First Lord of the Admiralty, British Prime Minister during the Second World War, and close friend of several incarnations of the Doctor, Winston Churchill was born 146 years ago today. To celebrate, Big Finish is giving listeners a chance to listen to the first episode of The Churchill Years.
Churchill met the Eleventh Doctor in Victory of the Daleks in 2010, and we learned that this wasn’t the first time the pair had met from hints of several other encounters between them. Over two volumes, Big Finish’s The Churchill Years has filled in some of the back story.
As part of the audio company’s #lockdownloads project, which gives fans a free download each Monday, with related discounts on further titles, you can listen to The Oncoming Storm, by Phil Mulryne, for free, for one week.
Ian McNeice and Emily Atack (The Inbetweeners) star as Churchill and his secretary Hetty respectively in this hour-long audio adventure. Here’s the blurb:
Late 1939. Britain faces the might of Germany. Winston Churchill serves as First Lord of the Admiralty. But Churchill soon finds himself facing a more immediate threat than the looming Nazi menace.
A ‘Stone’ with the most mysterious properties is discovered in the Thames’ sands, and soon oddly spoken soldiers are creeping round London ruthlessly trying to acquire it. Who are they?
Can Churchill and his new secretary Hetty Warner defeat them? And what about the man in the battered leather jacket that Hetty meets? Churchill feels sure they can rely on the Doctor to help them! Except that this Doctor seems to want to stay hidden in the shadows…
Listeners can download this story free from now until 23:59 (GMT) on 6th December 2020 at the Big Finish website.
Director Ken Bentley said:
“The thrill about getting Churchill into the studio was, for me, about the storytelling world. One of the fascinating things about Big Finish (and Doctor Who itself) is the broad range of storytelling worlds the plays inhabit. Unusually the period in which Churchill lived isn’t a world we’ve visited often, so it felt fresh and exciting to explore.”
Producer David Richardson went on:
“I’m fiercely proud of this series – I think the scripts are top notch, Ian does a superb job, the tone is really engrossing and the stories are very rich. It’s one of my favourites and I think people are going to love it.”
Emily Atack added:
“I was a little bit nervous when I first walked in, not really knowing what to expect. But I’ve really taken to it. It’s been such a lovely job. It’s a really meaty character. I’ve enjoyed it.”
For one week only, you can get up to 70% off all collector’s edition CD box sets and downloads in The Churchill Years range from Big Finish.
Additional stories featuring Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill (including Ravenous Volume 1, The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 6, and Subterfuge) are also discounted in this sale.
All the above offers end at 23:59 (GMT) on 6th December 2020.
