Project Lazarus (audio story)

Project: Lazarus was the forty-fifth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Maggie Stables as Evelyn Smythe, Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Rosie Cavaliero as Cassie Schofield and Stephen Chance as Nimrod.

It was the second in a loose arc of three audio stories that featured the Forge; the first was AUDIO: Project: Twilight and the third Project: Destiny. This is also one of only eight audio stories in which Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy appear together, and one of the four in which their Doctors interact directly.

Publisher's summary
"I'll survive, Doctor. I always do."

Unfinished business.

A frightened girl is stalked in a land of eternal night.

A hunter longs for recognition and power.

A traveller in time returns to correct the mistakes of the past and faces a danger that could rob him of his future. Unless his future intervenes.

And in the shadows stands Nimrod. Waiting...

Welcome to the Forge.

Plot
Part One: The Sixth Doctor, having found a cure to the virus that Cassandra Schofield contracted, returns with Evelyn Smythe to offer her her freedom.

Part Two: With the Doctor Nimrod's prisoner, Evelyn attempts to learn what has driven Cassie to help Nimrod.

Part Three: The Seventh Doctor returns to the Forge, only to find the Sixth Doctor acting as Nimrod's scientific advisor.

Part Four: Faced with the threat of alien invasion and the unexpected mutilation of his predecessor, the Doctor must work out the true nature of the current situation.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Evelyn Smythe - Maggie Stables
 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Nimrod - Stephen Chance
 * Cassie Scholefield - Rosie Cavaliero
 * Oracle - Emma Collier
 * Sergeant Frith - Adam Woodroffe
 * Dr. Crumpton - Ingrid Evans
 * Professor Harket - Vidar Magnussen
 * Soldier - Mark Wright

Crew

 * Cover Art - Lee Binding
 * Director - Gary Russell
 * Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
 * Music - Andy Hardwick
 * Producer - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
 * Sound Design - Gareth Jenkins
 * Writer - Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

The TARDIS

 * Evelyn remarks that the TARDIS kitchen seems to restock itself each morning. She is unsure whether this is the Doctor's or the TARDIS' doing.
 * Every TARDIS has the ability to hunt down vampires, although the Sixth Doctor had to repair the system, which had broken down due to lack of use.

Biology

 * Nimrod attempts to induce a regeneration in the Sixth Doctor.
 * Nimrod is able to create clones of the Sixth Doctor, but all of the clones are short-lived and none are shown to be capable of regeneration.
 * A regeneration can be triggered by the trauma of losing a limb, which helps the Seventh Doctor deduce the true nature of the Sixth.

The Doctor

 * The Sixth Doctor likes his tea with four sugars.
 * The Seventh Doctor plays the piano, although he admits that he needs more practice.
 * On arriving in the Forge in 2008, the Seventh Doctor claims that "a century or three" have passed in his personal timeline since his previous incarnation visited it in 2004.
 * The Seventh Doctor briefly considers returning to Gallifrey.

Gallifreyan culture

 * The Decree of Rassilon is mentioned in relation to Vampires.

Individuals

 * The Doctor later meets Cassie's son, Thomas Hector Schofield, though this has already happened for the Seventh Doctor.

Science

 * The Forge's archive room contains zanium and a sample of Axonite.

Music

 * The Seventh Doctor plays the opening verse of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Continuity

 * The Sixth Doctor is wearing his blue coat which was introduced in WC: Real Time.
 * The tension between the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn from this audio leads straight into AUDIO: Arrangements for War.
 * The Seventh Doctor, having met Cassie's son Thomas Hector "Hex" Schofield in AUDIO: The Harvest, goes to see Evelyn on Világ in AUDIO: Thicker Than Water to inform her that he has taken Hex as one of his companions.
 * The Forge's computer Oracle recognises the Seventh Doctor from descriptions of his appearance given in reports from incidents in Shoreditch in November 1963 (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) and Carbury in 1997. (TV: Battlefield)
 * Earlier in his personal timeline, the Seventh Doctor visited the Forge's beta facility in London in 2025 in the company of Ace and Hex. Nimrod, who was by then referring to himself by his original name of Sir William Abberton, informed him that he was present at destruction of the Forge's alpha facility in 2008. The Seventh Doctor attempted to stop him from revealing any further information about his personal future so as not to disrupt the Web of Time. (AUDIO: Project: Destiny)
 * Nimrod would later inform Hex that the Doctor was involved in his mother's death (AUDIO: Project: Destiny) whereas the Seventh Doctor and Evelyn subsequently explained the circumstances of her death in more detail. (AUDIO: A Death in the Family) Notably, this occurred many years earlier in the Seventh Doctor's personal timeline than the events of the second part of Project: Lazarus.
 * The Seventh Doctor tells Nimrod that Evelyn never forgave him for Cassie's death "even at the end." (AUDIO: A Death in the Family)
 * Nobody No-One's CORDIS appears in the Seventh Doctor's portion of the story, disguised as the Forge catchphrase "for king and country." Its arrival is signified by the release number of this story — 45. (AUDIO: A Death in the Family)
 * Nimrod uses a Bowship to kill Cassie and the Sixth Doctor clone. (TV: State of Decay)
 * The Doctor again refers to the conflict between the Time Lords and vampires, which he first encountered in his fourth incarnation. (TV: State of Decay)