Doctor Who is Back...

Big Finish Productions and BBC Worldwide welcome you to the newest chapter of the Doctor Who saga -- the audio adventures of the intrepid Time Lord, his courageous companions and his trusty TARDIS -- fully licensed by the BBC, starring members of the series' original cast.

Last Update: JANUARY 30, 2001

The Latest News...

Visitors to this site will be familiar with the Big Finish Doctor Who comic strip illustrations that appear in Doctor Who Magazine to accompany the latest audio releases. Artist Lee Sullivan has kindly given his permission for the strip illustrations to be included on this site. You will find a selection of the strips have been added to the appropriate story pages and the remaining strips will be added shortly.

Lee has also informed us that he is willing to sell the original artwork for some of these strips including Storm Warning (pictured here). If you are interested you can contact contact lee at LeeSullivanArt@aol.com or check out his web site here.

Storm Warning, the first Big Finish Doctor Who audio drama to feature Eigth Doctor, Paul McGann is now available. All subscriptions copies have now been despatched. If you are a subscriber and have yet to receive your copy of Storm Warning, please be patient as it is more than likely in transit to you.

We can now reveal the cover art for Sword of Orion, the second Eighth Doctor audio drama that will be released at the end of February. As can be seen, the Cyberman image used is a slight variation on the versions of the silver giants that were seen in the TV story, Invasion. Co-producer Gary Russell opted for the Invasion Cybermen rather than the more familiar Earthshock versions as he felt that they conveyed a greater sense of power and looked less like men in suits.

The voices of the Sword of Orion Cybermen however, will sound similar to the Earthshock cybermen but slightly more mechanical.

Big Finish are pleased to announce that September 2001's Doctor Who CD release will star Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant in The Eye of the Scorpion, a four-part pseudo-historical romp through ancient Egypt by newcomer Iain McLaughlin.

During the middle of 2000 co-producer Gary Russell read through about 230 unsolicited story ideas and script submissions. A number of these he thought were worth following up ­ and The Eye of the Scorpion was amongst them, making it the first Big Finish play to be commissioned from the "slush pile" as such things are, rather unflatteringly, known.

Iain's writing background is mostly based around the field of comics, in particular the zany world of Scotland's D C Thomson, where he's worked on The Beano, The Beezer and The Dandy, including spells writing such icons as Beryl the Peril and Desperate Dan. He's also written scripts for Hensons and has had interest in another from Amblin.

We're glad to have him on board as a part of the Big Finish team, and are especially proud that he's the first (but not the last) of our "finds".

The Mutant Phase has now been released. All subscription copies have been dispatched. However, if you are a subscriber and have not yet received your copy, please be patient as Christmas post, slow trains and flooding etc. are delaying deliveries in many areas of the UK and beyond.

Big Finish wish all of our customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We are now just over a month from the release of Storm Warning, the first time that Eighth Doctor Paul McGann has returned to the role since the 1996 TV movie. We have now added the the cover art to the Storm Warning page which we're sure will whet the appetites of those of you waiting for the first of the new adventures of the Eighth Doctor.

After much soul searching, Big Finish have taken the decision to stop producing cassette versions of the Doctor Who range after the December 2000 release, The Mutant Phase. Therefore, starting with Storm Warning, the first play to star Paul McGann, the productions will only be available on CD.

This decision has not been taken lightly, but has been forced upon us by decreasing sales of cassettes as more and more of you switch to purchasing CDs. This would also appear to be the conclusion of BBC Radio Collection, who have been producing their Missing Adventures series of audio recordings from early Doctor Who on CD only.

We are sorry to let down those who prefer the cassette format to CDs especially those of you who have subscribed. The first 15 Doctor Who titles are still available on cassette but once stocks have run out we will not be repressing the cassettes and so unfortunately they will no longer be available from BFP. It is therefore advisable to order any cassette versions you would like to purchase sooner rather than later.

All cassette subscribers will be supplied with CDs at no extra charge, or offered a refund.

 

Benny Price Reduction

December 10 , 2000

We are announcing a price reduction in back stock for the Bernice Summerfield range. To bring them in line with the price of our latest release (Dragons' Wrath) Oh No It Isn't!, Beyond the Sun, Walking to Babylon, Birthright and Just War will now be available at £9.99 including p&p; (£11.50 overseas). In addition, we are offering new fans the chance to catch up with Benny's adventures with a special offer on these first five releases - £40.00 including p&p; (a saving of £9.95 or five for the price of four!). Overseas price £47.50 including p&p.;

If you want to test the water with Benny's adventures, then we have a very limited supply of cassette versions of Oh No It Isnt! and Beyond the Sun which we will be selling off at £2.99 including p&p.;

 

'Fly Me to the Moon' - on CD

December 10 , 2000

Big Finish are proud to announce the completion of recording on our first comedy production. Fly Me to the Moon the Big Finish-produced hit at this year's Edinburgh Festival was recorded in front of a live studio audience at the Komedia's radio theatre in Brighton on Sunday 3rd December. Starring Sylvester McCoy, India Fisher (Charley in the up coming Eighth Doctor series and pictured here) and Mark Brailsford this production was directed by Nicholas Briggs, engineering by Alistair Lock, and produced by Jason Haigh-Ellery and will be available on single CD in the new year.

If you're eagerly awaiting the release of the first Eighth Doctor audio adventure, Storm Warning, you won't want to miss issue 300 of Doctor Who Magazine. Free with this landmark issue, to be released on January 11 2001, will be a cover-mounted unique CD featuring as promotional version of the first episode of Storm Warning. However, be aware that the new David Arnold version of the Doctor Who theme will actually receive its first airing when Storm Warning gets its full Big Finish release on January 22nd.

Amongst the selection of other treasures on this very special disc, fans of the Seventh Doctor are also in for a treat as the CD will also feature an exclusive all-new adventure, especially written and recorded for Doctor Who Magazine, starring Sylvester McCoy. For more information on the free CD, see the preview in Issue 299 of Doctor Who Magazine in December and remember to make sure you get Issue 300 four weeks later.

Next year's Fifth Doctor adventure, Loups-Garoux is due to be recorded in early December. Director Nicholas Pegg has once again been able to assemble and impressive cast to star along side Who regulars Peter Davison and Mark Strickson.

Well known comedienne and actress Eleanor Bron takes on the role of Ileana de Santos. Miss Bron came to prominence in the Sixties earning a reputation as a legendary writer and performer of cutting-edge comedy revues alongside the likes of Peter Cooke, John Bird and Alan Bennett. She also appeared with The Beatles in their 1965 film Help. Of course, Loups-Garoux is not Miss Bron's first encounter with Doctor Who. She first made a comic cameo appearance, along side John Cleese, as an art lover in the Tom Baker adventure City of Death (above) and then later, guest-starred in the Colin Baker story, Revelation of the Daleks as the ruthless Kara.

The part of Dr Hayashi is taken by Burt Kwouk. Guaranteed immortality by his role as Inspector Clouseau's martial-arts manservant Cato in the Pink Panther movies (left with Peter Sellers), Burt Kwouk's impressive list of film credits also includes Empire of the Sun, Goldfinger, Rollerball and Plenty. On television his roles include the sadistic Captain Yamauchi in Tenko, and a string of appearances in The Tomorrow People, Callan, Jason King, The Saint, The Avengers, Danger Man, Out of the Unknown and even Hancock's Half Hour. More recently he appeared on the Harry Hill show and, earlier this year, as Caliph Beder in the prestigious TV dramatisation of The Arabian Nights. Loups-Garoux will see Kwouk reunited with Peter Davison's Doctor, having previously appeared as Lin Futu in 1982's Four To Doomsday.

Nicky Henson is Pieter Stubbe. As well as playing lead roles in horror films such as Psychomania and Witchfinder General, Nicky Henson has made a string of notable appearances in TV series including Inspector Morse, Minder, The Green Man and Shine On Harvey Moon, in which he played the title character. He was Demetrius in the BBC Shakespeare production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and has appeared in several of the BBC's noted adaptations of Alan Ayckbourn's plays. Henson is perhaps best remembered as the medallion-sporting, girlfriend-smuggling lothario Mr Johnson ("Pretentious - moi?") in the classic Psychiatrist episode of Fawlty Towers.

Big Finish will be launching a whole range of new products next year and although many of them are still under wraps we can reveal now that Big Finish will be producing the all new adventures of the time raveling Iris Wildthyme. Readers of the BBC's range of Doctor Who books will already be familiar with Ms Wildthyme who has appeared along side various Doctors in several novels (left) by Paul Magrs. Many fans have expressed a desire to see further adventures featuring Ms Wildthyme and Big Finish have been listening.

2001 will see a new novel by Iris's creator Paul Magrs and an audio play scripted by Stephen Cole. Release dates, titles and casting information have yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned for more news in the near future.

Following the very successful release of Doctor Who - Music from the New Audio Adventures, Volume 1, Big Finish will releasing a further two volumes in 2001. One volume will feature Nicholas Briggs's music and the other the compositions of Russell Stone. Release dates to be announced.

Big Finish will be represented at the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles over the weekend of 23rd - 25th February 2001. Present will be Producer, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Musician Alistair Lock and actresses Lisa Bowerman (Bernice Summerfield) and India Fisher (Eighth Doctor companion Charley). Check out the convention site (by clicking on the banner above) for full details.

The Big Finish cast and crew will also be appearing at the Blue Box IV convention in Bristol on 14th - 16th April 2001. For more details check out the organiser's web site here here.

Regular readers of this web-page will have noticed that the cover to The Mutant Phase has been altered. After conversations with Roger Hancock Ltd, the agents who work on behalf of Terry Nation's Estate and BBC Worldwide. They felt that the Dalek Emperor featured on the original cover was not something readily identified with either the Daleks today or the Peter Davison era of the show in particular. Thus Clayton Hickman has created a similar cover (pictured here) with a more traditional Dalek image. The play is still due to be released on Monday December 23rd.

If you would like to review previous news items check out the News Archive.

Big Finish Productions is JASON HAIGH-ELLERY and NANCY HINE. The Doctor Who Audio Adventures are produced by GARY RUSSELL and JASON HAIGH-ELLERY; and JACQUELINE RAYNER is the executive producer for the BBC.

Contact Big Finish Productions for all audio inquiries at bigfinish@easynet.co.uk.

Site Editor: John Ainsworth. Website originally designed and maintained by Shaun Lyon. (Some images courtesy the Dr. Who Image Archive.)