Doctor Who: New Seventh Doctor audios inspired by New Adventures novels announced!
By James Aggas
Big Finish Productions have announced details of not one but two very special releases! First off, we take a look at new stories inspired by the Seventh Doctor’s New Adventures novels!
Next year, Big Finish Productions will be celebrating a huge milestone. After celebrating twenty years of making audio adventures with Bernice Summerfield this year, it’ll be doing exactly the same for its audio stories of Doctor Who soon after.
Twenty years. Almost twenty years since The Sirens of Time was released. Since then, there have literally been hundreds more Doctor Who stories across many distinct ranges. And the company is as successful at making such great Doctor Who stories as ever.
So unsurprisingly, it’s very keen to celebrate this as much as possible. As a result, we can expect many, many special releases over the next couple of years, each focused on a different incarnation of the Doctor. The first two titles of which have now been announced.
This first special box set we’ll be seeing will feature the Seventh Doctor, along with his companions Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. Fans of The New Adventures novels from the Nineties will be hugely excited about this, as these two were originally created for this particular range.
This won’t be the first time that we’ve heard these characters on audio, however. Both Yasmin Bannerman and Travis Oliver played Roz and Chris, respectively, in three audio adaptations of New Adventures novels. (Including the excellent Fifth and Seventh Doctor story Cold Fusion.)
Yasmin Bannerman, Sylvester McCoy and Travis Oliver will star in four brand new adventures as Roz, the Doctor and Chris.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
The New New Adventures
But that’s not what we’re getting this time. Instead, we’ll be getting a brand-new box set of four original stories:
- The Trial of a Time Machine by Andy Lane
- Vanguard by Steve Jordan
- The Jabari Countdown by Alan Flanagan
- The Dread of Night by Tim Foley
This is bound to be exciting news for those who grew up with The New Adventures novels back in the Nineties. Since I was a kid at the time, and the range was aimed for a more mature and adult audience, I had just missed them.
But I have enjoyed a couple of novels since then, and I’ve especially enjoyed listening to Big Finish’s audio adaptations. Roz and Chris came across as two great and equally strong companions, so I’m certainly keen to hear more from both of them.
The producer of the series, Scott Handcock, is especially excited to be working on these.
"As a fan who grew up in the era of the New Adventures novels, I was thrilled when David Richardson offered me the opportunity to tackle a new box set featuring the Seventh Doctor, Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. The feedback to the novel adaptations was fantastic, and getting the chance to tell completely new stories with this TARDIS team has been a joy!"
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It’s exciting to know that someone who was so invested in the original novels is working on these. It already gives us a clear indication of what we can expect, in terms of quality. But what about in terms of story?
"We’ve tried to make the most of the box set format, so we have four original hour-long stories reuniting the Doctor, Roz and Chris – and, of course, Sylvester, Yasmin and Travis, who struck up such a brilliant rapport on the adaptations.The four new tales tackle very different genres, in very different settings and times, with Chris and Roz creator Andy Lane kicking off the box set with his story, The Trial of a Time Machine. There really is something for everyone!"
So it sounds like we’ve got quite a lot to look forward to, both for fans of the novels and for those who’ve never read or listened to the characters before. This should be very exciting!
The New New Adventures will be released in November 2018 on CD or download from Big Finish’s website.
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Were you a fan of the original novels? Are you keen to hear more from this team? Or will this be an interesting entry point for you to these characters? Let us know in the comments below.