The Last Post

Companion Chronicles #7.4

Released: 25 October 2012

Listened: 5/26/21

This is the final Big Finish story that Caroline John recorded before her death in 2012, and by coincidence it’s a nice wrap-up for the character of Liz, as it takes place at various points between episodes of Season 7. In fact, most of the story is a continuity-fest for listeners with sharp ears and good memories. Most of the references are to Season 7, but others go back as far as “The War Machines” or as far ahead as “Invasion of the Dinosaurs.” Basically, we find out that most of the obstinate government figures the Doctor and UNIT keep encountering this season have a connection, and they’re also connected to Dame Emily Shaw, Liz’s mother, Oxford literature professor, and apparently the most highly connected woman in all of Britain, apart from the Queen. The story is told in the form of letters and phone conversations between Liz and her mother, which spares the “telling an old story” format that Chronicles often have, and allows the story to play out more or less in real time. The Doctor stays sidelined for large chunks of the story, but still gets in a big action scene to save Emily. This allows Liz to do her science thing mostly uninterrupted, even out-logic-ing a computer. With all the references going on, you could certainly be forgiven for trying to guess which classic villain is behind all this, but the story doesn’t go that direction. James Goss has done his usual good job of pulling a bunch of continuity threads together into an original story, possibly the best of this era.