Since it was announced that Big Finish got the license to cover all Doctor Who up to 2013’s The Time of the Doctor, we’ve been looking forward to one particularly exciting prospect: classic Doctors meeting monsters from the 2005-13 era of the show.
So we have: the Fifth Doctor vs the Weeping Angels; the Sixth Doctor defending a Judoon; the Seventh Doctor facing the Sycoraxic harvest; and the Eighth Doctor with Sontarans played by Dan Starkey and Christopher Ryan! And in the latter, we find out why the Sontarans weren’t allowed to be part of the Time War, as teased in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (2008)…
We’re psyched for this, and the wait has felt like forever. In the black hole of new Who on TV, this awesome set is finally here, and here’s what’s inside:
1. Fallen Angels by Phil Mulryne
2015: When sightseers Joel and Gabby Finch encounter a strange man in Edwardian cricketing garb in the Sistine Chapel, their honeymoon suddenly takes a terrifying turn. 1511: Michelangelo is commissioned to create some very special sculptures by a mysterious sect. But as he carves, angels seem to emerge fully-formed from the rock. Almost as if they are alive… From Michelangelo’s workshop to the catacombs of Rome, the Fifth Doctor must keep his wits about him and his eyes wide open as he confronts the Weeping Angels.
2. Judoon in Chains by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris
The Sixth Doctor is no stranger to courtroom drama, but faces a very different challenge when he prepares to defend a most unusual Judoon. After an environmental clearance mission goes wrong, Captain Kybo of the Nineteenth Judoon Interplantary Force is stranded in Victorian England, bound in chains, an exhibit in a circus show. But he has allies: Eliza Jenkins – known to audiences as ‘Thomasina Thumb’ – and the larger-than-life ‘clown’ in the colourful coat. Uncovering a trail of injustice and corruption, the Doctor and Kybo soon find themselves on trial for their lives…
3. Harvest of the Sycorax by James Goss
In the far future, humanity has a remedy for everything. Whatever the problem, Pharma Corps has the answer and a designer disease tailored to every human’s blood-type. Zanzibar Hashtag has no need to be sad, scared, stressed, or depressed ever again. That is, until vicious aliens arrive on her space station intent on opening its Vault. What will it mean for the human race if the Sycorax take control of what’s inside? And when the Seventh Doctor arrives on the scene, can he convince Zanzibar to care about her life long enough to help him?
4. The Sontaran Ordeal by Andrew Smith
An instant of the Time War brings centuries of conflict to the planet Drakkis, and the Eighth Doctor is there to witness the terrible results. A Sontaran fleet, desperate to join the epic conflict, follows in its wake to take advantage of the fallout. But when Commander Jask is beamed down to the ravaged surface, there is more to his arrival than first appears. Soon, an unlikely champion joins forces with the Time Lord to fight for the future of her world, and together they must face the Sontaran Ordeal…
Directed by Barnaby Edwards, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann are joined by Matthew Kelly, Sacha Dhawan, Dan Starkey, Nicholas Briggs, Trevor Cooper, Tony Millan, Sabina Franklyn, Nicholas Pegg, Nisha Nayar, Giles Watling, Josette Simon, and Christopher Ryan.
Tantalisingly, this is only Volume One- because a follow-up is coming next year!05
The four-story boxset is out now exclusively from Big Finish, but goes on general sale from 30th September.
Classic Doctors, New Monsters: Volume One is just £20, whether you pick up the CD (with complimentary downloadable version) or the download-only.
