Narvin and Leela have a mission. But the arrival of a Dalek fleet with the Emperor – and Romana – aboard changes everything.

I really hope that this isn’t the last that we hear from the Gallifrey saga. It’s been one of the mainstays of the Big Finish expanded universe over the last two decades, and while not everything has necessarily worked as well as it might, at its core it’s been a deconstruction of the Doctor’s homeworld, explaining within its DNA why it was that he chose to leave. The Time War series has given us an idea of the breadth of the conflict through characters that we’ve learned to know and (on the whole) trust. The Romana I tend to think of now is the Gallifrey version, rather than the one on TV, and it’s always a change of pace to return to the Leela who travelled with the Fourth Doctor.

All of which is to say that while Matt Fitton’s finale gives some closure (and certainly explains the absence of some of these figures from both The Day of the Doctor and The End of Time), it’s by no means a definitive end. Even for those apparently exterminated by the Daleks… Nicholas Briggs gives us a multitude of Skarosians, from the God of All Daleks down to a field-promoted Commander and they are starting to near the ones encountered in The Parting of the Ways, this early in the Time War.

I won’t spoil the many twists in this story – there’s some well-overdue comeuppances for some people, as well as a lovely tip of the hat to Blackadder – but we get to understand Richard Armitage’s incarnation of Rassilon more, foreshadowing parts of Timothy Dalton’s version’s madness in The End of Time. Strong sound design from Russell McGee brings clarity amid the madness and Scott Handcock’s direction ensures that everything ratchets up appropriately.

Verdict: An excellent conclusion – for now – of the Gallifrey saga. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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