The Ninth Doctor Meets the Sea Devils for Big Finish

Wednesday, 28 September 2022 - Reported by Marcus

Big Finish Productions has released details of their latest full-cast audio dramas for the Ninth Doctor, due for release in November 2022.

Following their recent return in Doctor Who’s Legend of the Sea Devils, the aquatic monsters are back once again in the box set’s opening audio adventure. But this time they’re in space!

The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) also meets the first woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and faces a furniture store with a difference with Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) and Tania Bell (Rebecca Root).

Doctor Who — The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Hidden Depths is now available to pre-order for just £24.99 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £19.99 (download only) from www.bigfinish.com.

Alternatively, Big Finish listeners can save money by pre-ordering all four volumes of The Ninth Doctor Adventures series two in a bundle from just £78.

The star-packed guest cast list includes Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso, Downton Abbey), Olivier Award winner Jamie Parker (Becoming Elizabeth, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Sasha Behar (Coronation Street, Foundation), Diana Quick (Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka, Brideshead Revisited), Nicholas Briggs (Doctor Who) and Yasmin Mwanza (Spider-Man: Far from Home).

Sometimes things lurk below the surface which only the Doctor can see…

From a moon with poison seas, to a 19th century health spa, even somewhere as everyday as a furniture store on a Sunday afternoon - there are always hidden depths and unseen dangers to uncover!

The three adventures in this box set are as follows:

The Seas of Titan by Lizbeth Myles

Out on Saturn’s moon, Titan, an outpost all-but-forgotten by Earth struggles on against the odds.

As the Doctor joins explorers deep in the methane seas, they discover a hidden civilisation. But will the Sea Devils prove to be the colony’s salvation or its final destruction?

Lay Down Your Arms by Lisa McMullin

1864. Instead of relaxing at the Bad Homburg Spa, its visitors are fighting. And Bertha Kinzky, housekeeper to Alfred Nobel, is appalled. Perhaps the mysterious Herr Schmidt can help?

Soon, Bertha is contending with aliens, as well as her mother’s matchmaking, as she and the Doctor try to keep the peace.

Flatpack by John Dorney

Liv Chenka and Tania Bell are spending Sunday afternoon on that most traditional of couple activities. Furniture-shopping!

But just how long has London’s newest Flatpack store been open? Who is its mysterious manager? And is it even Sunday? Liv is about to run into a very old friend…

Producer David Richardson said:

Sea Devils in space! We know from the Eleventh Doctor’s era that the Silurians were a space-faring species and now we find a colony of Sea Devils off-world, in the seas of Titan’s largest moon. What a glorious concept. And the Doctor is about to discover that human-Sea Devil relations are no less fractious away from Terra Firma…

Doctor Who — The Ninth Doctor Adventures triple LP vinyls can be ordered at £35.99 each or £132 for the bundle of all four albums and are strictly limited to a pressing of 1,000 per volume.

Please note: the vinyl editions do not include any behind-the-scenes extras. However, listeners purchasing vinyl LP editions will receive a download of the story automatically and be given access to the CD edits as a bonus download. Episodes will be edited specifically for the vinyl format, presented as 2 episodes, one on each side, each with opening and closing music.

All pre-orders of the vinyl will also receive the behind-the-scenes extras as a bonus download.

Products are sold in £ sterling on Big Finish’s website but will be converted to local currency upon checkout. All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.

From November 2022, new pre-order prices will also be put in place.

FILTER: - Big Finish - Ninth Doctor

Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 579

Thursday, 23 June 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine tells the inside story of the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to Doctor Who

Highlights of the new issue include:

An exclusive from Russell T Davies, Doctor Who’s incoming showrunner, on the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to the series.
Newly released documents reveal the details behind the classification certificates of Doctor Who videos in the 1980s and 90s.
Robert Sidaway, who played Avon in The Savages (1966) and Captain Jimmy Turner in The Invasion (1968), talks about his Doctor Who roles for the first time.
The friends, colleagues and admirers of Verity Lambert pay tribute to Doctor Who’s first producer.
Authors James Moran and Rona Munro discuss their forthcoming Target books, The Fires of Pompeii and The Eaters of Light.
Writer Juno Dawson and producer Ella Watts on the making of the acclaimed podcast series Doctor Who: Redacted.
Visual effects designer Paul Mann recalls the making of Timelash (1985) with the help of previously unseen photos from his collection.
Chris Cassell and Justin T Lee explain how the special effects of Timelash have been newly enhanced for the Season 22 Blu-ray box set.
Fear of the Future, a brand-new comic strip adventure for the Doctor, Yaz and Dan.
The Fact of Fiction uncovers the hidden secrets of 1985’s Vengeance on Varos.
Apocrypha revisits the seminal 1993 New Adventures novel Deceit.
Previews, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, Sufficient Data and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 579 is on sale now from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £6.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £5.99.

FILTER: - DWM - Tenth Doctor

Black Archive 59: Kill the Moon

Sunday, 5 June 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The next release in the Black Archive series will be the Twelfth Doctor story Kill the Moon.

A contentious episode provoking passionate responses, Peter Harness's 2014 story straddles the divides between science fiction and fantasy, optimism and pessimism, masculinity and femininity. All these tensions extend into its ambiguously metaphorical conclusion.

In addressing complex issues of personal and political choice, Kill the Moon asks fundamental questions about structures of power and responsibility in Doctor Who, and about the evolving relationship between the companion and the Doctor.

With access to seven different drafts of the script, plus 3 early pre-script outlines, Darren Mooney dissects a story that has been described at various times as ‘something truly special’ and ‘nonsensical pseudo-science’ and wonders why its reputation has become worse over recent years.

Mooney is a pop culture critic and author living on the east coast of Ireland. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle. He features regularly on Irish radio, publishes a twice-weekly column at The Escapist, runs his own blog and shares a podcast. He has also written other books on The X-Files and the films of Christopher Nolan.

Kill the Moon is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

FILTER: - Books - Twelfth Doctor

Tennant and Tate Are Back

Sunday, 15 May 2022 - Reported by Marcus

.David Tennant and Catherine Tate (Credit: BBC Studios)

The BBC has confirmed that both David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be returning to Doctor Who to help mark the show's 60th Anniversary.

The Tenth Doctor, as played by Tennant, was paired with Donna Noble, played by Tate, in Series 4 of Doctor Who shown in 2008.

Often described as one of the most loved pairings in Doctor Who’s history, the two have reunited and are filming scenes that are due to air in 2023 to coincide with the show’s Dimond Jubilee celebrations.

The Doctor and Donna parted ways when the Doctor had to wipe Donna's memory, making her forget him, in order to save her life. He left her family with a warning: if ever she remembers, she will die. But with the two coming face to face once more, the big question is, just what brings the Doctor and Donna back together?

Russell T Davies, Incoming Showrunner says:

They're back! And it looks impossible - first, we announce a new Doctor, and then an old Doctor, along with the wonderful Donna, what on earth is happening? Maybe this is a missing story. Or a parallel world. Or a dream, or a trick, or a flashback. The only thing I can confirm is that it’s going to be spectacular, as two of our greatest stars reunite for the battle of a lifetime.

Tennant left the series in 2010 but returned for the 50th Anniversary story The Day of The Doctor.

FILTER: - David Tennant - Catherine Tate - 60th Anniversary - Leading News

Ncuti Gatwa is the Fourteenth Doctor

Sunday, 8 May 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has named Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor, taking over from Jodie Whittaker at the end of the Autumn 2022 episode.

The 29-year-old actor will be the first non-white performer to take the lead role in the series's 59-year history.

Gatwa is best known for his award-winning performance as Eric Effiong on the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education.

There aren’t quite the words to describe how I’m feeling.

A mix of deeply honoured, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared.

This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care.

I will endeavour my utmost to do the same

Gatwa is the third actor to be cast as The Doctor by returning Showrunner Russell T Davies who said the actor dazzled the casting team.

The future is here and it’s Ncuti!

Sometimes talent walks through the door and it’s so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars.

Ncuti dazzled us, seized hold of the Doctor and owned those TARDIS keys in seconds. It’s an honour to work with him, and a hoot, I can’t wait to get started.

I’m sure you’re dying to know more, but we’re rationing ourselves for now, with the wonderful Jodie’s epic finale yet to come.

But I promise you, 2023 will be spectacular!

Ncuti Gatwa was born in Nyarugenge, Kigali, Rwanda, the son of a journalist. He grew up in Scotland where he attended Boroughmuir High School and Dunfermline High School and graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow with a BA in Acting in 2013. The announcement of his new role comes just a few hours before this year's Bafta Television Awards, where Gatwa is nominated for best male performance in a comedy programme for the third year in a row. He has already won a Scottish Bafta and a Rose d'Or Award for his role in Sex Education.

Gatwa said how much he was looking forward to working with the showrunner

Russell T Davies is almost as iconic as the Doctor himself and being able to work with him is a dream come true.

His writing is dynamic, exciting, incredibly intelligent and fizzing with danger. An actor’s metaphorical playground. The entire team have been so welcoming and truly give their hearts to the show. And so as much as it’s daunting, I’m aware I’m joining a really supportive family.

Unlike the Doctor, I may only have one heart but I am giving it all to this show

.BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore said:

Ncuti has an incredible dynamism, he's a striking and fearless young actor whose talent and energy will set the world alight and take Doctor Who on extraordinary adventures under Russell T Davies' new era.

The last episode starring Jodie Whittaker will be broadcast this autumn as part of the BBC Centenary celebrations. Gatwa will return as the fourteenth Doctor in 2023.

FILTER: - Leading News - Fourteenth Doctor

Lethbridge-Stewart: the end begins

Saturday, 16 April 2022 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Candy Jar Books has announced the first book in its final series of Lethbridge-Stewart novels.

The final year of Lethbridge-Stewart novels is split in two halves, with the first a trilogy of novels set during Lethbridge-Stewart’s time as a teacher at Brendon School. This first of these, A Most Haunted Man, sees the return of Sarah Groenewegen to the series, with her first novel since 2017’s The Daughters of Earth, although her most recent short story featured in the UNIT: Operation Wildcat collection.

Lethbridge-Stewart: A Most Haunted Man (Credit: Candy Jar Books) A Most Haunted Man

Written by Sarah Groenewegen

Cover by Martin Baines

In 1977, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart suffered a shock so great that he was hospitalised. Not that he can remember what happened. Teachers found him, knocked out cold beside the obelisk on the hill. No signs of an attack. No bumps on his head, and no memory of why he lay where he fell, who he’d been with, and great chunks of his past torn from his mind.

It wasn’t like any form of amnesia described in the textbooks. The clinic discharged him back to Brendon Public School and he resumed his duties as a teacher of mathematics and rugger.

Two years later and a series of nightmares send him back to the clinic. Then come the pranks played by identical twins, his own erratic behaviour and short-term memory loss leading to a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Someone else is living in his house, driving his car, and making changes to the school he loves.

It seems that the demons haunting him prove too big for him to fight on his own.

The 2022 series was put back a little when it was discovered the book planned to open the year was a little too close to the events at play in Ukraine. Thus, Spheres of Influence has been put on indefinite hold. Hopefully it will see the light of day at some point but, for now, and to make up for the delay, Candy Jar Books have also decided to reprint the very first Lethbridge-Stewart novel, The Forgotten Son: Special Edition, with a brandnew cover by Richard Young.

Head of Publishing Shaun Russell said:

When it became apparent that the themes and events depicted in Spheres of Influence too closely echoed current events, Andy Frankham-Allen and I quickly came to the decision that to release it at this time would be, at the very least, insensitive. Putting it on hold did mean bringing forward the rest of 2022’s books, and finding a replacement. Fortunately, Andy quickly solved that problem by commissioning a third Brendon novel, turning the first three titles into a loose trilogy. For myself, I decided it would be a nice idea to reprint The Forgotten Son with a new cover, to hopefully make up a little for the delay. I must stress, however, that the content remains the same from the previous revised version.

A Most Haunted Man is set two years after the Brigadier’s traumatic encounter with his future self in the Doctor Who television serial, Mawdryn Undead. Range Editor Andy Frankham-Allen said:

This is another of those books which started an idea that came up through discussions with Shaun – a good two years ago, at least. It was a while before I realised it was the perfect fit for Sarah. I’d been wanting to do another novel with her, and she came back for a short story in The Laughing Gnome: The HAVOC Files, so it was great when she agreed to do another novel for us. The only real prerequisite, other than the core idea, was that it had to be set during the Brig’s time at Brendon when he’d lost all memory of the Doctor.

Sarah Groenewegen said:

I adore writing for the Brigadier, and being able to explore different facets of this much-loved character has been great fun. When I was offered another novel in the series, this one set in 1979 and during the Brig’s post-army career as a school teacher, I immediately said yes. It’s an honour to be asked to contribute a novel to the final season of Lethbridge-Stewart novels, which has proved to be a terrific series of stories.

Sarah’s previous novel, The Daughters of Earth, delt with the breakdown of his relationship with his then-fiancée. In this book, Sarah’s dealing with a breakdown of a different sort::

I wanted to explore how he deals with strange goings-on when he has forgotten so much, and when he doesn’t have his soldiers to call on to help. My brief was to write a psychological thriller, in which the Brig’s identity and life is stolen from him. The novel allowed me to explore the nature of identity theft, and memory loss, and the combined uneasiness of not being able to trust your own mind. I added a set of identical twins to the mix, a boy at Brendon, and a girl at a local comprehensive. They are at the cusp of their own change from creepy kids who enjoy playing tricks on people, to young adults facing choices.

Setting the book in 1979 also freed Sarah up from the ongoing narrative, and gave her a chance to explore a different facet from the usual setting of the early-70s:

The setting was apposite because of the feeling of being on a cusp of change, but without knowing its direction. In that, it parallels much of today’s politics. I found it cathartic to explore similar themes of being seduced by the apparent certainty of authoritarianism — even with the attendant feeling it could turn on its own to destroy at a moment’s notice. 1979 proved to be a watershed year in Britain. The full assault on the unions, LGBTQIA people, and appeals to jingoism of the worst kind were all yet to come; and for a while the political turmoil that brought much of the UK to a standstill ceased. It’s hard to think that in this day and age of TV-on-demand, the stations that are now ITV were off air for much of the year. 1979 was an amazing year for British pop music. Punk began to segue into the New Romantic movement, and rap, reggae and disco attracted huge numbers of fans. It was fun delving into the music of the time through a few of the kids who are important during the story.

The cover is by popular artist Martin Baines, returning from the success of his recent cover for UNIT: Operation Wildcat:

I was partially inspired by a German poster of a classic British film. My last Candy Jar cover I did was for the UNIT anthology, Operation Wildcat. It was very flash, bang, wallop. Because of this, I enjoyed tackling a more psychological concept for this book.”

Both A Most Haunted Man and The Forgotten Son are available to purchase from the Candy Jar website.

The final series of Lethbridge-Stewart will be split in two parts over 2022, the first half is the Brendon trilogy and will continue with Legacy of the Dominator by Nick Walters, and The Overseers II by James Middleditch. The second half will be the final in the road to UNIT narrative which began in 2015, with novels by Natasha Gerson, John Peel, and Jonathan Blum.

FILTER: - Candy Jar Books - Books - Lethbridge-Stewart

Doctor Who: Redacted

Sunday, 10 April 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC has announced a new spin-off podcast, Doctor Who: Redacted will be available on BBC Sounds.

The 10-part series will begin alongside the television Easter special on April 17th, giving fans a brand new podcast of action-packed adventures.

Listeners will be introduced to characters, Cleo Proctor (Charlie Craggs), Abby McPhail (Lois Chimimba) and Shawna Thompson (Holly Quin-Ankrah) – alongside some familiar faces including the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Rani Chandra, Kate Stewart, Petronella Osgood and Madame Vastra.

Doctor Who: Redacted follows Cleo, Abby and Shawna - three broke university drop-outs from different cities across the UK who remain connected via their paranormal conspiracy podcast, ‘The Blue Box Files’. The trio speculates over Abby’s favourite conspiracy theory – intent on finding out the truth behind the mysterious ‘Blue Box’ that keeps cropping up across history. What if this random police public call box was actually an alien ship?

They don’t know who the Doctor is, or if aliens are real, but soon find themselves caught in a supernatural conspiracy as they learn that everyone who’s ever met the Doctor is disappearing and being forgotten. Essentially, they’re being redacted from reality. The Blue Box Files is so unsuccessful that our heroes are the last ones to be affected by the redaction, making Cleo, Abby and Shawna the world’s only hope. Now it’s a race against time to uncover the truth.

Set in the Doctor Who universe, the series entangles past and current storylines, cameos from the Doctor’s friends and allies, as well as appearances from monsters and aliens, identifiable to fans and non-fans alike.

Doctor Who: Redacted is scripted by bestselling author Juno Dawson, alongside a host of new and experienced writing talent. The audio drama primarily explores the relationships between ordinary people unknowingly immersed in the Doctor Who universe.

Juno Dawson, lead writer says:

Doctor Who was my first love, and it's an absolute thrill to add to the ever-expanding mythology in podcast form for the first time ever. What a total privilege to write for something so beloved, and put my own little flag on the landscape.

The cast for Doctor Who: Redacted includes Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), Charlie Craggs, Jacob Hawley, Lois Chimimba (Doctor Who, Vigil), Holly Quin-Ankrah (Coronation Street, Grange Hill), Ken Cheng, Jemma Redgrave (Doctor Who), Ingrid Oliver (Doctor Who), Doon Mackichan (Good Omens, Smack The Pony) and more.

Doctor Who: Redacted is available first on BBC Sounds weekly from April 17th.

Episode 1 will be available following Doctor Who’s Legend of the Sea Devils on Easter Sunday.

FILTER: - Thirteenth Doctor - Production

Legend of the Sea Devils - Trailer

Saturday, 2 April 2022 - Reported by Marcus

The BBC have released a trailer for the upcoming story Legend of the Sea Devils.

Legend of the Sea Devils: TRAILER | Doctor Who

FILTER: - Thirteenth Doctor - Production

Legend of the Sea Devils - Easter Sunday

Friday, 1 April 2022 - Reported by Marcus

Legend Of The Sea Devils (Credit: BBC/Getty Images)

Doctor Who will return to screens worldwide on Sunday 17th April with The Legend of the Sea Devils.

The story is the second in a trio of Doctor Who specials airing in 2022

UK viewers can catch the episode on BBC One or the BBC iPlayer, while in the USA the episode will screen on BBC America.

Other worldwide broadcasts follow shortly afterward.

For details check This Week in Doctor Who

In a swashbuckling special adventure, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Dan (John Bishop) come face to fin with one the Sea Devils, first seen in the 1972 Third Doctor story.

Why has legendary pirate queen Madam Ching come searching for a lost treasure? What terrifying forces lurk beneath the oceans of the nineteenth century? And did Yaz really have to dress Dan up as a pirate?

The final Doctor Who episode starring Jodie Whittaker will be screened in the Autumn as part of the celebrations making 100 years of the BBC.

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Thirteenth Doctor

Record Store Day - Dead Air

Tuesday, 1 March 2022 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Demon Records are to release the Tenth Doctor audio adventure Dead Air for the next Record Store Day event on 23 April 2022.

Originally released in 2010, this new vinyl pressing of the story, written by James Goss and narrated by David Tennant, will be across two 140g Soundwave Green vinyl discs.

Hot on the heels of a creature that exists through sound, the Doctor lands on a pirate radio station boat in the late 1960s. The creature has already killed some of the DJs, and the Doctor befriends the survivors. But then the lights go out, and a desperate race for survival begins. Who can the Doctor trust in the dark?

FILTER: - Merchandise - Audio - Tenth Doctor - Record Store Day - Vinyl

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