Big Finish Productions has announced its first wave of special releases to celebrate 20 years of Doctor Who audio adventures

As part of the anniversary celebrations, Big Finish is releasing a number of special titles in 2019 and 2020, each focused on an incarnation of the Time Lord. And today they unveil the first two titles.

Coming out this November, Sylvester McCoy’s calculating and comic Doctor returns with two companions from the Virgin Books’ New Adventures of Doctor Who: Yasmin Bannerman plays Roz Forrester and Travis Oliver plays Chris Cwej in Doctor Who – The New New Adventures.

The Virgin Books’ New Adventures of Doctor Who took the reigns of Doctor Who after the television series finished after its 26th season back in 1989. The novels took a darker, deeper approach to Doctor Who, using longer storylines and ideas that wouldn’t have made it to the television screen.

This new box set includes four stories:

1. The Trial of a Time Machine by Andy Lane
2. Vanguard by Steve Jordan
3. The Jabari Countdown by Alan Flanagan
4. The Dread of Night by Tim Foley

Producer and director Scott Handcock explains The New New Adventures will be released in November 2018, available as a CD box set for £23 or on download at £20 from www.bigfinish.com

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Two new adventures are also being released for the bohemian Fourth Doctor adapted from the comic strip by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons that featured in Doctor Who Magazine (when it was Doctor Who Weekly).

Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations will be released in March 2019 comprising of:

1. Doctor Who and the Iron Legion adapted by Alan Barnes
2. Doctor Who and the Star Beast adapted by Alan Barnes

In these two adventures, we find the Fourth Doctor travelling with his famed elongated technicolour scarf for company. He’ll encounter the Iron Legion, an army of robotic Roman legionnaires, and in Doctor Who and the Star Beast, the Fourth Doctor encounters one of the deadliest and most adorable villains ever – Beep the Meep!

Nicholas Briggs, director of the Fourth Doctor audio adventures, explainsThese two epic stories will be released in March 2019 as a 5-disc CD box set for £23 or on download at £20 from www.bigfinish.com. Or you can get both sets together as a pre-order bundle, at £46 on CD or £40 on download.

This week sees the return of the Seventh Doctor in comic form, for a set of all-new adventures.

Written by Andrew Cartmel and Executive produced by Ben Aaronovitch, the powers behind the Doctor Who episode Remembrance of the Daleks – which celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2018!

Seventh Doctor #1

Writer: Andrew Cartmel
Artist: Christopher Jones
COVER A: Alice X. Zhang COVER B: Photo - Will Brooks COVER C: Christopher Jones COVER D: Simon Myers

BBC Worldwide Americas and Titan Comics have announced that the Seventh Doctor is back, in comic form.

This brand-new three-part comic series stars the Seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester McCoy, alongside classic companion Ace, played by Sophie Aldred.

Released in June 2018 with a double-sized first issue, DOCTOR WHO: THE SEVENTH DOCTOR #1, is written by Seventh Doctor script editor Andrew Cartmel, and writer Ben Aaronovitch who wrote the seventh Doctor stories Remembrance of the Daleks and Battlefield.

Actor Sylvester McCoy starred as the Seventh Doctor from 1987 to 1989 anchoring hundreds of novels and comic strips before regenerating in the 1996 TV movie. As well as this new comic, the Seventh Doctor’s era lives on in a tremendously successful series of audios from Big Finish. McCoy’s portrayal as the Doctor was, at first, a light-hearted eccentric who darkened into a secretive, mysterious, and cunning planner across the course of his tenure.

In Titan Comics’ new mini-series, an unknown alien intelligence in orbit around the Earth. Astronauts under attack. A terrifying, mysterious landing in the Australian interior. The future of the world itself at stake. Counter Measures activated. The Seventh Doctor and Ace are slap bang in the middle of it all! This is OPERATION VOLCANO!

Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel return to the TARDIS, on the 30th anniversary of fan-favorite episode Remembrance of the Daleks with The Seventh Doctor comics, and are joined by illustrator Christopher Jones (The Third Doctor) and colorist Marco Lesko (Robotech, The Ninth Doctor) to bring astonishing twists and turns to the lives of the Seventh Doctor, and his companions, with Titan’s new comic series.

The debut issue comes with four variant covers to collect: three art covers by artists Alice X. Zhang, Simon Myers, and Christopher Jones, and a photo cover by Will Brooks. The Seventh Doctor will also materialize with a back-up strip written by Twelfth Doctor scribe Richard Dinnick, with art by Jessica Martin (Actor: Doctor Who: The Greatest Show In The Galaxy, Voice actor: Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned).

Issue 517 of Doctor Who Magazine celebrates 30 years of the Seventh Doctor with Sylvester Mccoy.

Thirty years after he first appeared as the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy reflects on the role that changed his life... ALSO INSIDE THIS ISSUE…

• DEBORAH WATLING TRIBUTE
DWM remembers the late Deborah Watling, who played the Second Doctor's companion Victoria from 1967 to 1968, with contributions from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Frazer Hines.
• VICTORIA'S SECRETS
A previously unpublished interview with Deborah Watling from 1990.
• VICTOR PEMBERTON TRIBUTE
Remembering the late Doctor Who writer and story editor Victor Pemberton.
• GAIL BENNETT
An interview with original American Doctor Who superfan Gail Bennett.
• FURY FROM THE DEEP
This month's Fact of Fiction explores 1968's Fury from the Deep, the last story to feature Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield.
• THE PARLIAMENT OF FEAR
Part Three of the brand-new comic strip adventure, The Parliament of Fear, featuring the Doctor and Bill; written by Scott Gray and illustrated by Mike Collins.
• DOMINIC GLYNN
The composer recalls writing and recording the score for 1989's Survival.
• THE TIME TEAM
The Time Team continues its mission to watch every episode of Doctor Who with 2012's The Doctor's Wife.

PLUS! Previews, book and audio reviews, news, the Watcher's column, prize-winning competitions and much, much more.

Issue number: 517 - Price: £5.99 (US $11.99)- On Sale: Thursday 21 September 2017

Two treasures from classic Doctor Who are amongst 600 lots of movie memorabilia being sold in a London auction on Tuesday 26th September 2017

Sylvester McCoy’s signature hat from his spell as the seventh Doctor is up for sale alongside a Necros Dalek Model Miniature from Revelation of the Daleks, which starred Colin Baker. Both are estimated to sell for between £8,000 – £10,000.

These iconic pieces of television history will be sold alongside props and costumes from over 200 films and television shows, worth £2-£3 million, at Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction.

A preview exhibition presenting over 300 auction lots will take place until 26th September at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo, London, where movie fans and collectors alike can see these incredible pieces of movie history up-close.

Stephen Lane, Prop Store CEO, commented on the upcoming auction The auction will be live-streamed online for fans to track the bidding on auction day. Registration and bidding is now open. Bids can be placed online, over the phone or in person.

The free exhibition is open to the public at the BFI IMAX, Waterloo, London, England SE1 8XR from 10:00am to 9:30pm, until 26th September 2017.

Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, in partnership with the BFI IMAX proudly presented by ODEON, will also take place at the BFI IMAX Waterloo on Tuesday 26th September 2017 from 12:00pm.

Big Finish have announced details for their main range of Doctor Who adventures over the course of next year.

January sees a new trilogy featuring the fifth Doctor and companions, which as well as Tegan and Nyssa will also see them joined with Adric, as played by Matthew Waterhouse. Having first returned to the Doctor Who fold in 2014's Fifth Doctor Box Set, the character now arrives in the main range, with Matthew commenting:
Range editor Alan Barnes said:
Matthew added:
The characters continue their journeys over the next two months, with Alan adding:
Additional cast members include Sue Holderness (Only Fools And Horses) in The Star Men, Philip Jackson (Inspector Japp in ITV's Poirot) and Clive Merrison (The Tomb of the Cybermen, Paradise Towers) in The Contingency Club, and Rebecca Root (Boy Meets Girl), Niamh Cusack (Heartbeat), Philip Franks (The Darling Buds of May, Heartbeat) and Carol Sloman – daughter of Doctor Who writer Robert Sloman - in Zaltys. The trilogy has covers from designer Tom Webster.


April sees a change in style for the regular range, as Big Finish embarks on the first of three special two-disc collections of two stories. The first stars Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor in Alien Heart by Steve Cole, and Dalek Soul by Guy Adams. This is followed in May by Colin Baker's sixth Doctor starring in Vortex Ice by Jonathan Morris, and Cortex Fire by Ian Potter, and then in June Sylvester McCoy brings the trilogy to a close with Shadow Planet by AK Benedict and World Apart by Scott Handcock.

Alan commmented:

Looking a little further into 2017, July sees the award-winning John Dorney back writing for the main range with The High Price of Parking starring the seventh Doctor, Mel and Ace. August's title has yet to be confirmed, but September will see two releases, with Matthew J Elliott's The Silurian Candidate for the seventh Doctor and Eddie Robson's Time in Office featuring the fifth Doctor, Tegan and another Doctor's one-time companion. The end of the year sees a full trilogy of adventures featuring the sixth Doctor, Constance and Flip, following on from this month's release, Quicksilver.


The main range can be bought individually, or subscribed to in both six- and 12-episode runs, at money-saving prices as well as special exclusives such as PDF scripts, extended extras and up to four Doctor Who - Subscriber Short Trips a year. Full details can be found via the Big Finish website.

Big Finish have released details on what to expect in their regular monthly range of adventures for the Doctor.

The first quarter of the year features the fifth Doctor and companions, with Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton reprising their roles as they encounter Rembrandt, a mysterious apparently abandoned spaceship, and a bad time in Manchester's history:


The second quarter provides a new encounter with the Masters ... with the fifth Doctor encountering an earlier incarnation (Geoffrey Beevers) in April, followed by the sixth Doctor embroiled with the recent (Alex Macqueen) in May, before the seventh Doctor finds himself recruited by both in June!


The summer sees Sylvester McCoy reunited with Bonnie Langford and Sophie Aldred as the seventh Doctor, Mel and Ace embark on a new trilogy of adventures, A Life of Crime, Fiesta of the Damned and Maker of Demons. Then as autumn and winter descends, the fifth Doctor returns in an anthology The Memory Bank and Other Stories, whilst Colin Baker and Miranda Raison return as the Doctor and Constance for a trilogy to round off the year, Order, Absolute Power and Quicksilver.

BBC Books have announced that seven of the original Doctor Who Target novelisations are to be re-issued on 28th April, reflecting each of the seven Doctors from the range:

• Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton
• Doctor Who and the Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks
• Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion by Malcolm Hulke
• Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
• Doctor Who: The Visitation by Eric Saward
• Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos by Philip Martin
• Doctor Who: Battlefield by Marc Platt

All of the books feature cover illustrations by Chris Achilleos, who was commissioned to create new covers for the latter books in the range. He said:

Albert DePetrillo, senior editorial director at BBC Books, said


The three original novels that launched the range back in 1972, Doctor Who and The Daleks and Doctor Who and The Crusaders by David Whitaker, and Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton, are also set to be re-released as hardback facsimile editions on 3rd November.

Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy is to star in a new BBC Two travel documentary series, The Real Marigold Hotel, which takes the cast on the journey of a lifetime.

The series, inspired by but otherwise unrelated to the blockbuster film, documents the authentic experience of eight famous senior citizens as they head to India on an experimental adventure.

Joining the 72 year old McCoy will be actor Miriam Margolyes, dancer Wayne Sleep, comedian Roy Walker, chef Rosemary Shrager, darts champion Bobby George, singer Patti Boulaye and former news reader Jan Leeming for three weeks to see if they would consider spending their golden years retiring to the other side of the world.

Four thousand miles from home, the group will land in colourful Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan in Northern India, to test whether they can set up a better, more rewarding retirement here than in the UK.

In the scorching heat, the group will take over a haveli - an Indian private mansion - and from the moment they arrive they will have to work out how to set up home together: from who’ll cook and clean and whether they will hire staff, to how they will get around and spend their time.

Their unforgettable Indian adventure will see the group fully embrace Indian culture, from the surprises of the capital’s largest slum to meeting Jaipur’s Royal family at the opulent Rambagh Palace. As they settle into local life, members of the group will take to yoga and learn some Hindi, experience shopping in the hectic streets, hunt for potential properties and take advantage of the medical care. We’ll see them visit the Ganesh Chaturti festival, ride elephants, make a trip to one of the holiest Hindu cities in India, Varanasi, and also test out long-distance travel by embarking on a 150-mile trip to the jewel in India’s crown, the Taj Mahal.

From the environment to the food, the transport to the customs, moving away from the UK is guaranteed to be a culture shock for our cast - as they leave routines and loved ones behind to adapt to living together and to a completely new way of life.

The series is set to air late-January 2016

Today sees the launch of Big Finish's latest series of tie-in adventures, this time focussing on the Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood; the first in the series, The Conspiracy, features John Barrowman, reprising his role as Captain Jack Harkness. Meanwhile, the three earliest Doctors all have an outing this month, with the First and Vicki's perceptions tested in Short Trips: Etheria, the Second, Ben, Polly and Jamie encounter The Yes Men, and the Third returns (in the form of Tim Treloar) alongside Jo and Mike Yates in the Third Doctor Adventures (Vol 1). Finally, the Seventh Doctor and Mel are caught up in diminutive shenanigans in Terror of the Sontarans ...