The audio drama company announce a live Doctor Who drama, starring Paul McGann and India Fisher.
Audio drama producers Big Finish have been making Doctor Who stories for 25 years. With members of the original cast, they’ve celebrated the series and reached into hitherto unexplored corners of the Whoniverse.
As part of their ongoing celebrations, they are bringing one of their productions to the stage. It’s a brand-new adventure by writer Robert Valentine titled Doctor Who: The Stuff of Legend.
Something is afoot in the lonely Cornish village of Merrymaid Bay. Rumours of dead men working in the tin mines have sent a chill through the community, and it’s up to the Doctor and Charley to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Can the legends of the Bucca that haunts the mines be true? And just what awesome power do the Doctor’s greatest enemies – the Daleks! – threaten to unleash upon the universe?
Doctor Who – The Stuff of Legend will be performed at 2.30 and 7.30 pm on Saturday, 14th September 2024 at London’s Cadogan Hall.
It stars Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, with his India Fisher as his redoubtable companion Charley Pollard. Plus, Alex MacQueen return as the Master and Nicholas Briggs voices the Daleks.
Tickets for the event will be available to order at www.doctorwhoaudiolive.com from 10:00 on Friday 5th July. Prices begin at £18.00.
Doctor Who – The Stuff of Legend Studio Version
Additionally, a full-cast studio production of the story is out on 14th September 2024, directed by Barnaby Edwards.
Doctor Who – The Stuff of Legend will be available to purchase at the event, as well as via the Big Finish website. It’s available to pre order now on Collector’s edition CD box set + download, or download only.
Big Finish executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery said:
“25 years? It feels like 25 seconds! Producing the audio adventures of Doctor Who has been such a joy that two and a half decades has flown by – almost as if we have all been in the time vortex with the Doctor.
“We’ve enjoyed ourselves so much producing thousands of hours of audio drama adventures – and now we have the chance to show fans of the series how the audio productions are made, with a new live performance – the first time Doctor Who has been performed live on stage since 1989.”
The Sirens of Time Redux
Also this year, as part of the ongoing celebrations, Nicholas Briggs is revisiting the company’s first Doctor Who Adventure. ‘The Sirens of Time’ is getting remastered and re-edited into a new “director’s cut” edition.
This new version promises features fresh sound design and music, as well as brand-new behind the scenes extras.
Gallifrey is in a state of crisis, facing destruction at the hands of an overwhelming enemy. And the Doctor is involved in three different incarnations – each caught up in a deadly adventure, scattered across time and space. The web of time is threatened – and someone wants the Doctor dead.
The three incarnations of the Doctor must join together to set time back on the right track – but in doing so, will they unleash a still greater threat?
The story features the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy respectively.
The play is getting multiple versions, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum – each with different levels of bonus extras. These include limited edition souvenir cassette tapes and prints of photos from the original recording sessions.
Writer and director Nicholas Briggs said:
“It’s now just over 25 years ago that I went into studio with The Sirens of Time. That moment signified a big change in my life and was a real step-up for the profile of Big Finish Productions.
“When the story was released, it was the beginning of an era when a Doctor Who audio drama was mostly just referred to as “a Big Finish”. ‘Have you heard the latest Big Finish?’ people would ask — and they still do! So it was a hugely significant production for Jason Haigh-Ellery, Gary Russell and me. And I put into practice all the audio expertise I’d amassed at that time to create an exciting Doctor Who audio drama like no other before it — the reviews were great and we took off!
“Of course, all these years later, all of us at Big Finish have learnt so much, and even though I immodestly feel the original holds up surprisingly well, I felt that as part of celebrating our silver anniversary, The Sirens of Time could easily bear an upgrade. There’ll be some augmented sound design, a brand-new incidental music score by me, new behind-the-scenes content, and a significantly different unfolding of the narrative of the story.
“I’ve managed to rescue the original source material off ancient digital audio tapes, with the help of regular Big Finish sound designer and composer Toby Hrycek-Robinson, who skilfully extracted the material, and I’m working now on creating a version of the story like no other before it… again!”
Doctor Who – The Sirens of Time Redux is available to pre order and out in November 2024.