With the TARDIS hurtling full throttle on its way back to BBC One, it is only right that two TV legends will be making their Doctor Who debut.
TV icons Stephen Fry and Sir Lenny Henry CBE will both appear in the series opener when the TARDIS lands once more, with Jodie Whittaker reprising her role as the Thirteenth Doctor.
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Early Adventures range from Big Finish Productions is a chance to tell full cast stories with the characters from the 1960s eras from Doctor Who. The range has currently run five series alternating between the First and Second Doctors, and this month the sixth series was released, however, instead of the standard four release across the final four months of the year there were only two. While truncating this series to two means less content, the sixth series is a prime example of quality over quantity from a range that has already had some of the strongest stories featured. This series, while being firmly part of the Second Doctor’s era, is a celebration of the 1960s era of Doctor Who as a whole creating a “what if” idea of a Fifth Anniversary Celebration.
Two infamously “lost” Doctor Who stories have been resurrected in all their beautifully-produced audio drama glory today, with the original cast returning to bring them back to life – thanks to Big Finish.
With the Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker, and her friends well on their way to landing back on our screens, the next series is set to welcome an exciting host of new directors and both new and returning writers.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
Dead Man’s Switch represents this particular critic’s first foray into Torchwood audio dramas. While being somewhat familiar with the show and its characters and stories, they had never grabbed me as anything that was absolutely required listening especially with the last television season ‘Miracle Day’ leaving a particularly nasty taste in my mouth.
Review by Jacob Licklider
Big Finish’s Doctor Who: Short Trips range provides an excellent writing opportunity for new writers for the company to test their strength in a short story format. The 30-40 minute short story format with a single narrator almost forces writers to become creative with how they approach telling a story. November 2019’s release is one such story from a new writer, Jaine Fenn, who before working for Big Finish has written several science fiction novels. Hall of the Ten Thousand is her debut Short Trip, an Eighth Doctor story set early in his run narrated by India Fisher in character as Charley Pollard.
The Thirteenth Doctor meets Ace in a new book by Sophie Aldred.
BBC Books will publish Doctor Who: At Childhood’s End, the first epic novel from Sophie Aldred, who played the Seventh Doctor’s companion Ace. Continue reading
Review by Jacob Licklider
There is something incredibly important to be said about these double releases for the main range. They have their pros and cons: they allow double the story, but only half the time which can create issues in depth of characterisation; but what they may do best is allow two new writers to introduce listeners to their style and their shot to write for Big Finish Productions.
Review by Jacob Licklider
The finales for the Eighth Doctor box sets have always had difficulty tying things together into a satisfying conclusion, so I was apprehensive going into Ravenous 4. The three previous sets in the Ravenous series, however, had set themselves apart by telling stories where the arc isn’t nearly as comprehensive or built up as Dark Eyes or Doom Coalition. Big Finish setup the Ravenous as a great evil with motivation of devouring everything in its sight and being difficult to beat, unlike previous miniseries with conspiracies going deep into Time Lord mythology and the precursor to the Time War. Ravenous does not include this baggage, allowing the miniseries to feel more laid back allowing the listener to enjoy the ride. This kept me optimistic for the fourth installment, which was then announced to feature four incarnations of the Master and the Eleven and hype began to set in. Because this release was only this month, this review will remain largely spoiler free.
Review by Michael Goleniewski
If you are a Whovian at all in the slightest, you most likely know the oldest question in the universe. It’s been tackled and handled in multiple series across the show’s run and is instrumental to the very fabric of what Doctor Who is. But now the query becomes: what about the second oldest question in the universe? That’s what this Short Trip written by Carrie Thompson sets out to tackle further back in the Doctor’s timeline.
