I'm afraid I felt that The Next Life was the first miss I've heard from the normally excellent Alan Barnes. Not that it was actually all that bad, just really far too long, six episodes of over thirty minutes each. I would have trimmed a lot of the first two episodes, where we have Charley and C'rizz yet again experiencing a dream environment (though with a welcome return from Anneke Wills as Charley's mother); it seemed to take an awfully long time to get to the point.
I did like Daphne Ashbrook (= Grace in the TV movie) in her role as Perfection, and the instant chemistry between her and McGann brought back memories of the early Eight/Charley days; almost a foreshadowing of School Reunion, with Charley playing the jealous newer companion. And C'rizz's back-story is filled out adequately, though unfortunately I haven't come to care enough about the character for this to make a lot of difference (and Paul Darrow didn't seem to be up to par either). Plus at the very end I liked the fate of Rassilon and the Kro'ka. But really it could have been done much better in half the time. ( )