Doctor Who: 12 Great Big Finish Stories You Have To Listen To

2. Dark Eyes

After the tragic events of To The Death (which won't be spoiled here), the Eighth Doctor, now a haunted, embittered character, sets off on a new run of adventures that unfold over four boxsets called Dark Eyes. The Time Lord learns to hope again when the Time Lords entrust him with Molly O'Sullivan, an Irish nurse in World War One who unknowingly holds a dangerous secret. Using topics and themes close to McGann's heart, producer Nick Briggs gave fans a boxset that won a coveted audio award and revitalised the Eighth Doctor range.

Over the course of these four boxsets, the Doctor faced the deadly Dalek Time Controller, alien virus catchers the Viyrans and future big bad the Eminence. As the sets went on, the quality slipped at times but the Doctor did end up with a new companion, Liv Chenka, played by Spooks' Nicola Walker. Even better was a new version of the Master played by Alex Macqueen who starred with new Doctor Peter Capaldi in The Thick Of It (and was introduced in UNIT: Dominion). Macqueen's Master is a delight, pure evil but also camp and very, very funny. With Dark Eyes now finished, the next era of the Eighth Doctor is soon to commence with The Doom Coalition.