❉ The Fourth Doctor revisits Past Lives as epic eight-part extravaganza Once and Future gets underway.
Settling as his Fourth incarnation, the Doctor goes in search of the Monk, with a vague memory that he had something to do with his ‘degeneration’.
On Earth, the Monk is meddling, bringing Sarah Jane Smith to the future UNIT HQ to steal a device for an alien race. The Doctor must help Kate Stewart and Osgood foil an invasion before he can confront the Monk about what he knows…
The Fourth Doctor is reborn and encounters faces old and new in May 2023, as the hotly-anticipated Once and Future series of full-cast audio adventures gets underway.
Episode one, Past Lives by Robert Valentine, kickstarts an epic eight-part audio drama from Big Finish Productions celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who!
The legendary Tom Baker stars, alongside Rufus Hound (as the time-meddling Monk), Jemma Redgrave (as UNIT chief Kate Stewart), Ingrid Oliver (as scientific advisor Osgood) and Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith)!
Producer David Richardson said: “One of the joys of this anniversary release is being able to savour things that could otherwise never happen – like the Fourth Doctor meeting Kate Stewart and Osgood, or his being reunited with Sarah Jane Smith who is living through the day she was left behind on Earth in The Hand of Fear… It sparkles with magical moments that fit beautifully within Doctor Who’s 60th year.”
Doctor Who – Once and Future: Past Lives is now available to pre-order, exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.
‘Once and Future’ Guest Stars:
As revealed 18 February 2023 at the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles: a stellar line-up of actors will feature in Big Finish’s forthcoming Doctor Who audio anniversary series, Once and Future.
As previously announced, the original TV leads – Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant – each reprise their role as the Doctor for this epic, eight-part extravaganza marking 60 years of adventures in space and time.
Joining them are guest stars Stephen Noonan as the First Doctor, Michael Troughton as the Second Doctor and Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor. The series also includes the final performance recorded by David Warner as the Unbound Doctor.
The impressive ensemble cast boasts some very familiar names from Doctor Who series past and present, including:
Michelle Gomez (as Missy)
Nicola Walker (as Liv Chenka)
Georgia Tennant (as Jenny, the Doctor’s Daughter)
Michelle Ryan (as Lady Christina)
Camille Coduri (as Jackie Tyler)
Neve McIntosh (as Madame Vastra)
Catrin Stewart (as Jenny Flint)
Dan Starkey (as Strax)
Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith)
Christopher Naylor (as Harry Sullivan)
Ken Bones (as The General)
Beth Chalmers (as Veklin)
With many more guest stars yet to be announced.
The series’ script editor, Matt Fitton, said: “It was a massive honour to be asked by producer David Richardson to help coordinate this mammoth undertaking. For me, it was a chance to work again with many of Big Finish’s barnstorming writers, all of whom I’d had great fun working with before. It’s always a joy to send that email inviting someone onto an exciting project like this, and then seeing the number of exclamation marks in the response!
“There were certain characters I felt just had to be involved in such a significant anniversary, but over the course of the whole series, we aim to pay tribute to every single era of the show across its 60 years. The Doctor might not quite be himself at the start, but we’ve an army of allies and enemies to help remind him what he stands for.”
‘Once and Future’ pre-order details:
Doctor Who – Once and Future will be released monthly, with the first seven parts materialising between May and October 2023, and a final coda in November 2024, as follows:
Past Lives by Robert Valentine
The Artist at the End of Time by James Goss
A Genius for War by Jonathan Morris
Two’s Company by Lisa McMullin
The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 by Jonathan Barnes
Time Lord Immemorial by Lisa McMullin
The Union by Matt Fitton
Coda – The Final Act by Tim Foley
Doctor Who fans worldwide can pre-order the special edition bundle of all eight audio adventures for just £75 (CD box set + download) or £62 (digital download only). The special edition CD bundle is strictly limited to just 3,000 pressings and includes numbered CDs, special bonus artworks and additional audio content, including music suites and extended behind-the-scenes interviews.
All eight stories can be pre-ordered as separate single releases on standard collector’s edition CD (and download for £10.99 each) or digital (download only for £8.99 each), exclusively from the Big Finish website.
DOCTOR WHO – ONCE AND FUTURE: PAST LIVES
Writer: Robert Valentine
Director: Helen Goldwyn
Script Editor: Matt Fitton
Producer: David Richardson
Executive Producers: Nicholas Briggs & Jason Haigh-Ellery
Duration: 60 minutes approx.
Released: May 2023, exclusively from the Big Finish website.
❉ ‘Doctor Who – Once and Future: Past Lives’ is now available to pre-order as a standard 1-disc collector’s edition CD (+ download for just £10.99) or digital download only, (for just £8.99), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.
❉ News source: Big Finish Productions. Socials: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
❉ We Are Cult is not responsible for the content of this news release.
Tom baker is one of England’s finest actors verbal and actual I. wish him all the best keep it up we love you lad