Released in 2015, Doctor Who: The Last Adventure finally gave Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor the regeneration story he had long been denied on television. This four-part audio drama from Big Finish serves as a bridge between The Trial of a Time Lord and the Seventh Doctor’s debut in Time and the Rani, offering Baker’s Doctor a heroic send-off that was tragically absent from the TV canon. Written by a variety of authors, this box set is structured as a series of interconnected adventures, culminating in the moment the Sixth Doctor meets his end.
For fans who had long felt that Colin Baker deserved better treatment from the BBC, The Last Adventure was a long-overdue attempt to correct that injustice. Rather than an abrupt and unceremonious regeneration off-screen, this set allows the Sixth Doctor to go out on his own terms—brilliant, defiant, and heroic to the last.
The four stories within The Last Adventure each see the Doctor in different time periods, facing a sinister, lurking threat: the Valeyard. Still determined to claim the Doctor’s remaining lives, the Valeyard’s plan unfolds over the course of these tales, building toward their inevitable final confrontation.
1. The End of the Line (by Nicholas Briggs)
The set begins with an eerie, atmospheric tale set on a strange, mist-filled railway station where time is broken and multiple parallel realities overlap. The Doctor, traveling with Constance Clarke (played by Miranda Raison), becomes trapped in a web of anomalies, each version of events leading to unsettling inconsistencies. The Valeyard lurks at the edges, manipulating the reality fractures to his advantage. The tension builds steadily, and Baker’s performance immediately reassures listeners that they are in for something special.
2. The Red House (by Alan Barnes)
This second story introduces a gothic horror element, as the Doctor and his companion Charlotte Pollard (India Fisher) arrive on a planet where humans transform into savage, lupine creatures at night. The Doctor suspects something more sinister is at play, and as the Valeyard’s presence becomes clearer, the sense of impending doom builds. This is the most stylized and experimental of the four stories, with a fairy tale quality that sets it apart from the others.
3. Stage Fright (by Matt Fitton)
This penultimate chapter leans heavily into the meta-narrative of the Doctor’s own past. With Jago and Litefoot (played by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter) making a welcome return, the Doctor finds himself facing a theatrical nightmare in Victorian London, where old enemies and memories are being rewritten. The Valeyard’s plan is nearing its final act, and Baker plays the growing awareness of his fate with a mix of defiance and reluctant acceptance. This story is rich in callbacks and a love letter to classic Doctor Who storytelling.
4. The Brink of Death (by Mark Platt)
The final installment brings the Sixth Doctor’s journey to an emotional close. The Valeyard’s long-gestating scheme reaches its crescendo, as he seeks to steal the Doctor’s very existence. But the Sixth Doctor, always defiant, refuses to be erased so easily. The story builds to a powerful climax in which the Doctor makes the ultimate sacrifice to stop the Valeyard’s destruction of time itself, willingly giving his life to save countless others.
Baker’s final moments in The Brink of Death are among his finest, filled with emotion, nobility, and the sense that he is in control of his own fate. It is a far cry from the ignominious end forced upon him in Time and the Rani, and it finally allows his Doctor the dignified farewell he deserved.
A Proper Goodbye to the Sixth Doctor
Revisiting The Last Adventure in 2025, it remains one of the most significant pieces of Doctor Who’s expanded universe storytelling. Not only does it provide Colin Baker with the regeneration story he was long denied, but it also cements his place as one of the finest actors to ever portray the Doctor. In Big Finish, Baker was given the space to redefine his character—moving beyond the divisive, often unfairly maligned TV era into an incarnation of the Doctor who was layered, intelligent, and deeply compassionate beneath his bombastic exterior.
Unlike his rushed TV exit, The Last Adventure is a celebration of Baker’s Doctor, allowing him to meet his fate with dignity and resolve. His final words—reflective, powerful, and filled with the weight of a life well-lived—are among the most satisfying conclusions to a Doctor’s story.
Colin Baker never got to film a regeneration scene in 1986, but in 2015, he finally got his moment. And, after nearly 30 years, it was well worth the wait.
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