Amy and Joy are growing old disgracefully, but someone wants to remind them of times past – when as Abby and Zara they possessed great powers. But should things be left to lie, or would the universe be better if they were still around?

When what seemed to be the final Graceless box set was released four years ago, I said that it felt as if their story was told, and that Simon Guerrier had brought things to a fitting conclusion. The resurrection of the characters for The Worlds of Big Finish was a nice reminder of times past (in the same way that extra stories for Lucie Miller remind us of the great combination between Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith in those tales), but I wasn’t convinced that we needed to hear more.

Big Finish didn’t share those feelings, and the original Graceless team – writer Guerrier, producer Mark Wright and stars Ciara Janson and Laura Doddington – has reunited for a fourth series, appropriately consisting of four stories (and yes, in a roundabout way, they even manage to get a foursome into the series!). The CD extras at the end of each story give some valuable insight into how Wright and Guerrier prepared these stories, and their debt to Guerrier’s interest in brain surgery (not as a surgeon, I hasten to point out). However I’d strongly advise not listening to the one at the end of the third disc until after you’ve heard the final episode, as basically it gives away the theme of the finale.

The set begins with the unusual – even for Graceless – The Bomb, which sees Annie Firbank and Sian Phillips assuming the roles of Amy and Joy, the older and wiser versions of the young characters we’ve spent the last three box sets with. Firbank and Phillips are a joy to listen to as they throw themselves whole-heartedly into the spirit of the series, and you really do believe that these are the same people. Hearing them argue and bicker like an old married couple whose love is never in question but which is shown in very different ways makes for a delightful hour, and in some ways it would have been fascinating for these older versions to continue through the set. Hugh Ross makes a great foil for the pair, and Adam Newington is suitably enigmatic as Pool, who clearly knows who the twins are but is keeping his cards close to his chest.

The Room is an interesting continuation, as the girls, now rejuvenated, try to stop a war in the only way they know how – by changing factors to produce a different outcome. Guerrier built a good plot device in from the start, needing the girls together for their powers to work, and in this all-female story, the pair face some interesting challenges.

The Ward feels initially as if it’s come from a different series altogether, as Abby and Zara function within a hospital. There are curmudgeonly surgeons who have a heart of gold, nurses who dream of being so much more… You’d think Guerrier was auditioning to write an episode of Holby, until things start to fall into place. I didn’t realise initially that one of the key roles was being played by Dan Starkey – a nicely nuanced performance without a hint of alienness.

The finale, The Dance, deals with a lot of the themes that have permeated the box set, and there are some very neat links back to the opening episode. Having advised above not to listen to the extras because they spoil the set-up, I won’t do the same here, but simply say that there are moments towards the end of the episode that fully justify the decision to bring the girls back.

There is, of course, a degree of a cliffhanger, in some knowledge of the future that the twins acquire, which, on a practical level, gives Guerrrier and Big Finish some option for resolution, possibly a long way down the line.

Janson and Doddington seem to pick up where they left off, providing a strong central core to the series, with Lisa Bowerman’s direction and Richard Fox & Lauren Yason’s sound design and music sharpening the atmosphere as appropriate. Mention also of a lovely song written and performed by Duncan Wisbey – which gets a full rendition at the end of the fourth disc – for which I hope the sheet music is available… it deserves to be heard outside the confines of this release.

Verdict: A justified return in some thought-provoking stories. 9/10

Paul Simpson