have been a very slow start to move along at a nice pace. The problem, however, is that it doesn't feel in place for the Troughton era, but rather the Hartnell era, which really doesn't work for Troughton's energetic Second Doctor. This is really a problem in the entire story, as it is very much written for Hartnell as the Doctor. This is because of course Tosh was script editor for Hartnell and only Hartnell. Arnold Biggs would definitely get a larger actor to play him were this a Hartnell story and really I can't imagine anyone else in the role besides David Warner. Warner, who can always play a villain, gets a chance to play a hero, as really it is him acting as the companion to the Doctor in this story.

The story really is one of three pairs. First is the Doctor and Professor Biggs, and second is our villains Rugosa and Colbert. Rugosa is played by the deep-voiced Clive Wood. Wood has one of those voices like silk that is as sweet as a rose, but like every rose he has his thorns, and those thorns are the fact that he is one of the Rosemariners' prisoners who took over his own prison and put the wardens under the Rosedream. His second in command is a nameless Rosemariner who has replicated the appearance of Colbert, a Frenchman played by Wendy Padbury. Padbury plays Colbert because she lives in France and gets several scenes with herself. The two Colberts we see are opposites of each other. The real Colbert is a coward, while the Rosemariner Colbert is a ruthless killer. They are both hilarious roles and get a lot of great scenes throughout the story, which really works for the betterment of the plot. The Rosemariners are great villains as they are a very civilized race, but sadly they aren't used to their full potential in this story. The final pair are of course Jamie and Zoe, who both act like mischievous schoolchildren in this story similar to the Doctor and Vicki in The Crusade. Tosh's script is great for writing duos, and Jamie and Zoe are the ones to reveal what the Rosemariners are truly planning after capturing several humans and brainwashing them. Under Lisa Bowerman's great direction, Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines reunite for a powerhouse performance as they work together for what is a great story but isn't anywhere near perfect.

To summarize, The Rosemariners is definitely a good story, and Donald Tosh knows what he is doing. However, it feels very out of place in the Second Doctor's timeline as things are written like a William Hartnell serial with a full episode dedicated to exploration and three to the actual story, which drags the pace of a four-part story down. The Rosemariners are a great species and work as credible villains even if the story is very predictable, and the four actors work very well together under the direction of the wonderful Lisa Bowerman. 75/100