In recent months we have seen ‘Big Finish’ announce at least one aspect of the newer incarnations of ‘Doctor Who’ with their new pending ‘Unit Series’, which allows Jemma Redgrave to reprise her role as Kate Stewart for her own adventure series, but it would seem that Big Finish has now been given a little more license from the BBC because they have announced a new line of audio box sets using even more characters from the 21st century series of ‘Doctor Who’.
The biggest new addition to Big Finish’s ongoing adventures is River Song, who is once more played with great aplomb by Alex Kingston.
You can read the full details about all this below:
River will be stepping into the era of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) for Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2, alongside Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) and Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan). But how can River help her husband if, in this incarnation, she must never actually meet him?
“The idea of River meeting previous Doctors was actually proposed by Steven Moffat,” says producer David Richardson, “and it’s just irresistible, isn’t it? Alex embraced the idea of returning to the role, and so she will be starring in no less than two box sets next year. And yes, we are still pinching ourselves!”
River will then return later in 2016 in Doctor Who: The Diary of River Song, an epic four-hour adventure that takes River across space and time, seeking out the secret rulers of the universe. Paul McGann will reprise the role of the Eighth Doctor in the final instalment.
The New Series adventures will continue in Doctor Who: The Churchill Years, in which Ian McNeice returns as the indomitable Winston Churchill. In the four-hour saga, Winston relates a number of encounters with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors in his memoirs, battling alien incursions, metamorphosing creatures… and a Dalek! The stories are told by Ian McNeice, supported by a full cast of guest actors, including Danny Horn as Kazran Sardick, in a story taking place within the 2010 special A Christmas Carol.
“Ian has played Churchill in just four episode on TV, and yet it feels like it was many more,” says executive producer Nicholas Briggs. “It was such a brilliant, definitive performance, and how wonderful that we will be continuing Churchill’s adventures with the Doctor on audio.”
Finally, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors will face a new generation of monsters in Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters, a brand new, four-story run featuring creatures from the New Series. Peter Davison takes on the Weeping Angels, Colin Baker encounters the Judoon, Sylvester McCoy will meet the Sycorax… and Paul McGann will face a new clone batch of Sontarans on the edge of the Time War….
“It’s the ultimate mash-up,” says executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery, “and we have some great scripts lined up for these landmark stories. There is no doubt that 2016 is going to be a brilliant year for Big Finish!”
All four boxsets will be released across 2016, and are available to pre-order today from the Big Finish website. Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2 will be released in February, and is available as part of a special bundle of all four Doom Coalition boxsets.
Doctor Who: The Diary of River Song, Doctor Who: The Churchill Years and Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters can be pre-ordered for just £20 each on CD or Download, and are also available as part of our Doctor Who New Series bundle.
Update: It can now be revealed that Doctor Who: The Diary of River Song, which had a mysterious release date of ‘TBA’ up until this morning, is to be released in January 2016. Only six months away! (Naturally, we know you can work that out for yourself, we’re just a bit over-excited about it all.)
Also, the Eighth Doctor box set Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2, can now be confirmed for a March 2016 release, brought forward from May.
The bottom line is that you’ll be getting to hear River Song in Big Finish audio action a lot sooner than you might have been expecting.
You can hear more about these and other New Series Doctor Who releases in the latest Big Finish Podcast here.
Doctor Who: The Diary of River Song
An epic four-hour adventure that takes River Song across space and time, seeking out the secret rulers of the universe.
The Doctor’s past is catching up with him. And so is his future… As a dark chapter dawns for the universe, a friend is at hand. But how can River Song help the Doctor if she can’t meet him?
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On the one hand, this is great news. On the other, though, it means the BBC is having issues. They wouldn’t have handed all these Nu-Who characters to BF is they were going to use them onscreen. As I’ve said before, the BBC will likely never do a spin-off themselves again.