Doctor Who review: To the Death (Eighth Doctor audio)

The Doctor has finally arrived on Earth. To stop the Daleks, the Doctor needs help from his friends and family. But will everyone survive this fight? Or will it be a fight To the Death?

In the review for Doctor Who: Lucie Miller, I made the comparison to New Series episode Rose. It was, admittedly, a very loose comparison.

For the epic finale To The Death, I’m making another, more obvious comparison to an important TV episode: Journey’s End. It’s not just the Eighth Doctor and Lucie that are involved in this episode, after all. With Susan, Alex, Tamzin and even the Monk, it feels like quite a significant team-up.

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However, it has to be said: while Journey’s End isn’t exactly light-hearted or without its emotional moments, To The Death is still far darker. It’s the kind of episode that I’m not sure the TV series could get away with.

It’s not that it’s more “adult” than TV Doctor Who. But it’s far more grim, and a lot less optimistic. Even with the most emotional exits, companions in Doctor Who usually have some chance of a happy ending afterwards. Of finding a new life for themselves.

In To the Death, for many characters, there’s no such option. It’s an episode that really does live up to its title. There are many shocking deaths throughout. And there’s no magical reset ending. None of the events are undone. Instead, the Eighth Doctor is full of grief and rage by the end. And it’s clear that he’s never going to be the same again.

The Eighth Doctor, Lucie, Susan, Alex and Tamzin fight the Daleks, in a battle To the Death.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.

Foreshadowing the Time War

The darkness and bleakness of To The Death is shocking, in some ways. But it also makes sense that this is how the Eighth Doctor Adventures end.

When the series first started, it felt very close in feel to the New Series. It could’ve easily been seen as an alternative to it. Of course, the Time Lords showing up obviously made it a prequel, but it was easy to forget that, at times.

With To The Death, that changes in a big way. We know where the Doctor has been heading for a while now. We know that he will be involved in the Time War. And we also know that he needs to be ready for it.

To the Death does exactly that. It’s the story that truly breaks him. It’s not the very start of the War (particularly as Big Finish wouldn’t have the rights to anything to do with the New Series for another four years). But it does clearly foreshadow it.

It also needs to be stated that Paul McGann gives one of his greatest performances as the Doctor, particularly towards the end. He’s completely full of rage. Not just at the Daleks, but also at the Monk.

While he’s always been an old enemy of the Doctor’s, the Monk’s also been far from the most evil or insane enemy the Doctor’s every faced. He’s simply amoral, refusing to take responsibility for his actions. Which probably makes the Doctor’s anger at him even greater, especially as he causes him so much pain. It wasn’t done with evil intent. Just sheer naivety and recklessness.

Ending the Eighth Doctor Adventures

In some ways, if To The Death had been the final chronological story for Eight, it could have been an acceptable one. It leaves the Doctor in a very bad place, and it’s not hard to imagine him heading off into the Time War not long after.

That didn’t happen, of course. Not only did we get subsequent audio series Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition, Ravenous and even The Time War covering what happened later in his long life. We even got his long overdue regeneration story, over two years later. And I’m grateful for all of these brilliant stories.

But To The Death is still a perfect ending to a wonderful era of Doctor Who audios. It’s a great goodbye to Lucie Miller and so many characters, and wraps up the series nicely. It also pushes the Doctor into darker, unknown territory.

More than that: together with Lucie Miller, it’s quite possibly one of the greatest Doctor Who stories in any medium. A magnificent story, indeed.

Next: Review: The Sons of Kaldor (Fourth Doctor audio)

Have you listened to To the Death? Would you agree it’s one of the darkest Doctor Who stories ever made? Which Doctor Who story hits you hardest, emotionally? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.