Allons-y!
It was a whole decade ago, on 16th May 2016, when Big Finish released the long awaited first volume of The Tenth Doctor Adventures, with David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising the roles of the Doctor and Donna Noble on audio. An anthology of three standalone stories, all set during Series 4 (with one or two story arc references). Not just released individually, but also as a Limited Edition slipcase featuring music suites, Behind the Scenes, and The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who documentary on two separate discs.
I will never forget how excited I was when they first announced it back in 2015, shortly before the launch of the following ranges – UNIT: The New Series, The War Doctor (starring the late John Hurt), and The Diary of River Song. So I immediately pre-ordered the Limited Edition digital download on the same day, but later cancelled in order to purchase one of the 5,000 CD slipcases instead (more on that later).
At the time, Big Finish had already acquired the rights from the BBC to produce audios set during the New Series era (2005 onwards), after co-producing the Destiny of the Doctor series with the now-defunct AudioGO, to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary in 2013. With the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors making their official Big Finish debuts, the tenth story Death’s Deal also features Catherine Tate providing the narration and voicing the iconic companion. As David Tennant is no stranger to Big Finish, he appeared in several audio productions before being cast as the Tenth Doctor, including my favourite Unbound audio, Sympathy for the Devil. So good to have him back!
The stories in 10DA Volume 1 are each set in the past, present, and future; a conventional formula that Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat utilised for the respective companions they introduced. It’s a brilliant approach to give Doctor Who fans and casual listeners alike a flavour of this era on audio, without the need for a story arc to begin with. You can read more about the boxset’s development in Vortex 87.
Now, let’s revisit the three adventures, beginning with…
Technophobia by Matt Fitton
Set in the present, the Doctor and Donna visit London’s Technology Museum and investigate what is causing people to have sudden irrational fears of machines and electronics – hence the story title. No matter how sophisticated the technology, the Koggnossenti want all of humanity to succumb and lose their intelligence.
The script works well on the lines of a series opener, by using technology as the core concept to immediately grab the listener’s attention. It gives you the impression that machines are taking over Earth, like Skynet from the Terminator franchise, but it brilliantly subverts the trope once the Koggnossenti’s plans are revealed. And as a daily tech user, the only thing I fear is generative AI trying to eradicate creativity, even though that’s overall irrelevant.
There are plenty of familiar names among the guest cast across the boxset. Let’s begin with Niky Wardley as Rebecca “Bex” Young, whom the Doctor nicknames “Bex with an X” (love that running gag). Having voiced the Eighth Doctor companion Tamsin Drew, she is reunited with Catherine Tate after appearing as a regular on the latter’s sketch show, and would later voice Donna’s old friend Natalie Morrison in the spin-off anthology Donna Noble: Kidnapped! (which takes place after Forest of the Dead). And what do Bex and Donna have in common? Both work as temps and share character dynamics. “Temps united”, as Donna would say.
Previously appearing in The Crimson Horror, alongside her late mother Dame Diana Rigg, is Rachael Stirling, who voices both Jill Meadow and the M-Pad tablet interface Silvi (Simulated Intelligence Live Voice Interface). Despite being an IT genius and CEO of Meadow Digital, Jill falls victim to Koggnossenti and becomes terrified of her own inventions. Stirling plays the part well when her character is rendered incoherent, especially when humming the melody of Pop Goes the Weasel. I love how the brief use of nursery rhymes correlates with regressing the human mind to a childlike state, as it reminds me of teenagers and adults refusing to sing them because they find them boring and repetitive.
If there’s one particular actor whose voice I didn’t recognise at first, it’s Joplin Sibtain (credited as Chook Sibtain). Known for his previous roles as Mark Grantham in The Sarah Jane Adventures serial Warriors of Kudlak, and Tarak Ital in The Waters of Mars, here he voices Brian and Koggnossenti leader Lobo. And, of course, Sibtain would gain further recognition as the heroic Brasso in Andor – to this day, the greatest Star Wars live action series. A brilliant addition to the cast!
We also have Jot Davies voicing Lithuanian cleaner Lukas and Koggnossenti scientist Kram; the former character introducing the word “Baubas” (a bogeyman from Lithuanian folklore) whenever he becomes terrified of a random machine. And Rory Keenan provides multiple voices for train driver Kevin Jones, Jill IT’s staff Terry Webb, a newsreader, and a Koggnossenti.
While the scientific elements play a crucial role, Matt Fitton balances the amount of humour by keeping it faithful to Series 4. The funniest moment is when the Doctor corrects Donna that “the TARDIS doesn’t fizzle” and accurately mimics the iconic ‘vworping’ sound, just like his eleventh incarnation (Matt Smith) does in The Time of Angels. Technophobia delivers an excellent introduction to the Tenth Doctor and Donna on audio, with present-day London as the main setting. While the story may be considered outdated, its exploration of technology gives a great insight into what the future holds; even now as I write this.
And speaking of the future, let’s take a look at the next episode…
Time Reaver by Jenny T Colgan
The Doctor and Donna visit Calibris, a planet that functions as a spaceport, to get a new TARDIS fluid link from the Time Lord’s old friend Soren (Alex Lowe). Meanwhile, trouble brews at the Vagabond’s Reach tavern as the vicious octopoid gangster Gully (John Banks) pursues a hunt for the titular Time Reaver guns, after acquiring one of these outlawed weapons from Cora (Sabrina Bartlett, who previously played Maid Marian in Robot of Sherwood).
“Gritty” is the first word that comes to mind to describe the script, in terms of the worldbuilding and its dark nature. While the futuristic setting of Calibris, which Donna describes as a “planet-sized King’s Cross”, brings intriguing vibes of Coruscant and Mos Eisley, the Vacintians imposing bureaucratic regulations on Calibris also remind me of the 1985 dystopian comedy film Brazil. Not to mention Captain Mane (also voiced by Banks) arresting the busker (Dan Starkey, who also voices Gully’s henchmen Dorn), which coincidentally mirrors a similar thing happening to Toad in the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. film (but it’s much worse than you think).
Cora’s character arc truly stands out for its emotional impact. Her home planet Vacintia is dying, and all she can do is evade the authorities and sell the stolen Time Reavers with good intentions. Officer Rone (Terry Molloy, in one of his non-Davros roles), also her father, doesn’t want the weapons to end up in the wrong hands, and later makes a tragic sacrifice to protect Cora. When Donna shows sympathy and mentions her late father Geoff, it just hits extremely hard.
The Time Reaver gun instantly slows down time for individuals upon getting shot. The sound design makes the weapon excruciatingly terrifying when one endures the painful, lagging effects; even when you listen to each victim’s internal monologues and agonising screams. Very much the sci-fi equivalent of an illegal drug.
Although this is relatively minor (but still significant), one of my favourite concepts is the psychic earplugs, which the Doctor and Donna use to “hear what you want to hear.” I wish they existed, so that I can use them to block out all unnecessary noise and focus on what’s important.
Like myself, Jenny T Colgan is a staunch Tenth Doctor fan. Her script magnificently captures the essences of the era, by balancing the darker tone and character-driven elements with the extraordinary worldbuilding. The same goes for Gully; she has created one of the most brutal villains I have ever heard in a Big Finish audio, and you’ll be in for a scare as he appears on Tom Webster’s cover artworks. While Time Reaver is Gully’s only audio appearance, he returns in Colgan’s original Tenth Doctor novel In the Blood which, funnily enough, was released a few days before 10DA Volume 1. Colgan would later pen The Christmas Invasion Target novelisation and Donna’s first chronological encounter with the Judoon in One Mile Down (from 10DA Volume 3).
And to quote the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) in The Unquiet Dead, “Now, you’ve seen the future, let’s have a look at the past.”
Death and the Queen by James Goss
In the Kingdom of Goritania, around the 1780s, Donna is about to marry Crown Prince Rudolph (Blake Ritson) in a fairytale wedding. But an army of skeletons led by Death (voiced by Alan Cox) soon besiege the castle, as the Doctor tries to unravel the mystery of why nobody has ever heard of this fictional European country.
Bonkers, camp, and dark. That perfectly sums up the pseudo-historical script. There are plenty of callbacks to The Runaway Bride, but it’s thankfully not a rehash of the 2006 Christmas special; more on the lines of foreshadowing The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. I love how the plot begins, after the title sequence, with a series of flashbacks of the Doctor constantly interrupting Donna and Rudolph’s dates; the funniest part being Donna choking on an oyster, which always makes me choke with laughter too.
We get down to serious business with Donna’s future mother-in-law, the Queen Mum, voiced by none other than Alice Krige. Best known for playing the Borg Queen in the Star Trek franchise, and more recently as Cosmogon in The Fugitive Doctor Adventures (starring Jo Martin), she is heavily comical and snobbish in the role of Rudolph’s mother whilst having a complete lack of respect for Donna. But bear in mind that they’re the opposite to the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming from the Shrek film series, even though the latter is considered a “Mummy’s Boy”.
One thing that really impresses me is how Hortense (Beth Chalmers) becomes a heroic figure as the story progresses. You think she’s just a maid who helps Queen Donna with her wedding dress, but no, she acts as a temporary companion for the Doctor and assists him in defeating Death and the skeleton army.
James Goss doesn’t miss a trick with the twists and black comedy in his script. The fairytale elements are brilliantly deconstructed without coming across as a cliched pastiche, even with the reveal of Mefistoles using skeletal avatars for their physical appearance and successfully conning Goritania into making their country invisible. 500 years of peace, and no one has ever noticed! That all sums up the inventiveness of Death and the Queen, which was nominated for Best Audio Drama at the Audie Awards in 2017, and received a limited vinyl release in 2019. Rightfully deserved!
“Doctor! You can stop now!”
That pivotal moment in The Runaway Bride was what made me properly fall in love with Donna Noble as a character, when I watched the special live on Christmas Day 2006. Despite being (far) too young to watch The Catherine Tate Show at the time, I never imagined that she could deliver such a dramatic performance. The same goes for The Fires of Pompeii, where Donna tearfully pleads with the Doctor to at least “save someone”, which ends up being Lobus Caecilius (Peter Capaldi, later cast as the Twelfth Doctor) and his family. If it weren’t for Russell T Davies bringing back Donna as a full-time companion, then we wouldn’t have all these brilliant audio dramas.
It’s such a joy to have David Tennant and Catherine Tate reunited for Big Finish. They’re one of the greatest TARDIS teams in the franchise. Here, they’re a good few years after they appeared onstage in Much Ado About Nothing, and nearly a decade before they returned to film the 60th anniversary specials. Witty, funny, dramatic: just a few things I love about their chemistry and performances. This is why I consider Series 4 to be my absolute favourite – a point where the show’s revival actually peaked, with various familiar faces returning and the shocking cliffhanger in The Stolen Earth (which has the entire country talking about it all week). And they don’t disappoint one bit in 10DA Volume 1, because they’re equally outstanding on audio as they are on TV.
Although this doesn’t get acknowledged enough, Howard Carter has done a magnificent job with the sound design and music. It’s something that I had to adjust to, as a relatively new Big Finish listener, but I quite enjoy how different his scores are to Murray Gold’s iconic pieces, especially the Tenth Doctor’s theme which recurs across multiple releases. The opening bars of the Time Reaver music suite remind me a bit of what’s heard at the very start of The Infinite Quest, but I think that’s probably just a coincidence.
My friend and I were present for the Big Finish drama session during the 2015 Doctor Who Festival at ExCeL London, on 14th November (same day Sleep No More first aired), where fans were given the lifetime opportunity to do a script readthrough extract for Time Reaver — specifically the scene where the Doctor and Donna enter Customs House and are offered scones at reception. We all had a laugh when director Nicholas Briggs brought up the scone pronunciation debate, as they pronounce ‘cone’ instead of ‘conn’ in the story (I always go for the former, because of the obvious spelling). Feel free to check out the video on my YouTube channel!
I also spoke briefly with Nick Briggs at the very end (we shook hands!), as he was in a hurry to be elsewhere. He was sincerely apologetic for being unable to give me a chance to ask a question during the session, which made me feel so chuffed. So I asked him if Big Finish had considered doing some Captain Scarlet audios, as it’s my favourite Supermarionation series, and he explained that they couldn’t acquire the rights at the time (but my wish finally came true in 2017 for the show’s 50th anniversary). Such a wonderful chap! Never thought I’d end up meeting the Dalek voice actor, who I’ve greatly admired since watching Robert Shearman’s fantastic Series 1 episode in 2005.
A few days later, I cancelled my order for the 10DA Volume 1 Limited Edition digital release and switched to pre-ordering one of the 5,000 physical slipcases instead. I loved attending the event, which had such a positive impact on my mental health, and I reminded myself of being a staunch Tenth Doctor fan during childhood. The Limited Edition slipcase, plus the individual stories on CD, have since gone out of print, and so has the Standard Edition set (released on 27 February 2017). They’re only available to purchase as digital downloads.
Despite the Big Finish website crashing on the same day of release, due to heavy internet traffic, listening to the entire boxset made me relive the best of 2008. Well, there was a lot of popular demand amongst fans, as 10DA Volume 1 was one of Big Finish’s highly anticipated releases of 2016. For me personally, I consider it to be my most anticipated and the best Big Finish release of the year. A definitive starting point for fans and casual listeners alike! This boxset expanded my interest in Big Finish and audio dramas as a whole, despite listening to several others beforehand (including the fantastic Novel Adaptation of Davies’ Damaged Goods). It’s also worth checking out the DWC reviews for all three stories (with one quoted by Big Finish), which have since been archived via Wayback Machine. [A hosting issue means that some early news, reviews, and features disappeared off the DWC, but we hope to reinstate them at some point in the near future! – Ed.]
But there’s more! 10DA Volume 1 also comes with PDF scripts, which you can download from the Big Finish website or through the official app. A real treat for those who aspire to write an audio drama (myself included), and to understand how they’re formatted differently to a TV script. I clearly remember that Facebook post announcing it, not long after the boxset’s release. Guess they paid homage to Davies posting his Series 4 and the 2009 Specials shooting scripts online, as part of promoting The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter.
With Volume 1 receiving acclaim from fans and critics, the 10DA range has since been expanded to include Volume 2 with Billie Piper making her Big Finish debut as Rose Tyler; Volume 3 with the return of Sylvia Noble and the beloved Wilfred Mott (the late Bernard Cribbins); a de facto fourth volume with River Song (Alex Kingston); the multi-Doctor Out of Time trilogy; the acclaimed Dalek Universe serialised arc; and also a boxset with K9 Mark II and three Classic Companions. There’s also Doctor Who auf Deutsch which only adapted Volumes 1 and 2; quite intriguing to hear these stories dubbed in German (also ironic that the David Tennant says “Gehen Wir!!!” in Time Reaver). It’s a real shame, however, that we may never get any full-cast Big Finish audios with the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), despite the latter reprising the role in the magnificent Torchwood audio Dissected and The Year of Martha Jones spin-off anthology (set during Last of the Time Lords).
We may not have had a Tenth Doctor audio with David Tennant for a while, after doing Once and Future: The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 for the show’s 60th anniversary (and something more recent that I’d rather not spoil), but I truly am excited for the upcoming full series with 15 stories in total. These will comprise of 12 individual episodes beginning in 2027 (released bimonthly), plus an Out of Time 4 (TBC) boxset with three episodes. And now that Big Finish are doing RTD2 audios, which recently started with the UNIT Eras: Hostile Universe story Deadstar, I hope they’ll do some with the Fourteenth Doctor set after The Giggle; preferably some lighter, standalone adventures.
The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 1 is available now from Big Finish.
