Doctor Who review: "The Four Doctors" is a different kind of multi-Doctor story

In 2010 and 2011, Big Finish released two special stories: "The Four Doctors" and "The Five Companions". As you can probably guess from the titles alone, these stories were meant to be big incentives for fans to listen to. Of course, each story was exclusively available to Big Finish subscribers and remained so for many years.

Thankfully, during Big Finish's 25th anniversary year of making Doctor Who on audio, both stories were finally made available to non-subscribers. Even better, they're both available completely for free. Having long been a fan of Big Finish, I've listened to both of these stories before, but with their wider release, I felt a revisit was in order - starting with "The Four Doctors".

Starring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors, the promise of a multi-Doctor story was exciting enough to grab fans' attention. But on top of that, "The Four Doctors" also features the Daleks as the main enemy. Four Doctors versus the Daleks - what more could you ask for?

Four Doctors, one colonel - and many Daleks!

Despite the title, "The Four Doctors" is a different kind of multi-Doctor story. One thing that's important to know is that the Doctors themselves have little interaction with one another. This isn't a story where the different Doctors have been brought together. Instead, it's a story that's spread across four incarnations of the Doctor's life.

Linking the story is Colonel Ulrick, played by David Bamber. Bamber has quite a major role in this, as Ulrick is the only character that's featured in "The Four Doctors" from start to finish. He goes through a great deal of character development, initially helping the Daleks in a naive attempt to help protect his own race.

But as he's pulled across different times and worlds - all the time encountering different Doctors - his character starts to grow and develop. He starts to learn more about his people's history as well as his own, and he starts to change as a result. Bamber gives a great performance as Ulrick and really helps to link all the different segments together.

A familiar tale

If there's one story that I'd compare "The Four Doctors" to, it wouldn't be any typical multi-Doctor story such as "The Three Doctors". Instead, I'd compare it to the classic tale A Christmas Carol. In a massive coincidence, this story was originally released in Dec 2010 - the exact month that the Matt Smith Christmas special "A Christmas Carol" was released. It feels strangely fitting that two takes on the classic story were released in the same month. Even better is that they're such radically different takes.

Beyond that, "The Four Doctors" is a very clever, very timey-wimey story. One that's told backwards, at least from the Doctor's perspective, but handled in a way that's easy for the audience to understand.

I'll include one spoiler for this story. I mentioned that "The Four Doctors" isn't a typical multi-Doctor story. There is one scene where they all speak to each other, but if I'm honest, this feels like the weakest moment of the audio. It's clearly tacked on, and fails to convince as a natural part of the story. It seemed to only be included to justify the title a little better.

It's a bit of a shame, as "The Four Doctors" is a genuinely solid episode. One that uses the multiple Doctors in a clever way and gives us a very character-based story as a result. Overall, it's an easy audio to recommend, especially if you go in listening with the right expectations.