It's been a joy to work on the Bernice Summerfield range as we approach her twentieth year, and we always knew we wanted to do something special. As well as a few original dramas, we pitched the notion of a one-off Companion Chronicle to David Richardson - jokingly suggested we call it War and Love as a nod to her roots in the New Adventures. Then typically, as David does, he came back with an even better nod to her origins: a full-cast adaptation of the novel that spawned her.

And so, after conversations with Paul Cornell, Jac Rayner, Sylvester, Sophie and Lisa (of course), we found ourselves tasked with the daunting opportunity of bringing a much-loved slice of 90s Doctor Who to a brand-new audience... and I think we've done it justice!

Love and War (available to pre-order)
by Paul Cornell, adapted by Jacqueline Rayner
starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Lisa Bowerman

On a planet called Heaven, all hell is breaking loose.

Heaven is a cemetery for both humans and Draconians - a final place of rest for those lost during wartime. The Doctor arrives on a trivial mission - to find a book, or so he says - and Ace, wandering around Joycetown, becomes involved with a charismatic Traveller called Jan.

But the Doctor is strenuously opposed to the romance. What is he trying to prevent? Is he planning some more deadly game connected with the coffins revered by the mysterious Church of Vacuum and the unusual Arch that marks the location of a secret building below ground?

Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield thinks so. Her destiny is inextricably linked with that of the Doctor, but even she may not be able to save Ace from the Time Lord's plans.

This time, has the Doctor gone too far?

Carry’s death was a very sad blow for everyone at Big Finish, and the whole Doctor Who world. We deliberated for a long time as to whether we should hold back the release of this story until 2013, but Carry’s husband Geoffrey Beevers kindly suggested we should go ahead as planned. It is what Carry would have wanted.

Carry really enjoyed working on this script, and the chance to work with Rowena Cooper as Liz’s mother, Emily. It was such a happy recording day that we had made plans for a sequel, which was storylined. But sadly it was not to be.

The Last Post
by James Goss
starring Caroline John, with Rowena Cooper

People are dying. Just a few, over a period of months... but the strange thing is that each person received a letter predicting the date and time of their death.

Throughout her time as the Doctor’s assistant, Liz Shaw has been documenting these passings.

Her investigation ultimately uncovers a threat that could lead to the end of the world, but this time Liz has someone to help her.

Her mother...

There’s been a mystery haunting followers of the Seventh Doctor stories at Big Finish. Why is the TARDIS white? Why is there a black TARDIS? And where is the Doctor? All is revealed in Black and White, in which four companions collide – Ace (Sophie Aldred), Hex (Philip Olivier), Aristedes (Maggie O’Neill) and Sally (Amy Pemberton). And what they discover about each other, and the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), will rock their worlds...

Black and White is written by Matt Fitton, and guest stars Stuart Milligan (The Impossible Astronaut and The Day of the Moon) as Garundel.

Meanwhile, The Masters of Luxor by Anthony Coburn has finally been released 49 years after the script was originally written for television! Coburn, who wrote the very first Doctor Who story An Unearthly Child, originally devised Luxor as the second story, but it was ultimately replaced by Terry Nation’s The Daleks. Those original scripts have been adapted by Nigel Robinson as part of the Lost Stories range, and performed by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford with Joseph Kloska guest starring as Tabor and the Perfect One.

"This was such a momentous story to make," says producer David Richardson. "It really felt like an important piece of Doctor Who history. Anthony’s script is so dark and character-based, and it builds to a really doom-laden finale. If you enjoyed Farewell Great Macedon on our First Doctor Box Set, then you should love this – I was determined to reassemble the whole team from that story, from William and Carole, to Nigel, Lisa Bowerman as director and Toby Robinson on sound design and music. The results, I think, are quite heart-breaking."

Finally this month’s Companion Chronicle is The Uncertainty Principle, performed by Wendy Padbury as Zoe, accompanied by her daughter Charlie Hayes as Jen.

"We’re back with the older Zoe," says David, "as the mysterious Company tries to ascertain what she might remember of travelling through time and space – and they force her mind back to a journey to Earth, where nothing is certain."

Black and White (available to order)
by Matt Fitton
starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier

The TARDIS arrives in the land of the Danes, where a young warrior seeks to rid the kingdom of Hrothgar from a cruel and terrifying demon. The brave young warrior is Beowulf; the monster is Grendel... or so his name will one day be written. But what's written down in black and white is sometimes very far from the truth – as the Doctor knows, and his companions are about to discover.

The Masters of Luxor (available to order)
by Anthony Coburn, adapted by Nigel Robinson
starring William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, with Joe Kloska

The TARDIS is drawn to a mysterious signal emanating from a seemingly dead world. Trapped within a crystalline structure, the Doctor and his friends inadvertently wake a vast army of robots that have lain dormant for many, many years. Waiting… for the Masters of Luxor.

The Perfect One wants to become more than just a mockery of a man, and will stop at nothing to achieve it. But will the cost prove too great?

The travellers are about to uncover a horrifying tragedy. A tragedy that threatens to engulf them all.

The Uncertainty Principle (available to order)
by Simon Guerrier
starring Wendy Padbury, with Charlie Hayes

In the future, Zoe Heriot is a prisoner of the mysterious Company, which has evidence that she travelled through space and time with the Doctor. Zoe’s memories have been blocked by the Time Lords, but the Company is determined to break through this conditioning...

And so Zoe recalls a journey to Earth in the past, to the funeral of a young woman called Meg, who was involved in scientific experiments that are bringing forth sinister alien creatures. Only the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe can stop them...

I'm so excited that we can continue our voyages with the Doctor for at least another three years, and so pleased that AudioGO and the BBC continue to trust us with the telling of these stories.

It's been a privilege and a pleasure for me to have worked on the Doctor Who audio range since 1999. I'm looking forward to continuing the excellent relationship we have with AudioGO and the BBC – and, of course, to the many exciting adventures for the Doctor I'll be working on over the next three years or more.

We're already making plans for 2015, which will be the sixteenth year of Doctor Who audio productions from Big Finish and will include our landmark 200th main range play!

In addition to the Doctor Who main range and Companion Chronicles, we are working through ideas for an exciting new range which we hope to announce during 2013.

We’re really proud of this month’s releases. A brand new trilogy starts for the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex with Protect and Survive, and so begins a journey that will be packed with scorching surprises...

The latest Lost Story is The First Sontarans by Andrew Smith, and it's probably my favourite from the entire range. You’ll discover the secret of the Sontarans – and it's a secret so significant that I hope listeners will help us keep it under wraps until everyone gets a chance to hear it...

Finally Ian Chesterton is back in The Time Museum, caught up in a vast exhibit dedicated to... Himself. It's a glorious script from James Goss, that takes a nostalgic foray into the early days of Doctor Who.

Protect and Survive (available to order)
by Jonathan Morris
starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Peter Oliver

If an attack with nuclear weapons is expected, you will hear the air attack warning. If you are not at home, but can get there within two minutes, do so. If you are in the open, take cover in the nearest building. If you cannot reach a building, lie flat on the ground and cover your head and your hands.

Arriving in the North of England in the late 1980s, Ace and Hex seek refuge at the home of Albert and Peggy Marsden... in the last few hours before the outbreak of World War Three.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is missing. Will there be anyone left for him to rescue, when the bombs begin to fall?

The First Sontarans (available to order)
by Andrew Smith
starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant

1872. After finding a strange signalling device on the moon, the Doctor and Peri travel to the depths of the English countryside to track down the source of its transmissions. But they're not the first aliens to arrive on the scene.

Old enemies of the Doctor are drawing their battle lines in the forest and the local humans will be lucky to escape the conflagration unscathed.

For hidden within this village is a deadly secret - a secret that could destroy the entire Sontaran race... and reveal the terrible mystery of their creation.

The Time Museum (available to order)
by James Goss
starring William Russell

"This is The Chesterton Exhibition. A series of breathtakingly faithful tableaux, painstakingly detailed to the nth degree. Dedicated to the life of that most extraordinary time traveller, Ian Chesterton!"

Ian finds himself in a shrine to his own past, and on the run with a man named Pendolin.

From Coal Hill School to Jobis Station, from Totter’s Yard to the Crusades, Ian’s history is unfolding.

And a confrontation with a deadly enemy with a voracious appetite awaits…

We've had a blast making this series, and enthusiasm and love for the characters and setting has resulted in four stories we're all very proud of.

On the strength of Series 1, a second run has already been commissioned and scripts are just starting to come in. We're all booked in to record in October, when Pamela Salem flies in from the US for the Counter-Measures reunion!

Marc Platt has written a deliciously dark tale that should chill our subscribers in the winter nights. Night of the Stormcrow is about that nagging neurosis you get when you’re awake at 3:30 in the morning; the terrible fear of what is lurking in the pitch black...

Night of the Stormcrow
by Marc Platt

High atop Mount McKerry sits the observatory. For years now it's been watching the skies. Now something's watching back. Something dark and huge that blots out the stars. Something with giant wings. Something that kills.

When the TARDIS is struck mid-flight, the Doctor and Leela crash-land on the mountain to find they are not the only aliens to be visiting. Beings of nothing infest the complex, staff members are dead or mad. As the survivors argue amongst themselves and attempt to take advantage of the situation, a creature vast and terrible is coming ever closer.

A creature called... Stormcrow.

We’ve been delighted by the response to the first season of our Fourth Doctor stories. We had such an exciting and rewarding time making series one and two, and we’re just thrilled to be back in the studio again with Tom and Louise recording more.

Of course, the second series – which features Mary Tamm as Romana, with John Leeson as the voice of K9 – won’t be released until January 2013. But, recording schedules being what they are, we are always working well ahead.

We began recording on series three on 9th May, and production will continue through until July. At the moment it’s too early to reveal many story details, but we can say that Geoffrey Beevers will again return as the Master, the travellers will discover what lurks in the dead of night and the Doctor will encounter an even deadlier version of an old foe.

The Oseidon Adventure (available for pre-order)
By Alan Barnes
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Starring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and Geoffrey Beevers, with Dan Starkey, Michael Cochrane and John Banks
Release date: June 2012


The first time the fearsome Kraals attempted to take over the Earth, with the help of their android agents, things didn't go quite according to plan – thanks to the time-travelling alien Doctor and his allies at UNIT.

This time, Marshal Grinmal and his belligerent cohorts are ready for them. This time, they'll make no mistakes. This time, Chief Scientist Tyngworg has not just one plan, but a back-up plan, and a back-up back-up plan worked out...

With the Doctor a prisoner on the Kraals' radiation-blasted home planet of Oseidon, only his companion Leela can save the day – alongside a most unlikely ally.

UNIT: Dominion
By Nicholas Briggs and Jason Arnopp
Directed by Nicholas Briggs
Starring Sylvester McCoy, Tracy Childs, Beth Chalmers
Release date: October 2012


The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis – and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it.

Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions.

At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.

Available for pre-order at Big Finish