Doctor Who news: Pamela Salem and David Collings star in The Robots 2 – out today

Doctor Who audio spin-off The Robots continues today with the release of its second volume – which features two very familiar characters…

For fans of classic Tom Baker story The Robots of Death, you’re going to be pretty happy about this news. The second volume of Doctor Who audio spin-off series The Robots, starring Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka and Claire Rushbrook as her sister Tula, is out today.

Not only is it a series that explores Kaldor – the world depicted in The Robots of Death -in a huge amount of depth. But it also features the return of two major characters from the original serial: Toos and Poul, as played by Pamela Salem and David Collings.

David Collings

The Robots represents some of the last work from Collings, who passed away earlier this year. A veteran character actor, we’ve been reviewing some of his appearances in other Big Finish audios this month, including Jago & Litefoot, where he played the rather sinister Gabriel Sanders; The King of Sontar, in which his scientist Rosato becomes extremely misguided, and Full Fathom Five. The last example especially stands out, as he plays a rather terrifying version of the Doctor.

While The Robots 2 features one of his final performances, this won’t be the last we’ll hear of him, as producer David Richardson reveals.

"I was delighted to invite [Collings] to join The Robots to reprise the part of Poul, and how lucky we were to secure time to record his great contributions for volumes 2, 3 and 4. He was a lovely man to work with, and of course still such a brilliant actor. It’s been said before but I’ll say it again: he was the best Doctor Who we never had."

So it’s not just this volume that we get to hear Collings return to his key role as Poul – we can also look forward to subsequent appearances for the character in later box sets.

Pamela Salem resumes her role of Toos, who originally appeared in The Robots of Death.

(Image credit: The Robots/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions. Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.)

Buildup

But what else do we have to look forward to from this series? Well, according to script editor John Dorney, events will be gradually escalating on Kaldor.

"More from Winter is ComingFor All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule WesterosConfirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”There’s an overall plan for where the range is going which should slowly become clearer over the next few sets. It will build into a bigger scale storyline which I think people will get a great kick out of."

That sounds extremely promising. The first volume of The Robots was great at establishing the series. It didn’t do too much at once but clearly hinted that things were slowly changing on Kaldor, while still giving us some very intimate and character-focused dramas. Volume 2 looks set to give us more of the same while tying even more directly to the original Doctor Who story.

The Robots 2 is out now on CD and download directly from Big Finish’s website. You can purchase it on its own or as part of a bundle for the complete series. For another story that explored what happened to Toos and Poul after The Robots of Death, check out our review for the Fourth Doctor novel Corpse Marker.

Are you excited about the return of two major characters from The Robots of Death? Is it one of your favorite Fourth Doctor serials? Have you listened to the previous volume of The Robots? Let us know in the comments below.