Rounding off the 8^th Doctor’s for 2025, his final stories of the year see him continue his travels with Liv and Helen in the boxset, Empty Vessels. Centring around the conceptual theme of abandoned spacecraft, the boxset presents two new deep space adventures.

Writing the first of these stories, Matt Fitton opens proceedings with Eos Falling, which sees the TARDIS trio investigate a ghost ship that would put even the creepiest castle to shame.

The Doctor, Helen and Liv find themselves on an abandoned spacecraft, hurtling towards an inhabited world. The crew have vanished – but the TARDIS travellers are not alone on this empty vessel…

Have they really discovered a ghost ship?

Big Finish Synopsis

Fitton’s latest contribution to Doctor Who’s extended universe isn’t exactly a revolutionary concept. The use of abandoned ships, ghosts and time-distorting monsters, in one way or another, have all been seen featured together in previous, different stories. Despite these well-trodden plot devices, however, this version turns out to be a near-faultless example.

From the start of this standard monster-of-the-week story, it quickly becomes evident just how intrinsically Fitton understands the intricacies of making a Doctor Who episode work. It often relies on a number of different factors depending on the story you’re trying to tell, but in this case, the key lies between its setup and pacing. Utilising a slow-building mystery surrounding a missing, ghostly crew and the impending disastrous crash landing keeps the story ticking along. It’s a delicate balance to strike, but it works well thanks to the two-hour time limit, which gives enough time to investigate and solve the mystery but not so much as to let the story get bogged down in unnecessary details. 

Alongside its mystery set-up and pacing, Eos Falling also has some solid character work between Liv and Helen. Having already been travelling with The Doctor for quite some time at this point, their conversations together are rightfully more reflective. Although they still enjoy their time adventuring through time and space, this story has them both wondering what’s next for them. This line of questioning hits Helen especially hard because it comes from a place of raw emotion. Her recent adventures with The Doctor haven’t exactly been kind, witnessing the loss of several of her family members. As a result, she’s started to think about her own future and whether these travels will eventually catch up to her as well, which hints at something larger for her in the upcoming stories.

With an adventure as solid and competent as this one, my issue with it ultimately ends up being down to personal taste. I’ve never been a fan of the ghostly children trope, as I often find them grating rather than emotive. In this story, while the ghost girl Willa’s presence is used more neutrally, she still feels more like a narrative device rather than a fully realised character.