BBC Audiobooks is celebrating quite a monumental undertaking: the completion of audiobook novelisations covering every televised Doctor Who story from The Daleks (1963-64) to Rose (2005).
This landmark is celebrated with the release of Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster, read by Jon Culshaw, an audio adaptation of Terrance Dicks’ 1976 novelisation of Terror of the Zygons — and you can expect to see a review of that release very, very soon on the Doctor Who Companion.
This milestone marks the culmination of over 160 unabridged audiobook titles, representing every televised Doctor Who story between the Daleks’ debut through to the revival of the series in 2005. This began with Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks by David Whitaker in 1964, later reissued as Doctor Who and the Daleks, though we have a fondness for the original title. Obviously, there’s a caveat here: An Unearthly Child is not represented, and is unlikely to be, due to rights issues. Honestly, it’s a bit of a headache for the BBC. But hey, at least we have the first adventure to feature the Daleks! An audiobook of An Unearthly Child was recorded, but it wasn’t fully released.
Peter Shaw, one of the DWC’s regular contirbutors, has actually heard it, and explains:
“A few weeks prior to the release of [Nigel] Robinson’s adaptation in late 2013, the publisher AudioGO entered administration. A new release date was set for November 2014, this time from Random House. But it was subsequently pulled because of ‘rights issues’… The adaptation is locked (almost) unheard in the vaults.”
You can find out more about the story, read by William Russell (Ian Chesterton) in Peter’s excellent piece about hearing the “lost” story.
With that caveat in mind, BBC Audiobooks has nonetheless achieved a fantastic feat.
61 narrators have contributed their voices to the series, including five on-screen Doctors (Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Paul McGann). This is in addition to numerous companions, allies, and adversaries! Their readings are accompanied by key special effects and the authentic voices of Daleks, Cybermen, and K9, courtesy of Nicholas Briggs and John Leeson.
Which ones have you listened to? Which do you recommend? Or are you now interested to start collecting the series?
