Start to Finish: 7.11 - The Apocalypse Mirror

Image (c) Big Finish Productions

The second half of season 7 of The Companion Chronicles has an odd cyclical quality. Seven and Ten are broadly historical First Doctor stories, each followed by a full-on scifi two-hander for Jamie and another Second Doctor companion, and a virtually solo mission for one of the Third Doctor's mob. This is the middle part of that cycle, with Jamie and Zoe recounting the tale of The Apocalypse Mirror.

The TARDIS makes an emergency landing in the last city on Earth, after an accident with a football (that damages the TARDIS, rather than destroying the other cities.) The population is dwindling and lives in fear as the city stagnates around them and their neighbours are periodically swept away by robot birds with built-in teleporters. Zoe discovers that there is a meteorite on a collision course with Earth, and then vanishes herself, and the race is on to find her, and solve the riddle of the visions of another, better city which periodically appear, before the city is destroyed for good.

The Apocalypse Mirror, like many two-handers (including The Flames of Cadiz and House of Cards,) lacks a true framing narrative. The two Companions are just telling a story, and it's not clear to whom, if anyone. The story itself has an intriguing conceit, but for my money the best Companion Chronicles manage to be more than just short-handed audio plays and make active use of their format.

It's arguable whether the last entry in season 7 does that, but on the plus side it's an entirely new voice for the Chronicles and for Big Finish, as John Levine returns to the role of Sergeant Benton, for Council of War.