Rose Ayling-Ellis MBE will be joining Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor for a thrilling and frightening adventure in the upcoming second season of Doctor Who, which will air in 2025.
Rose Ayling-Ellis MBE to Guest Star in ‘Doctor Who’
Dr Who
BBC announces next classic ‘Doctor Who’ story to be released as animation
The BBC has announced that the First Doctor adventure and farewell outing for companion Steven Taylor ‘The Savages‘ will get a home release in animated form in 2025.
Review: Doctor Who – The Stuff Of Legend (Studio Version)
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Stuff of Legend is an interesting release from Big Finish Productions, at least in terms of what it is. Big Finish began working on Doctor Who 25 years ago and to celebrate in September they hosted multiple live performances of this audio drama. As a celebration, it’s a great idea to get people together for an exclusive event. This review, however, is not of the live show of The Stuff of Legend, I am an American so had no real way of being there. This is a review of the studio version released the same day as the live show premiered so the rest of the world could hear it. It’s a great way to keep the story available outside of the few able to get tickets, however Big Finish then made the decision as well to record the live version which is also available to purchase, meaning that several die hard fans will definitely be double dipping (though there are at least some cast differences and the atmosphere between the versions will likely be different). If you are using this review to determine whether or not you should purchase the studio version of The Stuff of Legend it is imperative that you understand that this is a version professionally recorded in studio and as such will not have the feeling of the live performance. This is also a review limited in ability to determine which version you should be purchasing as I have not heard the live version.
Classic ‘Doctor Who’ story to air at Christmas in brand new colourisation
Classic Doctor Who story ‘The War Games’ starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor is to receive a spectacular new colourisation. The new version will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer on 23rd December 2024…just in time for Christmas.
Review: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield – The Eternity Club 1
Review by Jacob Licklider
The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield are entering a new era after the passing of the late great David Warner who was co-lead five of the seven volumes in the range. Despite still being advertised as a Doctor Who range, The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield are going back to having Benny on her own, though with several Doctor Who aliens featuring in the range to keep it connected. The premise of this eighth series is The Eternity Club, one of those series that was clearly thought up as a four disc box set and split into four single releases, though this is slightly easier as The Eternity Club is presented as eight, half hour adventures from different writers. The tone is also considerably different from what has come before, both adventures in this first installment in The Eternity Club are considerably light affairs, playing heavy on the comedy and pastiche elements. The main pastiche is the premise being a Victorian style gentlemen’s club at the edge of the galaxy which is allowing Bernice Summerfield entrance, though her inability to pay member’s fees means that she is being put into the role of a servant for the other members of the club. The club itself is made up of Doctor Who aliens with an association with war, most notably Sontarans, Draconians, and Drahvins. This feels like an idea that later releases are going to play around with more, the second story of this release hints at it with the Drahvins, but it feels like an idea that hasn’t quite been explored. James Goss is at the writing helm for this release and it’s especially interesting to listen to this after Goss’ previous work with Benny. Goss as a writer isn’t always one that I would associate with comedy, but the style here is a more laid back, observational humor about the culture of gentlemen’s clubs with the second half wishing to examine the place of gender roles in the universe for much of the comedy. The directorial duties fall to David O’Mahony who provides a new touch to the series, his style also quite working with the comedy.
Review: The War Doctor Rises – Morbius the Mighty
Review by Cavan Gilbey
Now I like The Brain of Morbius quite a bit, as I imagine many fans do, but I have never quite understood the frequent clamouring for the eponymous villainous Time Lord to return. He’s a great presence in that debut serial because he was a brain in a jar, seemingly punished by the people of Gallifrey with great anger and viciousness thus leaving him reduced to such a state. His appeal stems from this great mystery about who he really was before becoming a Futurama celebrity head-in-a-jar, putting him back in a humanoid body just makes him essentially another Master or Omega really. Now Big Finish have brought back the character a couple of times, most recently with the Dark Gallifrey stuff giving him a whole three dedicated episodes; which I haven’t heard. But bringing him to the Time War offers up a potentially interesting set of interpretations of what you can do with him; is he a resurrected weapon, a manipulative background player or even a Dalek sympathiser?
After having heard Morbius the Mighty, the latest entry in the War Doctor saga and penned by Tim Foley, I’m not entirely sure of why this story needed to have him as a villain.
Review: Doctor Who – Deathworld
Review by Cavan Gilbey
The Three Doctors is a beloved story from one of Pertwee’s most popular seasons, debatably one of the most popular seasons for the classic in general; it’s certainly one of mine. As much as I love Season 10, I had never really read any of the production history behind the season, so it was something of a surprise to discover this alternate take on that iconic first multi-Doctor story. Deathworld, originally penned by Bob Baker and Dave Martin and adapted for this new audio release by John Dorney. If you expected this to resemble to that original TV serial then think again, because this is a very different beast. I’m not entirely sure if this the equivalent of fandom sacrilege but this is way more interesting than The Three Doctors for me, although it is so clearly un-filmable on the 70s era budget.
Doctor Who Season 25 getting ‘The Collection’ BluRay release
Sylvester McCoy’s penultimate season as the Seventh Doctor will be the next release to join the Blu-ray collection. Doctor Who fans can continue to build their own home archive on Blu-ray with an EIGHT-DISC box set of the 25th season from 1988, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. Containing four classic stories, this limited-edition set is packed with hours of new and exclusive material, and will be released on 21st October 2024.
Continue reading
Review: The Fourth Doctor Adventures – Metamorphosis
Review by Cavan Gilbey
A new boxset for The Doctor, Harry and Naomi is upon us and we’ve come across a more fantastical theme for the trilogy of stories that form the middle chunk of this thirteenth season of Fourth Doctor Adventures. We’ve got the returns of two classic villains, the first of which feels quite well timed given the events of the TV show and the 60th anniversary celebrations, plus an episode which just be one the most silly conceptually we’ve had from this series in a while. 
Review: Doctor Who- Sontarans vs Rutans – In Name Only
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Sontarans vs. Rutans miniseries is the first of many releases from Big Finish Productions this year that was clearly meant to be released as a box set and shifted to a single release structure, see also the Dark Gallifrey releases being three-hour long stories released in single hour installments. Unlike Dark Gallifrey, however, Sontarans vs. Rutans is a series where the actual arc is largely in the background for each of the releases so they can be enjoyed as individual stories. In Name Only is the concluding installment and the one closest to relying on the three previous installments for its resolution: it’s a story where the actual explanation as to why the previous three releases occurred becomes integral. John Dorney is responsible for writing the conclusion, and as a Big Finish veteran it’s far from the only conclusion to a miniseries he has written, but In Name Only works because Dorney knows how to strike the balance between making the three previous releases be that integral piece to the puzzle and new listener friendly. This does lead to an issue where there is perhaps too much exposition for the single hour of the story due to a tendency from Dorney as a writer to over explain the connections instead of just letting the listeners pick up on them by paying attention. This does mean that this becomes a script where Jonathan Carley has to do a lot of expositing about the past three adventures.
Indie Mac User 