Doctor Who: Madame Vastra, River Song, Kate Stewart and many others to feature in The Eighth of March next year
By James Aggas
A new box set has been announced by Big Finish for next year, focusing on just a few of the many important women of Doctor Who.
Yesterday, Big Finish announced something very special for International Women’s Day 2019. The upcoming audio release The Eighth of March will feature a huge cast of memorable female characters from Doctor Who, both Classic and New.
The four different stories will focus on different characters, and the box set should have something for everyone. For example, for fans of both the Classic Series and the expanded universe, The Big Blue Book by Lizzie Hopley will feature Seventh Doctor companions Ace and Professor Bernice Summerfield.
For those who enjoy the New Series, Narcissus by Sarah Grochala will feature the new UNIT team, including Kate, Osgood and, for the first time in a Big Finish story, the other Osgood!
Or if you prefer something more Victorian, then perhaps Gemma Langford’s Inside Every Warrior, which features the Paternoster Gang, will be more to your taste.
And last but not least, if you enjoy mixing and matching between Classic and New Who, then Emancipation by Lisa McMullin, which will feature both River Song and Fourth Doctor companion Leela, should be perfect for you.
The Paternoster Gang will be featured in one of the episodes for one of the episodes from The Eighth of March. But what else can we expect?
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
A history of great female characters
It’s very fitting that a box set designed to celebrate the women of Doctor Who has such a wide variety of stories to tell. Especially when it comes from Big Finish.
After all, before they were even making Doctor Who audios, they originally started with adaptations based on Bernice Summerfield’s adventures, before eventually going in their own direction with brand new stories. And twenty years later, those stories are still going strong. So it’s no wonder that she and Ace get an episode to themselves in this set.
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But in addition to all of that, as a Whovian, this is just an exciting release, for many different reasons. For one thing, we’re finally getting the full Paternoster Gang on audio. We’ve had Madame Vastra make an appearance in The Churchill Years, and Strax show up in the spin-off series Jago & Litefoot.
But we haven’t had anything from the full gang on audio yet. And considering their pure spin-off potential, that’s surprising. So I’m glad that they’re getting at least one full story to themselves, this time. Let’s hope it eventually leads to a full series.
In addition to that, we’re also getting stories of the UNIT team post-The Day of the Doctor. While they’ve had six series out so far, (with the seventh out next month,) all of them have been set before the fiftieth anniversary special. And we haven’t really heard that much interaction between the two Osgoods yet. So I’m looking forward to hearing that episode.
And of course, River Song meeting Leela just sounds fantastic. I love both of these very different characters, and can’t wait to find out their reactions to each other.
Regardless, whether you want to celebrate International Women’s Day in a very geeky way, or just simply want a box set of really exciting stories and encounters in the Doctor Who universe, I think The Eighth of March looks set to be a great release, either way.
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Who are your favorite female characters in Doctor Who? Are there any that you wish were appearing in this set? Which episode sounds the most interesting to you? Let us know in the comments below.