Last year, Big Finish released a new series of audio dramas designed to celebrate Doctor Who's 60th anniversary. The series was called Once and Future, and it explored the Doctor going through a degeneration crisis, constantly changing back and forth between faces past and future.
The main story was resolved in the seventh episode The Union, which revealed exactly which Doctor had been degenerating and why. But while the series' main arc was resolved, Big Finish still had one more story left to tell - and after over a year of waiting, that story has finally been released today.
Starring Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor and Jonathon Carley as the War Doctor, Doctor Who: Once and Future: Coda - The Final Act features one Doctor hunting after the other, in a chase that sees them encountering old friends and enemies.
A long expected finale
It's strange that it's taken such a long time for the final episode of this series to be released - especially as the whole series was specifically designed to celebrate the 60th-anniversary last year! However, with such an exciting concept and the long-awaited introduction of Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor to Big Finish, it could very well be worth the wait.
Unsurprisingly, Jo Martin is very excited about joining Big Finish.
"Doing Doctor Who on telly was life-changing. It’s led to more opportunities than I’ve ever had before. And now I'm here, doing the audio, which is just incredible. "Jo Martin
And co-star Jonathon Carley - whose performance as the young War Doctor is always amazing to hear - is equally excited about the story, particularly the unique concept of one Doctor against another.
"To pair these two ‘secret’ Doctors together, it takes that antagonism of different incarnations to a whole new level. Not so much two Doctors teaming up together, at least not initially, but actually fighting each other... it’s really new and exciting."Jonathon Carley
How well does The Final Act work, both on its own terms and as the final episode of a very unique series? Expect reviews from us for each episode of Once and Future over the coming weeks.
Doctor Who: Once and Future: Coda - The Final Act is out now from Big Finish, both as a standard edition on CD and download, and as a limited edition available on download only.