Doctor Who: Blue Forgotten Planet

At last we reach the final departure of companion Charley Pollard, who had been with the audio plays since Storm Warning over eight years prior. After the unfortunate misstep of the preceding story, Paper Cuts, we are back with the conclusion to the story started in Patient Zero, and a plot arc started quite a bit before that.

The story itself is set in a near-future Earth that has been the victim of what is essentially a zombie apocalypse - although, unlike in most such stories, there is a temporary cure, the attempts to get hold of which form a significant element of the plot. Combined with this, of course, we have the resolution of events with Charley and Patient Zero.

There is something of a weakness here, in that characters spend quite a lot of the story refusing to explain what's going on to one another (or the listener). That's probably needed to prevent the story ending too soon, but it does become rather obvious after a while, with the mystery being dragged out longer than there's any in-story reason for it be.

Other than that, though, it's a spectacular ending, and a satisfying conclusion to the events set up in the first part of the trilogy. Of course, there's also the matter of Charley's departure, which manages to be as poignant this time as it was in The Girl Who Never Was. Except this time, it's permanent. It's this that really makes the story, and means that I can't quite deduct more than half a star for the plot itself.

So, 4.5 rounded up to the full five.