The Ninth Doctor never faced the Cybermen — until now.
Christopher Eccleston’s incarnation of the Doctor will encounter some old friends and foes in the forthcoming volumes of Big Finish’s The Ninth Doctor Adventures.
On TV, he only saw a Cyberman head in Van Statten’s Museum, but in the final episode of volume three, due for release in November 2021, features one of the menacing Mondasian monsters on the set of Fritz Lang’s celebrated 1927 motion picture, Metropolis.
Writer John Dorney said:
“I know everyone was very keen for the Ninth Doctor to have an encounter with the Cybermen, and as they were the only Doctor and monster I hadn’t written for at Big Finish, I was very keen to be the one to write it! It was a real honour getting to script their meeting… particularly as it gave me the chance to dive into my love for the movies and write a bit of a celebrity historical.”
Then, in volume four, due for release in February 2022, the Doctor is reunited with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, as played by Jon Culshaw, in an adventure that takes the Time Lord to the Forth of Firth.
Writer Roy Gill said:
“The Brigadier is an iconic character from the Classic Series, whereas the Ninth Doctor arrives at the very forefront of the New Series. They may initially seem very different, but there’s an interesting connection: both forthright and deeply decent, they’ve been through conflict and are still fighting for what’s right… It was a privilege to write their first meeting for Big Finish.”
Producer David Richardson also confirmed when these adventures will take place in the Doctor’s timeline:
“It’s been so enjoyable creating a whole new era for the Ninth Doctor, and I think the scripts really succeed in defining that bold new start. We are talking the Ninth Doctor pre-Rose. These are the adventures some time after his regeneration, travelling alone, starting to discover himself after all that time being the War Doctor.”
You can now pre-order all four volumes of The Ninth Doctor Adventures, which are available in three formats: collector’s edition CD, digital download or limited edition gatefold triple LP vinyl. Big Finish listeners can save by pre-ordering a bundle of the entire series for just £88 (as a collector’s edition box set) or £78 (as a download).
The triple LP vinyls are strictly limited to a pressing of 1,000 per volume, and can be pre-ordered at £35.99 each, or £132 for the bundle of all four albums, again exclusively at the Big Finish website.
Please note: the vinyl editions do not include any behind-the-scenes extras. However, listeners purchasing vinyl LP editions will receive a download of the story automatically and be given access to the CD edits as a bonus download. Episodes will be edited specifically for the vinyl format, presented as 2 episodes, one on each side, each with opening and closing music. In addition, all pre-orders of the vinyls will also receive the behind the extras as a bonus download.