Start to Finish: 7.04 - 'Last Post'

Image (c) Big Finish Productions

So, this one's a bit of a downer. Not the play itself; just the fact that this is one more last for Big Finish; the last play recorded by Caroline John, published shortly after her death in 2012. It is called, aptly enough, The Last Post.

A series of deaths of important military and government personnel are found to be unconnected and not suspicious, except by UNIT scientific adviser Elizabeth Shaw. Liz discovers letters in the effects of many of the victims which foretell their deaths to the minute. With the Doctor and the Brigadier skeptical, Liz ropes her mother, influential academic Dame Emily Shaw, into the investigation, which all seems to lead back to one of Dame Emily's government committees, to margarine marketing, and to the Apocalypse Clock.

Although the loss of yet another classic Who actor lends an air of melancholy, the story itself in The Last Post is fairly upbeat, escaping from the usual pattern of Liz complaining about being a glorified lab assistant and contemplating leaving UNIT. While a perfectly valid approach, Big Finish have mined that vein pretty hard, so it's good to have something different, with Liz as the dynamic investigator, thwarting the villain with only tangential help with the Doctor, and the formidable Dame Emily along to carry the burden of menace, since we know Liz makes it. While it is sad that Caroline John is gone, I'm glad that she got this for her swansong.

Next, the Rocket Men return in Return of the Rocket Men.