Branches.

Audio  Yes, I've actually heard a brand new release.  The cover is a bit of a tease, suggesting that this version of Cassie in the Uncharted universe is also some kind of version of the Doctor, what with the velvet jacket, waistcoat, and cravat. Even the sword isn't a dead giveaway, what with the fighting hand in some incarnations. But this Cass or Cassie is a very different creature to both the Time Lord and their friend, much more independent and singular in mission, and certainly wouldn't have taken any of Alex's crap in the last cluster of stories. Alternative versions of companions and friends appear to be another theme which has emerged since the start of the revival, and now it's happened twice in this narrative thread, something the four stories are quick to lampshade.

The Only Girl in the World

Hello there, Doctor. Literally. This is a rare example of the Time Lord breaking the fourth wall and acting as the storyteller, but not—as is sometimes the case—with a later explanation that they're being interrogated or having a fireside chat. He's talking to us. Which is lucky, because writer John Dorney is deploying a similar narrative structure to (500) Days of Summer and 21 Grams, without the benefit of captions that the visual medium provides. There's also the audio equivalent of those occasions when the appearance of a particular race is treated as a complete surprise despite their name being in the title of the adventure. One of the first characters to appear is played by Nicholas Briggs and is called Karl.

False Dawn

Welcome back, Daphne Ashbrook. The Grace actress has been buzzing around Big Finish for a few years, mostly as Capt. Ruth Matheson of UNIT, but beginning as Perfection in The Next Life, the story which ended the Divergent Universe saga. Now here she is in a similarly weird set of stories. She's the latest actor to lend a voice to Hieronyma Friend, who I now realise is taking on the appearance of some of the Eighth Doctor's deep-cut companions, which is why Lizzie Hopley was in for Niky Wardley last time—they were swapping Gemma of all people for Tamsin (also of all people). Anyway, it's a way for Grace to make an appearance without any rights issues (even if the way the character is written doesn't reflect the outer shell).

The Council of Susan

Suddenly Susan. The title might suggest that, like The Council of Wells in the Arrowverse, Carole Ann Ford would be playing dozens of different versions of the Doctor's granddaughter from across the multiverse. Instead, and perhaps more understandably, we find a group of women all calling themselves Susan as a sort of title adopted when joining an order which worships the original. Of course, Jane Asher who plays Mother Susan also appeared in Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? (the Radio 4 series catching up with fictional characters) as an alternative Susan Foreman, which can't be a coincidence, surely? Similarly, at what point in the scriptwriting did it occur to someone that the twist was very similar to a TV story, necessitating the insertion of a reference to that same TV story?

All Over

A couple of years ago, Reddit user MetalPoo complained, on the occasion of these further Time War stories being announced, that when the original Time War boxset was announced, it seemed it was going to be "Four stories that would lead up to The Night of the Doctor," and "if Big Finish love stories so much they should really know how important endings are," with another user, The Omnivirgin, suggesting that "big finish should start doing some definitive endings" because there's nothing to stop them filling in the gaps later. Neither realises that The Night of the Doctor is the definitive ending, and that these stories are filling in the gaps, albeit much closer to that terminal moment. I might complain about the cost, but on the strength of these four stories, long may they continue.