The First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan will face the Daleks once again in the fourth volume of Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures, starring David Bradley as the Doctor!
We finally have some news regarding the next volume of The First Doctor Adventures, and it’s exciting news, too! For those of you unaware of the series, The First Doctor Adventures is an audio series that essentially aims to recreate the era Doctor Who‘s earliest seasons, but with both a new cast and brand new stories.
Originally playing the actors in An Adventure in Space and Time, David Bradley, Jemma Powell, Jamie Glover and Claudia Grant now play the First Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan, respectively.
Across the first three volumes, the TARDIS team have faced Samurai, New York gangsters, time going wrong, and even the Master! But volume four will have them meet an enemy that they’re all too familiar with in Return to Skaro – where they will face the Daleks once more…
The Doctor and his friends face the Daleks once more in Return to Skaro…
(Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions)
Return to Skaro
Taking place between this team’s two on-screen encounters – the latter of which was Susan’s exit story – Return to Skaro by Andrew Smith looks set to be a direct sequel to their original encounter, as they’re reunited with both the Daleks and the Thals once more!
"A new plan to return to Earth actually returns the TARDIS to another place its crew have recently visited – Skaro, home world of the Daleks.But it is some time after their previous visit. The Thals have moved on with developing their species… Yet the shadow of the Dalek city always looms large over them.Venturing into the abandoned metropolis, the Doctor and his friends discover the Daleks aren’t as dead as they might have thought… and it isn’t only their enemies who have secrets."
Unsurprisingly, David Bradley seems extremely excited about this.
"To record audio scenes with Daleks you have to have met them in real life – which I did in An Adventure in Space and Time and in Twice Upon a Time. The first time I encountered one on set it brought back that prickle on the back of the neck as I remembered them from when I was a child. The fact that they couldn’t go upstairs didn’t matter, they were still terrifying! To meet the man inside was funny and touching – it took me back to being young and terrified!"
Clearing up continuity
I must admit, this story sounds extremely exciting. I’m a big fan of the Sixties Dalek stories – in some ways, this was when they felt somewhat grounded, and therefore more terrifying as a result. So to have a direct sequel to their original appearance – one that sounds even more direct than The Dalek Invasion of Earth – is extremely fitting.
Speaking of the chronologically later story, could Return to Skaro conflict with it? Not at all. In fact, it might actually clear up this little exchange:
"Ian: Doctor, I don’t understand this at all. We saw the Daleks destroyed on Skaro. We were there.Doctor: My dear boy, what happened on Skaro was a million years ahead of us in the future. What we’re seeing now is about the middle history of the Daleks."
At the time, this was a reasonable explanation for their return. But following adventures seemed to make it clear that The Daleks was, in some ways, relatively early in their history. Perhaps Return to Skaro might make that line fit better in a new context? Especially as it’s set much later than the original story, too?
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Last of the Romanovs
Of course, along with this major reunion, we also have another pure historical to look forward to, as well. Here’s what we can expect from Last of the Romanovs by Jonathan Barnes:
"The TARDIS lands on Earth near to an eerie and familiar house… with the only witness a regal man watching from inside through a broken window.Leaving the ship the crew immediately find themselves in trouble – because they have landed in Ekaterinburg early in the twentieth century.The man inside the house is Nicholas, the last Tsar of Russia, imprisoned with his family… and one of the most notorious crimes in history is just about to happen."
I love a good historical, and Jonathan Barnes is a brilliant writer. (His Sherlock Holmes stories for Big Finish are definitely worth checking out.) So I have high hopes for Last of the Romanovs.
Overall, like previous volumes, The First Doctor Adventures: Volume 4 looks set to be extremely exciting, and should be a real highlight to listen to in March 2020. You can pre-order the box set on CD or digital from Big Finish’s website.
Have you enjoyed The First Doctor Adventures so far? Are you looking forward to hearing the First Doctor meet the Daleks once more? Let us know in the comments below.