Tom Baker

Big Finish Productions have decided to state the facts in the wake of a large amount of speculation on the internet about the possibility of Tom Baker working on Doctor Who audio productions with them:

Tom Baker would like to confirm that ‘warm contact’ has been made with Big Finish and that he's ‘enthusiastic’ to work with us. He adds, wryly, ‘In my twilight years, I am looking forward to a tremendous Big Finish and the sooner the better’.

Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs as announced: ‘Tom and I have been communicating about possible projects for some time. There is really no firm news other than that, but we are both keen to make something happen. Lis Sladen, Louise Jameson and Nicholas Courtney have also expressed an interest in being involved, but no storylines have been written or approved yet and we don't anticipate anything being available before 2011’.

Louise Jameson, who played Leela, has also added, ‘I'm delighted at the possibility of working with Tom again now we have this new found friendship. I've always rated him as a brilliant and unique actor with the most marvellous voice, Big Finish must be over the moon that he has agreed to re-visiting the sci-fi world’.

Big Finish have though stressed that any audio productions it may make featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor would not clash with or affect Tom's continuing, highly successful work with BBC Audiobooks.

Peter Davison

Big Finish Productions has revealed that the Mara, the snake-like demon from the 1980’s stories "Kinda" and "Snakedance", will be returning in the forthcoming season of audio adventures featuring the Fifth Doctor Tegan Jovanka, Turlough and Nyssa.

‘The three stories were recorded just after Christmas’, Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs has announced. ‘And everyone was on brilliant form. It was quite thrilling to hear Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson and Sarah Sutton - who hadn’t acted together since 1983 - recreating their roles so authentically. These adventures sound just like they’ve fallen through a time warp! The mood during the recording was quite rambunctious, and everyone had such a brilliant time that I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team reunited again sometime in the near future...’

The Mara returns in the release for September 2010. "The Cradle of the Snake", by Marc Platt, sees the TARDIS crew return to Manussa, a planet that they last visited in 1980’s "Snakedance".

‘When we knew we could get these characters back together, we realised we wanted to bring back the Mara because it was an iconic monster from the Davison era’, Nicholas Briggs has revealed. ‘Original writer Christopher Bailey gave us his blessing, and Marc Plat seemed the obvious choice to write it - because Marc does ‘weird’ so wonderfully!’.

Also announced by Big Finish Productions is what they have planned for the free story for subscribers. It is going to be a multi-Doctor extravaganza! Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann will all join forces in "The Four Doctors", in an epic fight against the Daleks...

William Hartnell

Big Finish Productions have revealed that it will be releasing a further series of Lost Stories – audio versions of scripts that were intended, but never produced, for television.

The first release is a four-disc box set titled "The Hartnell Years", which will feature two unmade stories by Moris Farhi: "Farewell Great Macedon" (a six-part historical tale featuring Alexander the Great) and "The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance" (a one-part science fiction story set on an alien world).

Moris Farhi’s original scripts have been adapted as an enhanced audiobook, which will be performed by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, with a guest actor portraying Alexander the Great and is scheduled for release in November 2010.

Patrick Troughton

Next up is another four-disc box set The Troughton Years, the centerpiece of which will be "Prison in Space", performed by Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury, with Susan Brown (Torchwood) guest starring as the villainous Chairman Babs. The adaptation is by Simon Guerrier, working from Dick Sharples’s original scripts that were written in 1968. It is scheduled for release in December 2010.

There will also be a very exciting bonus story in this box set as Big Finish productions have been granted the rights by the estate of Terry Nation to produce an audio version of the unmade US TV Dalek pilot, "The Destroyers". This adaptation will be a full cast drama, starring Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks.”

Then moving forward two decades, the remaining productions are drawn from what would have been Doctor Who’s twenty-seventh season that was due in 1990. This season would have introduced a brand new Doctor Who companion – the young, sophisticated safecracker Raine. Big Finish Productions plan to reveal titles, casting and the story details in the New Year.

Jamie

Following on from the announcement that Nazi scientist Elizabeth Klein (played by Tracey Childs) will be joining the Seventh Doctor for a season of three audio stories (Click Here for details), Big Finish Productions has released more news concerning its output of their Doctor Who audio adventures in 2010.

‘We’re trying something a little different next year’, Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs has announced, ‘with some surprising combinations of Doctors and companions. So it’s with great pleasure that I can announce that Frazer Hines will be reprising the role of Jamie McCrimmon, joining the Sixth Doctor for four brand new adventures. Naturally that presents some gargantuan continuity issues to consider, but never fear, we know what we’re doing!

Tegan Jovanka

Jamie mainly accompanied the Second Doctor in his travels on television between 1966 and 1969. He did though return alongside the Second and Sixth Doctors in the 1985 story "The Two Doctors". And so it is during the events of this story that Big Finish Productions will be able to use for a Sixth Doctor/Jamie paring.

2010 also brings another season of three stories, reuniting another team for the first time in 26 years. ‘Janet Fielding will be back as Tegan Jovanka’, Nicholas Briggs has revealled, ‘for three stories that include Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Mark Strickson as Turlough’.

‘Getting these actors together in one studio is a first for us - Janet has only done one play with us before, while Mark now lives in New Zealand. But they’ve all committed to the project and we couldn’t be more excited’.

The Cradle of the Snake (Marc Platt)

September 2010:

This month sees the third, and final, of three stories starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

"The Cradle of the Snake" by Marc Platt, sees the return of the Mara, the snake-like demon from the 1980’s stories "Kinda" and "Snakedance".

In this story the TARDIS crew return to Manussa, a planet that they last visited in "Snakedance".

‘When we knew we could get these characters back together, we realised we wanted to bring back the Mara because it was an iconic monster from the Davison era’, Nicholas Briggs has revealed. ‘Original writer Christopher Bailey gave us his blessing, and Marc Plat seemed the obvious choice to write it - because Marc does ‘weird’ so wonderfully!’.

This story’s guest stars include Dan Stevens (The Line of Beauty, Dracula), Vernon Dobtcheff ("The War Games") and Hugh Fraser (Poirot and the Doctor Who audio story "Circular Time").

This story has been directed by Barnaby Edwards and was recorded on the 6th and 8th January 2010.

"The Mara is in all of us, deep in our minds. In our darkest thoughts, that’s where it started. Some people call it a demon, but that’s too simple. It’s about temptation".

Tegan's nightmares have returned. Seeking to banish the snake-like Mara from his companion's psyche, the Doctor sets course for Manussa, the creature's point of origin. But the TARDIS arrives instead in the heyday of the Manussan Empire, where infotainment impresario Rick ausGarten is preparing to turn dreams into reality.

The sun is setting on the Manussan Empire… and it's all the Doctor's fault.

Late September 2010:

The Forge, the secret organisation led by the vampire Nimrod, is to make a comeback in the release for late September 2010.

The Sixth Doctor first encountered them in the 2001 audio "Project: Twilight", then the Sixth Doctor and the Seventh Doctor were embroiled in another Forge encounter in the 2003 "Project: Lazarus".

Writers Cavan Scott and Mark Wright have teamed up once again to create "Project: Destiny", to be released in September 2010 as the first story in 2010's second Sylvester McCoy mini-season.

This story has been directed by Ken Bentley and was recorded on the 26th and 27th April 2010.

Actor Stephen Chance returns as Nimrod in a story which sees the Seventh Doctor and Ace returning to Earth after the shooting of their companion Hex, only to find that London is not what it was. Also guest starring in the adventure is Maggie O'Neill (Shameless, Peak Practice, Invasion: Earth) playing the part of Captain Lysandra Aristedes. Also starring are: Philip Dinsdale and Ingrid Oliver.

‘Over the years we've had many requests to continue the Forge storyline’, Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs has revealed, ‘and they're back with a vengeance in this thrilling story of alien mutation and personal betrayals. Be warned - a long kept secret is about to be divulged, and things may never be the same again’.

1999: Leaving her infant son behind, a young mother named Cassandra Schofield departs Bolton, seeking a better life amid the lights of London.

2004: Despite the best efforts of the time-travelling Doctor, 'Cassie' Schofield dies on Dartmoor, a vampirised victim of the sinister organisation called The Forge.

2021: All grown up, and a nurse at St Gart's Hospital, Thomas Hector Schofield – known as 'Hex' – meets, and becomes a companion to, that time-travelling Doctor… but remains unaware that his alien friend knew his mother, and watched her die.

1854: In the Crimean War, Hex takes a bullet, and is seriously injured. The Doctor promises to return him to St Gart's.

2025: Now. In a London ravaged by a deadly contagion… destiny awaits.

October 2010:

The second 2010 Seventh Doctor mini-season continues in October with "A Death in the Family" by acclaimed author Steven Hall, in which The Doctor meets someone from his past and someone from his future.

Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs has revealed:‘The surprise from the past is none other than Evelyn Smythe, played by Maggie Stables who teams up with The Doctor to help battle an old foe. We're delighted to have Maggie back, in what is the first of more appearances to come’.

The story's villain is the Word Lord, who previously appeared in the audio "Forty-Five". This time, the charismatic but utterly psychotic villain is played by Ian Reddington, who memorably played the Chief Clown in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy".

Also starring are: John Dorney, Alison Thea-Skot, Andrew Dickens and Harriet Kershaw.

This story has been directed by Ken Bentley and was recorded on the 28th and 29th April 2010.

"The future folds into the past. The homeless hero has fallen. Now begins the time of three tales: The Tale of the Herald. The Tale of the Hidden Woman. The Tale of the Final Speaker. When the last tale is told, all the lights shall fail. The world will end".

21st century London: Nobody No One, the extra-dimensional Word Lord, is again running amok. Only this time, he's unbeatable – and a terrible tragedy is about to unfold.

November 2010:

The second 2010 Seventh Doctor mini-season concludes with "Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge" by Marty Ross, a horror story set in the Arctic Circle.

This story has been directed by Ken Bentley and was recorded on the 21st and 23rd June 2010. It stars Sylvester McCoy, as the Seventh Doctor, and Sophie Aldred as Ace. Also starring are: Michael Brandon, Kate Terence, Stuart Milligan, Alex Lowe, Sam Clemens and Duncan Wisbey.

1934: the TARDIS lands on a snowy island off the coast of Alaska – one that wasn’t there four years, three months and six days ago, according to the Doctor. The island is dominated by a vast, twisted citadel. Inside it, the Lurkers lie dreaming. It's said when they wake the world will end…

Led by the ruthless Emerson Whytecrag, an expedition has come to the citadel, to exploit the horrors in its ebon-dark interior. Horrors just like those published in the pages of the pulp magazine Shuddersome Tales, where a hero's only reward is madness, death… or worse.

Horrors that the Doctor and his companion are about to wake up.