Doctor Who review: The Last Post is a great companion piece to Season 7

Liz Shaw investigates some mysterious and peculiar deaths during the events of Season 7, in the Doctor Who audio story The Last Post.

In October 2012, Big Finish Productions released The Last Post by James Goss, starring Caroline John as Liz Shaw. Rather sadly, it would turn out to be her last performance in the role, as John had passed away just a few months before the audio was released.

As a story, The Last Post works very well as a tribute to Liz, even unintentionally. The early portion of the story takes place during the events of most of Season 7, with the rest of it set between The Ambassadors of Death and Inferno. It’s interesting getting this story that runs through the events of Liz Shaw’s only season on television, especially when it has such an interesting idea.

Throughout Season 7, a number of characters die in extraordinary ways. Whether it’s by plague, exploding suitcases or deadly spacemen, the ends that these characters meet are peculiar, to say the least. This was the key inspiration to James Goss’s story, where he adds an extra element of bizarreness to the mix: what if some of these characters had known that they were going to die? More than that: what if they knew exactly when it would happen?

It’s a strange idea, but it works, and adds an interesting layer of horror to The Last Post. The fact that it involves characters we’ve watched – and in some cases, even explains their behavior – makes it extra satisfying to listen to as a fan.

Liz and her mother

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But what makes The Last Post even more special is how it explores Liz’s relationship with her mother. Emily Shaw (played by Rowena Cooper) is in many ways like her daughter. She’s highly intelligent, full of class and often has a quick wit. But in other ways, she’s very different. Particularly in where she’s focused her career in – the arts. She’s much more drawn to the works of Shakespeare than anything science related, which just goes over her head.

Hearing the conversations between Liz and Emily are fantastic to hear. Particularly as they do take place during Season 7, and so give us a different and more personal look at the events in those classic stories. These two people have different viewpoints and live in different worlds, but they never truly argue and clearly have a close relationship.

It also helps that Emily has been perfectly cast, too. Rowena Cooper is extremely believable as Liz’s mother, and she shares great chemistry with Caroline John in this story. Unsurprisingly, there were hopes of making more stories featuring this pairing, as revealed in the interviews at the end of the CD.

Sadly, that didn’t happen, but that doesn’t stop The Last Post from being a great story in its own right. More than that: it’s an excellent tribute to both a fantastic season of Doctor Who and how brilliant Caroline John was as Liz Shaw. Certainly worth a listen, especially if you ever plan on revisiting Season 7.

Next. Ten reasons why the Third Doctor’s era was so special. dark

Have you listened to The Last Post? Do you think it was a great tribute to Liz Shaw? Which companions do you think should be explored in more depth? Let us know in the comments below.

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