Big Finish 2005 Plans

Big Finish made several announcements about forthcoming plans at the recent Gallifrey 2005 convention, including the following tidbits (with thanks to John Hutton):

• Thicker Than Water is the title of the August 2005 release, written by Paul Sutton; it's a sequel to "Arrangements for War," and stars Colin Baker as the Doctor, Maggie Stables as Evelyn... and Bonnie Langford as Melanie!

• A second Sarah Jane Smith series will be released in 2006; the four-CD series, all by the same (as yet unknown) writer, will be produced by John Ainsworth and will take the character in a different direction.

• David Warner and Nicholas Courtney will return for an eighth installment of the Doctor Who: Unbound series, in a sequel to the Unbound audio "Sympathy for the Devil"; no official word on the writer, but it's probably "Sympathy" author Jonathan Clements.

• Three's a Crowd by Colin Brake (a "traditional corridor romp" on a space station) and The Council of Nicea by Caroline Symcox (an historical adventure) both star Peter Davison as the Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri and Caroline Morris as Erimem.

• Terror Firma by Joseph Lidster follows directly on from the cliffhanger at the end of the last Paul McGann story, "The Next Life"; the story "puts the Doctor through the wringer" and will hint about some of the things the Doctor was up to prior to the first Eighth Doctor audio, "Storm Warning".

• The second Gallifrey audio series will end with a double CD for the normal price; the series is also said to be serialized, moreso than the first.

• John Ostrander's Dead Man's Hand may be released in September this year, depending on the writer's schedule; if not, there are other scripts that can take its place as it is bumped again to next year.

• There will soon be more stories with Sarah Sutton (Nyssa). Mark Strickson (Turlough) also wants to do additional stories but his schedule is hectic. And Matthew Waterhouse may do an audio in the future, but defniitely not as Adric. Janet Fielding has made it clear she will not appear in any audios.