It’s the Fugitive Doctor vs The War Doctor as the Doctor Who 60th anniversary audio mini-series returns. 

Doctor Who – Once and Future, the celebratory audio mini-series, dropped its seven original parts between May and October 2023, in the run up to the show’s 60th Anniversary celebration.

The Whoniverse has been through a lot since then, including three television specials, a Christmas Special and Ncuti Gatwa’s first series as the Fifteenth Doctor.

However, the 60th celebrations aren’t quite over as it’s nearly time to return to Once and Future.

Across its run, the Doctor was plagued with a case of degeneration – cycling through faces old and new. With companions and allies drawn from across all their adventures, the threat of The Union was finally resolved.

Now, there’s a final tale to tell in the saga – the eighth and final instalment involves the mysterious Fugitive Doctor, played by Jo Martin, and the War Doctor. This appearance marks Martin’s Doctor Who audio debut, ahead of leading her own series which begins in January 2025.

Here’s the synopsis for Once and Future: Coda – The Final Act:

Dealing with the repercussions of degeneration, the Doctor has a limited window of time to
evade capture, recruit old allies, wage a war, and find out what’s really going on. A warrior is being hunted by a mysterious stranger in a TARDIS. A rogue agent has been assigned a mission to eliminate a dangerous foe. This is a fight between a war criminal and a
fugitive. A fight between Doctors.

As well as Jo Martin and Jonathon Carley, voicing the War Doctor, the story also stars Lisa Bowerman’s time-travelling archaeologist Bernice Summerfield and Chase Masterson as the recurring frenemy and impossibly glamourous bounty hunter Vienna Salvatori.

Also in the cast are Imogen Stubbs as Queen Elizabeth I, Nicholas Khan as Shalvar, leader of the Voord, and Richard Reed.

Coda – The Final Act comes from writer Tim Foley and director Ken Bentley and is released in November 2024.

Producer David Richardson said:

“The main story of Once and Future is over, but this is an afterward, a final chapter, which unites two incarnations who have been lost to the Doctor’s consciousness. It’s the Fugitive vs War Doctor, with some old friends and foes joining the fray. And, significantly, this is Jo Martin’s first performance for Big Finish – welcome aboard, Jo, you are absolutely brilliant.”

Special Edition

As before, Coda – The Final Act is also available with a variant cover as part of a Special Edition bundle. Still available on download, it comes with extended behind-the-scenes extras and music suites for each story.

Catch up with our coverage of Doctor Who – Once and Future, including reviews of all the previous instalments.

Doctor Who – Once and Future: Coda – The Final Act is available to pre-order as a single-disc collector’s edition CD (+ download), or on digital download only, exclusively from Big Finish.