In the depths of the Time War, the War Doctor is being hunted. After the antics of his recent degeneration, it seems that things aren’t over yet and someone has been given 15 hours to take him down. As the Time Lord searches for clues through unconventional means, the answers he finds vex both him & (strangely enough) his pursuer. Two Doctors are about to collide but not the two the universe is expecting & their conflict is going to be explosive in more ways than one.....

“Coda - The Final Act” is a massively important Who story, concluding “Once and Future” with the most distinctive multi-Doctor story yet. Picking up where “The Union” left off, Tim Foley’s script is stuffed to the brim including cameos from Vienna Salvatori, Bernice Summerfield, and Queen Elizabeth as played by Imogen Stubbs. The narrative is basic but makes a surprising amount of sense, even the time limit which seems arbitrary but does have a purpose, and the plot is rooted in the past with a great twist on Time Lord lore that produces one hell of a monster in the climax.

Performance-wise, while everyone is great and Carley’s Doctor is as strong as ever, the highlight is Jo Martin in her audio debut as the controversial Fugitive Doctor. Last seen in the Chibnall era with Jodie’s Doctor, she fits the bill as a far cry from any Doctor we’ve heard before. Her no-nonsense mercenary personality makes her almost the villain of the piece even though there is predictably something else manipulating things behind the scenes. Pairing these two, arguably Who’s most unique Doctors, makes for engaging drama, and the two work off (and against) each other brilliantly while in the process touching on who the Doctor is and who they could be.

‘Final Act’ then is utterly fantastic, a great story / Doctor v. Doctor battle that brings things literally full circle for the saga. Welcome Jo Martin & can’t wait for more from both these incarnations soon.

— 9.5 / 10

I may have not realized that the War Doctor was the War Doctor until halfway through the story. Oops.

Story is fine. I am excited to see more of the Fugitive Doctor when her BF adventures begin next year!*

C. Maybe B.

*Originally written near the end of 2024

You know why you’re listening to this one. She delivers. Jo Martin immediately shows dominance over the audio medium, being the best thing in this throughout, despite Jonathan Carley and Lisa Bowerman giving stiff competition. Martin is so good at being steely, cold and compelling, and when the script calls for actual warmth, she does that well too.

It’s not a bad plot either — about the two most morally dubious Doctors being manipulated into a large scale war against each other, all the while our hero Benny struggles to find who she knows is her best friend buried in the rage, sorrow and immaturity of these hidden incarnations. There’s actual substance in the three’s interaction, which is the thing Once and Future has been missing. Even though these characters have nothing to do with each other, we care about their relationships.

I’ve no clue what the bit about who the villain was, I think it was a reference to another story, but honestly it isn’t relevant to this story’s success.

An ending of sorts

Is It Worth It?: I'd say no. For $12, you can get much better audios.

Prerequisites: This is kinda complicated. Despite being literally titled "Coda", it doesn't really rely on knowledge of what happened during Once and Future. You'll want knowledge of who the War and Fugitive Doctors are, but other than that you can go in mostly blind.

Coda is... not great. For starters, I'm really not a fan of how it doesn't even attempt to serve as an actual epilogue to Once and Future. For being an event that occurs directly after The Union, there's barely any mention of the entire event (beyond a few brief references to degeneration). It just seems like a waste. Now, in terms of what the story here DOES do, it's also pretty underwhelming. Of course, there's the admittedly cool novelty of this being the first Fugitive Doctor audio (and it's fun hearing Jo Martin), but there's almost zero character work done here, either on War or Fugitive. Conceptually, it seems like a slam dunk; these Doctors have a lot in common thematically, but while the story has a brief line or two at the end affirming this, I really wanted that aspect to be explored. Instead, both Doctors act out of character, even in the context of the story, as the Council of the Last were apparently influencing their minds. Such a story decision removes a lot of weight from events that occur. Plus, I think it's pretty stupid to introduce an entirely new antagonist in the literal epilogue of a year-long story (and they've only shown up in exactly one audio before this one). Plus plus, Coda's script is just plain overstuffed. There are way too many characters, and most didn't even need to be here (why on Earth would you try to fit Bernice Summerfield, Vienna, the Voord, and Queen Elizabeth I into an hour-long story??). It's almost ridiculous at times. Come to think about it, there's really not that much I like about this story. Like Time Lord Immemorial, it seems like almost a textbook example of how *not* to do a multi-Doctor story. It's crazy, considering that this range has already had actual good multi-Doctor stories.

She's here!!

I haven't listened to the rest of Once and Future but had to check this out for Jo Martin. And while a few lines delivered by here land a little flat to me, I think that's just because she's new to doing BF audio dramas. Overall she does a great job, and I love how they weren't toothless with making her a bit more ruthless than other Doctors!

Jonathan Carley is, of course, amazing; and so hard to even differentiate from Jon Hurt at this point. Fab performances all round.

Really loved Benny here, and the running joke with her name.

Sadly I think the cameo fest, a few flat line deliveries, and how weirdly expository and on the nose this story could be at times all hold this back. Good story to introduce a new era though! Just not great imo.