The Doctor’s back on our television screens after his most recent regeneration, going on adventures with Clara, fighting baddies, and saving the universe as usual. But what about past Doctors? Surely they have unseen adventures just waiting to be recounted. Well, yes. Big Finish Productions has been recording Doctor Who audio adventures for years now. Like the radio dramas of yesteryear, these high-quality audioplays feature original stories with many of the classic Who Doctors, companions, and monsters. They are just like listening to your favorite Doctor save the day, with all of the action and drama of the BBC television series, but without the constraints of a budget. These adventures truly can go anywhere in time and space! Featuring many of the original actors and actresses, some new companions and monsters, and even some original series writers, these audios are the real deal. If you haven’t checked them out yet, these are a couple of great places to start, and they’re all out this month.
Be sure to check this column each month to see what’s new, or hit up Big Finish for all things audio, including Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Highlander, and more.
The 1st Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara: Domain of the Voord.
The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara land on the planet Hydra, where Admiral Jonas Kaan leads a vast flotilla of ships trying to elude the vicious race that has invaded and occupied their world. But his ships are being picked off one by one, vessels and crews dragged underwater by an unseen foe.
The time travellers find themselves pitched into battle against the Voord, the ruthless enemy they last encountered on the planet Marinus. As they take the fight to the very heart of the territory now controlled by the Voord the stakes get higher. First they lose the TARDIS… then they lose that which they hold most dear. And that’s only the start of their troubles.
In the capital, Predora City, they will learn the truth of what it means to be a Voord. And that truth is horrifying.
Written by Andrew Smith and directed by Ken Bentley.
Featuring: William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Daisy Ashford (Amyra), Andrew Dickens (Jonas Kaan/Tarlak), Andrew Bone (Pan Vexel/Nebrin)
The 7th Doctor and Ace: Mask of Tragedy.
Athens, 421 BC. An ancient civilisation of philosophers and poets and the birthplace of theatre. The Doctor has decided to show Ace and Hector how it all began, with help from the great comedian Aristophanes.
But life in Athens is no laughing matter. There’s the ever-present threat of invasion from the Spartan horde. The plague that turns people into the walking dead. The slavery. The tyrannical rule of the paranoid, malicious Cleon and his network of informers. And the giant flying beetle with knives for wings that stalks the city streets at night.
What Athens needs is a hero. And who better to be a hero in ancient Greece than a man called Hector?
Written by James Goss and directed by Ken Bentley.
Featuring: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hector), Samuel West (Aristophanes), Alisdair Simpson (Cleon), Russell Bentley (Tyrgius/Slave Trader/Boy), Tim Treloar (Telephus, Cisyphus/Old Man), Emily Tucker (Adonia/Lysistrata)
The 7th Doctor and Ace: Signs and Wonders.
The end of the world is nigh. That’s what everybody is seeing in their nightmares. That’s why they are congregating in Liverpool for the party to end all parties, hosted by Rufus Stone, a celebrity turned doomsday prophet. He claims he’s the only one who can save them when the day of judgement comes. Because he’s on the side of the angels.
The Doctor, Ace and Hector arrive to find the city in the grip of apocalypse fever. There are lights in the sky, earthquakes and power cuts. The Doctor is determined to investigate, while Ace is more concerned about finding a way of restoring Hector’s lost memories.
Meanwhile, in the river Mersey, hideous, slug-like creatures are stirring…
Written by Matt Fitton and directed by Ken Bentley.
Featuring: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hex), Jessica Martin (Reverend Janet Green), Warren Brown (Rufus Stone/To’Koth), Jemma Churchill (Praska), Rory Keenan (Captain Gormley)
The 4th Doctor and Leela: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents Box Set.
Philip Hinchcliffe, acclaimed producer of Doctor Who (1975-77) returns to tell new stories for the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
“The starting point was there were a few basic ideas that were kicking around for another series, had we made it,” says Philip. “I thought this project would be fun to be involved with, and I’ve tried to and tell stories that are in the same spirit as the ones Robert Holmes and I were telling.”
The Ghosts of Gralstead (Six episodes)
The Doctor and Leela return to Victorian London, in the year 1860.
At St Clarence’s Hospital, respected surgeon Sir Edward Scrivener requires the bodies of the dead… At Doctor McDivett’s Exhibition of Living Wonders and Curiosities, miracles are afoot… And in Gralstead House, the ghost will walk again. Mordrega has come to Earth…
The Devil’s Armada (Four episodes)
The TARDIS lands in Sissenden Village in the sixteenth century. Catholic priests are hunted, so-called witches are drowned in the ducking stool, and in the shadows the Vituperon are watching… and waiting…
Written by Philip Hinchcliffe, adapted by Marc Platt, and directed by Ken Bentley
Featuring:
Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela)
The Ghosts of Gralstead
Carolyn Seymour (Mordrega), Gethin Anthony (Sir Edward Scrivener), Martin Hutson (Professor Cedric Scrivener), Emerald O’Hanrahan (Clementine Scrivener), Alan Cox (Dr Gideon McDivett), Ivanno Jeremiah (Abasi), Andy Secombe (Jonas Bulmer), Sean Carlsen (Ned Davey), Mandi Symonds (Mrs Targate), Andrew French (Obingo)
The Devil’s Armada
Jamie Newall (William Redcliffe), Nigel Carrington (Sir Robert Harney), Alix Dunmore (Anne Harney), Joe Jameson (Nicholas Harney), Beth Chalmers (Mistress Pincham/Lady Jane Mountville), Philip Bretherton (Vituperon), Ben Porter (Father D’Arcy), Tim Bentinck (Ned Bones/Lord Burghley)
