Doctor Who news: David Tennant to star in epic new audio series Dalek Universe!

The Tenth Doctor will enter a classic era next year, in Big Finish’s upcoming series Doctor Who: Dalek Universe starring David Tennant!

If you’re a fan of both the Tenth Doctor and Daleks, then you just might be excited by this news. For the past few years, David Tennant has been playing his iconic Doctor Who role in The Tenth Doctor Adventures, usually in small box sets of three audio adventures each. So far, three volumes have been released starring Catherine Tate and Billie Piper as Donna and Rose, with Alex Kingston starring in a new set of Ten and River stories in November.

But next year might give us the most exciting season of The Tenth Doctor Adventures yet. Because, at nine episodes spread across three volumes, not only is it the longest. But Dalek Universe looks set to be the most ambitious. Producer David Richardson reveals why.

"What is Dalek Universe? Well it is the first full season of Doctor Who adventures starring David Tennant as the Doctor in over ten years. It is also a huge celebration of the work and imagination of Terry Nation."

The Tenth Doctor will be reunited with his former companion Anya Kingdom. But can he trust her?

Image courtesy Big Finish Productions

Before the Time War

The Tenth Doctor in the era of Terry Nation Dalek stories. That’s extremely exciting, especially for fans of Sixties Dalek stories. The Tenth Doctor in a pre-Time War era series is a fantastic idea, for two reasons: first, it’s a way for the Daleks to appear in Ten stories that slot in seamlessly with the TV stories we know.

Secondly, this allows the Tenth Doctor to fight some classic Terry Nation monsters: not just the Daleks, but also the Mechonoids, Movellans, and even Davros! To fight all of these enemies, he’s going to need help. And he’ll get it from two agents of the Space Security Service. One is Mark Seven (Joe Sims). The other is someone he’s extremely familiar with: Anya Kingdom (Jane Slavin).

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Who is Anya Kingdom?

This last piece of news is something that I’m particularly excited by. Anya Kingdom had previously been the main companion in last year’s season of The Fourth Doctor Adventures…kind of. When the Doctor met her, she was undercover as Ann Kelso from the 1970s. In fact, her cover was so deep, even she didn’t know who she was!

Throughout the events of The Syndicate Master Plan, she had been working against the Doctor, taking out any threats against who she was really working for. But even that ruthless aspect of her personality was completely under someone else’s control.

Eventually, she joined forces with the Doctor to help bring down the real villain of the story, but her betrayal – as well as the “death” of her cover, Ann Kelso – proved to be too much for the Doctor, and he decided to end their travels together. Will he feel differently about her when he sees her again? We can’t wait to find out.

All three volumes of Dalek Universe are available to pre-order on CD, download, and limited edition triple LP vinyl, directly from Big Finish’s website. Each volume will be released in Apr, Jul, and Oct 2021, respectively.

Are you excited about Dalek Universe? Are you a fan of Terry Nation’s Dalek stories? Do you think Ten exploring the pre-Time War era is a good idea? Let us know in the comments below.