Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 564Bookmark and Share

Wednesday, 28 April 2021 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine Issue 564 (Credit: Panini)

This month's issue of Doctor Who Magazine,  Issue 564, marks 25 years of the Eighth Doctor

Highlights of this anniversary issue include:

  • What the Eighth Doctor Did Next – a guide to the adventures that took place after the TV movie.

  • A revealing interview with the actor who was very nearly cast as the Eighth Doctor.

  • The second part of an exclusive interview with Christopher Eccleston.

  • Director Joe Ahearne recalls working with Christopher Eccleston on the 2005 series.

  • The life and career of Christopher Baker, who briefly appeared as the Doctor in The Brain of Morbius.

  • A rundown of surprising references to Doctor Who in American TV series and films.

  • Collectivity looks at the merchandise released to tie in with the 1996 TV movie.

  • Apocrypha remembers the 2005 novel The Monsters Inside.

  • The Fact of Fiction begins its analysis of 1970’s The Ambassadors of Death.

  • Millie McKenzie discusses her Doctor Who-inspired clay creations.

  • Sufficient Data crunches Doctor Who’s numbers.

  • Previews, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, the DWM poll, Time and Space Visualiser and more.

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 564 is on sale from panini.co.uk and WH Smith from Thursday 29 April priced £5.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £4.99.

 




FILTER: - DWM - Eighth Doctor

David Tennant / Paul McGann On Double Vinyl Doctor WhoBookmark and Share

Thursday, 6 August 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Time Lord Victorious - Echoes of Extinction (Credit: Big Finish)

Big Finish has today revealed its final contribution to the Doctor Who multi-platform adventure Time Lord Victorious with a new limited edition vinyl – starring David Tennant and Paul McGann

Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious - Echoes of Extinction comprises of two separate adventures that listeners can play in any order and form a greater narrative.  

This very special double-A side vinyl Doctor Who release features a different incarnation of the Doctor on each side and will be released on split red/blue vinyl.  

Trapped, a haunted monster waits to consume new victims. It needs help. It needs a doctor. Unfortunately, it also needs to kill whoever it meets. Thrust into immediate danger, and on the back-foot, it will take all of the Doctor’s ingenuity to triumph.  

Two interlinked adventures. Two Doctors. One foe.  

The supporting cast also includes Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who, Broadchurch), Burn Gorman (Torchwood, The Expanse), Mina Anwar (The Thin Blue Line, The Sarah Jane Adventures), Kathryn Drysdale (Benidorm, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps) and Paul Clayton (The Crown, Him and Her).  

David Tennant said:

The Doctor in Time Lord Victorious is a different character. He's slightly lonelier, slightly scratchier, when he doesn't have one of his pals to hold him back.  

But it's nice to tell stories from different times of his life. You just have to try and make sure you're in the right mindset. The script is fascinating. I've only got one side of it, but I'm very aware there's more to this story, that there's another Doctor on the other side of the disc. I look forward to getting my LP so I can listen to it all.

Paul McGann added:

I've read this script twice through and I'm still none the wiser. I'm more confused after the second time than I was after the first. It's only while working on it that I've become aware of how it's going to be structured.  

It really appeals to me, the idea that it's in two parts, on two sides of vinyl. I think it's fun for people listening. Part of the excitement is when the different incarnations meet... or nearly meet.

Writer and Producer Alfie Shaw said

Director Scott Handcock has pulled together an amazing who’s who of Doctor Who for the cast. We’ve got alumni from the series as well as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

It’s been an honour to create Big Finish’s first commissioned-for-vinyl story, and utterly thrilling to write for both the Eighth and Tenth Doctors.

The vinyl will launch in selected UK ASDA stores on 27 November 2020.  

A digital download of the story will be released from the Big Finish website on 04 December 2020, and is now available for pre-order at £8.99.  

Time Lord Victorious - Echoes of Extinction (Credit: Big Finish)




FILTER: - Big Finish - Audio - Time Lord Victorious - Tenth Doctor - Eighth Doctor

From the Doctors... to all doctorsBookmark and Share

Thursday, 23 April 2020 - Reported by Marcus
From the Doctors... to all doctors. A thank you to the NHS and all frontline workers.

As seen on the BBC One programme The Big Night In

The Doctors Say Thank You | #TheBigNightIn




FILTER: - Eighth Doctor - Eleventh Doctor - Fifth Doctor - Fourth Doctor - Seventh Doctor - Sixth Doctor - Tenth Doctor - Thirteenth Doctor - Twelfth Doctor

Big Finish: Susan's WarBookmark and Share

Thursday, 16 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Big Finish have released the next chapter of their Time War series, with a new four story boxed set featuring the very first Gallifreyan we met in Doctor Who ...

Time War: Susan's War (clean cover) (Credit: Big Finish)The children of Gallifrey are being recalled to fight in the Time War, and the Doctor’s granddaughter knows her moment has come. A new, full-cast audio drama, Susan’s War, is released today.

Intelligence. Intuition. Empathy. The requirements of a perfect agent to catch a spy. And, in Susan Campbell (Carole Ann Ford), the Time Lords have found all the attributes they need to give their work a veneer of respectability.

In the 2017 Big Finish Short Trip, All Hands on Deck, the Eighth Doctor tried to prevent Susan being recruited by the Time Lords on Gallifrey and dragged into the Time War. But his efforts were in vain, and now we find out what happens next...


Listen to the Introduction


Cast and Crew Behind The Scenes

Susan's War - Carole Ann Ford and Beth Chambers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Carole Ann Ford and William Russell (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Carole Ann Ford and William Russell (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Carole Ann Ford and William Russell (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Damian Lynch, Carole, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Damian Lynch, Lou Morgan, Vincenzo Nicoli, Carole, Roly Botha, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Damian Lynch, Lou Morgan, Vincenzo Nicoli, Carole, Roly Botha, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Damian Lynch, Vincenzo Nicoli, Carole, Roly Botha, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Dan Hennessey, Simon Guerrier, Dan Starkey, Laura Aikman, Carole Ann Ford, Beth Chalmers, Simon Ludders, Trudie Goodwin (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - Tom Mahy, Becky Wright, Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Briggs. Louis Davison (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - William Russell, Ian Brooked, Hugh Fraser, Claire Vousden, Carole Ann Ford, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)Susan's War - William Russell, Ian Brooked, Hugh Fraser, Claire Vousden, Carole Ann Ford, Beth Chalmers (Credit: Big Finish)



Time War: Susan's War (Credit: Big Finish)Time War: Susan's War
Starring Carole Ann Ford as Susan
With Paul McGann as the Doctor and William Russell as Ian Chesterton
Featuring Beth Chalmers as Veklin, Damain Lynch as Rasmus and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks

Gallifrey needs every Time Lord to fight the Time War. A summons has been issued across the universe to its prodigals. Whatever their skills, the war effort can use them.

Susan’s call-up papers have arrived, and, unlike her grandfather, she is willing to join her people’s battle and finally return home.

Because Susan knows the Daleks, and she will do her duty...

Sphere of Influence by Eddie Robson
Susan’s first mission is one of diplomacy. The Sense-Sphere could prove a valuable ally to Gallifrey. But she is not the only one who knows the Sensorites of old. Susan will have the support of an old friend. Ian Chesterton is about to rejoin the adventure he left a lifetime ago!

The Uncertain Shore by Simon Guerrier
Susan and Commander Veklin are on the trail of a spy. Under cover on a ravaged world, they find a weary population, trapped, and waiting for the inevitable. But one among them is a traitor. The Time War is coming to Florana, and Susan will face a struggle to simply survive...

Assets of War by Lou Morgan
Cardinal Rasmus believes that Susan’s special abilities will help him assess a new weapons project. On a secret military base, creatures from the vortex are being bred for war. Gallifrey’s scientists think they can be used as assets against the Daleks. But the Orrovix are not easily tamed...

The Shoreditch Intervention by Alan Barnes
When Susan’s TARDIS is intercepted, she is given a highly classified mission. Earth, 1963 is a nexus point in the Time War, but the timelines must be negotiated carefully. Mods and rockers are not the only dangers on the streets of Shoreditch. In Susan’s past, the Daleks are waiting. But so is the Doctor!

Actor Carole Ann Ford commented:
Although she doesn't sometimes give the impression that she is, Susan is actually quite brave. She's been attacked by all sorts of weird and wonderful things, and she's quite happy to go launching herself off into time and space.

I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't playing a younger Susan. Otherwise she just comes leaping back. It's difficult to eradicate. It's difficult too for the writers as they have no experience of the older Susan being portrayed anywhere.

Script Editor Matt Fitton added:
I had an image of Susan from the special TV episode, The Five Doctors, in that trenchcoat which makes me think of her as a spy! So here we have her on diplomatic and espionage missions rather than military operations, to show another aspect of how special ops are going on behind-the-scenes in the Time War.


Doctor Who: Susan's War is available as a four-disc collector’s edition box set to preorder from Amazon, or to purchase now from Big Finish as a CD set or digital download.




FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

A Medley of MastersBookmark and Share

Thursday, 28 March 2019 - Reported by Marcus
Ravenous 4 (Credit: Big Finish)Big Finish Audio Productions have announced the finale of the latest series of Eighth Doctor adventures, and with it comes the ultimate battle. The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and his companions face off against several iterations of the Master.

Michelle Gomez, Derek Jacobi, Geoffrey Beevers and Eric Roberts all return to the role of the Master/Missy for the finale of the collected Eighth Doctor range, Ravenous, being released in October 2019.

Mark Bonnar,  Paul McGann, Hattie Morahan (Credit: Big Finish)Paul McGann and Eric Roberts will be facing off against each other for the first time since the Doctor Who television movie was released in 1996 – 23 years ago. Nicola Walker and Derek Jacobi are also being reunited for Ravenous 4 having appeared together as daughter and father in the popular BBC One costume drama, Last Tango in Halifax.

The Eighth Doctor team – Paul McGann (the Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka) and Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair) – is joined by Mark Bonnar playing the deranged murderous Time Lord, the Eleven, who retains the personalities of his previous regenerations. But against more than one Master, the Doctor will need all the help he can get.

Three stories will see Ravenous come to an epic conclusion.

The past, the present, and the future conspire against the Doctor as he fights to defeat the only creature ever to strike fear into the hearts of a Time Lord.

  • 4.1 Whisper by Matt Fitton
  • 4.2 Planet of Dust by Matt Fitton
  • 4.3 and 4.4 Day of the Master by John Dorney
The writer of the finale, John Dorney, tells us more
Day of the Master was possibly the most exciting and yet terrifying brief I’ve ever had. Finishing off the Ravenous arc was a big enough responsibility on its own... but throw in wanting to give great material to Sir Derek Jacobi... and Michelle Gomez... and that’s before we even get to the heart-stoppingly fantastic prospect of bringing Eric Roberts’ Master back face to face with the Doctor again for the first time in over twenty years.

Well, you can see why it might be intimidating! But honestly, it was one of the best times I’ve ever had writing a Doctor Who story. I really hope the audience enjoy it as much as I did!
Ravenous 4 (Credit: Big Finish)Producer, David Richardson tells us more about approaching the end of this epic four-part series
We’ve tried to do something a bit different with Ravenous. Coming out of Doom Coalition, we wanted to go a bit darker, a bit scarier – to mark the saga with a shift in tone. With all four box sets now recorded, I feel a sense of relief – it’s been such a huge logistical challenge! Ravenous 4 alone required six studio days in cities as far apart as Los Angeles, New York and London! But we did it. We told that whole, big story and we’ve brought back three Masters and Missy in a breathtaking finale.

It was a real thrill to bring Geoffrey Beevers into our Eighth Doctor Adventures, doing what he does best in Planet of Dust - subjugating an alien world, and then setting about a chain of events that will drive our Ravenous story forward.

I’m really proud of it – and yet I don’t really have much time to stop and think about it because we’re already onto the next chapter for the Eighth Doctor! And life is going to be very different for him and his companions
Plus director Ken Bentley
This seems to have been a box set for reunions. It’s going to be fascinating to hear what listeners think of the Eighth Doctor reuniting with Roberts’ Master. I’m sure those shockwaves will ripple through time. But it was a genuine delight to have Nicola Walker reunite with Derek Jacobi. The green room was filled with laughter that day.
Doctor Who Ravenous 4 is available for pre-order now ahead of its release in October 2019. And Ravenous 3, being released in April, is also available for pre-order. Both these titles are priced at £23 on CD or £20 on download each.

Previous releases, Doctor Who Ravenous 1 and 2 are both available at £35 on CD or £30 on download. All four volumes of Ravenous are available in a bundle (each available on their release), priced at £90 on CD or £80 on download.




FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

War Master battles the Eighth Doctor for Big FinishBookmark and Share

Tuesday, 8 January 2019 - Reported by Marcus
The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords (Credit: Big Finish)In a climactic audio battle the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) takes on the War Master (Derek Jacobi) in The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords, coming out in July 2019 from Big Finish Productions.

Sir Derek Jacobi reprises the role of the War Master opposite Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in the third series of The War Master audio adventures made in association with BBC Studios.

In The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords, four new stories explore the Master’s exploits in the Time War.
  1. The Survivor by Tim Foley
  2. The Coney Island Chameleon by David Llewellyn
  3. The Missing Link by Tim Foley
  4. Darkness and Light by David Llewellyn
With all of space and time in chaos, the Master plots his most audacious project yet. Only one other Time Lord has ever been able to stop him. But where is that Time Lord when the universe needs him?

This new series of adventures take the Master into darker terrain as he gathers his forces against the Daleks in one of his most nefarious schemes to date. Will the Doctor stop him? Will he want to? Or has the Master’s deadly scheme proved too great to be controlled…

Producer and director Scott Handcock told us more
This incarnation of the Master is very much the ‘Hannibal Lecter’ of Time Lords – intelligent, charming, but thoroughly ruthless. We had a lot of fun in studio bringing the War Master back to life! It’s been a gift of a project, and we can’t wait for listeners to hear it.”

Sir Derek was only seen on screen for one TV episode. On returning to the role on audio in 2017, he said: “I didn’t expect to come back to it all these years later but I was thrilled to be remembered. The plots in all these episodes have been very good indeed, very interesting, very dramatic and beautifully written. The whole process has been a delight!
The War Master: The Rage of the Time Lords is being released in the 20th anniversary year of Doctor Who on audio, and it showcases some of the best qualities of the format. One of the greatest delights for Big Finish is being able to further explore and add to the mythology of characters such as the Eighth Doctor and the Master.

Series three, The War Master: Rage of the Time Lords will materialise in July 2019 written by Tim Foley and David Llewellyn. Series four, The War Master: Anti-Genesis written by Nicholas Briggs and Alan Barnes, will complete the saga in December 2019.

The first two series in The War Master range – Only the Good and The Master of Callous – are available from Big Finish Productions each at £35 on CD or £30 on download, while series three and four are available for pre-order now each at £23 on CD or £20 on download.





FILTER: - Audio - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

Sheridan Smith and Paul McGann Reunited for Big FinishBookmark and Share

Friday, 31 August 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Sheridan Smith / Paul McGann (Credit: Big Finish)Sheridan Smith is returning to the role of Lucie Miller in four new audio adventures with the Eighth Doctor played by, Paul McGann.

The character returns in a brand new box set from Big Finish, out for release in July 2019.

Brash, northern lass Lucie started her journey with the Eighth Doctor back in 2007 in a series simultaneously released by Big Finish and digitally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra (then known as Radio 7). She went on to feature in three more series alongside Paul McGann, culminating in her shattering departure in the 2011 story, To The Death.

Big Finish executive producer Nicholas Briggs revealed
We’ve always had it in mind to bring back Lucie. And we only let her go in the first place because we could see Sheridan’s stratospheric career path approaching.

But thanks to Big Finish producer Ian Atkins getting her back to record two Short Trips single-voice releases as Lucie, we discovered that Sheridan was really keen to return. And so, script editor Alan Barnes (who created Lucie in the first place), producer Scott Handcock and I started devising The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller.
Producer Scott Handcock says
I still remember how exciting it was when Lucie Miller burst into the TARDIS on BBC Radio 7, and so it’s a joy to be able to pick up that relationship eight years after Paul and Sheridan last recorded together.

Of course, they’re both so busy, it took a year and a half to find a time they could record together! But it’s been absolutely worth the wait. They slipped effortlessly back into the old dynamic, and it’s a treat to hear these brand-new adventures with the Doctor and Lucie!
Nicholas Briggs continues
I have always been clear that I wouldn’t reverse the finality of Lucie’s departure. That would somehow seem like cheating and would lessen the emotional impact of what we did. So my plan was always to revisit Lucie earlier on in her adventures with the Eighth Doctor. It’s pretty much what we do with every classic companion-and-Doctor pairing, so why not do it with Lucie?

The dynamic between Sheridan and Paul was always brilliant. So it was genuinely moving to see the two of them working together again. Sheridan walked straight into her old recording booth without any hesitation and without anyone guiding her to it. It was like she and Paul had been recording together only the day before. There was a brief moment, when I observed them through the control room window, having their reunion. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I just saw them hold each other’s faces in each other’s hands. Big smiles, heartfelt emotions, and then they were straight into their first scene. A truly magical moment.
The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller is set between the first and second series of her adventures.

Lucie Miller’s further adventures are…
  • The Dalek Trap by Nicholas Briggs
  • The Revolution Game by Alice Cavender
  • The House on the Edge of Chaos by Eddie Robson
  • Island of the Fendahl by Alan Barnes
The Dalek Trap sees the Doctor behaving distinctly out of character, and Lucie having to take control to thwart the Daleks and a mysterious force of ‘Darkness’. In The Revolution Game, there’s something sinister happening in a far-flung future Earth colony – and Lucie is forced to partake in a perilous rollerskating contest! The House on the Edge of Chaos finds the Doctor and Lucie trapped in a bizarre building, packed with eccentric, social-class-obsessed characters and an emerging alien foe like no other. And in the final adventure, Island of the Fendahl, the classic Doctor Who creature the Fendahl makes its first appearance on audio since the original TV story Image of the Fendahl (1977, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson).

This box set forms part of a celebration of 20 years of Doctor Who on audio from Big Finish Productions, alongside box sets of adventures for each incarnation of the Time Lord – more news on each Doctor’s tale will be revealed next year.

The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller, which includes four adventures and a disc of extended extras, will also be released in July 2019 and can be pre-ordered now for £25 on CD or £20 on download, available from Big Finish.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

Big Finish - Eighth Doctor Special OfferBookmark and Share

Saturday, 12 May 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Blood of the Daleks (Credit: Big Finish / Alex Mallinson)This weekend Big Finish are offering 50% off many titles featuring the Eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann, from the beginning of his travels with Charlotte Pollard back in 2001 to the epic four-part saga, Doom Coalition.

Until 23:59 UK Time on the 17th of May 2018, you can save 50% on the Eighth Doctor Adventures releases, Eighth Doctor stories in the Doctor Who Main Range and the award-winning Dark Eyes and Doom Coalition box sets.

The Eighth Doctor Adventures, which were first broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on New Year’s Eve 2006, are a great jumping on point for new listeners as Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor starts another phase of his adventures with a brand new companion played by Sheridan Smith, Lucie Miller.

Starting after the Eighth Doctor Main Range tales, it's a brand new set of adventures with several returning villains and all-star casts. These adventures start with an Eighth Doctor encounter with the Daleks in Blood of the Daleks, which stars Hayley Atwell and Anita Dobson in a truly terrifying introduction into the world of the Eighth Doctor.

Doctor Who: Dark Eyes (Winner, Best Online Drama, BBC Drama Awards 2014) was written and directed by Nicholas Briggs.
The Eighth Doctor is a man dealing with loss and hunting for new meaning in his life. He is looking for hope. But instead, he finds himself on a mission.

The Time Lords have uncovered terrifying fragments of an insane plot to destroy the universe. And somehow, at the centre of that plot is one, random female in Earth’s history, Molly O’Sullivan.
And after the apocalyptic events of Doctor Who: Dark Eyes, the Eighth Doctor and Liv Chenka (played by Nicola Walker) continue their adventures in space and time in Doctor Who: Doom Coalition.
An ancient danger is stirring under the citadel of Gallifrey. The Eleven - a insane Time Lord who has retained his previous personalities - has escaped, and the Time Lords are powerless to stop him. Now the Doctor, Liv and their new friend Helen Sinclair are the universe's only chance of survival.
Also in this offer are bundles on the Eighth Doctor’s adventures in the Doctor Who Main Range, with companions Charlotte Pollard, C'Rizz played by Conrad Westmaas and Mary Shelley, the gothic author, played by Julie Cox.

To redeem the offer, enter code EIGHT50 at the checkout on the Big Finish website.

This offer expires at 23:59 UK Time on the 17th of May 2018.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

Big Finish - Short Stories UpdateBookmark and Share

Saturday, 14 January 2017 - Reported by Marcus
A Heart on Both Sides (Credit: Big Finish)All Hands on Deck (Credit: Big Finish)Big Finish have announced two new Short Stories exploring some small but important chapters in the Eighth Doctor's involvement with the Time War...

With the universe fracturing around him in the crossfire of the Time War, the Eighth Doctor has turned his back on his people, choosing to help those suffering from their actions. But what happens when events of the Time War touch upon those he's known and cared for? Two new Doctor Who Short Trips in the Autumn of 2017 explore what it means for former companions when Time War influences reach their lives...

Producer Ian Atkins comments
I'm hugely looking forward to this year's The Eighth Doctor - The Time War boxed set, and that made me think about celebrating the release with a special pair of Short Trips in the months before. While the stories aren't connected to the boxed set directly, they do mark a special couple of tales, so we've got some striking, distinctive designs from Tom Saunders for them, and we're able to announce them nice and early.
In September comes Rob Nisbet's A Heart on Both Sides, read by Sarah Sutton:
After her medical work on Terminus, Nyssa is now the controller of a hospital ship, the Traken. As the universe burns in the crossfire of the Time War, she and her assistant travel to a planet close to Gallifrey where they are needed more than ever. A long time ago, Nyssa knew a Time Lord and understood his people. But it seems they can change...
Ian Atkins comments:
Rob wrote a gorgeous story called The Patient for a fanzine I saw in the 1980s, with Nyssa at work in a post-Terminus hospital. With my Time War goggles on, it struck me that could be a very rich area to play with, and I've loved Sarah's work for the range already so I knew she'd rise to the occasion (and she did). Rob's delivered a wonderful take on the madness and confusion that arises when you get caught up in a war that's not your own.
The second story follows in October: All Hands on Deck by Eddie Robson, read by Carole Ann Ford:
Everyone, Susan Campbell cared about has gone. Most of them died in the second Dalek invasion, and her grandfather never visits. She's living in what used to be Coal Hill School, helping Earth rebuild again.

Then, one night, she's called away to help with an emergency. A piece of appropriated Dalek technology is malfunctioning, and everyone's afraid of what it might do...

This is just the first in a sequence of predicaments facing Susan - and the connection between them will shape the rest of her life.
Atkins added
When we had Sheridan Smith return to the Eighth Doctor era in The Curse of the Fugue, It had made me think about the Doctor meeting his granddaughter Susan again anyway, so the ideas just seemed to come together when I was thinking about the Time War. I was a huge fan of Eddie Robson's Eight Doctor writing, and I was over the moon when he agreed to revisit the era. He knows the characters so, so well and with strong character pieces like the Short Trips, that's exactly what you want. Listening to Carole Ann in studio is always a joy. She works so hard at it, with a great attention to detail.
Also confirmed are three other releases: August's The British Invasion by Ian Potter read by Wendy Padbury, November's The Ingenious Gentleman Adric of Alzarius by Julian Richards read by Matthew Waterhouse, and the first 2018 release - The Authentic Experience read by Nicola Bryant, written by Dan Starkey. prices.

Full details of all Big Finish Doctor Who releases can be found in the Doctor Who Guide.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Eighth Doctor

Moments in Time: He's Back, And It's About TimeBookmark and Share

Friday, 27 May 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Paul McGann as the Doctor in the TV Movie (Credit: BBC)It was twenty years ago today that that viewers in the United Kingdom were to finally get their chance to see what American viewers had already experienced some thirteen days previously: the inauguration of a new Time Lord in the form of Paul McGann.

The regular series might have been allowed to drift into obscurity in its twilight years, but this was certainly not the case for the Television Movie, which received a generous dose of publicity on television and in the media itself, plus a primetime television slot following the popular soap serial Eastenders on BBC1 on a Bank Holiday Monday - though 8:30pm was perhaps a little late for a younger audience, even during a school holiday.

Though the majority of the British public were unaware or didn't care that the United States had already aired the special, thirteen days felt an awfully long time for fans in the United Kingdom to wait to see the latest adventure for the Doctor. This was compounded by a further 'predicament': BBC Worldwide scheduled its release on VHS on a date that turned out to be before its broadcast on television, and even with a week's additional delay it was still available to watch a few days beforehand. Should we wait patiently until after it's been on air before we watch the video, or indulge in the new Doctor's adventure as soon as possible?!! As members of the Doctor Who News team reflect in their memories below, the decision was definitely not unanimous!


One of the longest-serving members of the Doctor Who News team, Marcus Hilton recalls:
Boy it had been a long time coming. By the spring of 1996 we had been starved for new television Doctor Who for over six years. Oh there had been rumours of its return. Many rumours. After all, according to the BBC, it was merely resting, looking for a new format that would take it through the nineties. But most of us didn't really believe we would see it again. We thought the show lost. A memory only shared by a dwindling band of fans whose fond memories of a much-ridiculed show persisted.

We had the books of course. The Virgin New Adventures. And we had the Video releases, old fondly remembered stories viewable for the first time since transmission. We even had a couple of new Radio adventures to entertain us. But new Television Who? A pipe dream surely.

Doctor Who Magazine had fed us the latest, but by 1996 there had been so many false starts, so many spirits raised then dashed, could it really be happening.

It was happening of course. The Spring Bank Holiday was the target date, but for those of us with a WHSmith nearby D Day was sooner. The video was released about a week before the UK transmission, and we rushed out to get it. "Why buy it?" a colleague asked, "it's on TV next Monday." "Err, better quality," I mumbled, unwilling to be outed as a fan. But truth was I had to have it, I couldn't wait a few days. It was new Doctor Who. Unheard of. The Holy Grail.

Time has clouded my initial reactions. I know I enjoyed it. I loved Paul McGann's performance and enjoyed the story. I found it was a great improvement on the previous few seasons, which hadn't been entirely to my taste. But I think I knew it probably wasn't going to get us a new series.

It was a brave experiment, but one ultimately doomed to failure. Doctor Who wasn't American. It's ethos was so British it was never going to work as an American production. We enjoyed it, but knew the dream was over. The chance of resurrection had failed. There would be no new series. In ten years time our favourite show would be a dim memory, an antiquated curiosity remembered with affection by a few, but unheard of children of the new Century.

How wrong we were.

One of the youngest members of the team, BBC radio producer and occasional DWM contributor Paul Hayes takes us back to childhood expectations:
The TV Movie was the first time that a significant number of Doctor Who fans in the UK experienced their first viewing of a story at different times, in different ways; a fractured and fragmented experience, as compared to everyone always seeing when it went out on BBC One.

Many, no doubt, will have chosen to wait for the Bank Holiday Monday broadcast on the 27th of May. I was not one of those. I was 12 years old, and utterly impatient to watch brand new Doctor Who as soon as possible. It had been seven long years since the series was last on the air as a new programme; an eternity when you’re that age, especially when you’re looking back through the far-flung mists of time to when you were just five years old.

Yes, there had been a fairly generous number of repeats on the BBC, and these stories were ‘new’ to me, just as the videos I could buy with saved-up paper round money in Volume One or WH Smith’s in Worthing were. But, however much I enjoyed experiencing a Doctor Who story for the first time, I knew that they were not really new.

Not like the TV Movie was.

It’s an interesting contrast with what happened nine years later, with Rose. Then, I very deliberately chose not to watch the leaked version online. I wanted to experience the return of Doctor Who ‘properly’, when it was broadcast on television, to be part of that collective viewing experience. At the age of 12, I wasn’t nearly so fussy. Perhaps if I had been online at the time, and could have joined in with the excited chatter, I might have waited to be a part of it all on the night. Or perhaps it just felt different because the TV Movie’s video release before the broadcast date had been an official process, part of BBC Worldwide’s efforts to squeeze as much money from the venture as possible. The online leak in 2005 obviously wasn’t part of anybody’s plan and, to me, just felt a bit grubby.

There was an online Doctor Who world in 1996, but I was a long way from it, and thus had no idea that the video release of the TV Movie had been delayed. All of my Doctor Who news came from the monthly arrival of Doctor Who Magazine – or perhaps, occasionally, from Ceefax or Teletext if something particularly noteworthy was happening – and so I dutifully got mum to drive me down to Worthing on the original release date, Wednesday the 15th.

The man in Volume One was apologetic, but explained that the video had been delayed by a week. The disappointment was crushing, but the man did his best – he gave me a free poster, a promotion for the TV Movie with McGann’s eyes highlighted by that flash of light. I have a vague memory that we also tried in Smith’s, but it was clear it was no good. I had waited what felt like a lifetime for new Doctor Who, and I was now going to have to wait a little longer.

The following Wednesday, the 22nd, was a wet and miserable day, as I remember. As soon as I got home from school, I phoned Volume One to ask if they had the video in stock, and they confirmed that they did. It was there! It was in! New Doctor Who, so very close now!

Mum learned to drive comparatively late, and had only passed her test about eighteen months beforehand. She didn’t like driving in the rain, and as I excitedly got off the phone and explained that we could now go and get the video, she asked if we really had to go and get it today?

Yes. Absolutely. We did.

Mum, bless her, probably knew that it was a forlorn hope to try and persuade me to wait, and dutifully drove me down town so I could go and buy the precious thing.

Do you remember how oddly smooth the plastic covering of the video case was, compared to the more matt feeling of the ordinary Who releases? How shiny the logo? Just how blue the whole thing was?

It’s always hard for me to try and rationally analyse the TV Movie, just because of how exciting it felt at the time to have Doctor Who back. I think even at the age of 12 I was hopeful rather than confident that there would be more to follow after this, but I do remember enjoying it, as mum and I sat and watched it together as soon as we’d returned home.

Of course it isn’t perfect, but there are so many moments in it to enjoy, and the whole thing is wonderfully produced and performed, even if it’s not the best-scripted Doctor Who story ever to grace the series. Oddly, my one overriding memory of what happened when mum and I finished watching it is me rewinding to re-watch the end credits, because I wanted to double-check the fact that they’d missed out a credit for Ron Grainer, which seemed a shame.

“For the music?” mum asked. I was surprised she either knew or guessed that, and I’m still not sure how she did.

I did watch it again the following Monday, of course. I suspect I’d probably watched it again at least once before then, now I had the video and could do so whenever the TV in the lounge was otherwise unoccupied! I remember being pleased on the broadcast that they had a dedication to Jon Pertwee, but somehow, having already seen it, it did have something of an “after the Lord Mayor’s show” feel.

But an exciting time, nonetheless. Not quite as exciting as what was to come nearly a decade later, mind...

Unlike Paul, a slightly older but none-the-wiser Chuck Foster was one who did await the television premiere of the new Doctor, and how familiar it all felt:
1983. November. There's a new feature length episode of Doctor Who to enjoy on television very shortly. But then two events occur for the first time in history for UK fandom: the story could be experienced ahead of broadcast through the medium of print, as Target publish The Five Doctors novelisation a day before its premiere on BBC One; and it had already been seen by another country before its UK audience - yes, the bloody American fans (or Whovians as they were known) had got to see our beloved show first, and on the actual anniversary too!

Jump into the TARDIS thirteen years ...

1996. May. There's a new feature length episode of Doctor Who to enjoy on television very shortly. But then three events occur for UK fandom: the story could be experienced ahead of broadcast through the medium of print, as BBC Books publish the novel of the film on the 16th May; it has already been seen by another two countries before its UK audience (including those Whovians again!); but this time around UK fans also had the opportunity to watch Paul McGann in action ahead of broadcast courtesy of the BBC releasing it on VHS a week beforehand!

My little jest makes it sound like we in the UK must have been full of righteous indignation at the affrontary of these pre-emptions, but thinking back on those days I don't actually recall it being like that at all. I do remember being a little irritated to find out The Five Doctors had been shown in America first some years after the event, but the fifteen year old sitting there in front of the television on a Friday night had little knowledge of fans outside my group of school friends (I only entered the 'wider world' of fandom through DWAS and DWM the following year), and one of my friends reading the novelisation beforehand and subsequently being disappointed at what was on screen is about as controversial as it got! Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Doctors and companions hopping round the Death Zone during Children in Need (and the future me glad that I recorded it, my first Doctor Who on tape!)

The TV Movie: VHS and Novel releases
Could you resist the temptation to watch/read these before broadcast?
Things had changed a lot by the time I was twenty-seven, of course; I was a firm subscriber of DWM and reader of all manner of fanzines, and thanks to the rise of the Internet I was now helping out with DWAS online and deeply involved with the firmly established online fan community, running websites and mailing lists. This newfound widespread accessibility into the - literal - world of Doctor Who, however, was to present its own set of challenges as I certainly didn't want the TV Movie to be "spoilt" before I got to see it!

It might sound odd to hear that someone active on the news team and an avid follower of filming doesn't like spoilers, but that's me! Post 14th May I had to keep away from my usual online haunts to avoid reading something I'd rather not know. I avoided the novel and the VHS releases like the plague, but boy those thirteen days were hard work, especially with other friends who had succumbed to the allure of early access. But somehow I managed to muddle through (though I confess I did watch for screen clips to record for the video collection, so not totally untainted!).

And then it arrived. Monday 27th May. And I really can't remember what I was doing throughout the whole day any more, the day being overwhelmed by the evening's forthcoming spectacle. I had probably spent the day out with my then girlfriend on a bright sunny Bank Holiday (we did have them, once), but I know I was home, alone, all set up and ready to watch by the late afternoon, potential disturbances such as the telephone and door bell duly dealt with. Unlike 1983 the video was reserved well in advance for this (two, actually, as my parents' was also set up as backup!) I recall a brightly lit front room which needed the curtained firmly drawn to enable optimum viewing at 8:29pm. As JNT would say, the memory cheated somewhat too as I distinctly recall watching Batteries Not Included beforehand, but the BBC Genome project shows that film was actually on three weeks previously! Anyway, regardless of how good the actual night's That's Showbiz, Watchdog Healthcheck and Eastenders might have been in the run-up before the 'event', they have all been lost in the mists of time ... whereas the Doctor's narration over the Master's "execution" and lead into John Debney's strident version of the theme still remain indelibly etched within my mind...

There was an older, more 'regal' seventh Doctor, who then becomes the younger, boistrous eighth incarnation. It's Paul McGann! There was the Master, once again stealing others' lives to hang onto his own survival, corrupting the 'innocent' along the way. A brand new TARDIS interior! Shoes! I know I wanted to enjoy it, I really did. But then there was half human on my mother's side. The Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS? Dressing for the occasion. And of course, that kiss. With hindsight it is far easier to appreciate what it was attempting to achieve with regard to introducing a potential series, but back then I just wanted the Doctor Who I knew back, and this wasn't it, it was too much like other American-produced drama series - and not even American sci-fi (The X Files was well established by then). With the recent loss of the 'current' Doctor Jon Pertwee (and it was nice to see that acknowledged), I think I probably also wanted something to lighten that sadness and unfortunately the TV Movie didn't quite manage it.

Though of course I did watch it again straight afterwards just to make sure I hadn't imagined it had come back!

It is a bit weird to look back, now. I know I was disappointed with it back then, but I don't look back at the period itself in disappointment. We had Virgin, Reeltime and BBV to keep the idea of the show alive in the 1990s, with the mantle later taken up by BBC Books, Big Finish and BBC Online until Russell T Davies arrived to take us into a new age of Who prosperity. But in the middle we had that brief moment when new Who was in production once more, reminding us that the show could (and eventually would) come back.

(I could say we also had Dimensions in Time and The Curse of Fatal Death to enjoy too, but perhaps not!).

Former contributor John Bowman casts his mind back:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

In January 1996, the exciting news had broken that Paul McGann was to play the Doctor in an ambitious attempt to revive the show. At last, the long years of waiting and willing were over, and now here we were just four months later with the new episode about to air in the UK. Fingers were crossed, hopes were high and there was an increasing sense of elation.

It had already been shown earlier in the month in Canada and the USA, of course, but between those transmissions and its broadcast here, fate meted out a cruel blow and brought us crashing down when suddenly, exactly a week before its UK transmission, Jon Pertwee died. Such sadness, such a sense of loss – and, awfully and unbelievably, we’d now consecutively lost each of the first three Doctors just as we were in the process of welcoming a new one.

But as 8.30pm on that Bank Holiday Monday approached and as I pressed record and play on my VHS recorder then settled back to watch (with phone unplugged and doorbell disconnected – just to be on the safe side), excitement was still high. “He’s back. And it’s about time,” the BBC continuity announcer said dramatically. ”Yes, and it’s about bloody time, too,” (or words to that effect) chorused countless fans in return, I’m sure.

I desperately wanted this to be good and for it to succeed. So much was riding on it. After such shoddy treatment by previous incumbents at senior level at the BBC, our beloved programme was being given a new chance of life. And initial impressions were certainly good. It was different – it had to be, of course – but it still retained the vital core elements. McGann was superb, the result of the bigger budget was equally a joy to behold and the script delivered some real gems – while the Doctor and Grace kissing was pretty much only to be expected, uncomfortable viewing though it may have made for some.

But hang on... Just as I was really getting into it... What was all this nonsense about the Doctor being half-human? How did the Eye of Harmony manage to end up being transplanted from Gallifrey into the TARDIS? And putting things right by going back in time to just before they happened? Oh dear me no. What a cop-out. So much for the Blinovitch Limitation Effect!

As it finished, I was left with the uneasy feeling that what had started out with great promise had somehow not quite hit the mark. Perhaps my own expectations had been too high, but in my heart of hearts I just didn’t enjoy it in total as much as I’d hoped I would.

Nevertheless, it was a vibrant, valiant effort that had shown much promise and had much to commend it. It certainly deserved to continue to series, especially given the strong British ratings. It’s just a shame that ultimately those healthy numbers would be ignored in favour of the lacklustre US viewing figures and we would be plunged back into more wilderness years – possibly forever. Fortunately, braver souls with sparkling vision and a genuine belief in the show would eventually take up positions at executive level at the Beeb. And although the Eighth Doctor was only back on our screens for one night (until his next Night), the spirit of the TV movie would certainly live on when the series was properly revived, with Russell T Davies’ continuation owing so much to it in terms of style and presentation.

And at least they paid tribute to Pertwee at the end...

Regardless of how many fans did succumb to the temptation of VHS, come the evening of 27th May 9.08 million viewers tuned in to see the new Doctor - some 36% of the viewing audience!


Radio Times (25-31 May 1996) (Credit: Radio Times)
Radio Times (25-31 May 1996) - Doctor Who article (Credit: Radio Times)

The Radio Times covering 27th May 1996.
See the Radio Times website for full details of their coverage.
Extract from the Sun, 28th May 1996:
I preferred Dr Who when the props looked as if they had been made on Blue Peter and the actors sounded as if they were making it up as they went along. But this big budget adventure did have some snazzy special effects which gave it a glossy appeal. ... No doubt fanatical Dr Who followers will hate the new version for some nerdy, nit-picking reason or other. But, to me, Paul McGann seemed every bit as twittish as the seven previous doctors. A happy return for a TV hero.

Extract from the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries, 28th May 1996:
With Paul McGann at the helm of the Tardis, this isn't so much Doctor Who as Doctor Phworr! - the sexiest Time Lord in light years. But that seems one of the many mistakes that beset the conception and execution of the feature length Doctor Who (BBC1!) ... That's the chief problem with Doctor Who - it is stranded somwhere in the mid-Atlantic and about as interesting as Rockall. Director Geoffrey Sax has had to attempt the impossible - to make the Doctor's eighth incarnation engaging for those non-American viewers who've grown up during his 33 years of life on Earth, and for Americans who've joined the story two-thirds of the way through. ... The film, despite the big budget and accomplished special effects, couldn't scare or much divert a little child; the only people it is going to frighten are the suits who lavishly bankrolled this doomed project. Exterminate! Exterminate!

Extract from the Telegraph, Stephen Pile, 1st June 1996:
And so, finally, to that very odd one-off Americanised feature length instalment of Dr Who (BBC1, Mon). It looked as if he had landed the Tardis in an American daytime series. In fairness, it was well done, and gripping stuff, but the car chases and the morgue scenes and the master's spirit turning into green X-Files type plasma were a tour of genre cliches that made this programme no different to any other. Only the excellence of Paul McGann in the title role made it recognisable. His air of Victorian eccentricity was 100 per cent authentic and shows that, under other happier, more indigenous circumstances, he would be a worthy addition to the roll call of honour.

Extract from the News of the World, Charlie Catchpole, 2nd June 1996:
Why Doctor Who crashed spectacularly to earth was because next to nothing was spent on the script. All the old show's tongue-in-cheek, child-like charm was squeezed out by biff-bang action and tyre-squealing chases. Is there a bigger sci-fi cliche than Good battling Evil while a clock ticks away towards Doomsday? "This can't be how it ends!" gasped McGann, as the world faced oblivion. It wasn't, of course. But I wish it was.

You can find a variety of reviews from the period via the Cuttings Archive.



In spite of the media serving up its usual array of reviews ranging from the lovely to the ludicrous, The TV Movie was generally felt by the BBC to be a success in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, as a co-production it also needed the approval of the powers-that-be in the United States, but after its perceived performance on television there Doctor Who's fate had already been sealed... Whilst it was clear that audiences in the United Kingdom could be wowed by all-new adventures of the Gallifreyan time-traveller, it would some nine years before the BBC would be in the position to provide its viewers with such a chance to be so again...

Without McGann's single soirée as the Doctor re-invigorating public imagination, the series may never have come back, so it was perhaps fitting that in 2013 a now firmly established and much loved show around the world would re-embrace the Eighth Doctor, who - some seventeen years after his 'birth' - had the honour to set the 50th anniversary celebrations in motion as he returned to face his 'death' in The Night of the Doctor!



It was to be a couple of months later before the TV Movie made its way across to the other side of the world. But would it have the same impact as in the United States and United Kingdom?

Our Australian reporter Adam Kirk recalls:
Alas I recall the TV Movie as coming and going very quickly without much notice in Australia. (A very marked contrast to 2005!) By the time it broadcast in early July I think we already knew there would be no further series and so it was already a bit of a damp squib for local fans by the time it had arrived. I remember watching it by myself on VHS tape a couple of days after its ABC TV broadcast on a very cold Canberra evening. I was in my final year of university or ‘uni’ (as we Aussies call it) and I remember being taken aback at how very American and very different it seemed from the show of my childhood. I think the few remaining local fans damned it with faint praise too which probably did it no favours either! Unlike today, Doctor Who remained a little unfashionable at the time so I probably didn’t tell many of my mates that they should watch either! Shame on me! Mea culpa Doctor No. 8!

Still looking at it again recently, I think McGann & Ashbrook are great and I was struck by how much the action, romance and higher production values were a sign of things to come. Happy 20th birthday TV Movie! You helped keep the flame burning for fandom in the dark days of the mid 1990s! Forgive me for being too resistant to your charms as a pretentious twenty something!
Occassional Doctor Who News correspondent Tim Hunter also reflected:
Gosh, I can't quite remember. I do know I bought it on VHS before it was broadcast, and was excited about seeing it. I watched it with my wife at the time, but I remember feeling quite detached from any hype. Doctor Who was still very daggy, and not many people in Australia even knew about the TVM! It felt like it came and went with a whimper, to be honest. And my only real interaction with it was through DWM and the Virgin NA and PA novels, especially given the Internet was really only just kicking in. I was working at the Melbourne International Film Festival at the time, and we were connected to the Internet; I remember looking up some very early Doctor Who webpages and forums, but they didn't inspire me much. Opinion from other Who enthusiast friends was damning with faint praise with a sneer towards the co-production. I did think that McGann was great!

It would be another three months before New Zealand had its television debut. However, an impatient fandom had long since caught up with the new adventure, as Paul Scoones summarised:
The TV Movie first screened in New Zealand on 30 October 1996. I first saw it as an off-air VHS copy from either the US or Canadian broadcast. I watched it on the evening of Friday 24 May, the day before it was shown at a pre-arranged New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club video day in Auckland.





FILTER: - Australia - Broadcasting - Eighth Doctor - International Broadcasting - New Zealand - UK