Topping off the best of the Eleventh Doctor, not only another home run to the series with Valarie, but a story that was actually a last-minute addition. This was written by Lisa McMullin who’d requested to write this and was given permission following the end of Curiosity Shop where she felt that there was a lot of emotional baggage between the Doctor and Valarie following the ending of that story that she felt wouldn’t have been followed up well had the series gone straight into the Everywhere and Anywhere box set. So we got Broken Hearts released as a special bonus story on its own and it’s amazing that for a story written and added last minute that not only does it work so well slotted in between box sets as well as being my favourite Eleventh Doctor story but also my favourite story of 2023.

Picking up from the ending of Curiosity Shop, Valarie’s friendship and trust with the Doctor has reached its breaking point after the Doctor coerced her to giving up her cybernetic augmentations piece by piece until there was barely anything left of her. Now with his mind properly restored, the Doctor must now face the consequences of his actions as Valarie asks for some time away from him. Her request brings them to a world in ruin, a world where the weather seems to respond to their emotions and the history of this planet brings Valarie to the shocking realisation that she doesn’t truly know the Doctor at all.

The heart of the story is the dynamic between the Doctor and Valarie and how their relationship is on thin ice after everything they’ve been through. Lisa McMullin beautifully creates this world that allows them to properly explore their issues with one another and for the Doctor to confess to Valarie the darker side of his character. We also get some fantastic sequences in between of a pair of rescue robots who over the years after failing to find other life forms to save have begun to develop their own feelings. Both stories come together for an outstanding climax that helps repair the fractured friendship between the Doctor and Valarie. These are the kind of stories I wish Modern Who would be brave enough to attempt between the Doctor and the companion, most of the time it feels as if they play things too safe with the companions always being in awe and amazement of the Doctor instead of seeing him for what he is, a flawed person who has made terrible mistakes in the past that the companion would be rightly horrified of.

To say this series of the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles bidding farewell to Jacob Dudman was a success would be a massive understatement, it’s one of the best things Big Finish has ever put together and it shows a true love for the Eleventh Doctor era.