Big Finish have announced a new range of audio adventures based on "lost stories" of Doctor Who - the series has launched this month with audio adaptions of the Sixth Doctor's adventures after Revelation of the Daleks, the unmade Season 23, kicking off with Graham Williams' The Nightmare Fair.

Big Finish plan to release another series of stories next year, following the Seventh Doctor's adventures post-Survival - these are made in collaboration with the then script editor Andrew Cartmel. Says range producer David Richardson:
The twenty-seventh season would also have introduced a new companion in the form of safe-cracker Raine; the character has been cast, with the identity to be revealed next year.

The early years of Doctor Who will also be represented, with two boxed sets covering the first two Doctors. The Hartnell Years will feature the scripts of Moris Farhi, "Farewell Great Macedon" and "The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance", both of which were published recently by Nothing at the End of the Lane; these will be presented as audiobooks with narration by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, with a guest actor to portray Alexander the Great in the former. The Troughton Years will feature adaptations of "Prison in Space" by Simon Guerrier from Dick Sharples's original script, plus an audio version of Terry Nation's unmade US TV Dalek pilot show, "The Destroyers". The two boxed sets are expected to be released in November and December next year respectively.

The BBC is today celebrating the 75th Anniversary of its Maida Vale studios, best known to Doctor Who fans as the home of the Radiophonic Workshop. A series of programmes being broadcast across the entire BBC radio network will celebrate the role the studios have had in the cultural life of the country, many including music from the classic series of Doctor Who.

The Radiophone Workshop was involved with the series from the very start when, in 1963 the unit were given the task of realising composer Ron Grainer's theme tune for the upcoming television series. Working in Maida Vale, Delia Derbyshire created the sound which has become one of the most recognisable themes in British television.. The Workshop was responsible for most of the sound effects used in the series throughout it's entire run and it was in these studios that such iconic sounds as the TARDIS materialisation and the sound of the Sonic screwdriver were created. The workshop provided much incidental music for the programme including every score from 1980 to 1985.

The Maida Vale studios were also used to broadcast news across Europe during the Second World War and were the home of Radio 1's Peel Sessions from 1967 until 2004. They also hosted early radio performances from such acts as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie, drama recordings for Radio 3 and Radio 4 including Dr Zhivago and King Lear and Bing Crosby made his last recording session in the studios in 1977.

November sees the release of the autobiography of Barry Letts. The book covers the producer/director's career up to and throughout his time as producer of Doctor Who during Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor, and features additional material that didn't appear in the previously released audio book version.

The book will be published by Fantom Films, and will have both a paperback and limited edition hardback version with additional interviews with Letts, Terrance Dicks and Katy Manning.

The company has also just released an audio book version of actress Mary Tamm's autobiography.

Four new Doctor Who and Sarah Jane audio titles are to be released by BBC Audio in the UK on 8th October.

• The Day of the Troll is a Doctor Who adventure read by David Tennant. It is the second in a series of audio exclusive stories, following the release of Pest Control in May.
• The Dead Shoes is the second in the Hornets' Nest series starring Tom Baker and Richard Franklin. What is so special about a pair of ballet shoes on display in Cromer’s Palace of Curios? When the Doctor meets Ernestina Scott there in 1932, they discover the horrific truth together.
• The Shadow People is a Sarah Jane Adventures audio book read by Elisabeth Sladen.
• The White Wolf is a Sarah Jane Adventures audio book read by Elisabeth Sladen.

The third part of Hornets' Nest will be released in November, not in October as indicated in a previous press release.

• The Circus of Doom is the third in the Hornets' Nest series. In Blandford, 1832, ringmaster Antonio exerts a strange influence on the townsfolk. When the Doctor steps into the ring, he discovers that Antonio has some familiar demons of his own.

TV/Movie CD publisher Silva Screen have released details on a new CD covering the music from the two 1960s Aaru films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

The restored soundtracks feature the scores composed by Malcolm Lockyer and Bill McGuffie, with additional sounds from Barry Gray; the CD will also feature contemporary single releases, plus a 20 page booklet covering production notes and memorabilia.

The CD is due for release on 5th October; track details below.

Classic Doctor Who audio producers Big Finish have announced that their license to produce the adventures of past Doctors has been renewed until 31st December 2011.

Says executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery:

The BBC has released more details on the return of Tom Baker to the role of the fourth Doctor after twenty eight years.

Baker reprises his role in a new five part audio adventure for BBC Audiobooks.

Doctor Who: Hornets' Nest, is written by Paul Magrs and also stars Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Rula Lenska as the Hornet Queen and Stephen Thorne.

The first story, The Stuff of Nightmares, will be available to buy from 3rd September 2009 with the remaining four stories following in subsequent months.

Doctor Who Audiobook Pest Control has been nominated as one of the best Audiobooks of 2009 by the website Completely Novel.

The story, written by Peter Anghelides, was produced by BBC Audio and read by David Tennant. It was the first non-televised Doctor Who adventure to feature the companion Donna Noble.

The audiobook is up against titles such as Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes, A Room with a View by E.M. Forster, Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup, Dear Fatty by Dawn French and Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama.

Big Finish has released details - including titles and release schedule - of its upcoming of Doctor Who: The Lost Stories season, starring Colin Bakerand Nicola Bryant as the Doctor and Peri.

In 1985, as the the 23rd Series of the programme was well into the planning stages, the show was placed on hiatus. Plans for Series 23 were scrapped, and when the show returned to screens 18 months later, at the end of 1986, it was with a new Series 23, the "Trial of a Time Lord" season. Big Finish is now releasing new adaptations of the stories that were lost as result of that hiatus.

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories season will include:

The Nightmare Fair, written by Graham Williams, adapted for audio by John Ainsworth

Mission to Magnus, written by Philip Martin

Leviathan, written by Brian Finch, adapted by Paul Finch

The Hollows of Time, written by former script editor Christopher H Bidmead

TBA (details are not yet available)

Point of Entry, written by Barbara Clegg and Marc Platt

Paradise 5, written by PJ Hammond and Andy Lane

The Space Whale, written by Pat Mills

The Nightmare Fair will be released November 2009, and the season will run through June 2010. The series is available for pre-order and subscription.

Please visit the Big Finish website for full information on all of these stories

Big Finish Productions are to release the third series of the Eighth Doctor adventures as a series of downloads every Saturday from 7th March 2009.

The full-cast audio Adventures feature Paul McGann as the Doctor travelling with his companion Lucie, played by Sheridan Smith. Each 30-minute episode will be available on Saturday night, with the complete two-part story subsequently available on CD. There will be eight stories produced over a 16-week period. There will be a bonus ninth adventure which will be released as a Christmas special in December 2009, entitled Death in Blackpool.

The season will see the Doctor and Lucie facing some new foes and a number of favourite and iconic Doctor Who monsters, including the Krynoids (killer plants from the 1976 TV story The Seeds of Doom), the Wirrn (deadly insects from the 1975 tale The Ark in Space) and the Giant Spiders of Metebelis III (from the 1974 Jon Pertwee story Planet of the Spiders).

Big Finish have lined up an impressive list of guest actors for the series, which includes: Andrew
Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers), Laura Solon (Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul), Nigel Planer (The Young Ones, The Colour of Magic), Lysette Anthony (Dark Shadows, Dracula: Dead and Loving It), Miriam Margolyes (Happy Feet, the Harry Potter films), Samuel Barnett (The History Boys, Beautiful People), Colin Salmon (Resident Evil, Die Another Day and Dr Moon in Doctor Who: Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead), Daniel Anthony (Clyde in The Sarah Jane Adventures), Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies, Ms Wormwood in The Sarah Jane Adventures), Phil Davies (Bleak House, The Curse of Steptoe, Lucius in Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii),Phill Jupitus (Rex the Runt, Never Mind the Buzzcocks), Stephen Moore (Brassed Off, Mersey Beat and Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Sophie Winkleman (Peep Show) and Sanjeev Bhaskar(The Kumars at No 42, Notting Hill).