Doctor Who[edit]
The
Doctor Who audio plays featured six of the nine surviving actors to play the character of
the Doctor in the series (
Tom Baker,
Peter Davison,
Colin Baker,
Sylvester McCoy,
Paul McGann, and
David Tennant), as well as many of the regular supporting actors over the many years of the programme.
[12] The late
Jon Pertwee's voice is featured in the 40th-anniversary story
Zagreus. His part in the story was pieced together from snippets of Pertwee's dialogue from the fan-produced
Doctor Who video "Devious".
[13] The late
John Hurtalso recorded appearances as the
War Doctor for Big Finish prior to his death in 2017.
Of the surviving Doctors, Tom Baker for years declined invitations to return to the role, but he eventually changed his mind, having first returned as the Fourth Doctor for the BBC in
The Nest Cottage Chronicles, which comprised three audio series:
Hornets Nest (2009),
Demon Quest (2010), and
Serpents Quest (2011), and then for Big Finish audios since 2012.[
citation needed] Currently,
Christopher Eccleston,
Matt Smith, and
Peter Capaldi are the only surviving Doctor actors who have yet to reprise their roles in the audio plays.
Previously, Big Finish's licence only covered the original
Doctor Who series.[
citation needed] However, it was announced on 27 June 2015 that they were now permitted to use characters and themes from the revived series.[
citation needed] Prior to that, Big Finish was unable to feature any material from or references to the new series. Before the restriction was lifted, the character of the Ninth Doctor made a silent "off-screen" appearance that affects the plot of
The Kingmaker (2006).
A major exception to this restriction was an 11-chapter arc entitled
Destiny of the Doctor (2013), produced by Big Finish in conjunction with
AudioGO, rights holders to the 2005–present series, which allowed Big Finish to produce storylines featuring the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors to mark the 50th anniversary of the franchise.[
citation needed] In February 2015, Big Finish announced that following a licensing deal with
BBC Worldwide, they had been permitted to produce an audio series entitled
UNIT: Extinction, starring
Kate Stewart played by
Jemma Redgrave. The debut of the character on audio marks the second time Big Finish have been actively permitted to utilise material introduced in the 2005 revival.
In May 2015, Big Finish announced a new series of
Torchwood, featuring
John Barrowman.
[14]
On 27 June 2015, it was announced that Big Finish would produce a line of stories featuring
River Song and the Eighth Doctor, as well as stories from
Winston Churchill and his interactions with the Doctor. Further it was announced that a special set would be released featuring classic Doctors (in this case, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors), with new series monsters (
The Weeping Angels, the
Judoon, the
Sycorax, and the
Sontarans. The latter story will also connect into the
Time War. According to Big Finish's website, their licence extends no further than
The Time of the Doctor. Therefore, they cannot feature the Twelfth Doctor or anything introduced in his era.
[15]
Developments in the 2005 revival TV series also impacted the availability of certain characters. For example, Big Finish was no longer allowed to use the character of
Davros, following his return to the series in 2008, although this restriction has since been lifted and Davros returned to Big Finish in
The Curse of Davros (January 2012). Prior to the character's being featured in the new series, he had been used in several plays, portrayed by
Terry Molloy, who played Davros in three TV serials in the 1980s. In a 2008 podcast,
Nicholas Briggs explained that all scripts are sent through the TV show's offices in Cardiff to prevent any potential conflicts in continuity.
[16] One reason for the restriction was that
BBC Audiobooks has, since 2008, been producing its own exclusive-to-audio stories featuring the Fourth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors,
Sarah Jane Smith, and Torchwood, as well as releasing full-cast audio dramas (similar to Big Finish's format) based upon
Torchwood. However, despite BBC Audio's also producing an ongoing series of Fourth Doctor adventures, this has not affected Big Finish's ability to feature the character as well.
The return of Sarah Jane Smith to the continuity of the TV series, and subsequent
The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off, resulted in the character's no longer being available to Big Finish (forcing the cancellation of an ongoing
Sarah Jane Smith audio series). According to Briggs, permission from
Russell T Davies, producer and creator of
The Sarah Jane Adventures, had been secured that would have allowed the character (and actress
Elisabeth Sladen) to return to Big Finish for a series of stories alongside Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, but Sladen's illness and death in April 2011 put an end to those plans.
[17]
The return of
Doctor Who to television in 2005 did not have an immediate impact on the audio plays, save that the grouping of Eighth Doctor adventures into "seasons" ceased, and subsequent releases starring
Paul McGann were folded into the regular releases featuring previous Doctors. McGann concluded his fourth and last continuous audio "season" with the release of
The Next Life (2004), and has continued to appear in standalone releases as of 2013.
