THE BIG FINISH MAGAZINE The Ninth Doctor travels the big, wide universe armed with wit, a sonic screwdriver and psychic paper… JULY 2021 JULY ALSO INSIDE ISSUE 149 THE WAR MASTER KILLING AND THRILLING… WWW.BIGFINISH.COM @BIGFINISH THEBIGFINISH @BIGFINISHPROD BIGFINISHPROD BIG-FINISH WE MAKE GREAT FULL-CAST AUDIO DRAMAS AND AUDIOBOOKS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY ON CD AND/OR DOWNLOAD WE LOVE STORIES Our audio productions are based on much-loved TV series like Doctor Who, Torchwood, Dark Shadows, Blake’s 7, The Avengers, The Prisoner, The Omega Factor, Terrahawks, Captain Scarlet, Space: 1999 and Survivors, as well as classics such as HG Wells, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the Opera and Dorian Gray. We also produce original creations such as Graceless, Charlotte Pollard and The Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, plus the THE BIG FINISH APP Big Finish Originals range featuring seven great new series: The majority of Big Finish releases ATA Girl, Cicero, Jeremiah Bourne in Time, Shilling & Sixpence can be accessed on-the-go via Investigate, Blind Terror, Transference and The Human Frontier. the Big Finish App, available for both Apple and Android devices. Secure online ordering and details of all our products can be found at: bgfn.sh/aboutBF EDITORIAL THE NINTH Doctor Adventures: Ravagers has been out for a few weeks DOCTOR WHO now and I’ve listened to it at least three times already. I never expected actor Christopher Eccleston to metaphorically don his battered black leather jacket HOOFPRINTS again and return to that incarnation of the Doctor which he created for thirteen & episodes on television. CONSPIRACY But he has, and wow, what a blisteringly The Third Doctor resumes his travels this great performance he gives. On listening October for another two stories in the eighth you would never know this was the . first time he’s returned to playing the volume of The Third Doctor Adventures Doctor again after such a long gap. I’ve never met or spoken to Chris but what struck me was just how much passion he has for Doctor Who. Just listen to his CONSPIRACY IN More than a century before, glee as he becomes the Doctor again and SPACE by Alan Barnes overnight and during a gets to utter his famous catchphrase… sees the TARDIS diverted terrible blizzard, thousands “Fantastic!” A very large part of me thinks to Draconia where the of hoofprints appeared in that’s Chris himself expressing such Doctor and Jo fall foul of the snow. The tracks led on delight and not him being the Time Lord! the hawkish Lady Zinn. for miles... and no-one ever His joy in the CD extras is also evident. War with Earth seems identified who or what caused This month Vortex previews the second imminent as rumours of a them. That is until now… box set of The Ninth Doctor Adventures: super-weapon are rife… The Devil’s Hoofprints Respond to All Calls. Three new tales Conspiracy in Space producer producer David Richardson follow the mold that the BBC Books Heather Challands says: tells us: “The Third Doctor, range established when they first started “Conspiracy in Space is a Sarah Jane and the Brigadier publishing their original new series novels, wonderful action-packed are on Earth exploring with one episode set in the past, one in the adventure that really mysteries and terrifying present and one in the future – a perfect mix. celebrates the heart of Doctor events in Devon. What a And in other releases the War Master Who’s tenth television season, perfect story to release in is back with Jo and Nyssa, the Doctor with brilliant performances the run up to Christmas and Leela reunite in a story conceived from Katy Manning, Tim – it’s full of frosty frights by Philip Hinchcliffe, we have another Treloar and our guest cast.” and atmosphere.” VORTEX adventure with Cicero, more Torchwood And in The Devil’s Hoofprints and two Early Adventures. It’s going to by Robert Valentine, the be a veritable party in our ears… VORTEX Doctor, Sarah and the DOCTOR WHO: THE THIRD Brigadier have come to DOCTOR ADVENTURES Devon to visit a controversial VOLUME EIGHT scientific establishment in ■ RELEASED: OCTOBER 2021 ■ the wake of a mysterious FORMAT: CD/DOWNLOAD death and rumours of strange ORDER NOW: bgfn.sh/draconia occurrences in the vicinity. | PAGE 3 The Ninth Doctor travels the big, wide universe armed with wit, a sonic screwdriver and psychic paper… CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON is Producer David Richardson says: really enjoyed working with the well and truly back as the Doctor. “What I love about this set is that brilliant director Helen Goldwyn His return to the role with Big it contains three character-based who always balances creativity and Finish has received critical dramas – each of the writers has given detail with having a great time. acclaim but there’s no resting on the casts something really meaty “They are also three very the laurels following the release to play with. Chris remarked many contrasting stories – from present day of Ravagers. times how thrilled he was with the Scotland to post-WWII Paris to the In the second box set of The Ninth quality of the writing, and that after graveyard planet Occasus – each of Doctor Adventures, the Doctor is the high bar we’d set on Ravagers, the adventures in this CD box set (or roaming the universe doing his best we were continuing to deliver what download folder) offers something to avoid getting too involved – but he sees as ‘top drawer’ writing. new and exciting, with brilliant he just can’t resist the odd alien “My over-riding memory of new friends and terrifying foes.” signal or a distant SOS... Respond to this recording is that it was just Script editor Matt Fitton adds: All Calls, with three new standalone a blast – we laughed so much in “What’s lovely about this range is tales, is out for release this August. between the takes – and Chris that it’s a whole different era. We | PAGE 4 DOCTOR WHO RESPOND TO ALL CALLS to B. And while he might be tempted to invite them along for the ‘trip of a lifetime’, it’d strictly be a one-off and they won’t be staying onboard. “That’s an aspect that Chris really likes, a lonely wanderer who can’t settle down with anyone as he feels he has to keep moving. He’s falling through time, grabbing onto things as he passes, but he never stays in the one place. “He’s finding out who he is, what it means to be the Doctor in a universe after the Time War when he’s got freedom to wander again, but he is wary of getting too close to anyone because of what might happen.” THIS SERIES contains three very different adventures as Matt explains: “For this second set, we asked our three writers to pitch stories with the intention of doing one that was contemporary, one that was historical and one that was sci-fi/ future-y.” We start the adventures in Scotland with Girl, Deconstructed by Lisa McMullin. Marnie is missing. But she hasn’t run away, as her dad fears – Marnie is still very much at home. But not quite as she was. The Doctor joins forces with Missing Persons detective Jana Lee to help solve the mystery of a girl who’s gone to pieces. Matt tells Vortex: “Girl, Deconstructed is a bit Rose-like in a Christopher way, an introductory story with the Eccleston Doctor arriving on contemporary Earth and helping out where he can. He finds himself alongside a missing capture the flavour of the Russell persons detective looking for a girl T Davies television series but by who’s vanished from home – but setting our adventures beforehand, THAT’S AN she’s not that far away, really. the universe is our oyster. We can ASPECT “It’s what Steven Moffat and Russell go anywhere and do anything – as T Davies do, find everyday things long as we don’t tread on the toes THAT CHRIS and make them scary, tapping into of the self-contained storyline that REALLY LIKES, childhood fears and that alienation runs through Chris’s series on TV. or just that worry, of disappearing “We can explore the Doctor A LONELY when you feel people aren’t listening before he meets Rose. The biggest to you, or you can’t talk to someone.” challenge is keeping him slightly on WANDERER the outside – he’s not ready to take WHO CAN’T LISA EXPLAINS more: “Girl, on a companion. That’s the thing Deconstructed all came from a we have to draw a line under, so SETTLE nightmare that I used to have, his relationship with Rose remains DOWN WITH which is a very Doctor Who way special. What the Doctor does in of getting ideas! When I was these stories, following on from the ANYONE… growing up, our house had some re-launch of the Doctor in Ravagers, MATT FITTON windows on the stairs which opened is help out where he can, maybe give outwards, fairly far, it would have people a ride in the TARDIS from A been easy for a child to fall out. | PAGE 5 mixed up in her frustrated teenage emotions, and it all goes a bit wrong. Mirren “If I said I thought I might write Mack for Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor one day, I’d be lying! It was real surprise and delight when I was asked to be involved. I’m really looking forward to hearing how the cast take that childhood nightmare from my head and release it through the medium of audio!” FOR THE second adventure we travel back in time for the wittily titled Fright Motif by Tim Foley.