The Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard arrive on Earth but all is, as ever, not well. A documentary film team may hold the solution to a terrible sickness that plagues the last humans, and the mysterious Viyrans are back with a deadly plan of their own. The Doctor will need all his wits about him to get through this, and what will be the final fate of Charley?
This is a bit like reviewing the final chapter of Great Expectations without having read the rest of the book first. The rather nifty companions search function at the Big Finish website tells me that there are 34 titles featuring Charley Pollard, and I have only listened to a handful of them. Which is a shame because I like the character and love India Fisher's feisty performances. And here is her last appearance and she bows out with grace and characteristic courage.
Whether this is a fitting adventure for her final Tardis journey is perhaps beyond my critical faculties. It is clearly the conclusion of something which has been building up for some time but it all left me feeling a bit puzzled. And I can't make up mind about the Viyrans who seem to switch between behind the scenes benevolence and direct menacing villainy. I know that they were created by a very young Nicholas Briggs and I'm a big fan of his, also it's good for Big Finish to have their very own monsters to add to the Doctor Who bestiary.
I suspect that this was a story that meant quite a lot to regular listeners at the time so I'm going to limit my comments and give it a middle of the road 3 out of 5 question marked collars.
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