We come to Second Chances from Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles series, in fact the last of the monthly output of single releases for the series. From 2014 onwards the series moved to four story box sets released yearly up until 2019 and only focused on the First and Second Doctors, we had a recent third box set for the Second Doctor back in 2022 which seemed to indicate the end of the series, that was until late last year when Big Finnish announced the series return in 2025 with a fourth box set for the First Doctor.

Second Chances as well as concluding the series’ monthly output also concludes a long running story arc around its lead Zoe Herriot which began as far back as the series beginning. Where Zoe’s memories of travelling in the TARDIS gradually return piece by piece and has drawn attention from “The Company”, which is fiction terms when a place is called “The Company” it always means EVIL!!!!! Over the course of a few stories “The Company” holds Zoe prisoner and tries to use her extracted memories to find the secret of an alien species she'd previously encountered.

Which brings us to this story where Zoe remembers a traumatic event where she failed to prevent the destruction of a space station at the hands of a deadly virus. But is then shocked to discover that the event from her perspective is about to happen very soon and now she finds herself with a second chance to rewrite one of her greatest mistakes. But of course, “The Company” want something from her in return.

There are references and returning characters from the previous stories linking to Zoe’s plight against “The Company” but fortunately the story does allow you to listen and be able to catch on to the events of the story arc and understand the characters and their motivations, which is rare for a conclusion to a story arc. Wendy Padbury delivers her best performance as Zoe from two different points her life in a story that unlike most of The Companion Chronicles focuses more on the older version than the one from memory as she tries in vain to change the events of her past. The story conveys excellently the theme of regret and what you would do for a second chance at things, not just from Zoe but from the villain as well who is well developed through some short and simple but effective flashbacks. It does go for a status quo ending with Zoe and her memories of the Doctor being wiped by the Time Lords but aside from that this is a great ending for Zoe’s story in the Doctor Who universe. Well worth a listen even without the prior context of its predecessors.