War Stories: Five Audio Stories starring the Second Doctor

By David Ferguson on 18 May 2026 • ( 0 )

War! What is it good for? Some cracking Doctor Who audio dramas, that’s what. David Ferguson investigates…

This piece is influenced by the 50th Anniversary of the British weekly, Action, being this year. So I was thinking of five stories that could easily have fit into that comic. Originally, I was going to make it a multiple Doctor piece but, as I researched, I just kept finding more Second Doctor audios that fit. Kind of appropriate, as my last piece covered his predecessor.

Coincidentally, they were mostly in an era that Big Finish helped me appreciate more: the period of time that featured the companion trio of Jamie (Frazer Hines), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze). The trio only had eight TV stories, with Jamie joining in The Highlanders (1966 – 1967) and Polly and Ben leaving in The Faceless Ones (1967). Sadly, Michael Craze passed away in 1998 but Elliot Chapman does an excellent job in these stories. Frazer Hines plays The Second Doctor, in place of Patrick Troughton.

The last story features my favourite TARDIS crew with Jamie and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) being joined by Michael Troughton taking on his father’s role.

The Forsaken (2015)

Written by Justin Richards

Cast: A full cast including Anneke Wills as Polly, Elliot Chapman as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie and The Doctor.

Plot: The TARDIS lands on an island off Singapore during the Japanese invasion of 1942. The travellers are found by some British soldiers – among them, a certain Private James Jackson, who just happens to be Ben’s father. But they’re not the only visitors to the island…

This is part of The Early Adventures, a bunch of full cast audios about the First and Second Doctors. Series 2 covered the Second Doctor. The first two stories of the series covered the Jamie/Ben Polly Era, the third one featured Victoria (Deborah Watling) and the last one featured Zoe (Wendy Padbury).

I found this one interesting for two reasons. One, it took place in a part of World War Two that doesn’t get as much attention with the European war appearing more often in Doctor Who stories. Two, it expanded the backstory of Ben and developed the character. Something Big Finish excels at. The Doctor would normally want to leave as having Ben’s dad meet Ben could cause issues, but there’s a mysterious creature to investigate…

The Mouthless Dead (2016)

Written by John Pritchard

Cast: Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines and Elliot Chapman

Plot: The TARDIS arrives in 1920s England, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly finding themselves in a wintry dusk beside a railway line. The station nearby appears deserted, but there are figures watching from the shadows, all of them waiting for a dead man’s train…

This is from The Companion Chronicles: The Second Doctor Volume 01. This boxset once again covers all of his eras and this story is the first one.

The story is told from the point of view and Jamie and Polly. While not taking place during one of the world wars, it does have a war connection (that I won’t spoil) and is very entertaining and clever ghost story. It fits well in with the “under siege” stories we saw during the Second Doctor TV era. Again, we get character development as Ben and Jamie mention their history as soldiers.

The Night Witches (2017)

Written by Roland Moore

Cast: A full cast including Anneke Wills as Polly, Elliot Chapman as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie and The Doctor.

Plot: When the TARDIS materialises north of Stalingrad in 1942, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly are captured by the Night Witches, an all-female unit of flyers tasked with disrupting the German forces nearing Moscow. They suspect that the travellers are spies, part of the Germans’ Operation Barbarossa. Despite their pleas, they are locked up while it is decided what to do with them. Polly, however, is receiving strange looks from the pilots and clearly unnerving them. When the TARDIS crew discover why this is, it becomes clear that they’re about to get far more involved in the war than they could possibly have imagined.

Another Early Adventure. The first story of series 4. Again, we get a part of World War Two not seen as much. Similar to the TV story Enemy of the World (1967), we get a character that is a doppelganger of one of the TARDIS crew. Anneke Wills was originally going to be the main voice of Polly’s doppelganger Tatiana before she expressed doubts about her ability to put on a convincing Russian accent.

The newer Battle Action comics feature their own Soviet pilot, Nina Petrova.

The Home Guard (2019)

Written by Simon Guerrier

Cast: A full cast including Anneke Wills as Polly, Elliot Chapman as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie and The Doctor.

Plot: It’s the middle of World War Two, and Ben Jackson has returned to visit his married friends Polly and Jamie in their quiet English village. But they can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s not right…

Another unique setting, although there are other audios where The Doctor is in Britain during the World War Two. This story was partly influenced by the BBC wartime sitcom, Dad’s Army, and there are number of references for fans of that show. Just check out the cover for a start. This was Elliot Chapman’s last appearance as Ben, as he didn’t want to do more stories than Michael Craze.

Doctor Who: Operation Werewolf
RELEASED JULY 2024
Written by Robert Kitts Douglas Camfield
Adapted by Jonathan Morris
Starring Michael Troughton Frazer Hines

Operation: Werewolf (2024)

Written by Robert Kitts and Douglas Camfield

Adapted by Jonathan Morris

Cast: A full cast including Michael Troughton as The Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie and Wendy Padbury as Zoe.

Plot: The TARDIS has brought the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to Normandy in France, not in 1066 as intended, but in 1944, three days before the Allies are due to launch the D-Day landings.

Joining forces with French partisans, they learn that the Germans have been conducting secret experiments at a nearby chateau. These experiments form part of a plan that German high command believe will enable them to win the World War Two. The name of that plan? Operation Werewolf.

This is a Lost Story, the original story being written by Robert Kitts and Douglas Camfield. Camfield is known for directing episodes of the TV show, including the Second Doctor stories The Web of Fear (1968) and The Invasion (1968). Both Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury have fond memories of working with him.

This is a classic Second Doctor story to me. It could easily have slotted into the Patrick Troughton years, but both Hines and Padbury felt it would have been difficult to make. It is an interesting plot that is the kind of thing you’d have gotten back then and wasn’t the one I was expecting. Michael Troughton has similar chemistry with his dad’s old companions.

There’s also a few funny moments that will make you chuckle, but don’t take away from the overall story. There are a few more stories with these three that I will have to check out now.

David Ferguson

All the Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Adventures are available from bigfinish.com