The BBC Sounds audio service has added a number of Doctor Who stories for fans to enjoy.
To kick off Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, the BBC launched the Whoniverse on BBC iPlayer.
The collection includes all the existing television episodes that the corporation has the rights to stream, plus spin-off series, documentaries, concerts and animations. Plus, some wonderful reunions in Tales of the TARDIS.
Not to be outdone, BBC Sounds has now added a handful of Doctor Who audio stories. It offers a mix of archive audio soundtracks, partially narrated tales and full-blown audio dramas.
Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes
Three early stories, which exist in as soundtracks but are missing or incomplete on film have are available. They are presented with added narration from members of the Doctor Who cast.
‘Marco Polo’
An early William Hartnell 7-part historical, this sees the TARDIS crew join the famed 13th Century Venetian traveller Marco Polo (Mark Eden) as he makes his way along the Silk Road to a meeting with the mighty Kublai Kahn.
‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’
The Series 3 epic sees the Doctor, Stephen and Katarina battle the Daleks and their plans for universal domination. Taking place across various universal locations, the tale sees a companion exit or two, and a second encounter with the meddling Monk.
The 12-part tale is also accompanied by the Doctor-less prequel episode ‘Mission to the Unknown.’
‘The Wheel in Space’
From Patrick Troughton’s second season, ‘The Wheel in Space’ provides another six-part encounter with the Cybermen, who have designs on infiltrating a giant space station.
Hopefully further missing stories will be added – wouldn’t it be great to have a complete archive!
Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures
New Big Finish audio dramas have also joined BBC Sounds. These are in addition to the current Radio 4 Extra broadcasts of The Tenth Doctor Adventures starring David Tennant and Billie Piper.
Taken from the breadth of the show’s history, the new additions include a variety of Doctors and companions.
The Beginning
A partially narrated Companion Chronicle, ‘The Beginning’ takes us back, earlier than the start of the television show, to the Doctor and Susan’s first adventure after stealing the TARDIS from Gallifrey.
Another Cyber-encounter, ‘The ISOS Network’ sees the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe engaged in a pacey romp as they try to save the entire galaxy.
Part of The Lost Stories range, the recently released ‘Mind of the Hodiac’ hails from a speculative script penned by a certain young Russell T Davies in the mid-1980s.
Unearthed during lockdown and completed, it pitches Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford’s Mel against the titular Hodiac – an intense villain with impressive mental powers and a grand plan.
1963: The Assassination Games
From the show’s 50th anniversary year, this 1963 set political thriller reunites the Seventh Doctor and Ace with the Counter-Measures team from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ as they take down a sinister plot.
This quartet of adventures does what it says on the tin, rather brilliantly, pitching older Doctors against new series monsters.
The Fifth Doctor fights the Weeping Angels while the Sixth defends a Judoon in court. The Seventh Doctor faces the Sycorax, and the Eighth encounters the Sontarans at the start of the Time War.
The Ninth Doctor Adventures: ‘Ravagers’
Christopher Eccleston’s first boxset of audio dramas, from May 2021, sees him caught up in an epic time-hopping adventure.
Another product of lockdown, this story brings David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor face to face with Tom Baker’s Fourth. Both travelling without a companion, they team up to defeat a Dalek invasion.
We’ll keep you posted on Doctor Who additions to BBC Sounds. We’re hoping for the two Pertwee radio serials from the 1990s!