David Ferguson suggests some starting points for enjoying a huge range of Doctor Who adventures never seen on TV…
I was going to write a piece recommending some of my favourite audio stories. However, I got to thinking that a lot of people find it difficult to jump into the world of Big Finish. Looking at their extensive catalogue, it can be intimidating to know where to start and costly to find out. I decided that it might be helpful for my first one of these pieces (yes, I’m hoping there’ll be more) to help out new listeners. With a lot of these, it will be dependent on which Doctor and / or companion(s) you like. I will endeavour to make my recommendations as wide as possible.
Doctor Who: Short Trips
Short Trips says it in its name. A short audio read by one narrator. These are cheap or free so it is an inexpensive way to dip your toe in. The free ones include ones by new writers who have won the annual The Paul Spragg Memorial competition, which honours the memory of the much-loved colleague and friend at the heart of the Big Finish production office, who passed away suddenly in 2014. They, in my experience, are usually very good.
Some free ones I enjoyed include The Last Day At Work (Second Doctor), Free Speech (Tenth Doctor) and The Best-Laid Plans (Twelfth Doctor). If you feel like opting for a small fee, I’d recommend A Full Life (Fourth Doctor). It’s an Adric story and is narrated by Matthew Waterhouse.
There’s also a couple of interesting Eight Doctor ones but these require a bit more knowledge. I’ll recommend them anyway. All Hands On Deck is a Susan story, narrated by Carole Ann Ford, and takes place after some Eighth Doctor stories featuring her (more on that later). A Heart On Both Sides is a Nyssa story, narrated by Sarah Sutton, and takes place during The Time War. You could listen to that one without listening to other audios actually. You just need to have watched The Fifth Doctor era featuring Nyssa.
Short Trips helpfully have their own section on The Big Finish website. The cover usually features the Doctor who is in the story.
Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles
These are stories that are told by companions so it will depend on which ones you like. Mostly read by the actors who played the characters originally. The majority of these are for the First, Second and Third Doctors as a way of telling their stories in the absence of the original actors who played those roles. (They were later recast). They later expanded to include a larger cast.
For the First Doctor era, I’d recommend three stories: The Perpetual Bond, The Cold Equations and The First Wave. They feature a new companion Oliver Harper, played by comedian Tim Allen, and Steven Taylor (Peter Purves). Peter Purves does a decent First Doctor.
Personal favourites of mine are the Second Doctor ones. Frazer Hines, who played Jamie McCrimmon, does a good Second Doctor, so that adds to it. I’d recommend The Companion Chronicles: The Second Doctor Volume One as a start. It features stories from different companion eras so includes Polly, Ben, Jamie, Victoria and Zoe. I was happy that Deborah Watling got to play Victoria again before she passed away. Elliot Chapman does a wonderful job as Ben. I actually grew to really enjoy the Polly/Ben/Jamie era stories.
There are also ones for later Doctors. The first one to feature an actor who played the Doctor is Peri and the Piscon Paradox, which features Colin Baker as The Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri. She narrates. Written by Nev Fountain, it deals with the continuity issues surrounding Peri. I mention Nev Fountain as he is a writer I would recommend his work. (He’s currently rustling up an interesting under wraps comic project for B7 Comics with several people with a Doctor Who connection).
These also have their own section on the Big Finish site, and usually include the relevant companion and Doctor on the cover.
Doctor Who: Lost Stories
These are mostly stories based on unmade scripts so they fit nicely into the continuity of the TV show. Frazer Hines actually found a script in his garage for one Second Doctor story.
A notable adventure is The Daleks: The Destroyers by Terry Nation, included on The Lost Stories: The Secind Doctor Box Set. (Odd, as I would consider this story a First Doctor era one). In 1967, the Daleks were written out of Doctor Who as Terry Nation planned to launch their own series. The series never happened, but the script has survived. Jean Marsh reprises her role as Sara Kingdom.
The Second Doctor set also includes a story called Prison In Space, featuring Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury.
There were a lot of stories planned for Season 23 (Sixth Doctor) before production went on hiatus so a lot of them fit between Season 22 and the eventual Season 23. You can start with The Nightmare Fair, available on Doctor Who: The Lost Stories: The Collected Sixth Doctor 1, which features the Celestial Toymaker in Blackpool. As mentioned in my Doctor Who comics piece, there’s also a story by Pat Mills called The Song of Megaptera. Of note to fans of the modern era, there is an adaptation of a Russell T. Davies script called Mind of The Hodiac, featuring The Sixth Doctor and Mel.
These also have their own section.
Adaptations
Big Finish have adapted some novels and comic book stories so these would be entries for people familiar with those stories. I haven’t dipped my toes in this area but you can find the novels under the Doctor Who – The Audio Novels section of the website. I mentioned the two comic book adaptations in my Doctor Who comics piece. These are collected in The Comic Adaptations Volume One and can be found in the Doctor Who – Classic Series – Special Releases section. They’re from The Fourth Doctor comics.
Some Jumping On Points
A good way to jump on board if you want to do an extended run is to start with a new companion. There are a bunch of really good audio companion. This is particularly true of The Sixth and Eighth Doctor, and I will mention a few here. It is not a full list, as I may not have heard about some of them. For ones where there are little or no new companions, I’ll mention another good place to start.
For the First Doctor, Oliver Harper (Tom Allen), as noted above. You could also start with The First Doctor Adventures Volume One. David Bradley plays The First Doctor in this, with Claudia Grant as Susan, Jemma Powell as Barbara Wright and Jamie Glover as Ian Chesterton.
The Second Doctor doesn’t have any new companions. You could start with The Second Doctor Adventures: Beyond War Games, which takes place after his last TV episode in the theorised Season 6B. Patrick Troughton’s son Michael Troughton plays The Second Doctor. Jon Culshaw appears as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Jamie and Zoe appear in later volumes.
The Third Doctor also does not have any new companions. You could start with The Third Doctor Adventures Volume One. Tim Treloar plays The Third Doctor and Kat Manning appears as Jo Grant. Later volumes see the late Caroline John’s daughter Daisy Ashford play Liz Shaw, and the late Elisabeth Sladen’s daughter Sadie Miller play Sarah Jane Smith. Jon Culshaw appears as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart again.
For the Fourth Doctor, there is Naomi Cross (Eleanor Crooks). A member of UNIT, she starts travelling with The Fourth Doctor and Harry in The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 13: Storm of the Sea Devils. She would later travel with The Seventh Doctor. Very few stories in total. The Fourth Doctor Adventures section starts with Destination Nerva with Louise Jameson as Leela. Sadie Miller plays Sarah Jane Smith in The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Curse of Time.
For The Fifth Doctor, Marc (George Watkins) joined Nyssa and Tegan as a companion in Tartarus. You could also start with The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Forty 1. It features Janet Fielding as Tegan, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. That’s from only a few years ago.
For The Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe (Maggie Stables) joins the him in The Marian Conspiracy. Flip Jackson (Lisa Greenwood) joins him in The Curse of Davros. Flip previously appeared in an Evelyn story called The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. Constance Clarke (Miranda Raison) joins him in Criss-Cross.
The Marian Conspiracy is fairly old and there are a lot of stories since. The Evelyn era is wonderful, but if you want a shorter run, start with Flip.
For The Seventh Doctor, Hex (Philip Olivier) joins Ace as a companion in The Harvest, an excellent Cyberman story. Naomi meets this Doctor in The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Sullivan and Cross – AWOL.
For The Eighth Doctor, Charlotte Pollard (India Fisher) joins him in Storm Warning. Charlotte has a long run, but Big Finish has started to put them in collections. Mary Shelley (Julie Cox) is briefly his companion, starting in The Company Of Friends. Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith) is another long term companion who now has collections. Tamsin Drew (Niky Wardley) is in this era, as is the stuff with Susan I mentioned in the Short Trips section, above. Molly O’Sullivan meets him in Dark Eyes 1.
Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) meets them in Dark Eyes 2. She had previously met the Seventh Doctor in Robophobia but it isn’t necessary to listen to that story to understand this era. Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan) joins in The Doom Coalition 1.
Mary Shelley is a short sequence that gives you an idea of The Eighth Doctor. Starting with Molly and Dark Eyes is a great jumping on point. You can also just start with the Time War Era if you got a taste for it in the TV episode Night of The Doctor. It starts in Time War 1.
Ok. That was a lot – but hopefully you found somewhere to start. I think I’ll do one on some stories that are focused on some other characters next.
David Ferguson
David is a writer of stuff on comics and pop culture for GCN.ie. He is also a contributor and editor (Hugo nominated) for Journey Planet | Follow David on BlueSky
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David is a writer of stuff on comics and pop culture for GCN.ie. He is also a contributor and editor (Hugo nominated) for Journey Planet
Categories: Audio, Digital Media, Doctor Who, downthetubes News, Features, Other Worlds, Science Fiction, Television
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