Sylvester McCoy’s devious Seventh Doctor is promised an epic 12-part audio adventure send off.
With classic Doctor Who‘s untimely cancellation in 1989, Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor didn’t get to go out on his own terms. Had the show returned, there were tentative plans for a regeneration at the end of the forthcoming season.
Of course, unlike Colin Baker, Sylvester did later hand over the TARDIS keys onscreen. His incarnation appeared in the early part of the 1996 TV Movie before being brutally gunned down and apparently dying on an operating table. He regenerated on a mortuary slab but it wasn’t really his story… he was already yesterday’s man as Paul McGann became the Eighth Doctor.
In 2015, audio producers Big Finish gave the Sixth Doctor a suitably heroic conclusion in a special 4-part boxset, after the shameful BBC treatment of Colin Baker. Now, the Seventh Doctor will enjoy the same treatment with a tale that leads into that fateful TV Movie appearance.
Which is not to say that this heralds the end for Sylvester’s Doctor. Like Colin Baker, we imagine he’ll go on making stories for years to come – that’s the beauty of playing a time traveller.
Doctor Who – The Seventh Doctor Adventures: The Last Day
Beginning this Christmas, the action plays out in an epic 12-part adventure. Across two boxsets, The Last Day features promises appearances from all of the Seventh Doctor’s companions as well as a number of familiar foes.
Here’s the premise:
There is always injustice to fight. There is always a new danger for the universe. But what if the Doctor found a way to put things right, once and for all? Would it really be so terrible to take a stand? Would the end justify the means? And would his friends agree? The Seventh Doctor’s last day is coming…
Joining Sylvester McCoy, the story stars his television co-stars Sophie Aldred as Ace and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.
Plus, from the worlds of audio drama, Lisa Bowerman as Professor Bernice Summerfield, Philip Olivier as Thomas Hector “Hex” Schofield, Amy Pemberton as Sally Morgan, Maggie O’Neill as Lysandra Aristedes, Yasmin Bannerman and Travis Oliver as Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester, and Chase Masterson as Vienna Salvatori.
We’re also promised the returning menace of Geoffrey Beevers as the Master, and Dan Starkey as the Sontarans.
Plus, the return of Edward Keel’s Kane, the icy villain from ‘Dragonfire’, last seen melting away in unfiltered sunlight…
The Last Day comes from co-writers Guy Adams and Matt Fitton.
Matt Fitton said:
“The whole story of The Last Day is the natural progression of the Seventh Doctor’s journey. As he gets older, he just sees there’s so much to fix – there’s so much to do, so much danger to fight.
“He has begun to wonder, ‘Is there a way to just get everything right, once and for all, so I can rest and sit back? A way to be certain I’ve done my job?’ So, The Last Day is about him trying to reach that position.”
Doctor Who – The Seventh Doctor Adventures: The Last Day Part One and Part Two are now up for pre order. Part One is released in December 2023, while Part Two follows in June 2024.
They’re available on Collector’s Edition CD (with download), or on download only, from Big Finish with money saving bundles available.