BBC Audio Release News

Sunday, 7 August 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

According to Amazon, both The Tenth Planet and The Invasion will get individual CD release on 9 January next year. Both titles were previously available in the limited edition Cybermen tin released in November 2004; the same was also done previously with "The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks" originally released in the Dalek tin in 2003.

FILTER: - Audio - Classic Series

Big Finish Update

Thursday, 4 August 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

A brief update from Big Finish today: The Kingmaker by Nev Fountain has been delayed to April 2006, and in its place will be Singularity by James Swallow, starring Peter Davison. No word as yet on story or other details.

FILTER: - Audio

David Jackson

Tuesday, 2 August 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

David Jackson, who starred as Olag Gan in the Terry Nation serial "Blake's 7" and in such series as "Z Cars," "The Music Shoppe" and "The Avengers", as well as an appearance as The Squire in "Sarah Jane Smith: Comeback" for Big Finish, died on Monday 25 July of a heart attack. He was 71. The officialBlake's 7 Fan Club has posted a tribute page, including comments from his many co-stars including Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Gareth Thomas and Brian Croucher.

FILTER: - Obituary - Audio

Big Finish on BBC7

Sunday, 24 July 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The BBC7 digital radio network (website) will air several adventures starring Paul McGann, the last actor in the role of the Doctor prior to the current television series, as created by Big Finish Productions, says a BBC Press Office release. "Russell T DaviesÆs Doctor Who has recently finished a successful run on BBC One with the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, at the helm of the Tardis. Now BBC 7 takes a step back in time to welcome The Doctor's eighth persona, as played by Paul McGann, in four new four-part adventures, beginning with Storm Warning." This is the first time Big Finish's Doctor Who serials written especially for CD will appear in broadcast format; the company had previously produced two of BBC Online's webcast serials. Four serials starring McGann -- Storm Warning by Alan Barnes, Sword of Orion by Nicholas Briggs, The Stones of Venice by Paul Magrs and Invaders From Mars by Mark Gatiss (which features Simon Pegg of "The Long Game") -- will be broadcast on consecutive Saturdays starting 6 August 2005 at 6.30pm, with repeats at 12.30am the following morning. The episodes have been edited for radio, with one particular plot thread (Ramsey, a Vortisaur in the Time Vortex) being excised. The broadcasts incorporate the first through third and fifth McGann stories produced (skipping 'Minuet in Hell').

FILTER: - Audio - Radio

Big Finish Update

Thursday, 21 July 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Big Finish have put up a few new covers, including the forthcoming fourteenth "Doctor Who" hardcover fiction anthology, Short Trips 14: Solar System edited by Gary Russell, due out in September; The Coming of the Queen, a novel featuring the audio companion Erimem's origins by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett, due in August; and Project: Valhalla by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, a novel sequel to their "Doctor Who" audios "Project: Twilight" and "Project: Lazarus" due in September. Click on the thumbnails below for larger versions. Meanwhile, the story lineup for the fifteenth anthology book, Short Trips: The History of Christmas, edited by Simon Guerrier due in December, has been announced: "The Anchorite's Echo" by Scott Andrews; "Presence" by Peter Anghelides; "Set in Stone" by Charles Auchterlonie and John Isles; "Be Good for Goodness' Sake" by Samantha Baker; "Home Fires " by Jonathan Blum; "Face to Face" by Joff Brown; "The Thousand Years of Christmas" by Simon Bucher-Jones; "Saint Nicholas's Bones" by Xanna Eve Chown; "Ode to Joy" by Jonathan Clements; "The Gift" by Robert Dick; "The Revolutionaries" by John S. Drew; "Rome" by Shaun Lyon Flavin; "The Prodigal Sun" by Matthew Griffiths; "Christmas on the Moon" by Simon Guerrier; "Advent" by Peter Kempshall; "A Light in the Dark" by Joseph Lidster; "Nobody's Gift" by Kate Orman; "The Innocents" by Marc Platt; "The Long Midwinter" by Philip Purser-Hallard; "Not in My Back Yard" by Eddie Robson; "Callahuanca" by Richard Salter; "The Feast" by Stewart Sheargold; "The Church of Saint Sebastian" by Robert Smith; "The Lampblack Wars" by Matthew Sweet; and "Faithless" by Ben Woodhams. Big Finish have also announced Short Trips: Farewellsedited by Jacqueline Rayner for March 2006, Short Trips: The Centenarian edited by Ian Farrington due in September 2006, and two other volumes in June and December of next year.

FILTER: - Audio

Big Finish Update

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The Big Finish website has been updated with news of some upcoming projects:

The site confirms the release of the four-part Cybermen miniseries beginning in September, written and directed by Nicholas Briggs; says Briggs, "It's set in the far future, on Earth, in space and on alien planets... perhaps even the odd familiar one. ... Cyberman is an epic story full of action, adventure and emotion where the stakes are high in the face of a terrifying, unstoppable enemy."

The cover illustration for the Paul McGann story Other Lives by Gary Hopkins has been released; the cover is at right, click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

The next issue of Big Finish Magazine, the series of behind-the-scenes CDs given away free to subscribers, will be sent out with August's release, "Terror Firma" and includes a look at that production, interviews with David Tennant, Susannah Harker and David Warner, a deleted scene from "The Last" and a chat with the writers of the UNIT series.

The audio trailer for Terror Firma starring Paul McGann and Terry Molloy is now online.

FILTER: - Audio

Big Finish Update

Sunday, 3 July 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Big Finish has published a brief update about a few forthcoming audios: Thicker Than Water by Paul Sutton andLive 34 by James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown, the covers and cover blurbs for which have been released, and are seen below (click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the covers). Also noted is that Her Final Flight by Julian Shortman, previously a subscriber-only audio, is now available for general purchase.

Thicker Than Water, by Paul Sutton

Three years after Vilag was all but laid waste by the Killorans, the Doctor is back alongside a different companion. And a lot has changed.

Now elected Principle Triumvir, head of a tripartite government, Rossiter is working to secure a peaceful future for the planet by researching the technology the Killorans left behind. But he has to contend with opposition from his daughter, Sofia, who heads a public campaign demanding the destruction of all alien artefacts.

Politics has caused a rift between father and daughter, and as if that weren't enough, Sofia doesn't approve of her new step-mother either. Emotions soon boil over into violence, a violence that seems to have gripped the entire city.

Friendships bind people close, but they say that blood is...

This story takes place between "The Trial of a Time Lord" and "Time and the Rani".

Starring Colin Baker (the Doctor), Maggie Stables (Evelyn Smythe) and Bonnie Langford (Mel), with Gabriel Woolf (Principal Triumvir Rossiter), Rachel Pickup (Dr Sofia Rossiter), Patrick Romer (Dr Andrew Szab?), Simon Watts (Dr Sebastian Lawrence), Matt Dineen (Jenner) and James Parsons (TV Interviewer). Directed by Edward Salt.

Live 34, by James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown

"You're listening to LIVE 34."

"LIVE 34 news on the hour every hour LIVE 34 broadcasting to Colony 34 all day every day LIVE 34 constantly updated every minute of every hour LIVE 34 sport, weather, business, local news, inter-planetary affairs LIVE 34 live, independent, accurate, comprehensive LIVE 34 all news, all day, every day LIVE 34."

"Reports are coming in of an explosion."

"On the line now is the leader of the FDP."

"The President is about to begin his address."

"We can see bodies in the wreckage."

Starring Sylvester McCoy (the Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Philip Olivier (Hex), with Andrew Collins (Drew Shahan), William Hoyland (Premier Jaeger), Zehra Naqvi (Charlotte Singh), Duncan Wiseby (Ryan Wareing), Ann Bryson (Gina Grewal) and Joy Elias-Rilwan (Lula). Directed by Gary Russell.

FILTER: - Audio

Doctor Who at the BBC 3

Tuesday, 21 June 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The BBC Shop's New Doctor Who section has also been updated and now includes the correct information for September's Ninth Doctor novels, which can be pre-ordered for 5.99, and the cover for Volume 3 of the new series DVDs, as shown on Amazon recently and reported on Outpost Gallifrey at the weekend. Also listed at the site is September's third volume in BBC Audio's Doctor Who at the BBC series, with the following blurb and details. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

Doctor Who At The BBC: Volume 3

A third volume of the 'time travelling journey through the BBC archives'. Once again all manner of BBC radio and television programmes have yielded Doctor Who-themed features, from drama and comedy to interviews and behind-the-scenes items.

Included this time round is Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? starring Jane Asher, Wavelength which goes behind the scenes on Doctor Who in 1985, Lalla Ward guesting on The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, and Frank Bough interviewing Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and Carole Ann Ford for Doctor Who's fifteenth anniversary. In addition there is a very exclusive, surprise item from 1974 which has never been broadcast.

There are also news items bringing the Doctor Who story up to date with the arrival of the new series on our screens. Comedy comes courtesy of Dead Ringers, The Grumbleweeds and The Now Show.

2 CD's, duration 2 hrs 10 minutes, released September 5, 2005. ISBN 0563526211

FILTER: - Audio

Big Finish Update

Tuesday, 21 June 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Big Finish has updated its website with a few items including the release of Gallifrey: Pandora and UNIT: The Wasting, as well as a sample downloadable story from the forthcoming Short Trips: A Day in the Life. They've also announced a summer sale of various audio adventures.

Elsewhere, Andrew Collins, who spoke on camera for the "Doctor Who Confidential" series, notes in a Guardian article that he will be appearing in a Big Finish audio, Live 34: "I received the call-up last Wednesday. 'How would you like to be in Doctor Who?' my agent asked. I think I just laughed out loud, which had been her exact response when the offer came in. I'm playing a radio presenter called Drew Shahan, who broadcasts on Live 34 to the residents of Earth Colony 34 in the distant future. I haven't been this excited since Newsnight Review. I can't reveal any more for obvious discretionary reasons - and to keep the Whovians in suspense. (What am I saying? They've probably posted the script up on Outpost Gallifrey or some such website by now!) You'll have to wait until it's released in September. But as you read this, I'll be in a recording studio in Stockwell, south London, getting into character, eating the meat out of the sandwiches and feigning nonchalance in the thrilling presence of the Doctor and Ace."

FILTER: - Audio

Ed Bishop

Sunday, 12 June 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Ed Bishop, who starred as SHADO commander Ed Straker in the series "UFO," was also featured in "Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons" and played General Flint in the Doctor Who audio "Full Fathom Five" for Big Finish, died June 8 from a fatal chest infection.

FILTER: - Obituary - Audio

Previous 10 Stories

BBC Audio Release News

Big Finish Update

David Jackson

Big Finish on BBC7

Big Finish Update

Big Finish Update

Big Finish Update

Doctor Who at the BBC 3

Big Finish Update

Ed Bishop

Amazon Associate paid Link. Doctor Who News is supported by qualifying purchases.

This Week in Doctor Who

ARCHIVE

FILTER