In March 2023, Doctor Who fans will get to enjoy two new-old Fourth Doctor adventures — stories that you might recognise in different forms, here presented by audio company, Big Finish, and starring Tom Baker.
The Lost Stories: Doctor Who and the Ark is adapted from John Lucarotti’s original story of the television serial The Ark in Space and brought to life as a full-cast audio drama, whilst The Lost Stories: Daleks! Genesis of Terror features a full-cast episode from Terry Nation’s first draft script and an enhanced dramatic reading of his original storyline for (you guessed it!) Genesis of the Daleks. This range of Season 12-style Lost Stories began in March 2021 with Return of the Cybermen.
Doctor Who and the Ark stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, alongside Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan. Adapted by Jonathan Morris from the first draft scripts, this audio production of Doctor Who and the Ark highlights where Robert Holmes polished the storytelling for television, and how the team developed the character of the Doctor.
Daleks! Genesis of Terror finds the same TARDIS team working directly from a PDF of Terry Nation’s original script – complete with typos! Also featuring Nation’s initial storyline for all six episodes with additional material by Simon Guerrier, this audio adventure finds the Fourth Doctor and his friends in a Kaled-Thal war being fought by teenagers – but where are all the adults?
Producer Simon Guerrier said:
“This is something very special: Doctor Who archaeology brought thrillingly to life. The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks are among the best-loved TV stories ever. We’ve uncovered first draft scripts by John Lucarotti and Terry Nation that are exciting, surprising and very different.”
“Genesis is a very visual script packed with striking, stark images – Nation even makes the stage directions exciting. In Doctor Who and the Ark, the directions were more functional so Jonathan Morris has carefully adapted the script for audio. Though we’ve kept the original episode titles, such as “Puffball” and “Camelias” – I think Tom Baker enjoyed recording those! Oh, and wait till you hear that cliffhanger…
They’re both now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition box set (on CD at £12.99 each) and as a digital download (£10.99 each), exclusively from Big Finish. Or you can save money by pre-ordering a bundle of the forthcoming adventures from The Lost Stories range, including both Doctor Who and the Ark and Daleks! Genesis of Terror, for £25 as collector’s edition CD box sets or £23 as digital downloads.
