Jonathon Carley plays the young version of the late Sir John Hurt’s grizzled incarnation.
Audio producers Big Finish have announced a new series starring the War Doctor.
The character is a morally compromised regeneration of our favourite Time Lord who forsakes his name to fight in the Time War against the Daleks. He was originally played by the legendary Sir John Hurt for Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary Special.
Then, in 2015, the star brought him to audio for a run of four boxsets.
Sadly, John Hurt passed away in 2017. In 2021, Jonathon Carley took on the role, playing a younger version of the character in the early stages of the conflict. The War Doctor Begins told his origin story, which began in The Night of the Doctor on screen, and ran for six volumes.
The War Doctor Rises
Now, two new three-part boxsets are coming, each from an individual writer, to take the story further.
The War Doctor Rises promises to continue the War Doctor’s story as he faces the ever-increasing horrors of the Time War.
Producer David Richardson said:
“The younger War Doctor has now established himself, and so we’re heading into different territory for his era. For The War Doctor Rises, I wanted us to hand over to the writer – each box set will be one writer’s vision, as they give their own take on the War Doctor and the Time War.
“So, each volume will feel like a vast sweeping movie for audio, with richly developed characters and deeply imaginative worlds. There are no boundaries on creativity, no pressure to tie up a story within an hour. We’ve recorded two of them so far and I promise you, it’s working beautifully.”
Jonathon Carley added:
“It’s the next chapter! The War Doctor Begins was about the character finding himself and coming to terms with the choice he’s made, which has been a fascinating story to explore – the identity crisis the character has had. Now he’s going to have a harder edge, because he’s learned to let go of that past identity, and now he’s on a mission to deliver what he set out to do.
“The longer stories add a whole different dimension in terms of the scale of the storytelling, because we can really dig deep, not just in terms of the plot and what’s going on in this complex landscape of the Time War, but also the characters who have been such a rich part of all the stories we’ve done so far – we can really explore their experiences in this chaotic space and this enormous conflict.”
Volumes 1 and 2 of Doctor Who – The War Doctor Rises are now available for pre-order exclusively from Big Finish. They’re available as either a collector’s edition triple CD box set or on digital download.
Volume 1 is out in August 2024. Further details, including cast, writers and story details, will be forthcoming nearer the time – we’ll keep you posted.
Sontarans vs Rutans
Luckily, we don’t have to wait until August for a War Doctor adventure though, as there’s one coming next month. He leads the action of April’s ‘In Name Only’, the concluding story of the Sontarans vs Rutans mini-series.