Doctor Who audio productions

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television series that began in 1963. It stars an alien known as the Doctor, who has the ability to change their face and appearance when they die. They travel in time and space in a ship known as the TARDIS. One of the earliest audio releases for the franchise was an abridged version of the soundtrack of the 1966 film ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. was aired on radio in the same year as its release. Though an original radio series starring Peter Cushing as his film role was reportedly in the works, with a pilot recorded, the pilot was never broadcast and is believed to have been lost. After this, Doctor Who saw no further audio releases for nearly a decade. In 1974, an audio production starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor dubbed Glorious Goodwood'' was planned to release as a radio sketch, though ended up being scrapped. This production aimed to branch out into the successful vinyl market at a time of high popularity for the show, though ended up not being very popular. 1985's Slipback was the next radio production made. Starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant in their television roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown, as well as Valentine Dyall as antagonist Captain Slarn. This story was written by Doctor Who's script editor at the time, Eric Saward. Slipback was aired during an 18-month hiatus for the show and thus became highly anticipated by fans. It received highly positive responses from the fanbase, though some felt it was too comedic in nature and conflicted with on-screen canon. == 1990s productions ==

Audio Visuals and Big Finish Productions , as pictured in 2008, was an important member behind the founding of Big Finish Productions During the 1980s, a group of fans, including Nicholas Briggs, began to produce unlicensed audio dramas called the Audio Visuals. Four "seasons" were released between 1985 and 1991, which starred Briggs as the Doctor. Fueled by the lack of Doctor Who produced during its 1985 hiatus year, the Audio Visuals produced adventures in an attempt to fill the gap. Following the show's return, a lack of satisfaction with on-screen adventures resulted in a continuation of the Audio Visuals. The Audio Visuals were highly popular with fans, and circulated amongst many of the show's fan clubs during the 1980s. Following The Sirens of Time, monthly productions were released starring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy as their on-screen roles as the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors, respectively. In 2001, Paul McGann reprised his role in new stories featuring his on-screen role of the Eighth Doctor for the first time since his appearance in the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who. Further stories were produced over the subsequent years, alternating between stories featuring the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors and new stories continuing the Eighth Doctor's story following the events of the TV movie. During this time, higher-ups at the BBC allegedly "had no idea about the existence of Big Finish". In 2007, Big Finish partnered with BBC 7 on a number of new audio plays for radio broadcast, as well as re-publishing a number of old audio plays on radio. Derek Jacobi as his incarnation of antagonist the Master in 2017, Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor in 2020, Jo Martin and Sacha Dhawan as the Fugitive Doctor and Dhawan's incarnation of the Master, respectively, in 2022, and Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill as the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan, respectively, in 2024. Since its inception, Big Finish had engaged in a number of other audio series based on the franchise, which include adaptations of unmade episodes and other media such as comic strips, an alternate version of the series titled Doctor Who Unbound, series focusing on supporting characters such as Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot and the Paternoster Gang, and spin-off productions focusing on their own original creations. BBV Productions The Audio Visuals was initially founded by fan Bill Baggs, who, in the early 1990s, split off from the group to produce his own company, BBV Productions. A number of these productions, particularly from 1997 onwards, were done in audio format, taking advantage of the fact their copyrights were not owned by the BBC, Doctor Who's parent company, but rather the individual writers who had initially created them. BBV also adapted the spin-off series Faction Paradox in some of its audios, and a number of audio dramas were produced for The Stranger, which starred McCoy and Sophie Aldred in roles greatly resembling but ultimately distinct from their appearances in Doctor Who. The BBC was greatly displeased by the BBV and Baggs, and when granting the license to Big Finish, included a clause that meant Baggs could never participate in production of Big Finish's audio dramas. == Other productions ==

Death Comes to Time (pictured in 2024) portrayed the Minister of Chance, who gained his own spin-off series following the publication of Death Comes to Time Death Comes to Time is a 2001 audio drama produced by the BBC and released on BBC Online. Released as part of a webcast, the story attempts to create a final adventure for the Seventh Doctor and his companion Ace. The story notably deviates greatly from established canon, with the Doctor being depicted as an omnipotent ruler of the Time Lords, his people, with the Time Lords being capable of altering space and time on a whim. One of his enemies in the story, the Minister of Chance, portrayed by Stephen Fry, was featured in his own original line of audio dramas following this story's release. Death Comes to Time was BBC Online's first drama production and the first officially published Doctor Who material released by the BBC itself since the TV movie. The story notably killed off the Seventh Doctor, contradicting the television movie which depicts the character's on-screen demise. Tom Baker agreed to reprise his role as the Fourth Doctor for a series of audio plays released directly to CD by the BBC titled ''Hornets' Nest, which was written by writer Paul Magrs. Two other series of audio dramas starring Baker, titled Demon Quest and Serpent Crest, was later released. CERN was involved in the production of Lost Souls'' from its inception; according to writer Joseph Lidster, "they're apparently big Torchwood fans." Representatives from CERN read the script to check for scientific accuracy; they also approved the plot, which required "that if the team were going to CERN, something had to go wrong". According to John Barrowman, Lost Souls was the most downloaded radio or television that day on the BBC's iPlayer site. Three further radio episodes, Asylum, Golden Age, and The Dead Line, were released throughout 2009, and were later released on CD. Three radio plays, Torchwood: The Lost Files, were produced in 2011 to promote the then-upcoming release of Torchwood: Miracle Day. Initially published on BBC Radio 4 and under three parts— "The Devil and Miss Carew", "Submission" and "House of the Dead"— Lost Files was later released on CD and iTunes. These radio dramas were notably popular due to including character Ianto Jones, who had been killed off in the television series Torchwood: Children of Earth. Ianto's presence, and the expansion of his relationship with protagonist Jack Harkness, was credited as significantly boosting listenership. Additionally boosting listenership was concern about Miracle Day's production, as many fans were hesitant about the new American production team and thus flocked to the British-produced radio dramas. This resulted in a significantly higher yield of listeners than prior Torchwood radio dramas. Doctor Who: Redacted In 2022, BBC Sounds broadcast Doctor Who: Redacted, a 10-episode podcast written by Juno Dawson and starring Charlie Craggs, Lois Chimimba, and Holly Quin-Ankrah. Jodie Whittaker also appears, reprising her role as the Thirteenth Doctor from the television series. The story stars a group of three queer women— Cleo, Abby, and Shawna— who host a paranormal conspiracy podcast called "The Blue Box Files", with the trio aiming to track down the truth behind the TARDIS, running into a number of established characters while also dealing with struggles in their personal lives along the way. A second, six-episode season aired in late 2023 with Dawson once again writing the show and Craggs, Chimimba, and Holly Quin-Ankrah returning to reprise their parts. The Sarah Jane Adventures actors Alexander Armstrong and Anjli Mohindra join the second-season cast, reprising their roles as Mr. Smith and Rani Chandra, respectively. == Reception and legacy ==

During a gap year in the show in 1985, the release of Slipback was described by critic John Kenneth Muir as receiving an unusually highly positive reception from fans due to the lack of content for the series being produced. Big Finish's stories were described by the book Adaptation in Contemporary Culture: Textual Infidelities as being an influence on the tone of the show's 2005 revival, most notably through the adaptation of Jubilee into the on-screen episode "Dalek". ==See also==