Doctor Who Audio Recommendations for New Listeners // The Big Finish Introduction Agency

0:00 hello this is nicholas briggs and you're listening to the sirens of audio me one me one what is it me too i'm bored me one just shut up and eat your popcorn me too but this is the sirens of audio's 50th episode i thought this was supposed to be the greatest podcast in tasmania sydney me one we're all bored me too we want more me but they've had creatives on the show like nick briggs john dorney and dominic

0:46 glenn we need one and they've had actors such as louise jameson janet fielding and peter purvis's guests me too we want more me one but how do you expect them to top the podcast royalty that is bob fleming from procter who and trek this out me too hang on bob fleming has appeared on the sirens of audio me one you haven't heard that episode me too i haven't but it sounds awfully exciting me one well let me send you the link and make you a cup of sweet ginger tea to accompany the ginger legend of the podcast feeds me too

1:32 finally a guest that meets our expectations me one [Music] so g'day audio files you are listening to the sirens of audio it's episode 50. it's a celebration thank you for watching we are the podcast who uh explore the universe of doctor

2:18 who and thank you for listening as well uh i'll keep saying watching because we're on youtube now uh for many of our episodes but with me and my name is duane by the way with me is philip hello dwayne congratulations on 50 episodes it's a real milestone i haven't been here for all 50 and so i admire you that you've uh managed to do it so what a great job you've done well done thank you so much i don't think i could have done it without you phillip that's for sure or at the very least may now it may not have been quite as interesting without you let's put it that way cloud i could make a bit of a difference no it's been fantastic so on that note let's jump down the rabbit hole yay

3:14 okay so now that we're in this rabbit hole we've we've just had a very sad occasion the end of the big finish monthly range we're going to talk about during this episode some of the episodes that newbies might come and have a listen to that's going to be the theme of our of our episode but before we do that now that we're in the rabbit hole let's talk about some of the standout moments for for both of us over the last 22 years of the monthly range phillip you go first you weren't telling me about this i sprung it i love it i sprung it up oh yeah awful things um so highlights over the last 22 years um

4:00 where the start is certainly a big highlight um and i think the fact that kept going i really when when the first few episodes were announced i really wasn't sure it was going to last for long and that people would keep buying and so the fact that they kept lasting on was pretty exciting um in terms of turning points for me ah there's so many i'll probably talk about them along the way with this adventure i think paul mcgann coming was a major step in terms of it suddenly felt like we had new doctor who so as much as i was loving loving what they were doing with the other doctors loving particularly what they would do with colin i think colin was he i loved him so much so the the tv series i don't think he was well served with scripts i don't

4:45 think he was wilson's stories and then with big finish i fell in love with him and this suddenly became i could see colin baker could be my favorite doctor because what they were wrong was so well and then when paul mcgann came on board then we suddenly had new doctor who and it was new as far as i was concerned that was what was right what was new because we had nothing else that time and once again when the show came back it kept going so i was really excited about that so that's a couple of key moments for me what are you thinking about dwayne well obviously we've got to talk about the early years because that was what grabbed us and kept us enthralled right from the start wasn't it so i didn't get sirens of time when it was released so it was a couple years later until i jumped on the big finish train

5:31 and then and then even a bit longer after that when i became a regular subscriber to the monthly range i was only buying them every now and then but i think it was when someone loaned me a copy of the chimes at midnight was what really pricked my ears up to to big finish and even though i did hear spare parts at the same time because those two stories were released around the same time um i did enjoy it but i think it was lugaru that really stood out to me as one of the fifth doctor stories that uh had a major impact on me i thought it was absolutely fabulous had um uh what was the name eleanor braun in that one and she was in revelation of the daleks we know her from there

6:18 absolutely fantastic story uh because both spare parts and luger were written by mark platt weren't they so lou guru is probably a standout for me another stand out for me is when they changed to use the individual doctor's themes because i was never a fan of using the same theme for every doctor just didn't feel right and i can't remember why that was i don't know if you remember philip but may have been something to do with rights there was two things there was there's two things one one was that they had to pay different money and so it's cheaper just to use the same theme and also the length of theme depending how much they paid to which is why the endings are so short at the end of episodes because they they cost them less money by using less but the real reason was

7:04 gary russell just preferred to him that talk to who theme was the doctor who theme and he didn't like the other themes he didn't like the fifth six or seven doctor themes and so he chose not to use them and it was i remember when um going very early on to the website the big finished website which was bland and plain as but there's a facts page of questions you know there's questions like will you be getting tom baker when the answer was just no he won't and there's all these questions and one of them was why do you use the original theme tune and the answer was just i prefer it and that's by gary and that's that's the reason why he just preferred it and i'm not quite sure why i think i was meant to have a look at this was it

7:49 because they gave paul again his own music when he joined and that's when they changed it for all the doctors or had they started using it earlier no it was a lot later that they changed it i don't think that i don't think that was changed until flip-flop which was way down the line right okay uh up until that point they were still i mean every now and then like issues uh uh releases like the rapture for instance that they changed the theme and made it like a like a a disco or um a nightclub style sound to to the theme but it was still the fourth doctor theme uh but yeah i think it was flip-flop i could be wrong i might be but it was it was pretty late

8:35 in the day it was pretty late in the in the first fifty so definitely next time we talk to gary we've got to put to him and say how come but i said on the facts page he just said it's what i preferred yeah and the whole the whole issue of recasting too is very strict on that no it's not going to happen we're not going to recast ever so um that was that was a gary rule as well but uh i don't think in the main range they ever did recast did they don't think anyone was ever recast in them in the main range the rani oh you mean gary's time or later uh any any time like the rani's kind of different because the ronnie's a

9:20 time lord who can regenerate and the medley monk as well who turns up so i can't i can't think off the top of my head maybe maybe you can tell us let us know send us a tweet at audio sirens and and put us right with our factual errors and inconsistencies we're talking off the top of our head philip what do they expect some some other things too like uh janet fielding was a big standout moment for me too that i remember how big that was when the gathering came out it was massive absolutely massive but not only that a couple of years later when she came back i think that her first story was called cobwebs is that right it was and it ended with a mara story so that was a awesome trilogy of stories that was uh really really cool

10:06 um so to have janet fielding back uh in the cast was excellent i loved what the main rage did with some of the characters like to to get them back together to get tegan nissa and turlo back together because technically they only had a couple of stories before nissa was gone so what do they do bring what the heck was that so that's that's my dog sneezing i might have to throw him out if he keeps going for too long that's the threat that's staying in that's staying in all right your dog is now famous uh i'm glad that was the answer you gave me because it quite could have possibly been edited if you gave me a different answer all right um what else um when they did that whole rebranding

10:52 thing as well around ish round release 201 they said this is we want to make this a jumping on point for new listeners the stories took a a different turn i was kind of getting a bit tired up to up to number 200 i don't know whether i don't know why that was because every time we go back and revisit that era it's like oh wow we've only heard this story once it's amazing but i was getting a little bit tired though but they were doing some interesting things like teaming up zoe and jamie with the sixth doctor for one of those trilogies was a great idea i thought that was fantastic um i think i can think of two of the story titles wreck of the titan was one and legend of the cyberman was another one uh and i can't remember the third one

11:37 unless legend of the cybermen was the third one but anyway they were doing some great some great things uh throughout that uh the later stages but in the last few years in particular i've noticed that the fifth doctor stories of late have recently really stood out to me there was one in particular in the last few years called ghost walk which i really really enjoyed because it reminded me of the one time the one time i went to london i did a jack the ripper tour and it really took me back so that one always stood out to me for my own personal reasons but the fifth doctor stories i've have been really really engaging um in in the final 75 i don't know who stood out to you

12:23 in the in the series or have they all been the same to you over the last few years i always look forward to the six doctor stories the most yeah so i like all his companions i like how he interacts so six six stops for me all those ones to look forward to the most not necessarily the best because the other stuff comes out and i get pleasantly surprised um i think the peterloo mexico was one that i i do think peter davison in historic settings is just him the show didn't do it very often i think the visitation took him back black walker took him back uh which was other more than that time flight we won't count but um whatever the big finish to a historical for peter davidson it just

13:08 works so well and so yeah and i think that's why i think the the final episode the final monthly with he's giving him a historic worked best room so yeah the great shows it's it's an end to an era all right well let's get out of the rabbit hole and talk about the main theme of our show which is uh we are calling this the big finish introduction agency and we are going to provide newbies and the uninitiated uh stories that they should listen to which will convert them to big finish fans and we're going to go through our stories that we want to introduce to people not necessarily the most popular big finish stories and in actual fact phillip i've avoided the

13:56 most popular big finnish stories completely and look for something that might appeal to a fan of the classic series a fan of the new series perhaps without without being too influenced by the popularity and the polls of big finished stories particularly the monthly stories that we're going to talk about so that's that's where i've based my views on and we're going to look at doctors 5 6 7 and 8 in that order and then we'll look at the fourth doctor who came on next and then we're going to look at doctors one two and three uh and finally we'll have a look at the tenth doctor to see where we think you should start with the tenth doctor if you haven't heard any of

14:42 his adventures on audio now that i've said all that and explained how it is uh who do you want to start who do you want to start philip do you want to start with uh the fifth doctor in your pick i can start with the fifth doctor can i say this was so hard and um i i've enjoyed doing it going back and looking through all the stories i've tried to listen to bits of it along the way too just to refresh my memory in terms of making sure i wasn't leaving things out but with the fifth doctor so once again i haven't picked uh what is fan favorites and yeah i think if you think fifth doctor you're gonna be told spare parts you're gonna be told excellent stories so who asked generally what are the best fifth doctor this sort of one's to go for this i'm going to give you ones that are not the ones that would necessarily

15:28 be picked so the one i'm picking for the fifth doctor is the eye of the scorpion by ian mclook mclaughlin so it's directed by gary russell came out in 2001 so i just mentioned before peter davis for me his historical ones are the best this is with errorman played by carolyn morris that's being introduced as a new companion so it's a great kicking off spot so if you want to get a big finish start off with a new companion it's airman and perry uh so nicola bryant and erin and and carol morris the two of them just bounced off each other beautifully it's like a sister relationship they they cheese the they tease the doctor mercilessly along the way but either scorpion is a classic historical there's actually no science fiction elements at all in the story

16:14 except for the tardis um it's almost like a william hartner because there's actually a whole episode where peter davidson doesn't even appear he has i think it's the third episode he takes off he's he's gone for i won't tell you why no spoilers but if you want to get a great handle on the fifth doctor on perry on a new companion kicking off into a whole new era is scorpion so where are we from the gravity and atmosphere i'd say earth egypt roughly 1400 bc this is the house of death no one lives here alive excuse me i don't think you've told us exactly who you are no i did not the great and mighty queen daughter of the stars pharaoh in the eyes of the gods and soon

17:02 to be crowned all bow to erima mush in te perem divine and eternal the living god pharaoh i can name every pharaoh egypt ever had and i'm certain there was never a pharaoh element death to any man no help me damn you stranger where did you come from who sent you answer me who do you serve the true pharaoh quietly don't be encouraged by my presence you poor poor fool you're in no condition to escape but i'm afraid you can't be interrogated either after all no one leaves the house of death alive

18:02 what about you for the fifth doctor dwayne well for the fifth doctor i'm trying to avoid it's very difficult because our sort of eyes were opened in the the gary russell era uh in the early days so our eyes are really sort of sparkling when we think about those those sort of classic we'll call it the classic era of big finish will we um do they have eras yeah we'll call it the gary russell era but i've tried to avoid that some of the time i haven't done it all of the time but for the fifth doctor i have so i've chosen a story that was released in 2012 and i'm referring to because it's on my second screen here and i'll explain why i've chosen it too and why i think it might appeal to

18:47 to a newbie an uninitiated person to big finish and this is the butcher of brisbane written by mark platt so i am a huge huge talent of wang chang fan i absolutely love this story i love jager on lightfoot and i am intrigued by the the vocabulary and the imagery that robert holmes's vocabulary provided and one of the throwaway lines from the towns of wang chang was that magnus grill was nicknamed the butcher of brisbane and so here we go and explore the history of magnus greel not only that it's written by mark platt so mark platt will be known to fans of the classic series

19:34 as the writer of ghost light so if you ghost lots of funny story because sometimes i like it sometimes i don't sometimes i understand it sometimes i don't it's a very interesting fluctuating story ghost ghost light but mark platt is a very long term he's one of the writers who's been with big finish virtually from the start and he's still going to this day so some of the older writers although not the older writers the writers from this beginning don't write so much for big finish anymore if at all but mark platt is still quite heavily involved in writing for big finish and this is one of them so fifth doctor but it also has tegan nissa and turlo in it with a very interesting story for nissa

20:20 in this episode too so i think it will appeal to to fans of the classic series who uh who know a little bit about talons of wang chang magnus griel i think that's a great place to start and i think it's really well done who who directed this uh so directed by ken bentley so he's he's always good value and alan barnes is a script editor so he's been there right from the start too so pretty much and introduced the eighth doctor so we're in safe hands with the butcher of brisbane so that's me for uh the fifth doctor what do you do do you think that's a good one for new year's yeah it's excellent excellent choice i mean the other one i was about the same time was heroes of santa which was the one i was playing around with as well and that's i think it may

21:06 even be the same trilogy set um but yes the the there's certainly at a time when those three character characters old nissa tegan and the doctor are really working well together and that that is a great period to jump on one that's a good choice okay so i'll start us off with the sixth doctor now this is the doctor who i really struggled with because he's just so good it was it wasn't until he hit audio that we could all see the potential that colin baker had come to life so i really struggled with this one but the one i've decided to go with could have some appeal to a newbie and but it's also one of my very very favorites and it's very high in the population uh

21:52 popularity charts too so and that that is uh davros by lance parkin so davros has one of the most spine tingling openings to a cd it's not by the sixth doctor but it's a monologue delivered by davros that starts off and goes into the episode it's just absolutely spine tingling and what's great about this episode is that it's just about the doctor and davros the doctor doesn't have any companions so we get to see the sixth doctor in all his glory up against someone that we already know so this is for someone who's coming in they're going to know davoros they're likely going to know the terry malloy version of davros so this is i think this is set sometime

22:38 after or is it before revelation of the daleks i can't remember but it's around that time probably after revelation after it's after yeah um and he's you know he's been doing similar things so we've got similar themes there that you're going to be used to and and terry malloy and colin baker together are electrifying it's it's an interesting it's it's not a four-parter it's a two-parter but the episodes are very long they're about 50 to 60 minutes long i think the second episode might even be 70 minutes long i can't i can't remember off the top of my head but not only does it have terry molloy and colin baker it also has wendy padbury in her first appearance for big finish not as zoe she's playing a different

23:24 character but it also has playing her husband in the story bernard horsefall so we're going to know bernard horsefall from from the war games from the mine robber from the deadly assassin was in anything else can't remember the three that come instantly to mind and this is i think if you don't turn to big finish from this um i think you might need some you know some first aid uh this is just an incredible and incredible story for the first doctor and i hardly recommend it for any newbie when i press this switch i will die [Music] it will be painless they say

24:09 but if i survive then something stronger will emerge a new race the supreme power in the universe i will not press this switch i will not cower i will not die i will not die this is not [Music] he's activated the detonation sequence we can't outrun a nuclear blast doctor they're building an army of robots how long before the radiation cloud reaches the dome i want to write the definitive biography of davros

24:55 if everyone had the equation then the whole system would collapse yeah well done it was actually it was on my list actually almost like that almost a snap i had i had well i had a big list because i had holy terror mochi's penguin the pirates the two doctors arrangements of all the whole forge series uh and and so i had a huge list in the end i actually went for early because i thought i want to introduce the new sixth doctor so i actually went for the marion conspiracy um so by jacqueline rayner i want to get at least one female writer in and there's a lot of there's a lot more female writers now for big finish thank goodness um but early on jacqueline reiner was i think the only female writer they had working and she just brought a whole new

25:40 dimension which is important uh it introduces so it's directed by gary russell it introduces maggie stables as evelyn smythe who's going to go on to be probably my favorite six doctor companion duo i think the two of them just worked so well together and once again it's it starts the newbie off with a new situation a new character and something a story to follow through and you can just follow through all the maggie stable six doctor stories and it's a beautiful arc that's going to end you in tears but happy tears because of where they've come from so yeah but as i said it was it was such a hard pick i'm sensing a theme here with your picks you've picked historical so far next one's not

26:28 no it's it's an absolutely great choice and you can't go past maggie stable she's just sensational um i can't imagine the sixth doctor without her you know when your kid comes along and you can't imagine life without your kid this is what evelyn was like with the sixth doctor that's it's um that's that's how close their relationship became super quickly and i think uh maggie stables had the maturity to be able to develop that relationship on the audio dramas that was just beautiful it was a beautiful thing she had a beautiful arc to come too so yeah i agree with you great jumping on point for anyone new coming along do you want to do you want to head us into the seventh doctor let's go yep so not a historical so you'll be

27:15 happy with that um once again it's hard to know the seventh doctor they did some very inventive things with in the end i've just gone for comedy because i think the seventh doctor had some amazing stories so i've actually and talked about space 1999 i've gone for bang bang boom um which was a story by gareth roberts and clayton hickman for two years running they did a christmas special in december so this was the december release which was very laid back it's a take-off of space 1999 um isn't it setting up deep space nine and d space nine so it's sort of smashed yeah yeah it's it's a mishmash of those two uh and it's it's it's also making fun of the eurovision song contest because it's the galactic vision song contest

28:00 is the background to it all um amusingly gary russell wouldn't allow any songs to be written for us even though it's a song contest so there's a few amusing moments where it's just about to sing the music builds up and then just cut scenes but yeah gary refused to have these songs because we don't do songs with big finish and i think a couple of months later we're releasing the pirates which has had a whole musical episode um it's it's got um graeme garden playing the professor bergen character it's got patricia quinn who you might know from rocky horror picture show she's playing um an amazonian sort of character sabrina franklin plays helen dr helena i feel her character name is it's a hell of a russell kind of

28:45 character who just keeps going around saying i just feel so helpless um all the time it's yeah if you just want a good laugh if you want to see the seventh doctor trying to solve a puzzle it's a murder mystery body langford is just a dream in it it helps revive what she did with mel in terms of once again some mel got some pretty short stories yes short stick of the stories um this is just brilliant so i i listen to regularly just when i need to be cheered up was was it the one doctor that came out the year before the one doctor came out the year afterwards the year after right so that was the sixth doctor story yeah the sixth doctor and mel so mel manchester get into both the comedy

29:31 episodes because she's just she's got such great comic timing um as an actress um but yeah this was the first one and yeah you don't know it what's that bang bang boom i do i do i just wasn't sure where it was placed whether the one doctor came first uh and this was mel's second second appearance or whether it might have been her first oh don't flip i can't remember where it was to be honest yeah she's she's coming she's done flip-flop as well also around this time it was around the same time yeah it was i mean i think i mean as i said i do keep going for it early once in some ways but i think it's when big finish was really seeking to be super creative and they were bringing out doing things taking big risks and i

30:17 think in part maybe they didn't have the giant audience you could offend but they were they were risking things this was a risky production but it was hilarious and yeah anyone can listen to and enjoy it what about you what's your seventh doctor right my seventh doctor is an interesting one because what do i pick do i pick i've just picked dav ross so do i pick master that's a absolutely brilliant that was on my list because i i but that that might alienate newbies because joe lister may gets takes some getting used to he's a very different kind of writer he has a distinctive style but it could disturb you a little so if you want uh

31:05 a story that might suit a newbie i've chosen a seventh doctor story without any companions um i said see him there yeah there is a theme going for me too in there and i've picked one that was released once again around the same time 2011. this is um written by mark morris so an early big finish writer as well house of blue fire uh which uh stars timothy west and i always am drawn to the cover of this one because it's uh blue obviously house of blue fire uh about a bunch of people who suddenly appear in this house and stuff goes on uh and it's a really engaging audio story uh so for fans of

31:51 audio it's got timothy west so he's a well-known well-known actor written by mark morris who's an established big finnish writer and it's a really engaging audio story and i think to me in some ways sylvester mccoy has been the most consistent of all the doctors on audio from the start of big finish right through to now his voice hasn't changed so much when you listen to when you listen to peter davidson he'd already aged a little at the start of big finish when you listen to colin baker you can get an evolution of his voice aging over the last 20 years so he sounds different now to what he sounded back then but sylvester mccoy has never changed so he's had probably the most consistent

32:36 voice and i think out of all the doctors his works really well with no companions and apart from the other doctors who have had new companions created for them sylvester mccoy's only had one or two created for him over that period of time whereas the other doctors have had a few more each um so um it's it's yeah i think the the no companions thing suits sylvester mccoy really well and foreign he's probably done more solo stories than any other doctor yeah he's regularly traveling by himself for for a new fan coming on in the classic we're a classic series

33:22 fan we have seen sylvester mccoy on his own we saw him on his own at the start of the tele movie so this is a scenario which you you're going to recognize and uh yeah i think house of blue fire is just a great introduction to the audio medium it's a fantastic story to listen to on audio coming soon from big finish productions doctor who house of blue fire i can't remember how i got here were you expecting me of course see the thing is and this is gonna sound really odd but i have no idea where i am blue i firehouse ethazakorophobia it's the

34:08 fear of being forgotten or ignored confusion confusion confusion confusion phobia they call it nightmare nightmare nightmare aquaphobia darkness darkness all i can tell you is that something ancient and foul has emerged from the wilderness and drawn you into this house stop talking in riddles there are traps everywhere don't stand in my way doctor nothing is what it seems when should we run should we run now i seem to have made a terrible mistake what have you done doctor where are you can you realize the forces of playing this house are finally

34:56 there is nothing you can do to stop me time [Music] subscribers get more at bigfinish.com that's me for the seventh grade what about the eighth doctor what have you chosen for the eighth twain eighth doctor oh man what do you choose for the eighth doctor do you choose something recent from the box sets do you choose something from the lucy miller range divergent unit what do you choose i'm just very interested to hear what you have to say but i had to choose something from his time with charlie and i've gone for something from season two not chimes at midnight which is always the the number one pick of mine as well it's a darn good story but something

35:42 else from that series which may appeal to newbies and really wet their appetite for what else is to come i've chosen seasons of fear seasons of fear is written by paul cornell and carolyn simcock so they're married and don't get too many of those partnerships throughout big finish and i think this might be the only one they wrote together they've both written separately for big finish but they wrote this one together and this really gives you a good grounding in the relationship between the the eighth doctor and charlie you get to hear the eighth doctor's theme which was changed in lucy miller which is probably why i would avoid lucy miller because i don't like the theme as much

36:28 for that this is the eighth doctor's theme to me the seasons of fear is a is a timely whimey kind of story so they're going backwards and forwards through history and there is a classic series monster in this that surprised me really surprised me when i first heard this for the first time and i'm definitely not going to spoil that one because it's the whole story that there was a sound design throughout the early meganes that was unique to the eighth doctor series and i think you pick any story out of this with the exception of perhaps the nicholas brigg one briggs one embrace the darkness and they all have a similar tone to them probably because gary russell directed most of them but yeah i think this is a good place to

37:13 start because it's got that classic series monster but you've also got that good grounded relationship between the eighth doctor and charlie at this point that's me that's my pick did we snap well almost so it's on my it was on my list it would have been actually next i um i actually actually i decided not to go charlie i think you know how much i love and adore india fisher and charlie and i actually went through the whole first two seasons and couldn't pick one out of all those episodes so i went okay and then i realized i'm actually not trying to pick the eighth doctor i'm trying to pick charlie so i decided to change my thinking and think okay let's move away from that um doom coalition at the moment is i'm adoring and i'm

37:59 about to write a review of that to put up on our facebook page because i think jim coalition having listened to all four boxes again every story is superb in that um i went for something strange i didn't go for lucy miller either but i went for the lucy miller era and an episode called situation vacant it's by eddie it's by eddie robson and it's just the eighth doctor interviewing and trying out four new companions so previously lucy's left him and there's an ad in the paper about a job for a time traveler and he goes to meet four people four young different different people two girls two boys and he's trying them all out to see who will be his new companion

38:45 it is very funny there's some great scenes in it there's a clever twist at the end which i won't spoil but it's actually paul mcgann getting his own show and being himself i think he he works so with companions as i said he and charlie are just to me the perfect pairing and lucy and him work so well together but situation vacant is poor by himself working out what he wants a companion it's a scream i think you'll enjoy it and it shows what paul can do coming soon from big finish productions good morning i'm the doctor my name's asha qureshi and i'm theo lawson my name's juliette walsh uh hugh bainbridge i've relied on my

39:30 companions for help theo grab the end of the cable then come back i'm on it advice we need to take bold smart effective action i've relied on their skills doctor look it's got a usb port knowledge you know it's not just scientists who've disappeared and sense of morality not so fast you need to be self-motivated what do you think you're doing saving your life bravery oh crikey it's coming this way but also capable of working harmoniously with me and anybody else who might join us in my tiredness please follow me into the blue box any questions doctor who

40:17 situation vacant yeah a close runner up for me was the probably the company of friends uh was uh was one of them but i wanted to have a full story so another runner-up in that kind of era was uh the silver turk so i became very close to picking the silver turk which was a mary shelley story so mary shelley for those who are fans of the tv series even the new tv series we've had an episode featuring mary shelley while mary shelley traveled with the eighth doctor for a time now i've got a theory as to how the villa uh uh what's it called uh something the villa dia dharti it's gone from my mind the the episode

41:03 that featured mary shelley on tv i've got a theory how that fits in with this um you've got your head cut and working have you the head cannons there i think i did this around episode five or six of uh of the sirens of audio i put that in at the time and it still stands no one has has been able to argue it and no one else probably cares but that's but that's just um yeah that's that's uh that were close runners up for uh for that but i had to go with seasons of fear it was just such a sensational period in the history of doctor who not just big finnish fed ikem this was this was the eighth doctor current this was the

41:49 current doctor and he hadn't changed into anyone else at that time unless you count richard e grant but i don't think many people did uh it was just yeah it was it was just sensational sensation let's face it if the bbc was smart they'd actually commission a series with paul mcgann and do a season with him their time's running out because you know no one's getting any younger so he's he's a good age to do it now he could he could do it quite easily yeah yeah yeah he could but i don't think there's too much longer that we that we wait that we could wait for that all right so i i think we could possibly have a snap here with the fourth doctor i've got a feeling this might be a snap uh but it's your turn phillip so i'm going to go and see what you picked for the fourth doctor adventures

42:36 now you've concerned me that you think it's gonna be a snap okay we'll see um once again so many i could have chosen from um i was actually weighing up with genetics of the daleks because i really really enjoyed tunnel victories last year it was such an amazing action-adventure story i always win that i'm in the end i've actually gone from mary tam so this is not a slammy snap no there we go so i chose the anti-matter um it's mary time thomas is that the is it the anti-matter the auntie yes i'll just say auntie yes auntie it's too much australian auntie antimatter um the auntie mata by jonathan morris uh it was 2013.

43:23 julian mckenzie jane slavin both directed by ken bentley it is uh it's a romp of the two of them doing it the same story same adventure but not together and keep passing each other so the doctrine and the ramana are both trying to solve a problem they're both at the same place at the same time that they never meet they never cross and both their actions manage to solve the issues and the problems even though they don't actually do it together it's a very very clever script it's tom baker in fine form as the doctor being both serious and hilarious and taking things in bizarre ways mary tam i adore her she's this is a yeah a month or two before she passed away we are so

44:08 blessed to have these stories and yeah as i said that i was tempted to other things but in the end that's what i went for doctor who the auntie mata so now the tardis is flitting randomly throughout time and space yes until the black guardian gets tired of chasing it and then it will return to us here in london eventually still it doesn't matter i was just going to let him know that i was heading down to where was it again that's it on hamill here somewhere just outside of it is called basset on hamble this is your place well it's my country seat basic hall you see the current owner is my aunt though she's come over trifle odd of late

44:57 [Laughter] i have more ants and i know what to do with just when i think i have the set another one pops out of the woodwork when least expected they're like mice the errant doctor i was wondering how long it would take until you turned up give me a moment and i should be able to set it to overload i won't pretend to have a clue what you're doing auntie please you must stop this the poor fellow will die that is rather the point that's it are you sure nothing seems to be

45:43 subscribers get more at bigfinish.com so what do you think we're going to step on dwayne i thought we were going to snap on this i seriously thought we were um because i had no this was this was a no-brainer for me this was my this is my favorite tom baker uh nothing's trumped it yet because of the the feeling it gave me when i first listened to it and then we actually reviewed it for our podcast here it was one of the early ones we did the trouble with drax that's my pick for fourth doctor so for newbies that come along the trouble with drax we know him from the armageddon factor classic fans may not want to remember him from the armageddon factor uh but this one i mean the trouble with drax is written by john dorney who writes some sensational stuff

46:29 for big finish and he's uh one of the head i'd call him one of the head writers for big finish he's script editing a lot of stuff too these days but he wrote this and it was actually supposed to be written for the actor who played drax originally was it barry jackson he was originally going to come back and play drax in this but he passed away shortly before they were uh i can't remember i think the scripts might have been written but it had to be might have had to be rewritten i think um to after he passed away and they went ahead with with this uh and they've got ray brooks john chalice so classic fans will know john chalice from the season playing scorby he's got

47:16 miranda raisins so new series fans will know miranda raisin from daleks take manhattan she was in that playing tallulah jane slavins in it too so lots of different actors that new fans and old fans of the tv series will know written by john dorney and this if you want if new series fans if you like timey wymie this is probably the most timely whimey story you will get in the fourth doctor adventures it's absolute but not only that it's full of comedy it's full of one-liners it's and and it's not just tom baker everyone bounces off each other this is

48:03 classic it's got la ward as well so it's set this whole season was kind of set during season 17 and i know a lot of us as we've got older really appreciate those douglas adams times of the classic series of doctor who a lot more and the trouble with drax by john dorney is one that is absolutely unmissable as a fourth doctor story in my opinion of course did we come close to snapping uh it city crossed my mind i you know i you know me too i love louise jemison and so i was struggling to work out which louise jemison story to do too in terms of leela because i love her so there's two can i say it's just too hard there's too many

48:49 too many good things around but the criteria is are we going to attract newbies that's what we want to do get newbies in so there's there's factors in there that will attract these people so any of these are fantastic shows to listen to as one-offs and to work out how to love them okay let's move to the first doctor and there's another potential snap here another potential snap although i think you know i don't think so no okay all right so there's two there's too much to choose from i know because you you are you're going for things that you love and i know you love the companion chronicles so i think for these early ones you may have chosen companion chronicles for all of them but i'm more of a fan of the fuller cast story so i've gone for early adventures

49:37 for my picks for the first and second doctor so my first doctor pick is of the first doctor's known for his encounters with the daleks peter pervers is an amazing first doctor so i've gone with the dalek occupation of winter by david k barnes this was released only a few years ago 2018 it's one of the early adventures and it's just sensational it leaves you with just the early years david richardson always had the goal of wanting to create these audio stories in black and white and this is one that makes you think in black and white it really does feel like

50:23 a first doctor story but like everything big finish does they take those elements they take you right back to that period and then they add those extra layers on top to just blow your mind and with this i'm not a daleks fan but this release blew my mind peter purvis we had him on recently but i've always been so impressed with his not impersonation of the doctor but he's got the characteristics that i forget that it's that it's actually him whenever he's uh whenever he's characterizing the first doctor so uh dalek occupation of winter that's my pick for the first doctor if you love that era that's the one you must listen to oh you were right doctor it's cold

51:09 yes well of course it's cold it's snowing oh dear dear coming soon from big finish productions doctor who the early adventures the dalek occupation of winter where are we doctor the ship doesn't appear to know my dear whatever this planet is it's on the edge of the galaxy and its icy temperatures make it inimical to civilized life once again we gather on this day in our calendar to not only celebrate the achievements of our finest academy of young people but also to recognize the hopes

51:54 and dreams that shall be carried forward within them doctor he's talking as if the graduates will never be seen again why does the graduate not step oh i'm out of my way that's my brother identify yourselves then the dalek must have personal access to the leading figure of the city and therefore this planet it doesn't bode well does it garlic forces must be replenished city productivity must increase by five percent [Music] these daleks where are the insides

52:44 stephen magnificent even greater than i'd imagined big finish we love stories [Music] macharian ah hello again mr ambassador nuts yeah it's a great pick dwayne fully agree amazing show and everything you say about peter purvis i agree with you do you know me so well cause yes i've gone for a companion chronicle and i dull i mean i chose the peter

53:31 purvis one naturally enough once again picking one that wasn't part of a trilogy was actually a bit hard or connected i wanted to choose something that would be standalone but it's also epic so i've actually done the anacronauts okay so it's a companion chronicle by simon gary when peter purvis was on recently he talked about the fact that simon just writes with his doctor so well is right but it's peter purvis and it's gene marsh so it takes place in fact it starts on with the toast on christmas day during the dalek master plan and it takes place immediately after that so they've inserted this story into the dark master plan it is peter purvis playing himself a narrator and the first doctor and

54:17 other characters gina marsh character is playing sarah kingdom and a narrator they share the juices backwards and forwards so they actually switch backwards and forwards between the two of them and you would think it's a full cast i kept forgetting it wasn't i think peter pervez's first doctor is astounding that i forget this i can't hear peter in him and this story it's two discs so it's actually unusual for companions chronicle because it's over two discs and two different settings but there's some anachronistic things happening in time which is why it's called the necronauts it's very both 60s but also very modern and it deals with a few other interesting issues along the way too

55:03 so it's a great listen very compelling um and brilliantly performed so yeah it's just about ken bentley too which is a bit unusual because kim bentley didn't do a lot of companion chronicles that's right that's usually lisa bowman weren't they usually but yeah it was ken bentley doing this one i think this may be the first companion chronicle he'd done okay so yeah well worth a listen and and how would you what what kind of what does a fan of the tv series uh have to understand to come into the companion chronicles to really get the most out of them would you say what what kind of space do they have to get their minds into i think the scripts give you everything you need without needing very much

55:51 so it opens up you've got the doctor you've got sari you've got stephen onboard the tardis and it tells you everything you need to know it tells you about the relationship because there's narration along those way well they tell you bits that tells you the fact that they're being hunted by daleks um but the adventure is so aside from what's going on with the dark master plan it doesn't matter what the big picture is you know it starts with us knowing that it's happening it ends with them saying that they know they're still in danger but it actually gives you all you need along the way there's an interesting twist in terms of the relationship with stephen and sarah that they do which is nice but ultimately you know it's doomed to failure but it

56:37 actually tells you what you need so yeah you need nothing just come and enjoy it awesome all right shall we move on to the second doctor yeah which i think's me um and you won't believe this but i've chosen the companion chronicle um once again there's so much i could have chosen because there's some great early years second doctor stuff as well but i wanted to choose something that actually was quite different and experimental and and i think that's part of the reason why i enjoy companion chronicles so much is it reached out into things this is a two-hander uh it's called the jigsaw war by eddie robson so it's fraser heinz playing himself and appropriately later on the second doctor

57:23 but it's it's set in jail and the entire episode is cut up into pieces and the job that the that fraser has to do that jamie has to do is to work out what is the correct order of events happening because jamie's experienced a series of mixed up time events and he needs to put the jigsaw back together again this sort of the the idea of what's going on but great story great threat i love two-handers it's a powerful two-hander and yeah a lot of fun coming soon from big finish productions doctor who the companion chronicles the jigsaw war they're going to be through that door in a few minutes come on man think jamie mccrimmon

58:08 who are you my name's moran ort's chief moran ah well nice to meet you where's the doctor hurry they'll be through that door any second i think we need to talk to the doctor perhaps he's misinterpreted what's happening i misinterpreted all that muttering what are you waiting for do it before they cut through but i don't know what's going to do to them i've told you everything i know i'm even wearing your uniform please i don't know ah this is a canny wee trick but i'm on to you you're just trying to confuse me make me something you're doing this why are you trying to make me think the rest was all a dream me but it can't be worse than what they're gonna do to us i'll do it no you won't jamie is currently experiencing a series of encounters with the stout young officer i'm speaking through now but jamie's experiencing them out of

58:55 chronological sequence if he puts them in order he'll have a code the code will unlock the door no no wait this could be important this couldn't kill a [ __ ] and what if jaime fails oh ye of little faith what if he fails he will join me what if he doesn't want to what he'll want to do won't come into it subscribers get more at bigfinish.com right you what are you doing i'm guessing i haven't even heard all the companion chronicles myself so i i haven't heard that one so uh i think i'm gonna have to have a listen to it aren't i you are and the cd case actually tells you which order you can put the tracks to hear it in correct order because as i said it's

59:42 the tracks are all mixed up and that's part of the storyline but it does actually tell you you can actually place in the correct order by by putting together the tracks in the order it tells you in the back of the cd case just as a fun game to do as well two ways to listen to this episode okay well i've only got the download because they um recently did a special on the companion chronicles so i thought i'll get them all while they're on special so i i have got them all there but i'm still still listening so yeah looking forward to that one alright so my pick for the second doctor is another early adventure and this is the very first second doctor early adventure called the yes man once again written by simon gourier we're getting a

1:00:29 theme here he does write the early adventures and companion chronicles very well simon gurion he's got a very good handle on them what's interesting about this one is for a classic series fan you're going to i mean look at the blur it says the doctor jamie polly and ben arrive on new houston an earth colony in the fourth sector which the doctor previously say from an alien invasion he wishes to pay his respects to his late friend meg carvasa but something is not quite quite right with new houston's i can't even speak new houston's subservient robots so reading that blurb it makes me think about the macra terra so the early uh second doctor adventures

1:01:18 where he was often going to these colonies uh like the underwater menace and the macra terra and sorting things out so this is him going back to somewhere like that with the early team so annika wills and of course we've got a case one of the early cases of recasting that big finish did in elliot chapman playing ben jackson so got fraser hides in there playing jamie in the doctor as well and jamie playing the second doctor of fraser i should say playing the second doctor is like peter purpose pretty darned incredible um he's got all the mannerisms of patrick trout and down pat

1:02:03 he does it so well i can't sing fraser hines as praises enough so uh he's gonna get down pat he's got pat down pat i like it um so yeah elliot chapman playing ben ben uh and he's recently stopped doing that i i read somewhere that he stopped doing it because he only wanted he didn't want to do any more episodes than michael craze did is i've heard that right is it sounds bizarre i mean maybe it's true and i've heard it a lot but it just sounds utterly bizarre we must ask someone we'll check we'll check that up and see if we can get the truth of that matter because that just sounds bizarre but i really enjoy elliot chapman's ben

1:02:52 works really well with annika so yeah doctor who the s men i'd recommend that as you're jumping on point for the second doctor okay what about the third doctor drain who will you choose for that oh okay this is a tough one because when and and i think big finish still cops a bit of flack about this but when they started the third doctor adventures with tim treloar playing the doctor they they made them kind of like a companion chronicle with a bit of narration bitter so they're like a combination of full cast and companion chronicle not quite sure where they decided to go with it yet they were sort of experimenting so it's very experimental so i wouldn't

1:03:37 recommend jumping on there i would recommend jumping on with volume five of the third doctor adventures which has a story in there called primord so uh that actually has is that the first time daisy ashford appears playing liz because that's daughter yeah i really enjoyed that it's like a sequel to inferno obviously it's called primord it's going to be related to inferno somewhere but i really enjoyed enjoyed that it's got katie manning as well so she's there bouncing off daisy so they get to meet which we never saw

1:04:23 in the tv series and uh which was which was really cool um for fans of the second doctor he's got his son in there as well in another story playing a character called general sharp because there's two stories in this box set so primords one the other one is called the scream of ghosts but the big not only did we have daisy so that was good having daisy ashford there playing liz so it was good to see her we had this is i think this was the first time that john colshaw comes in and plays the brigadier so this was absolutely incredible and he still amazes me how how well john colshaw does the brigadier you can hardly tell

1:05:08 it's a different person would you agree with me on that yeah i do it's an amazing performance so yeah so these two stories written by john dorney uh one written by guy adams so two really well established writers in big finish and tim trello i've got to say something about tim treloar because he because i've heard john colshaw's third doctor too and i think i prefer tim treloar's third doctor i think it's good that they have have kept tim there and didn't go with john coleshaw and i can't do you remember the story of how tim got it wasn't tim in another episode and he started impersonating john pertwee and they thought i will get him for this and put him in the that's

1:05:54 how it all started he was just mucking about i hadn't heard that but i believe you yeah someone's going to have to correct me if i'm wrong but i think that's that's how it all started tim triallor was in something else he he did a john pertwee impersonation and that's how he got the job and he's just it's just so darn good uh because they've got to ask him yeah let's do it all right you're in charge of that philip okay um okay so that's my pick prime morton scream of ghosts featuring daisy ashford as liz shaw katie manning as joe grant tim trelor is a doctor john cole sure is the brigadier good stuff from big finish productions the third doctor adventures volume

1:06:40 5. some sort of interference completely through the tardis communication circuits twice [Music] hello doctor doctor are you in there i do wish you paid just a little attention doctor well i could say the same about you this professor liz shaw good to see you again you too [Music] hello [ __ ] here

1:07:27 stewart i have resumed command abort this launch i repeat abort this launch commander planet earth within broadcast attack range sorry private i think i closed the door a little too quickly then you probably think i'm off my head you would be surprised what i'll believe concrete he called them primords from primordial i presume so you saw the primords that's what we're calling them primords stop it you useless thing just stop it i think we might need to broaden our definitions of what's possible to think of all the money wasted feeding and clothing these monsters every week i know what i heard i wish i could say the same like someone or something is still in the entire

1:08:12 street it said help me they're coming they're going to kill us blimey fire and will i keep saying it's for the greater good for the good of the country there go my speakers big finish we love stories [Music] well that was that was close to being a snap because actually the other one was supposed to be is that what you mentioned to before was actually master because that was the other one i had is my second pick so i think that fifth box that is when for me the third doctor said clicked however i've decided not to do one of the boxes with tribute to law because i think

1:08:57 if a new person judge jumping on it may just be a bit hard in terms of dealing with it not being john petry maybe i'm wrong but is still that controversial thing about recasting but i do think chimtor now owns the part um strangely you won't believe this i've gone for a companion chronicle for that's so weird it's a weed um i love the companion chronicles can you tell everyone um so i've done actually it's directed by ken bendy again it was in 2013. it's called the scorchies um so the scorches by james goss katie manning and melvin hayes you might know melvin from it half hot mum the scorchies are a bunch of alien puppets who have come to invade the earth and

1:09:44 they have a kids program and from this kids program their plan is to destroy the whole earth and it's up to katie manning and she plays the third doctor really well um but also she gets to play the third doctor in a particular way because the story allows her to play the third doctor not exactly as you'd expect but it's full of songs um it's just a scream with his kitty songs his kitty moments these evil creatures katy katie gets to play several parts because she's a real voice artist those who know know her so not only is she playing joe grant she's playing several scorches melvin hayes is playing several scorches and it's funny but macabre at the same time and i

1:10:30 think if you listen to this you can't help but say i need to listen to more third doctor stories fantastic uh i i didn't hear the scorchies when it was released the first time i heard the scorchies was when they appeared in an episode of jago and lightfoot blood force and i thought what the heck is this i had no idea what was going on so i went back and uh listened to the scorchies then and um they are quite a bizarre invention yeah they can i said how they are brilliant in jager and lightfoot it is such a funny funny episode again with them and of course it lands they lit themselves perfectly because this is a prequel it lends up perfectly to the you know jay goes stage and you know he hires them as acts but it

1:11:16 all gets out of control it's yeah it's a it's a wonderful wonderful jaguar life force to listen to as well very good so there are classic doctors that big finish have done that we can recommend for the uninitiated to jump on and have a listen to let us know what you think on our facebook page on twitter of sirensofaudio.com you can contact us from there too let us know what you think now as far as new series doctors goes we're not gonna even though big finish have released um 11th doctor and 12 doctor stories and ninth doctor stories uh they haven't actually been played by the actors so we're even though the first first second and third doctors

1:12:02 we've talked about well they can't possibly get those actors in uh because they're no longer with us but with the with the 9th the 11th and the 12th well those actors are available but they just haven't done it yet so we've decided not to give recommendations for those yet because they're a little bit different format might be harder for newbies to get into however don't forget christopher eccleston is coming out in may with his new series so that's going to be fantastic so i'd recommend anyone not having not even heard it yet i can recommend that if nicholas briggs is directing it and writing it uh it's in very safe hands and uh it's got christopher eccleston did it how could you go wrong all right so we're going to deal with

1:12:48 the 10th doctor because he has worked with big finish let's let's get your take on who newbies should listen to uh for the tenth doctor philip okay well i almost would expiry dating with riversong because that's probably the most fun recent one i've had um though his time of victoria stuff is good too but i've actually gone for his very start i think that which was the first since he did which was death and the queen by james goss it's a donna noble story with catherine tate directed by nicholas briggs came out in 2016. uh it just lets donna shine and i think uh the tenth doctor always works well when donna is in control and he's trying to react to her so i think it's a very clever episode as

1:13:34 i said it's all about donna possibly about to get married and becoming a queen she's fallen in love and so there's a bit of a romance there but there's consequences to who she's gonna marry and where she's gonna become queen there's some bizarre interplay in terms of the kingdom that's there

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