Doctor Who: 1001 Nights is this week’s free Big Finish download

The first episode of Fifth Doctor and Nyssa anthology 1001 Nights is the latest Doctor Who audio to be made available for free.

For the past few weeks, Big Finish has been releasing episodes and stories from their vast back catalog for free during the ongoing lockdown. Previous releases have included episodes from The War Doctor, The Companion Chronicles, and even an episode from their completely original series, Cicero. This week, it’s back to Doctor Who again with an episode from Fifth Doctor and Nyssa anthology1001 Nights.

Every so often, Big Finish mixes things up in their monthly Doctor Who releases with an anthology. This not only provides new listeners with an easy jumping-on point, but also gives regular listeners a bit of a break from both the three-month-long seasons as well as four-episode serials.

These anthologies provide a nice variety of storytelling within just two hours. Having to tell a complete Doctor Who story in just half an hour is quite a challenge, and it’s interesting listening to the different ways that writers work within that limit. So selecting an episode from one of these anthologies is a neat idea, as while it’s only part of a release, it still offers listeners a complete story.

The cast of 1001 Nights: (L to R) Teddy Kempner, Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Alexander Siddig, Nadim Sawalha and Malcolm Tierney.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

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A linked anthology

While many Doctor Who anthologies feature completely standalone stories, some of them like to put a little twist on the format. 1001 Nights is, as you can likely guess from the title, more than a little inspired by the story of Scheherazade and the Arabian Nights tales, with Nyssa telling a different story in each episode.

"A long time ago, two travellers came from far away…In the perfumed palace of an omnipotent Sultan, a girl must tell stories to keep the man she cares about from a cruel and horrible death. She spins tales of distant lands she has visited with a mysterious traveller, of fabulous creatures and fantastic adventures — and of a blue box that can travel in time and space.Meanwhile, in the dungeons below the throne room, there lurks a secret which will bring down the kingdom — perhaps even the universe.Can the Doctor and Nyssa escape from this never-ending story before the final chapter spells their end?"

The first episode of 1001 Nights is available to download and listen to for free right now until Monday. You can also get the whole anthology for 50% off, and even more Fifth Doctor stories are currently on sale in a bundle.

Will you be listening to the first episode of 1001 Nights? Have you listened to the anthology before? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments below.