Tom Baker to Record Two Lost Scripts
Tuesday, 10 August 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Fourth Doctor Tom Baker is to record two missing stories for Audio producers Big Finish Productions
Doctor Who –The Lost Stories will take us back to the first season on the Fourth Doctor, screened by the BBC in 1975.
Several stories were commissioned for Baker's debut season including two that were abandoned or changed during the production process. These two missing stories are now completed in audio format with Tom Baker starring.
Doctor Who and the Ark is adapted from John Lucarotti’s original story of the television serial that became The Ark in Space
The audio recording stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, alongside Elisabeth Sladen's daughter, Sadie Miller, as Sarah Jane Smith and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan.
Adapted by Jonathan Morris from the first draft scripts, this audio production of Doctor Who and the Ark highlights where Robert Holmes polished the storytelling for television, and how the team developed the character of the Doctor
Daleks! Genesis of Terror features a full-cast episode from Terry Nation’s first draft script and an enhanced dramatic reading of his original storyline for Genesis of the Daleks.
The recording features the same TARDIS team working directly from a PDF of Terry Nation's original script –complete with typos! Also featuring Nation’s initial storyline for all six episodes with additional material by Simon Guerrier, this audio adventure finds the Fourth Doctor and his friends in a Kaled-Thal war being fought by teenagers –but where are all the adults?
Producer Simon Guerrier said:
This is something very special: Doctor Whoarchaeology brought thrillingly to life. The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Dalek sare among the best-loved TV stories ever. We’ve uncovered first draft scripts by John Lucarotti and Terry Nation that are exciting, surprising and very different Genesis is a very visual script packed with striking, stark images –Nation even makes the stage directions exciting. In Doctor Who and the Ark, the directions were more functional so Jonathan Morris has carefully adapted the script for audio. Though we’ve kept the original episode titles, such as “Puffball” and “Camelias” –I think Tom Baker enjoyed recording those! Oh, and wait till you hear that cliffhanger...
These releases add to the “Season 12” Lost Stories set begun by Return of the Cybermen, which was released in March 2021.
Doctor Who and the Ark Doctor Who –The Lost Stories: Doctor Who and the Ark is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition four-disc box set (on CD at £14.99) and as a digital download (at £12.99), exclusively at www.bigfinish.com.
Doctor Who –The Lost Stories: Daleks! Genesis of Terror Doctor Who –The Lost Stories: Daleks! Genesis of Terror is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition box set (on CD at £12.99) and as a digital download (at £10.99), exclusively from the Big Finish website.