Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor - The Last Adventure

Among the many problems with the Sixth Doctor's run on TV is the fact that he doesn't get a proper regeneration scene - he just (apparently) bangs his head on the TARDIS console between seasons so that we only see the aftermath. Here, Big Finish fills in that gap by imaging what his final adventure might actually have been like and giving Six a more heroic departure.

This is achieved with four hour-long episodes, three of which form a single plot arc, despite being spread widely across Six's tenure, and featuring a different companion in each one. And, as is clear from the cover, there are also returning characters from the TV series...

* The End of the Line - A spooky and claustrophobic story about passengers trapped on a train as inexplicable and unpleasant events occur around them. The companion here is Constance, who actually made her ‘debut' a few weeks later in Criss-Cross. This feels a little disjointed from that one, probably because it's set some time later, so as to avoid her unfamiliarity with time travel overshadowing a story where the focus should be elsewhere. Fortunately, she's written and acted well enough that that doesn't matter; we can accept that there's some gap in there that we haven't seen and just leap into this story. There's a decent twist towards the end, although the connection with the other three stories in the set is rather tacked-on. 4.5 stars.

* The Red House - The Doctor and Charlie arrive on a human colony world that hides an unusual secret. The basic premise is an interesting one, taking a common genre standard and subverting it in an unusual way. The story also has to fit within the relatively brief run where Charlie accompanies Six, referring to, but not relying on, that particular plot arc (which is explained for those unfamiliar with it, but doesn't really affect events too much). Some of the guest characters are a bit weak, and the story isn't really as good as the other three, but it's still decent enough for a one-hour story. 4 stars.

* Stage Fright - This was my favourite story of the four, and there's a lot to like in it. Flip provides a nice contrast with Constance and Charlie, providing a modern eye on the 19th-century setting as well as showing off a dent in her ‘daredevil' attitude. She is joined by Jago and Litefoot, who are always a joy to listen to, and are also accompanied here by Ellie from their own series. On top of all of that, as the main villain's plot swings more fully into operation, there are plenty of references to the regeneration scenes for the previous Doctors - it's a bit of fannish self-referentialism, to be sure, but obviously appropriate given the theme of the collection. 5 stars.

* The Brink of Death - So here we have it; the actual regeneration story. Honestly, it is a bit overly complicated, relying on the Matrix and regularly jumping about from place to place as the Valeyard's plan for final victory unfolds. Mel is largely superfluous, here because she obviously needs to be, and is instead largely replaced by a guest character who, in fairness, really works quite well. Much of the story entails the puzzle of how we are going to get to what we see at the beginning of Time and the Rani and, while this isn't the strongest story overall that part at least is well-handled, and gives Six a proper send-off at last. And his final lines are way better than his last utterances on TV... 4 stars.