The Next Life (audio story)

 was the sixty-fourth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. It was the final Big Finish Doctor Who audio story to feature Paul McGann as the "current" Doctor, since his next release AUDIO: Terror Firma would not be until after David Tennant's debut in TV: The Parting of the Ways. More significantly, it concluded the adventures set in the Divergent Universe that had begun at the end of AUDIO: Zagreus. At six episodes, it was unusually long, especially for an Eighth Doctor audio.

Publisher's summary
'All things must die.'

Washed up on the sandy shores of a paradise island, a wild-eyed shipwreck survivor is rescued by the wife of Daqar Keep, the richest man in the galaxy.

Her name's Perfection. He's the Doctor. Together, they face a journey into the dark heart of this mysterious island, to discover the deepest secrets of this timeless cosmos. That's if the giant crabs, killer crocodiles and murderous natives don't get them first.

Meanwhile, fellow travellers Charley and C'rizz have their own ordeal to endure, in the grip of the Doctor's most dangerous rival.

And in a universe that's facing extinction, even the best of friends may soon become enemies...

This life is almost over. Not everyone will make it to the next.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Charley Pollard - India Fisher
 * C'rizz - Conrad Westmaas
 * Perfection - Daphne Ashbrook
 * Daqar Keep - Stephane Cornicard
 * Guidance - Paul Darrow
 * L'da - Jane Hills
 * The Kro'ka - Stephen Perring
 * Rassilon - Don Warrington
 * Louisa Pollard - Anneke Wills
 * Simon Murchford - Stephen Mansfield
 * Mother of Jembere-Bud - Jane Goddard
 * Davros - Terry Molloy (cameo)

Culture

 * The Doctor has committed to memory of all the Liverpool F.C. strikers and goals from 1964-1965 to 2013-2014, which he describes as "a terrible season."

Individuals

 * The Doctor refers to C'rizz as "the Colourful Chameleon."
 * Charley's uncle Jacques lived in Cannes after World War I. He was a concert pianist until he lost one of his arms at the Battle of Passchendaele. He taught her how to speak French.
 * In year fifty at the Academy, the Doctor fed a snapping wart fowl to a fellow student's summer project. The student held a grudge ever since.
 * The Doctor says that as a "teenager", he was a terror until the age of 120.
 * Davros briefly appears when the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz return to the normal universe, leading into AUDIO: Terror Firma.

Technology

 * Rassilon and the Kro'ka put Charley and C'rizz into dreamweavers.

Continuity

 * The Doctor and Charley previously encountered Rassilon in the Tomb of Rassilon in the Death Zone on Gallifrey. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * Charley mentions that she visited the Crystal Palace as a child. She would later do so again in 1851. (AUDIO: Other Lives)
 * Suffering survivor's guilt for having survived the crash of the British airship R101 on 5 October 1930, Simon Murchford became an Anglican minister. (AUDIO: Storm Warning) He succeeded Reverend Matthew Townsend as the Cardington airbase's chaplain following his death in 1951. The R101 had been launched from Cardington. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
 * The Doctor once again mentions playing Tiddlywinks with the Tsarina. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
 * After mentioning Macbeth, the Doctor superstitiously corrects himself by referring to it as "the Scottish Play." (AUDIO: Medicinal Purposes)
 * Charley recognises the Daleks as she encountered them in London, New Britain in the 2050s. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks)