Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• As a reminder, Nick is on holiday for the remainder of the year. Jonathon Carley steps in for Benji starting this week, and Benji steps in for Nick.
• Big Finish got special permission to release the 10th and 20th anniversary Radio Times specials this year, but that's not to say they couldn't do more books or similar releases in the future.
• They'd like to say they planned the Decayed Master trilogy on Dark Gallifrey for the 50th anniversary of The Deadly Assassin, but it was a happy coincidence.

Random Tangents: Engie Benjy

Production Interviews: The Confessions of Dorian Gray: A Night at the Theatre by Scott Handcock

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories - The Song of the Reed Man by Katherine White

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the foreseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Vortex #212

• Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories
  • Doctor, Doctor, Doctor by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle
    • Stewart Pringle was originally going to write this story alone, an uncommon occurrence for the couple, but Lauren became available.
    • Stewart got to pick from a handful of Doctors to write a story for, and the brief was very open as long as it was "properly scary".
  • The Song of the Reed Man by Katherine White
    • John Dorney told Katherine to write something that would give him nightmares, and she immediately knew she wanted to write a story featuring witch hunting in Essex.
    • Katherine wanted the hunters to be hunted, and though the Krynoids were right for the story.
    • Says Katherine: “The Song of the Reed Man is set on the night of the Samhain when the spirits of the dead are close at hand and an ancient hunger wakes from the deep. It looks at the warped and twisted hearts of men and the cost of doing anything to survive in a world where even the shadows can’t be trusted...I tried to make my own skin crawl as I wrote it; I wanted to make sure the horror gets into the bones of the audience.”
  • Office Space by Georgia Cook and Fio Trethewey
    • Another couple pairing on this box set, this marks the first time Georgia and Fio have written together at Big Finish.
    • Not much detail is thrown out for this story outside of the synopsis.
  • Overworked by Hannah Kennedy
    • Hannah worked on the last Halloween set, and revisited some ideas she pitched last year. She's been dying to tell this story since she first pitched it.
    • Says Hannah: "This year, I tapped into one of my other greatest loves and fears, body horror, which was a treat to dig into with characters such as the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa."
• The Eighth Doctor Adventures: New Pathways
  • Overall Box Set
    • David Richardson specifically wanted to avoid a big all-out celebration of 30 years of the Eighth Doctor, bringing back every companion and facing off against the Daleks, and opted for something that recognizes the anniversary but moves forward.
    • Helen did travel with new companion Alfie for a time after Liv left (implying there may have been a Helen-only gap after Liv stopped traveling).
    • It's been stated before but this set is being described as a whole new era of the Eighth Doctor's life.
    • Sam Stafford and Natalie Gumede had their roles as Alfie and Chase written for them, as David Richardson wanted to give them regular roles. Chase used to work in television and film as a gaffer, but the industry left her behind and now she works in a call center. Alfie is described as 'A Really Nice Bloke'.
    • The music in this set is centered around Chase. They made her theme basic and easily arranged with any instruments and style so that future sets can create variations of her theme that suit the story.
  • Chase by Alan Ronald
    • Alan describes Chase as "hands-on, clever, and funny", and "appreciates the adventure she has been granted, whatever the danger."
    • Alfie is described by Alan as "the Laurel to the Eighth's Hardy."
    • The brief was to create a story with two new companions set around Earth with a family element.
  • Magic of the Sycorax by Katharine Armitage
    • Described as a base under siege story written with Warriors of the Deep in mind (from a perspective of its potential on page, she notes), she wanted the story to feel claustrophobic and to strip the Doctor and co. of all their resources and tools.
    • Katharine had fun adding to the lore and complexity of the Sycorax, as well as thinking up new "spells" for them to cast.
  • Blast from the Past by Robert Valentine
    • The Doctor "accidentally" brings Chase and Alfie to Earth in this story. Robert Valentine was tasked with including "one particular point that will take us into the new set of adventures."
    • Set in 2096, the UK has become an "authoritarian dictatorship drunk on nostalgia and the appropriation of British cultural iconography – think of Cool Britannia in jackboots."
• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Armageddon Dawn by Matt Fitton
  • They think of this story as being the climax of Act 3 in this series, and wanted it to be a big one.
  • Matt Fitton creates a new Dalek in this story: the Dalek Negotiator. The Doctor describes it as "a chicken-farming fox".
  • Fitton wanted to give Jodie a more traditional Dalek story, as he considers all their TV appearances in the Thirteenth Doctor's era to be "inventive and new".
• The Fugitive Doctor: Running Wild
  • Tholos by Alex Hewitt
    • The Doctor is taking her battle to the enemy, and is set on finding "the Man in the Grey Suit."
    • Cosmogon has undergone a forced regeneration at the hands of Division in hopes of making her more compliant and responsive to pressure to find the Doctor.
  • Scripture by Katharine Armitage
    • The Doctor visits an archive that backs up reality in hopes of finding the answers she needs.
    • Katharine Armitage invents a new word here ("futristory") and creates a world where tenses aren't set, which made writing difficult, but she believes it all came together.
  • Genesis of the Doctor by Rochana Patel
    • Rochana Patel says she always throws out ideas that push boundaries and she expects will be rejected. This is one of those stories.
    • Rochana notes that audiences got the idea quickly in this series that they would keep everything about the Fugitive Doctor vague and the series would never do anything of consequence. Her goal with this story is to correct that misconception and show how much they can do.
    • Rochana doesn't find battles with Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, etc. to be exciting for this Doctor, so she wrote against that. The Fugitive Doctor will be in "titanic battles at the dawn of time against unimaginable foes, with Division knee deep in the terror and chaos."
• The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Homecoming
  • The Auton Invasion of Ace by Jonathan S Powell
    • Jonathan got the idea for this story when he was kayaking in Thailand and found a crop of dead jellyfish, and realized that it was pollution from tourism and commercialism that had killed them.
  • The Leviathan by Rochana Patel
    • The brief was to revisit they heydays of the Doctor, Ace, and Hex before everything fell apart.
    • Rochana wanted to write a Doctor that was proactive, as she likes to do with later Classic Doctors, and find adventures this Doctor might want to go on outside of the classic tropes.
    • The Seventh Doctor is at the height of his powers, and has full control over his TARDIS. He chooses in this story to plunge into the unknown "on a voyage based purely on his scientific curiosity."
  • There's No Place Like Home by Jonathan Morris
    • It was Jonathan's idea to finally answer why Ace fell out with her mother so badly.
    • An older Ace tracks a strange signal to her mother's grave, and is thrown back through time to re-experience her past from both her and her mother's perspective. It's very much a character-centered piece, and is light on "plot" in the traditional Doctor Who sense.
• Vortex Mail
  • A listener writes in asking if the Thirteenth Doctor will get a new companion or meet Missy or River. Nick says "I think I have to revert to my usual, mysterious reply of, 'Just imagine...' on these questions."
  • Nick doubles down that they will be releasing The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind on CD, though he doesn't give a release window.
  • No plans for Benny and Seventh Doctor stories currently.
  • No plans for Class to return.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery is released on 29 September (DTO: £9.99 | DTO + CD: £13.99)
  • Synopsis: The Doctor and Yaz are sent on a mission of mercy - but who or what are they supposed to be rescuing? On board a hijacked space train, the stakes get higher as the fate of the Maelin system hangs in the balance. As the Rebel factions and Sentinel guards join battle, time is running out. Will the Doctor discover the secret of the Maelin Anomaly?

Trailers

• Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories
• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery (Video Trailer)

Cover Reveals

• The Fugitive Doctor: Running Wild
• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Armageddon Dawn

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• A Dalek encounter for the Thirteenth Doctor! As the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz face off against their new enemy the Aegis Protectorate, they discover they're in collusion with an older foe: the Daleks. The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Armageddon Dawn (DTO: £9.99 | DTO + CD: £13.99) by Matt Fitton is due out in November.
  • Synopsis: The Doctor decides it's time to deal with Aegis. Taking Yaz to confront the company at the height of its powers, she finds Athena Nikos entertaining some unexpected clients. Tech genius Esskapell wants control of Aegis for his own reasons - but, more worrying, so does the 'Dalek Negotiator'...
• A killer Krynoid encounter for the Third Doctor. Story details are out for next week's Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories (DTO: £24.99 | DTO + CD: £35.99):
  • Doctor, Doctor, Doctor – a Seventh Doctor adventure by Stewart Pringle and Lauren Mooney In the 1980s, four physics students find themselves drawn to a strange mirror, seemingly haunted by a ghastly figure carrying a distinctive umbrella… As they experiment with the mirror, they begin to lose themselves in its mystery, as the entity within seeks to break into their world.
  • The Song of the Reed Man – a Third Doctor and Jo Jones adventure by Katherine White When the Doctor and Jo land in the marshes of Essex, in 1562, they find themselves at the dawn of England’s witch hunting mania. But lurking beneath the waterways, there lies an ancient evil, ready to hunt and feast. Can the Doctor help an isolated coven see reason, before it’s too late? 
  • Office Space – a UNIT adventure by Georgia Cook and Fio Tretheway It’s Max’s first night shift at the UNIT liaison call centre in Chester, screening emergency calls from the public for signs of extraterrestrial threat. But tonight the calls hold something far deadlier, and soon Max and his colleagues find themselves fighting for their lives to survive against the night itself. 
  • Overworked – a Fifth Doctor and Nyssa adventure by Hannah Kennedy When the TARDIS locks on to a signal calling out for a ‘doctor’, Nyssa and the Doctor are brought to a hospital on Earth in 1974. However, with the help of cleaners Harold and Sophie, they discover that something is very wrong with the patients here, something otherworldly.
• Helen Lederer joins The Fugitive Doctor. A new box set for the Fugitive Doctor is due out month. The Fugitive Doctor: Running Wild (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £29.99) will feature a regenerated Cosmogon played by Helen Lederer, as well as the Daleks.
  • Tholos by Alex Hewitt To uncover the secrets hidden within her mind, the Doctor voyages to the Temple of Lucidity – a great tholos floating through space – where a multicoloured tiger will teach her the secrets of the mystical dream-language of Oneira. But are the Arkiris Tiger’s motives pure? How has the Doctor’s dogged pursuer, Cosmogon, managed to follow her here? And why does Cosmo have a new face?
  • Scripture by Katharine Armitage In the Scripture System, temporally unbound scribes chronicle the history of the universe: everything that has been, everything that is, and everything that will be. They're the people with the answers and the Doctor has some very big questions for them. But so do the Daleks…and if the metal-plated conquerors from Skaro are ever going to dominate the universe, they’re going to have to do something about someone whose name begins with ‘D’.
  • Genesis of the Doctor by Rochana Patel All stories have a beginning, but some are shrouded in myth and legend, and lost to the mists of time…  What you need is a living witness. And a mind probe.  And the Doctor will soon have both…  This time, one way or another, she will have her answers – but is she ready for them?

 

Out of Print This Week

• The Monthly Adventures: 269. Shadow of the Daleks 1
• Bernice Summerfield: 2.1 The Secret of Cassandra

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Destiny of the Doctor Flash Sale: Use code DOCTORS at checkout to get 25% off all stories in the range, including The Complete Adventure! (Ends 1 October)
• The Monthly Adventures 201 - 275: Up to 50% off The Monthly Adventures 201 - 275! (Ends 4 October)
  • We Are the Daleks
  • Criss-Cross
  • The Peterloo Massacre
  • The Two Masters Trilogy (And You Will Obey Me / Vampire of the Mind / The Two Masters)
  • Alien Heart / Dalek Soul
  • Time in Office
  • The Middle
• October Offer: Spend £66.66 or more to get 13% off of your order with checkout code DEAL [does not include bundles and preorders] (Ends 31 October).
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. October's selection: Callan Volume 01 for just £9.99 on DTO or CD + DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. October's selection is The Audio Novels: The Missing Hour Part 1 (Excerpt). Just click on the link and use this month's code MALTA.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: Halloween: Sea Smoke and Other Stories - Party Favours (Excerpt). Use discount code KELP at checkout to save 16% off the full release of Halloween: Sea Smoke and Other Stories (Ends 4 October).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 6 October - Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories
• 8 October - The Confessions of Dorian Gray: A Night at the Theatre
• 13 October - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: False Friends
• 15 October - Star Cops: Conflict: Tick Tock
• 20 October - The Third Doctor Adventures: The Planet Killers
• 22 October - The Audio Novels: The Missing Hour
• 27 October - The War Master: Deeds Without Name

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
10	The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
	Lair of the Voltaxa	3.36/5	36 votes
	March of the Colossus	2.98/5	32 votes
	Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit	4.08/5	56 votes
	Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits
	Battleships	3.24/5	39 votes
	Get Rich or Die Trying	2.92/5	37 votes
1.8	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery	2.68/5	65 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Finishing the Second Doctor Adventures and listening to all of War Widow. I also binged everything Circuit Breaker up to Kaleidoscope. Hoping I can find the time to read that and listen to Big Finish's contributions.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• None

The Rumor Mill

• ‘Doctor Who’: Multiple BBC Studios Labels Likely To Apply For Tender. BBC Studios runs their own in-house label that will be bidding on the show, but they also own several independent labels such as Clerkenwell Films (Baby Reindeer), Lookout Point (Happy Valley), and House Productions (Sherwood). They would join competitor and ITV Studios-owned outfit World Productions (Line of Duty) in bidding for the show.
• BBC Boss Says He Watched a ‘Pretty Good’ AI-Generated Episode of ‘Doctor Who’: ‘Everyone’s a Creator, Not All the Creativity Is Bad’. Matt Brittin said at the Royal Television Society conference in London: “Somebody sent me a 50-minute episode of ‘Doctor Who’ that was AI-generated the other day. It’s pretty good. I mean, it’s not going to replace humans, and we’ll come on to that. So everyone’s a creator. Not all the creativity is bad.” Brittin does not sit on the panel that will be evaluating studio pitches for the show's tender.

Media/Merchandise

• Battles in Time: Circuit Breaker Limited Edition Collector's Set is due for release in October, and is limited to only 750 sets worldwide.
• Doctor Who: Shard of Life, a Second Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie audio original read by David Troughton, is released 1 October.
• Doctor Who: The Satan Pit - Extended Movie Cut is available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Alex Macqueen's Master will not be one of the remaining Dark Gallifrey trilogies, but Nick has worked on something recently that features the character.
• Next week will be Nick's final podcast for the year. He's not taken a true vacation in 20 years, and a number of people suggested he take an extended holiday for a while. He's taking a three-month sabbatical, and will be largely stepping away from his role as creative director for that time (though there are some projects he will still inevitably need to keep working on). As far as the podcast goes, he will be replaced by Jonathon Carley for the remainder of the year.

Random Tangents: [Elephant Noises]

Production Interviews: Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit by Robert Valentine and Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits - Battleships by Alex Hewitt

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the foreseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe is released on 8 September (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99)
  • Synopsis: The Doctor and Nyssa face alien menaces on Earth and on a far-off unnamed world.
    • Lair of the Voltaxa by Roland Moore (4 parts) The time travellers' plans for a break in Devon are disrupted by a report of a car 'coming to life' and attacking someone. The Doctor suspects a link to the 'Miri Cube' - a sentient gadget soon to be launched nationwide. Technology that is decades ahead of its time. But the cubes contain a disturbing secret - an alien intellect is preparing its plans for conquest.
    • March of the Colossus by Alan Ronald (2 parts) On a beautiful, unspoiled world, the Doctor and Nyssa meet the Dianasa, a primitive tribe who await Arrival Day, when the giant deity that protects them will descend from the sky. An intriguing myth. Except the Colossus is real, as a ruthless off-worlder has discovered. And he will stop at nothing to exploit this discovery for his own ends.

Trailers

• Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit

Cover Reveals

• The War Doctor Rises: Serpent's Nest
• The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Homecoming

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• The War Doctor Rises reaches its finale. The full-cast audio drama series The War Doctor Rises will come to its climax in its sixth and final box set-length adventure, Serpent’s Nest (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £29.99).
  • Synopsis: The War Doctor arrives on Kyloska – a doomed world, where civilisation is entering its death throes. But something dark lurks here. Something that knows the Doctor of old...
    • 6.1 Wheel of Corruption On the trail of a vanished Time Lord regiment, the War Doctor arrives on Kyloska – a doomed world, where civilisation is entering its death throes. But something dark lurks here, looking for escape. Something that knows the Doctor of old...
    • 6.2 Broken Mirrors The Doctor has found what he was searching for on Kyloska – only to discover that the Mara may have got there first...
    • 6.3 Domain of the Snake The Mara emerges triumphant, with Gallifrey in its sights. And in Time Lord minds, the Dark Places are bigger on the Inside...
• Ace Goes Home. A new box set featuring three Ace stories (including Hex!) set across her life is coming in January. The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Homecoming (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99) will be the second 2026 release for the range, unfortunately being delayed until January.
  • Synopsis: When a time storm sends Dorothy Gale to the far future, she meets a mysterious traveller, the Doctor. And the rest, as they say, is history... Now, at last, it's time for Ace to face her greatest fear of all. It's time to go back to Perivale. It's time to go home.
    • The Auton Invasion of Ace by Jonathan S Powell As sentient merchandise lays siege to 21st-century Thailand, a teenage tearaway from Perivale is having the time of her life. Armed with her new mentor the Doctor and a couple of cans of Nitro-9, Ace is ready to fight back. But the Nestene Consciousness has a trick up its plastic sleeve. A trick by the name of Audrey Gale...
    • The Leviathan by Rochana Patel When the Doctor takes Ace and Hex to the Overlook, a temporal Tortuga suspended in the time vortex, an impossible journey begins into uncharted waters. But just how far will the Doctor go to find the mythical Leviathan? What, or who, will he sacrifice? And are Ace and Hex willing to stay to find out?
    • There is No Place Like Home by Jonathan Morris Investigating an energy wave without informing her friends at UNIT, Ace finds herself back in Perivale beside her mother's grave. The Doctor is there - her Doctor, older - and so is a creature from the time vortex, a creature that will force Ace to face her greatest terror. Her own past.
• Peter Davison In Conversation with Nicholas Briggs. Recorded back in April, this 38-minute interview with Peter Davison sees him reflect on his life and career, including his time on a certain program back in the day. Oh how I love All Creatures Great and Small.
• Big Finish has a new page on their website: Rediscovered Releases.
  • Description: Occasionally after all CDs have sold, we have cancelled orders. Our warehouse team regularly checks our stock and this collection has been created to highlight releases that have now been reactivated for sale with VERY limited stock. In some cases there may only be one copy found, so act quick if you want to grab something that was previously unavailable!
• SCHEDULE CHANGES - Big Finish sent out an email today announcing plans to push back release dates on several upcoming stories and sets in order to reduce the number of releases each month. The affected releases are:

Title	Was	Now
The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Homecoming	November 2026	January 2027
The Death and Life of River Song: River and Rory	January 2027	February 2027
Gallifrey: War Room 4	January 2027	March 2027
The Fourth Doctor Adventures 2027A	March 2027	April 2027
The Fifth Doctor Adventures 2027A	April 2027	July 2027
The Sixth Doctor Adventures 2027A	May 2027	August 2027
The Fourth Doctor Adventures 2027B	June 2027	March 2028
The Seventh Doctor Adventures 2027A	June 2027	September 2027
The Second Doctor Adventures 2027A	July 2027	January 2028
The Sixth Doctor Adventures 2027B	August 2027	May 2028
The Fifth Doctor Adventures 2027B	September 2027	April 2028
The Seventh Doctor Adventures 2027B	September 2027	May 2028
The Third Doctor Adventures 2027B	October 2027	February 2028
The Eighth Doctor Adventures 2027A	November 2027	December 2028
The Eighth Doctor Adventures 2027B	December 2027	June 2028

Out of Print This Week

• None

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Davros Sale: Up to 50% off releases featuring Davros! (Ends 20 September)
  • The Monthly Adventures: 48. Davros
  • The Monthly Adventures: 78. Terror Firma
  • The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Trials of a Time Lord
  • Time War 4 (one of my top 10 Big Finish releases of all time)
  • The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 01
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. September's selection: The Withdrawal by Geoffrey Beevers for just £2.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. September's selection is The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow: The Shape of Fear (Excerpt). Just click on the link and use this month's code STORMCAGE.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Monthly Adventures: 208. The Waters of Amsterdam Part 1. Use discount code DUTCH at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Monthly Adventures: 208. The Waters of Amsterdam (Ends 20 September).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 22 September - Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit
• 24 September - Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits
• 29 September - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
4	The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
	The Shape of Fear	3.30/5	47 votes
	Bad Timing	3.74/5	45 votes
	Unchained Melodies	3.32/5	41 votes
	The Reality Director	4.24/5	42 votes
15C	The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation
	Daughter of Destruction	3.48/5	32 votes
	A New Occupation	3.55/5	28 votes
6.3	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3	3.29/5	40 votes
10	The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
	Lair of the Voltaxa	3.56/5	17 votes
	March of the Colossus	3.07/5	14 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight. Did not care at all for the Judoon two-parter, thought the third story was solid. I like Miles Taylor as the Doctor, but I can't help being taken out in a few spots. He so gets there sometimes so when it pulls away it's a bit harder. It's kind of the opposite of Culshaw as 12 to me -- I buy into Culshaw even though he doesn't sound exactly like Peter, but at moments he gets so close it hits hard.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• Doctor Who is officially out to tender. You can download the full document to read (as a Word document), but here are some key points:
  • The contract will be to produce Doctor Who for a multi-episodic series (including specials) for transmission in 28/29 with an option to extend the contract at BBC’s discretion to produce a second series.
  • The contract is offered on a work-for-hire basis, and all IP remains with the BBC. The BBC prefers a Wales qualification.
  • Relevant Production Experience:
    • Produced a returning scripted drama series (of at least 6 episodes/parts) for UK Network Television or SVOD that have returned on a regular schedule for at least three series.
    • High quality production and editing, including studio and location shooting as well as visual special effects.
    • Experience with relevant policy considerations for making programming suitable for broad family audience.
    • Understanding of challenges with working with a global brand and collaboration.
  • A "deep knowledge of Doctor Who" is a requirement for the short proposal.
  • The BBC want the new series to appeal to a broad family audience but deliver "back of the sofa scares, jeopardy and tension".
  • They want pitches to emphasize new monsters and villains, though established villains are welcome to be used.
  • Quote: "Doctor Who embraces themes that celebrate curiosity, courage, intelligence, and compassion, themes that interrogate the human condition and most of all, it should and will always be distinctively British storytelling."
  • They are flexible on whether the series is episodic or serialized, as well as the number of episodes in the series.
  • They are "not necessarily looking to work to a strict showrunner model and would expect once in production that the series will also use episodic writers". They do not require writers to be formally attached for the pitch.
  • They want the show to feel cinematic and distinctive, capable of competing for audience attention, and encourage "innovative approaches to production, world-building, visual effects, and storytelling that maximize the scale and emotional impact of the Doctor Who universe".
  • Schedule:
    • 17 September - Tender issued
    • 2 October - Deadline for submission of eligibility
    • 23 October - Deadline for short creative proposal
    • 6 November - Shortlist is created and tenderers are notified
    • December 2026 - Deadline for full tender submissions
    • January 2027 - Distribution conversations and interviews with tenderers
    • March 2027 - Award given and contract signed
  • Evaluation Team
    • Lindsay Salt - Commissioning Director, Drama
    • Nick Lambon - Commissioning Editor, Drama
    • Geraldine Atlee - Head of Business, Scripted Content
    • James Dundas - Commercial Rights & Business Affairs Manager (also serves as Tender Manager)

The Rumor Mill

• Some good official news this week, so we won't delve into anything here.

Media/Merchandise

• The Eighth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (Electroplated Edition) is available to order from Forbidden Planet.
• Doctor Who Magazine 634 is released on 17 September.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• BIG NEWS - Big Finish have found a cost-effective way to print smaller volumes of physical releases. They will potentially start implementing a new ordering model where customers have a specific window of time to pre-order a physical release, and they will essentially manufacture them to order. That being said, Big Finish intend to start releasing previously released/announced download-only runs on CD, starting with Torchwood: Legacy and the recently released Twelfth Doctor Adventure: Run Fast, Be Kind, with other ranges being considered for the same treatment.
  • No word on how they'll approach this for customers who have already purchased the 12DAs or pre-ordered Torchwood: Legacy, but I can easily see them offering an "upgrade" option at the price of pressing plus whatever margins they need to keep it profitable.
  • To add some clarification about how this new process makes a difference: for a download-only release to be profitable it must only overcome production costs. If a CD is to be profitable, it must overcome production, manufacturing, and storage costs. Storing a sellable product creates tax liability. If the Big Finish presses 2,500 CDs and only 1,500 sell, they have financial burden associated with the unsold 1,000. But if people put their orders in first and they can manufacture exactly 1,500 then that burden goes away. That cost could be the deciding factor in whether a release makes it physically or not. They’re certain of demand for Torchwood and 12DAs so they’ll go ahead with those, but they have to run the numbers on other ranges.

Random Tangents: Nick gets pedantic about cliques.

Production Interviews: The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe - Lair of the Voltaxa by Roland Moore and Star Cops: Conflict: Adrift by Georgia Cook

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe - Lair of the Voltaxa by Roland Moore

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the foreseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation is released on 8 September (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99)
  • Synopsis: Time travel. The Doctor is well aware of its dangers. But even the most well-meaning Time Lord can't guarantee something somewhere won't nudge it off track. And then history itself might be at stake...
    • 15.6 Daughter of Destruction by Katharine Armitage The TARDIS lands in the city of Ongud during a rebellion. The world is suffering the wrath of Genghis Khan and the Doctor and Sarah are right in the middle of it. It's a dangerous time, but one woman is about to stand up to the despot for the first time. His anger is about to be halted. Unless someone has made a very small mistake…
    • 15.7 A New Occupation by Helen Goldwyn Temporal disruption on Jersey leads to a new kind of time travel for the Doctor, Sarah and Harry and they soon find themselves on the island during its occupation by the Nazis. Can they return to the future without a TARDIS? And without the German forces changing history irrevocably?
• Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3 is released on 8 September (DTO: £8.99 | DTO + CD: £10.99)
  • Synopsis: With the Master bearing down, Naava flees through a skiproad to the plague-infected streets of medieval York. She's seeking her old friend Calix, the greatest of the chronosurgeons, to warn him of the nightmare that pursues her. But something else is emerging from the skiproads, something twisted and deadly, tearing chunks out of the panicked city. Naava has only one hope to set things right and escape the Master's clutches, and he's hundreds of years in the future, listening out for ghosts of the ancient city.

Trailers

• Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3
• The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe

Cover Reveals

• Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit and Short Circuits (Updated with a spoiler)

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Two new Doctor Who Audio Novels. The October 2026 and January 2027 audio novel releases have been unveiled as The Missing Hour (DTO: £19.99) and The Bath Chronicles (DTO: £19.99).
  • The Missing Hour by Simon Guerrier, from a storyline by Fio Tretheway and Simon Guerrier, performed by Barnaby Edwards June 1940 and the island of Malta is under constant bombardment.  Flight Officer Roddy Wright is one of a handful of Hurricane pilots helping to defend the island. He knows the odds are against him.  So, too, does his daughter. In fact, Barbara knows that there are just days – hours – until her father goes missing in action.  She can’t alter history. But until that fateful hour, how can she resist spending more time with the father she lost so long ago? What could possibly go wrong?
  • The Bath Chronicles, written and performed by Dan Starkey Jenny and Strax have been dispatched to Bath, the jewel of the West Country, for a bit of well-earned rest and recuperation.  The Roman Baths, tea shops, and elegant Georgian arcades beckon. But they get more old-world charm than they bargained for on their itinerary, after an eccentric lady leads them on journey that spans thousands of years into the past and hurls them into the far-flung future of the 1990s!  Will Jenny ever find a decent cup of tea again? Will Strax find a plug socket that’s compatible with his Sontaran travel charger? And will time itself collapse?  Along the way though, they’ll be reunited with two familiar Doctors...

   

• It’ll be a Doctor Who Halloween and Christmas. Following the popular 2025 box sets, Big Finish Productions today announced two new collections of Halloween and Christmas-themed full-cast audio drama set across the Doctor Who universe, to be released this October and December.
  • Halloween: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor and Other Stories (DTO: £24.99 | DTO + CD: £35.99) will be comprised of the following:
    • Doctor, Doctor, Doctor – a Seventh Doctor adventure by Stewart Pringle and Lauren Mooney
    • The Song of the Reed Man – a Third Doctor and Jo Jones adventure by Katherine White
    • Office Space – a UNIT adventure by Georgia Cook and Fio Tretheway
    • Overworked – a Fifth Doctor and Nyssa adventure by Hannah Kennedy

     

  • Christmas: Out of the Dark and Other Stories (DTO: £24.99 | DTO + CD: £35.99) will be comprised of the following:
    • Merry Christmas, Mr Chimbly – a Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa adventure by John Dorney
    • From the Realms of Glory – a River Song adventure by Hannah Kennedy
    • Out of the Dark – a Seventh Doctor and Ace adventure by Jonathan S Powell
    • And Tiny Tim, Who Did Not Die – an Eleventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield adventure by James Goss

 

Out of Print This Week

• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Hallamshire Incident
• Dark Gallifrey: Master! Part 2
• The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 14: The Last Queen of the Nile
• Torchwood: 58. Cadoc Point

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Time Lord Victorious: Up to 50% off releases from the Time Lord Victorious event! (Ends 13 September)
  • Time Lord Victorious Eighth Doctor Trilogy
• Charlotte Pollard: Up to 40% off releases featuring Charley Pollard to celebrate India Fisher's birthday! (Ends 17 September)
  • The Eighth Doctor and Charlotte Pollard Series 01
  • The Eighth Doctor Adventures: In the Bleak Midwinter
  • Classic Doctors New Monsters 3: The Stuff of Nightmares
  • The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Last Adventure
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. September's selection: The Withdrawal by Geoffrey Beevers for just £2.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. September's selection is The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow: The Shape of Fear (Excerpt). Just click on the link and use this month's code STORMCAGE.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: Hamlet Act 1. Use discount code GHOST at checkout to save 25% off the full release of Hamlet (Ends 13 September).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 15 September - The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
• 22 September - Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit
• 24 September - Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits
• 29 September - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
2	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
	Tyranny of the Judoon	3.67/5	90 votes
	Gambit of the Judoon	3.21/5	85 votes
	Wanted Dead and Alive	3.73/5	73 votes
10	The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion
	Save the Date	3.62/5	58 votes
	Poison's Reach	2.59/5	47 votes
	Broken Home	3.97/5	48 votes
4	The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
	The Shape of Fear	3.34/5	40 votes
	Bad Timing	3.68/5	38 votes
	Unchained Melodies	3.30/5	32 votes
	The Reality Director	4.29/5	33 votes
15C	The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation
	Daughter of Destruction	3.50/5	1621 votes
	A New Occupation	3.82/5	14 votes
6.3	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3	3.50/5	12 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Have had too much going on and now I've got a big backlog.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• The villain of Circuit Breaker revealed! New social media post revealing the villain of the Circuit Breaker multi-media event: >!the Conductor, !<played by >!Dan Starkey!<. The short is directed and animated by Anthony Lamb, and >!the Conductor!< is designed by Lee Binding.

The Rumor Mill

• Noel Clarke continues to be trash.

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who: The Third History Collection will be released on 3 December and feature audiobook novelisations of The Reign of Terror, The Smugglers, The Fires of Pompeii, The Crimson Horror, and The Witchfinders.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Nick does try to go era-specific for all his Dalek voices (i.e., emulate the performance of the actors of the time).
• Nick says they are recording Time War: Daleks vs Cybermen soon, which will feature the Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Emperor. He also says there are surely writers who are coming up with new Dalek variants.
• Nick recently ordered a new mixer that will allow him to record Dalek and Cybermen voices at roughly the same time (for the aforementioned Time War: Daleks vs Cybermen)

Random Tangents: Welcome to the Principality of Sealand

Production Interviews: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation - Daughter of Destruction by Katharine Armitage and Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3 by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle.

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation - Daughter of Destruction by Katharine Armitage

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the foreseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Vortex #211

• The Third Doctor Adventures: The Planet Killers
  • The Planet Killers by Andrew Smith
    • Producer Heather Challands describes this one as a "very industrial, very classic science fiction sort of story."
    • Andrew Smith came up with the idea of this story years ago for another range, and was happy to have another chance at it. Daleks weren't originally in the story -- that was a request from Nicholas Briggs.
    • Earlier this year, Big Finish reported that five students from Bristol Old Vic Drama School were selected to record an upcoming Third Doctor story. This is that story, and it was also recorded in the same studio that Paul McGann's first stories were recorded in. Because they were picking students based on talent, all characters were written without gender in mind.
    • The Planet Killers are contractors that destroy planets that are directly endangering another planet on an astronomical scale, such as a decaying orbit that will make it collide with another.
  • The Beasts of Sakhalin Island by Jez Fielder
    • This story comes from a long time Big Finish actor who felt he could take a shot at writing a story. Nick liked the outline and after it got final approval from Heather Challands, he was off to the races.
• The Ninth Doctor Adventures: False Friends by Timothy X Atack
  • The story was written with the approach that in the vast universe, there's planets out there that resemble Earth in many ways, but it's as if "it's been copied in broad strokes without any attention to detail."
  • Timothy liked to lean into the rhythm between the Doctor and Rose, and how she has become more confident in her travels.
  • This story features "a grenade [Timothy gets] to throw in at a crucial moment that leads to na almost existential challenge for the TARDIS team...a real brain-boggler." He was unsure whether the schene would be feasible to perform or to hear.
• The War Master: Deeds Without Name
  • The Unstately Home by Alison Winter
    • Alison says: "Rob explained in his brief that the Master at this point was ‘no longer making plans for the future because he’s realised there isn’t one. He’s always wanted to survive the Time War but now that he’s accepted it can’t be survived, he’s indulging in wanton wickedness in the face of his own inevitable destruction."
    • Summing up the story, Alison suggests it’s like: “The sitcom Waiting for God meets Hannibal Lecter. Older people in a luxury home for seniors are navigating the awareness of their own ageing and end-of-life with a little help from a friendly cognitive hypnotherapist who is merely helping them explore their memories and how to be at peace with them – or to be tortured by them...”
  • Dead Man's Pulse by Mark Bowsher
    • Mark says: **"**I was told Derek loves dark humour and that his incarnation was very Hannibal Lecter so I really leaned into both. There was a line in the brief about the Master at this time toasting teacakes on the fires of a burning universe or similar. Lovely stuff!"
    • This story takes place in a star system halfway between Gallifrey and Skaro that's been decimated by the crossfire, with scavengers keeping the Master alive with the Dead Man's Pulse to use him as a bargaining chip. But they soon find they need his help to keep the people they stole him from off their tail.
  • The Devil's in the Detail by David K Barnes
    • In this story, the Master is assisting an engineer who's trying to break up the monopoly on energy on his planet, where perpetual night forces them to always have the lights on. While we've seen stories where the Master helps someone for his own purposes just to stab them in the back, David says his true motives may surprise you.
  • In His Anecdotage by Matthew Sweet
    • Matthew sweet tested positive for COVID-19 the day before recording, so he didn't get to attend and see Sir Derek record his script.
    • The Master is publishing his memoirs, and promoting them too -- he'll go on all sorts of talk and game shows to spread the word. Matthew says that "When the Master appears on Call My Bluff, I think almost everything he says is from Derek’s appearance on Call My Bluff!"
    • Most of this story sounds to be a bit of a farce (in a good way), but does end with the Master doing something "very evil in the last scene...and he also sings while he's doing it."
• The Confessions of Dorian Gray: A Night at the Theatre by Scott Handcock
  • Scott Handcock says he never considered them to be done with Dorian, just that he deserved an ending in 2016. The story takes place in 1925 so it doesn't impact the finale at all.
  • Scott is open to doing more and setting something in modern times -- one of his pitches was actually to reboot the range and set it in today's world.
  • Alex forgot how he played Dorian and what he sounds like, and Scott had to remind him that it's just him.
• The Audio Novels: The Missing Hour by Simon Guerrier and Fio Tretheway
  • Full details on this release are revealed in the pages of Vortex. The story will feature the First Doctor and the original TARDIS team, set in the Mediterranean Sea during the Second World War, and be narrated by Barnaby Edwards.
  • Synopsis: The First Doctor and his friends arrive in June 1940, when the island of Malta is under constant bombardment. Flight Officer Roddy Wright is one of a handful of Hurricane pilots helping to defend the island. He knows the odds are against him. So, too, does his daughter. In fact, Barbara knows that there are just days – hours – until her father goes missing in action. She can’t alter history…
  • The story will explore the family history of Barbara Wright, specifically her father Roddy (named after Simon's great uncle, a Hurricane pilot in the Bartle of Britain), and play with the idea of altering your own personal history.
  • I list this story as being written by Simon Guerrier and Fio Tretheway as they originally were each going to write half, but Fio became ill at the time and Simon eventually took the whole thing over.
• Star Cops: Conflict: Adrift by Roland Moore and Star Cops: Conflict: Tick Tock by Andrew Smith
  • These stories make up an effective two-part finale to the Conflict series.
  • They're keeping extremely tight-lipped about this series, except that Roland's half ends on a game-changing cliffhanger.
• Vortex Mail
  • Nick says "The jury is still out on whether [a weekly release schedule like the 12DAs] makes a difference in terms of popularity." I think it's a shame to do it just for sales, but I guess if it hurts and the series can't exist under the model then I can see that appraoch.
  • A recreation of the first series of Pathfinders in Space would not garner a big enough audience for Big Finish.
  • There are no plans to do more Space: 1999, but Nick would love to do more.
  • Nick thinks it would be fun to adapt some Short Trips from the old books range in future releases.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow is released on 2 September (DTO: £29.99 | DTO + CD: £35.99)
  • Synopsis: River Song is dragged into the madness of the Time War, alongside a Doctor who never wanted to fight that battle. River thinks she knows where their paths will take them, but the temporal battlegrounds are shifting - and she can no longer take anything for granted. Not even her own existence.
    • 4.1 The Shape of Fear by James Kettle The Stormcage is attacked by creatures recruiting for the Time War, and the Doctor saves its most dangerous prisoner. He takes River into hiding on a remote world, whose rulers reject science. But spectres stalk the unwary, as the land itself becomes the enemy. And when the Doctor is lost, River discovers that the worst thing to do is to become emotional...
    • 4.2 Bad Timing by Matt Fitton River knows this Doctor's time is almost over. She can’t save him, but he wants to save her. Trying to escape the Time War, they end up deeper inside it, on a Time Lord mission threatening the fabric of causality. But the Daleks are to blame for the Doctor's fate - and River will make them pay.
    • 4.3 Unchained Melodies by Lisa McMullin River Song takes a moment to find herself, to discover her true potential... and put a stop to it before it even gets started! Is she the Woman Who Killed the Doctor? Or the Woman Who Wins the War? In the maelstrom that is the Time War, she can be both and neither all at once.
    • The Reality Director We go behind the scenes of the making of the latest River Song adventure with cast and crew.

Trailers

• The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
• The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation

Cover Reveals

• Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Official News
  • None

Out of Print This Week

• The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 2

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• River Song: Up to 50% off releases featuring River Song! (Ends 6 September)
  • The Tenth Doctor and River Song
  • The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Star-Crossed
  • Doom Coalition (DC 1 | DC 2 | DC 3 | DC 4)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 03
  • The Diary of River Song Series 11: Friend of the Family
  • The Death and Life of River Song Series 03: The Dissolution of Time
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. September's selection: The Withdrawal by Geoffrey Beevers for just £2.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. September's selection is The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow: The Shape of Fear (Excerpt). Just click on the link and use this month's code STORMCAGE.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. There is currently nothing posted this week, but I will update if anything changes.

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 8 September - The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation
• 10 September - Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3
• 15 September - The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
• 22 September - Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit
• 24 September - Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits
• 29 September - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
6.2	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2	3.49/5	39 votes
2	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
	Tyranny of the Judoon	3.67/5	78 votes
	Gambit of the Judoon	3.24/5	67 votes
	Wanted Dead and Alive	3.74/5	57 votes
10	The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion
	Save the Date	3.55/5	46 votes
	Poison's Reach	2.52/5	41 votes
	Broken Home	3.99/5	38 votes
4	The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
	The Shape of Fear	3.29/5	21 votes
	Bad Timing	3.74/5	19 votes
	Unchained Melodies	3.41/5	16 votes
	The Reality Director	4.50/5	14 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: None again, very distracted by life this week.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• None

The Rumor Mill

• None

Media/Merchandise

• The Black Archive Files, a Blu-ray compilation of TV stories tangentially related to Circuit Breaker plus an interview with Jo Martin and all the digital shorts used in promotion of the event, is released on 31 August.
• The Kaleidoscope, the major novel in the Circuit Breaker event featuring the Fugitive Doctor and Martha Jones, is released on 3 September.
• Doctor Who: The Planetary Collection is released on 3 September. It collects the audiobook novelisations of five stories: They Keys of Marinus, The Nightmare of Eden, The Caves of Androzani, Vengeance on Varos, and The Waters of Mars
• Doctor Who: The Ultimate Evil, the audiobook novelisation of the Sixth Doctor story read by Nicola Bryant, is released on 3 September.
• Doctor Who: The Collection: Season 7 (Standard Edition) is available to preorder and will be released 11 January 2027.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Nick chooses to use the highly anticipated story The Reality Director from the upcoming River Song box set for the BTS and drama tease on the podcast this week. He believes that John Dorney (writer) and Ken Bentley (director) would be unhappy with him using it as they've been trying to keep a tight lid on that story, but Nick is really in love with it and believes teasing it is the best way to advertise the release. He recommends you not listen to the 15 minute drama tease if you've already bought the set or are certain you will, but if you're on the fence go ahead and try it out.
• Torchwood was running on fumes at the end of its run, not reaching a big enough audience to fund the next release. James Goss was also looking to move on, and with it reaching its 100th release everyone decided it was the perfect time to lay it to rest.
• They wanted to do a bit more Torchwood to cap some things off though, but the only way they could justify the production of Legacy was to make it download only. Nick states, as he has before, that going download only has been the difference between taking a loss and breaking even on many of their less popular ranges, so rather than no Torchwood: Legacy they made the tough decision to go download only.
  • Nick is very sympathetic towards this issue, and agrees that he too would be very disappointed if he'd collected every physical release and the range transitioned to download only for the last two releases. He's been asking around about whether this will hold, but can't promise anything will change.
• Nick states that he's grateful he gets any input on bigger business matters like whether releases get a physical format or not, but at the end of the day it's not his decision.
• Nick apologizes for the sudden change in postal charge policy. He says that prices have gone up over time and that by not charging postage to date, they've taken a loss that's grown too substantial to not make a change. Some ranges were not making enough money to continue production due to the losses in postal charges.
• Nick says there are too many releases coming out each month. He says they average about 8 releases a month right now, and he thinks that makes people have to pick and choose what they can afford rather than getting everything they want. He wants to spread them out more so that people can go back to collecting everything they'd like without being overwhelmed. Putting the First Doctor Adventures on hold was an unfortunate byproduct of their desire to slow down on releases.
• A listener asks if they can change the metadata on the extras tracks so they appear on a different disc to the stories, or at least renumber them so they don't slot in with the story tracks (Story Track 1, Extras Track 1, Story Track 2, Extras Track 2, etc.). Nick has asked about this, but has learned it's not a simple fix. There is light at the end of the tunnel, he says.
• Nick doesn't know how many Paul Spragg entries there were this year. He only gets involved when it's down to the top 10 releases. He does know they received less entries this year since they had to be about the First Doctor, and he's not as popular of a Doctor for people to want to write for.

Random Tangents: A good discussion about the nature of streaming shows and cancellations.

Production Interviews and Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow - The Reality Director

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the forseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight is released on 25 August (DTO: £19.99)
  • Synopsis: The Doctor has a new companion, Eleanor Fong, and he's ready to show her the universe. But on her first trip to an alien planet, Eleanor encounters an old foe of the Doctor's...
    • Tyranny of the Judoon by Ben Tedds An ominous threat has left the people of Hefestis living under the shadow of the Judoon. But award-winning journalist Octavia Cain is here to sniff out the truth. She's even found two Shadow Proclamation detectives who'll help her unmask it. If only the Doctor and Eleanor were actually from the Shadow Proclamation...
    • Gambit of the Judoon by Ben Tedds From: INVIGILATOR KOLLO To: ALL STAFF Subject: OPERATION PERSEUS The two persons of interest remain at large. There is a strong possibility they may attempt to infiltrate the Shadow Proclamation. Inform me or Captain Sydon of any and all developments, no matter how small. Additional reminder: I am not to be disturbed during my lunch hour.
    • Wanted Dead and Alive by Beth Axford The Doctor dies on the shores of Lake Silencio; it's a fact known across the universe. Only someone has arrived early, an old friend of the Doctor, ready to do whatever it takes to save him...
• The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion is released on 27 August (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99)
  • Synopsis: The Doctor and Peri's travels with the mercurial Turlough continue, but nothing lasts forever... and Turlough seems to know it. Trials of love, sacrifice and war lie ahead, and beyond them all lurks something else: the ever-approaching spectre of death.
    • 1. Save the Date by Matthew Sweet London, 1969, and the Eternal Joy dating agency has a new secretary: Miss Perpugilliam Brown. Peri's undercover. Her mission: to find the source of the sonic boom that rang out across London, discover the secrets of Eternal Joy's big pink computer... and set the Doctor and Turlough up on a double date with two young ladies.
    • 2. Poison's Reach by Paul Sutton The civilisation of Freefall is powered by a natural radiation stream rising from its moon. That's the official story. Engineer Sandra Silva knows the truth. She's determined to expose the Stelta Corporation's crimes, and she has a trio of time-travelling sightseers on her side. Turlough is about to learn that, to achieve a worthy goal, sometimes the ultimate sacrifice has to be made...
    • 3. Broken Home by AK Benedict and Guy Adams Once a traitor, always a traitor? Vislor Turlough returns to Trion at last - and promptly hands the Doctor and Peri over to the occupying forces. Has Turlough learned any lessons from the Time Lord he was once tasked with killing? And in order to liberate his broken home, who is he willing to sacrifice?

Trailers

• The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight (Video Trailer)

Cover Reveals

• None

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Official News
  • None
• Videos
  • Miles Taylor's Eleventh Doctor Video Diary

Out of Print This Week

• The Death and Life of River Song Series 02: Ace and Tegan

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Doctor Who Classic Companions Offers: Discounts on stories featuring Classic Who characters and companions like Sarah Jane Smith, Jago and Litefoot, and more! (Ends 31 August)
  • Smith and Sullivan: Reunited
  • UNIT: Brave New World: Fractures
  • The Worlds of Doctor Who
• Site Wide Sale: Use the code STORIES when you spend £60 or more (excluding shipping) to get 15% off the product price (excluding pre-orders and bundles). (Ends 1 September)
  • This appears to apply to the Doctor Who Classic Companion Offers sale items as well (non-bundled of course)
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. August's selection: The Monthly Adventures: 111. The Doomwood Curse for just £1.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. August's selection is The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code LUCIUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: UNIT: Incursions: The Power of River Song Part 1 (Excerpt). Use discount code OSGOOD at checkout to save 25% off the full release of UNIT: Incursions (Ends 31 August).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 4 September - The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
• 8 September* - The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation
• 10 September* - Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 3
• 22 September - Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit
• 24 September - Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits
• TBD September - The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
• TBD September - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery

* This release will come out the week of 7 September, but the exact dates are guesses.

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
1	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind
	The Second Death	3.83/5	186 votes
	The Broken Man	3.83/5	152 votes
	The Beautiful and the Damned	3.56/5	139 votes
	Wings of Steel	4.13/5	119 votes
	Duty of Care	4.19/5	103 votes
	The Second Death of the Daleks	3.90/5	89 votes
4.7	The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides	3.81/5	111 votes
6.2	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2	3.43/5	36 votes
2	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
	Tyranny of the Judoon	3.78/5	41 votes
	Gambit of the Judoon	3.31/5	36 votes
	Wanted Dead and Alive	3.83/5	27 votes
10	The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion
	Save the Date	3.76/5	17 votes
	Poison's Reach	2.54/5	14 votes
	Broken Home	4.61/5	9 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Nothing. Quite a stormy week for me personally.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• The Karen and Arthur PONDcast Instagram account is back up.

The Rumor Mill

• Billie Piper clarifies her role after that notorious Doctor Who cliffhanger. Clickbait headline but I retained it for posterity. Her exact quote was: “I am not the next Doctor. I am Rose Tyler in hiatus. Sorry, that’s a really cryptic answer but because I’m not currently filming Doctor Who as the Doctor, I can’t, you know, lie and say otherwise.”

Media/Merchandise

• Funko is releasing a brand new Doctor Who range for the first time in seven years. The collection goes live today at 9am PT (5pm BST) and will feature:
  • Ninth Doctor
  • Tenth Doctor (with regeneration energy)
  • Eleventh Doctor
  • Fifteenth Doctor
  • River Song
  • TARDIS
  • Dalek (The Chase)
  • Bronze Dalek
  • TARDIS with Tenth Doctor
• Doctor Who The Dogs of Doom The Complete Comic Archive 1979-1980 is available for pre-order and will be released on 2 February.
• Doctor Who The Collection Season 25 UK Standard Packaging is available for pre-order, with a release date yet to be announced.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Nick takes some time to discuss Justin Richards, and retells the story of how Tom Baker requested a story feature a dog calling him on the phone but when he read the script asked why on Earth they'd write that. But I had no idea this actually made it into The Renaissance Man. I listened to that one too long ago to remember that, I may have to revisit it.
• Next week's podcast will feature The Death and Life of River Song: War Widow, so that will presumably come out the first week of September.

Random Tangents: Dog wee flavored pick-and-mix.

Production Interviews: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion - Save the Date by Matthew Sweet and The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight - Tyrrany of the Judoon by Ben Tedds

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight - Tyrrany of the Judoon by Ben Tedds

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the forseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2 is released on 18 August (DTO: £8.99 | DTO + CD: £10.99)
  • Synopsis: Across the canals and through the swirling balls of 18th century Venice, stories of Lupo's genius fill the air. The greatest mask-maker in the Republic's history, the delicate brushwork of Lupo is legendary. But Lupo has a dark past, on a burned-sienna planet galaxies away. He made a pact, and an exceedingly powerful enemy. And now that enemy is coming, through the ancient, legendary 'skiproads', to tear apart everything Lupo has built and unleash his nightmarish powers on the majestic floating city.
• The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind: The Second Death of the Daleks is released on 19 August (Run Fast, Be Kind Bundle: £43.99) [NOTE: The box set has been released, giving fans the option to purchase the stories this way or as a bundle. The first story is available to purchase separately as a "sampler" for £8.99]
  • Synopsis: During the last days of history, a lone wanderer crosses the wastes of Kersarin. Everywhere he goes, he delights those he finds with stories and songs. He provides a little hope in the dark. His name is Ash Wilton, and I swear we've done this episode before. We definitely killed that Dalek.

Trailers

• The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight

Cover Reveals

• The War Master: Deeds Without Name

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Official News
  • The Master releases his memoirs. The Time War era incarnation of the Master, voiced by the devilish Sir Derek Jacobi, returns later this year for four brand-new audio adventures. Following the events of 2025’s box set His Greatest Trick, the Master is still a fugitive from the war, with Time Lords and Daleks alike out to kill him. But when has that ever stopped him from seeking out more trouble?  In Deeds Without Name, the Master menaces the minds of wealthy retirees, before he dies and is – as always – resurrected. Then, he takes on the energy companies on a distant planet and returns to Earth to publish his tell-all memoir. All in a day’s work. 
    • The Unstately Home by Alison Winter - The super-rich elite residents of Aurora Mansions, a high-tech luxury retirement village and nursing home, have every imaginable comfort and amenity in their golden years. But the Master, posing as a cognitive hypnotherapist, is keen to demonstrate that no amount of money can provide sanctuary from the troubled mind… especially when he’s inside it. 
    • Dead Man’s Pulse by Mark Bowsher - The Master is dead. For now, at least. But even a dead Time Lord is valuable during a Time War and when a gang of scavengers steal the Master’s body, their ship is targeted by a psychological energy weapon. They are forced to revive the Master to gain his help, but his cooperation comes at a high price…
    • The Devil in the Detail by David K Barnes  On a colony world in perpetual night, young scientist Lyle Godwin is determined to give power back to the people. He’s beating the energy companies at their own game – but why does the Master want to help him do it? The devil… is in the detail. 
    • In His Anecdotage by Matthew Sweet - The Master is publishing his memoirs – You Don’t Know Jackanapes – in which he offers himself as a reformed character and spills secrets from the UNIT years. Talking to veteran investigative journalist Jeannie Keen, she questions him about government cover-ups, and he tells her, out of the blue, that he has seen a UNIT file showing she has a twin sister living in a nursing home in Wexcliffe-on-Sea. Only it’s not a nursing home, it’s a UNIT safe house.   The Master offers to team up with Jeannie, apparently interested in helping her with the story. But what is the secret of Ashburton Lodge? And what's behind the Master's most unreliable of memoirs?

     

  • The Tenth Doctor and Rani. David Tennant is set to return as the Tenth Doctor in twelve new full-cast audio adventures, released bimonthly from August 2027. The first three of these adventures form a trilogy in which the Time Lord is teamed up with a friend of a friend – Rani Chandra (Anjli Mohindra)! Says producer Matt Fitton: “[Rani] runs into the Doctor in Cumbria as she investigates sightings of strange creatures for a potential podcast – I wonder what happens with that? – and is soon whisked away to amazing adventures. Like Sarah, the Doctor sees Rani’s potential immediately – the pair soon run into his wife-to-be Princess Elizabeth, and a very familiar 1970s TV sci fi show...” 
    • The Hidden by Roy Gill - "Investigate cryptids in modern-day Cumbria."
    • Empress of the Universe by Lizzie Hopley - "Discover a crisis at the coronation of Elizabeth I."
    • In Effects by John Dorney - "Crash the set of a 1970s sci-fi show." (Dorney posts on X that he's had this idea for at least six years now! At that time, he described the story in three words: "Television eats itself")
  • Radio Times Doctor Who anniversary editions re-issued. Big Finish is releasing re-issues of the Radio Times 10th and 20th anniversary special magazines in hardback volumes, with painstaking work taken to restore photographs and completely recreate the original publications.
  • New Website FAQ - Big Finish are constantly updating this page with information to help people navigate the new website as well as the updated apps. Key updates this week include:
    • Update 13/8 - We're aware that bonus content may be showing an error when trying to open after downloading from website accounts. This is due to an incorrect filetype being assigned on our database. We will release a fix as quickly as possible to address this.
• Unofficial News
  • The next release in the Twelfth Doctor Adventures will be titled From the Ashes
  • A few notes from the Long Island Doctor Who Convention, courtesy of sircarolyn on the TARDIS Guide Forum who was kind enough to ask Jason Haigh-Ellery a ton of questions:
    • War Room 4 should release on-time
    • They've been considering doing limited CD runs for ranges that are DTO-only, such as the Twelfth Doctor Adventures
    • Chances of Omega Factor and Vam PD returning are low, and no current plans for Blake's 7. Time Tunnel was given more of a "maybe" response
    • No Bernice Summerfield releases this year, but should be some next year or the year after (he seemed a bit confused on his response)
    • Regarding getting some New Who actors: Capaldi = "not yet", Gatwa = "give it time"

Out of Print This Week

• There was recently some confusion caused by some stories that were out of print being marked back in stock. Haven't heard any reports as to whether anyone was able to snatch a copy, but the following releases should be permanently out of print:
  • The Early Adventures: 3.1 The Age of Endurance
  • The Monthly Adventures: 240. Hour of the Cybermen
  • The Legacy of Time (Standard Edition)
  • The War Doctor Begins: Battlegrounds
  • Out of Time 2: The Gates of Hell
  • Out of Time 3: Wink

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Bad Time Lords Sale: Discounts on stories featuring the likes of evil Time Lords like the Master, the Rani, and more! (Ends 23 August)
  • UNIT: Nemesis 1: Between Two Worlds
  • The Legacy of Time - Limited Edition or Standard Edition
  • The Companion Chronicles: The Second Doctor Volume 03
  • The Eleven
  • The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 04
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. August's selection: The Monthly Adventures: 111. The Doomwood Curse for just £1.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. August's selection is The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code LUCIUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Cosmos and Mrs Clarke - The Key to Many Worlds (Excerpt). Use discount code CONSTANCE at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Cosmos and Mrs Clarke (Ends 23 August).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 25 August - The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
• 27 August - The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
1	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind
	The Second Death	3.85/5	179 votes
	The Broken Man	3.84/5	144 votes
	The Beautiful and the Damned	3.55/5	128 votes
	Wings of Steel	4.15/5	108 votes
	Duty of Care	4.22/5	86 votes
	The Second Death of the Daleks	3.97/5	58 votes
5	The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill
	The Haunted Windmill	3.94/5	63 votes
	The Crystal Ship	3.84/5	55 votes
	The Hungry Glass	3.97/5	51 votes
4.7	The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides	3.83/5	96 votes
6.2	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2	3.42/5	18 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind: The Second Death of the Daleks. What a wonderful series this has been.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill officially launch new Doctor Who project. The Pondcast will be releasing soon, as teased on the podcast's new official Instagram account. EDIT: Their official Instagram account has been deleted already, but the post remains up on Karen and Arthur’s Instagrams.

The Rumor Mill

• According to a fan in attendance at the Long Island Doctor Who convention, the Doctor Who TV movie rights are back with the BBC. Another fan in attendance further clarifies what they heard is that since 30 years have passed, negotiations for the rights to return is possible and more likely than before, but the rights are not yet back. Thank you to u/WagTheTail81 and u/ATangentUniverse for this information.

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who Adventures: Save the Humans!, a collection of the Doctor Who Adventures magazine comic strips starring the Tenth Doctor and Rose, is released on 18 August.
• Doctor Who Magazine Issue 633 is released on 20 August.
• The Doctor and the Three Witches is released on 20 August as part of the paperback edition of Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards.
• Doctor Who Annual 2027 is released on 20 August.
• Corruption of the Daleks, a collection of the Fifteenth Doctor's most recent adventures from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, is due for release on 20 October and can be pre-ordered now.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week. The podcast will be off again next week (surely to launch a new new website), but it will be back 21 August.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Nick makes the ultimate decision on which era's theme tune is used when there's a multi-Doctor story.
• There was real debate about how to name a Beevers Master set before they landed on the Decayed Master (which I think fans have been calling him for quite a while).
• A listener has been enjoying Dark Gallifrey and asks where the spinoffs are for the Monks and the Beevers Master, to which Nick replies "These are the spinoffs you're asking for. Maybe we will do more."
• There's a trailer for the new Eleventh Doctor Adventures in here around the 46:35 mark.

Random Tangents: Lots of discussion around podcasts and and Nick making fun of Americans this week.

Production Interviews: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides by Tim Foley and The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Duty of Care by Christian Markham.

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides by Tim Foley

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the forseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Vortex #210

• Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit by Robert Valentine
  • Barnaby Edwards, who directed this release, was the one who cast Omari Douglas as Andrew for the Circuit Breaker event. He found it an interesting challenge as, since this was a multi-media event, he actually had to consider casting from both an audio and a visual standpoint.
  • There were several last-minute changes and approvals with this release since it's part of a bigger event, and casting only occurred less than a week before recording.
  • Jemma Redgrave would often deliver a "devastating comment (in character) at the end of scenes" to make people laugh.
• Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits by Alex Hewitt
  • The two stories in this set give sort of "origins" for Andrew and the villain of Circuit Breaker, >!the Conductor (played by Dan Starkey)!<
• The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: A New Occupation
  • Daughter of Destruction by Katharine Armitage
    • Part of the brief of this story was that it had to be a pure historical, with no alien forces at play.
    • John Dorney notes that there's "a particular thing in this one which is very interesting and we’ve ended up half-referring back to it in other stories.”
    • Helen Goldwyn directed this set, and notes that it was a challenge finding actors of Asian origins to play the parts, but was lucky enough to find the right people.
    • A theme in this story is about the power of words - "specifically women's" - and how a persuasive argument can have more influence than violence.
  • A New Occupation by Helen Goldwyn
    • Producer David Richardson says that some of the tone of Timeslip (which he worked on with Helen before this came about) may have slipped into this story.
    • Similar to the last story, Dorney says there are connections to another story here: "I can’t remember if it’s going back to another story – or forward to one – off the top of my head. It’s a very strong release as you would expect from Helen.” (Keep in mind, this set was commissioned pre-COVID).
    • This story is set on the island of Jersey. Helen found it difficult to find two actors with native Jersey accents, and was surprised when she heard it as there is "so little media online with examples of it."
• The Death and Life of River Song Series 04: War Widow
  • River enters the Time War and encounters the Eighth Doctor in his final days in this set. David Richardson says "their interplay is tinged with sadness, but this set is not all about the Doctor. This is River’s story, and our writers do a deep dive into her life – and her reality…”
  • This set is described as more of an anthology of River in the Time War, rather than an overarching story.
  • The Shape of Fear by James Kettle
    • This story is described as Doctor-lite, as there were some specific asks in terms of Paul's involvement. It sounds like there will be a cameo to instigate the story, but his "presence" in the remainder of the runtime will be down to River's feelings about him.
    • The Doctor saves River from an attack on Stormcage and takes her to a tech-averse planet. River finds herself conflicted about meeting the Doctor in this part of his life, and finds that reflected in the world they find themselves on -- quite literally, as emotions influence the planet's topography.
  • Bad Timing by Matt Fitton
    • Very little is said of this one, but Matt says "I've written the next episode and dispose of the Doctor!"
    • Matt says that this is a Time War idea he's had in his notebook for a long time, and centers around the same battlefield being replayed over and over. He says that all River can do is be there for the Doctor -- "up to a point".
  • Unchained Melodies by Lisa McMullin
    • This story will explore alternate incarnations of River Song that could have existed had she not given all her lives to save the Doctor in Let's Kill Hitler, and includes a team-up with Melody Pond (as played by Alex Kingston immediately upon regeneration from Mels).
  • The Reality Director by John Dorney
    • Details are on lockdown with this one, but from Vortex and the press release, this will be a very meta story as it delves behind the scenes of the latest River Song release.
    • The idea for this story actually predates the commissioning of this set, and had been talked about for quite a while.
• The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Greatest Train Robbery by Karissa Hamilton-Bannis
  • This story will introduce the Tourist back into the fold, as they contact the Doctor and Yaz once again.
  • There are a few mentions of this release having some deeper philosophical conversations and exploring the Doctor and Yaz's story beyond what's in the show (though those may not necessarily be related).
• The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe
  • Lair of the Voltaxa by Roland Moore
    • Roland Moore discusses the intricacies to the Fifth Doctor, noting his vulnerability and how he often feels out of his depth and can be an underdog -- but notes that some of this could be a technique used to make his enemies underestimate him, which is a fun thing to play with.
    • The Voltaxa, for those who do not remember (like me), originated in The Death and Life of River Song: Ace and Tegan.
    • Roland was keen to write a story where the TARDIS doesn't land with plenty of time to uncover the plot and start fighting against it -- by the time the Doctor arrives, the threat is imminent and there are only hours to sort everything out.
  • March of the Colossus by Alan Ronald
    • This story stems from a quick moment of inspiration in which Alan saw an image of two Colossi marching towards each other over a green landscape ready for battle. He assumed it would not be picked up in the few ideas he pitched.
    • The villain of the story is inspired by American professional wrestling commentators.
• Vortex Mail
  • Nick seems coyly supportive of Culshaw's Brigadier meeting the Sixth Doctor
  • Noonan's First Doctor may be popping up in some ranges next year, but the First Doctor Adventures will not return until 2028.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill is released on 4 August (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99)
  • Synopsis: To escape the Time Lords' justice - or lack of it - the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe and Raven take a desperate gamble: a jump to planet Earth, in 1963... But this is not the Earth as the Doctor knew it. This is the world as it would have been if he'd never, ever landed there at all. An Earth free of his influence, in which old friends are strangely changed. If he tries to save this Earth, or escape it, the Time Lords will find him. Hidden away in a haunted windmill, on the edge of a marsh, all he can do is observe. But the monsters are coming...
    • 1. The Haunted Windmill An Emergency Beacon Alert from Gallifrey means trouble for the Doctor, Raven, Jamie and Zoe. Their only possible escape is a desperate plan that seems to change everything. The TARDIS arrives in a strange land. Strange, but uncannily familiar too.
    • 2. The Crystal Ship A failed rocket-plane mission crashes to Earth. But where are the crew? The Doctor and Raven encounter Professor Quigley and his trusty, undervalued assistant, Liz Shaw. Will scientific hubris lead to the end of the human race? A certain Miss Heriot has other plans in mind.
    • 3. The Hungry Glass A mysterious mirror, a glimpsed figure and powerful static electric discharges form a web of intrigue that draws in friends and foes from history.
• The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind: Wings of Steel is released on 5 August (Run Fast, Be Kind Bundle: £43.99) [NOTE: The box set comes out next month, and Big Finish are releasing each story weekly leading up to its release. To get these each week, purchase the bundle. To get them all at once, wait for the box set to be released. The first story is available to purchase separately as a "sampler" for £8.99]
  • Synopsis: High above the ruined world of Doorahla, the Ultima have convened. The enemy's devastation of their forces is finally over. The key to their victory is finally at hand. And on top of all that, they've captured a Time Lord. All hail the Ultima.

Trailers

• The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides
• The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Duty of Care (SPOILERS!!!)
• Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2
• The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight (46:35 mark in the podcast this week)

Cover Reveals

• Star Cops: Conflict: Adrift

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Official News
  • Star Cops on the edge of war. Star Cops returns next month with the fourth installment of Conflict, and details are out now for the next three episodes.
  • That's All I'm Sayin'. The acclaimed actor Michael Brandon reads his tell-all autobiography, in an audiobook from Big Finish Productions, due for release August 2026.
  • The Return of Zorro! Martin Marquez plays the iconic vigilante in a brand new audio drama, continuing the story of the hit films The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro.
  • New Website FAQ - Big Finish are constantly updating this page with information to help people navigate the new website as well as the updated apps. Key updates this week include:
    • We have been informed by a number of customers about a login issue resulting in the login screen flickering and looping, blocking access to accounts. This has been reported to our developers and this page will be updated when a fix has been put in place. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Out of Print This Week

• Torchwood: 39. Dinner and a Show
• Torchwood: 55. The Great Sontaran War

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• First Doctor Sale: Discounts on dozens of First Doctor audios to celebrate 60 years since Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150AD! (Ends 9 August 2026)
  • The First Doctor Adventures Volume 01
  • The First Doctor Adventures Volume 02
  • The First Doctor Adventures: Fugitive of the Daleks
  • The Early Adventures: The Dalek Occupation of Winter
  • The Early Adventures: Daughter of the Gods
  • The Eartly Adventures: The Secrets of Det-Sen
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. August's selection: The Monthly Adventures: 111. The Doomwood Curse for just £1.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. August's selection is The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code LUCIUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Sphere of Freedom (Excerpt). Use discount code NOVA at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers (Ends 9 August).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 11 August - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides
• 12 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Duty of Care
• 18 August - Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2
• 19 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: The Second Death of the Daleks
• 19 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind (Full Box Set/Bundle Release)
• 25 August - The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
• 27 August - The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
1	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind
	The Second Death	3.86/5	153 votes
	The Broken Man	3.85/5	118 votes
	The Beautiful and the Damned	3.53/5	98 votes
	Wings of Steel	4.24/5	51 votes
1.7	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Hallamshire Incident	4.24/5	152 votes
2	Space Security Service: Bret Vyon Lives!
	The Man Inside	4.08/5	12 votes
	The Wages of Death	3.59/5	11 votes
	The Sky is for Sale	4.00/5	9 votes
5	The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill
	The Haunted Windmill	4.10/5	30 votes
	The Crystal Ship	3.96/5	24 votes
	The Hungry Glass	4.16/5	19 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Wings of Steel. This was incredibly strong and I'm excited to see where the next two stories go. After this and The Hallamshire Incident, I'm hoping that Dark Tides can stick the landing and we get a consistent strong run of New Who releases.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• None

The Rumor Mill

• None

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks is released on 5 August.
• Two "lost" Terrance Dicks scripts are being adapted into novelizations: The Six Doctors by Simon Guerrier (out 21 January 2027) and The Vampire Mutation by Steve Cole (out 4 March 2027).
• Doctor Who: The Paradise of Death, an audiobook novelization of the original radio play featuring the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Brigadier, is released on 6 August.
• Joining the Ninth and Tenth Doctor Blu-ray box set, the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Doctors are getting Blu-ray sets in the USA. These should all be released 3 November.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 5 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week. The podcast returns today, so let's dive in!

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Nick isn't sure if there are currently any plans for more of Siobhan Redmond's Rani, but says they'd be fools not to do more with her.
• Nick wishes all covers used the era-appropriate logos, but the BBC insists on having a unified brand identity across all their products. Nick says they actually used to fight to use the current logo, but now wishes it were the other way around.
• A listener asks if the app could get availability to switch in alt covers for releases to get the era-appropriate logos. Nick says while this is a good idea that he'll ask around about, this is the least of their concerns with the app right now.
• A listener asks about old minisodes that used to accompany the early Monthly Adventures for the Eighth Doctor on BBC Radio 7. Nick isn't sure who made them but suspects it was Martin Montague. He will look into it.

Random Tangents: Bank tellers should mind their own business.

Production Interviews: The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill by Alan Barnes and The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Wings of Steel by Alfie Shaw.

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill by Alan Barnes

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. There are currently technical issues with the Randomoid Selectotron, so it will be stuck on the last release from the 26 June podcast for the forseeable future. This release is The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: The Beautiful and the Damned is released on 29 July (Run Fast, Be Kind Bundle: £43.99) [NOTE: The box set comes out next month, and Big Finish are releasing each story weekly leading up to its release. To get these each week, purchase the bundle. To get them all at once, wait for the box set to be released. The first story is available to purchase separately as a "sampler" for £8.99]
  • Synopsis: Are you looking to build your audience? Create content that'll be the envy of all your followers? Have people anticipating your next post? Then we know where you need to be this Summer. Best Life Inc. is proud to announce Mentior City, a paradise for content creators where everything is beautiful, including the visitors. Don't think that's you? Don't worry, with our proprietary Refiner system, everyone can look their very best. Arrive ugly, live your Best Life, and leave beautiful. That's a Best Life guarantee.
• Space Security Service: Bret Vyon Lives! is released on 28 July (DTO: £19.99)
  • Synopsis: They're the guardians of the Solar System and Earth's first line of defence. Now Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven encounter some familiar faces...
    • 2.1 The Man Inside by Simon Guerrier Anya Kingdom is a prisoner of the Daleks on a very peculiar space station orbiting a very peculiar star. The Daleks don't want to kill Anya; they want to break her down psychologically. One way to do that is to lock her in a cell with someone Anya knows is a fake. Whoever, whatever, this man really is, he cannot be her beloved uncle. Bret Vyon is dead, end of story. But if Anya is to survive, she will need his help...
    • 2.2 The Wages of Death by David Llewellyn Furiosa 237 is a remote world in the hinterlands of the galaxy. Anya and Mark teleport in and quickly take jobs on a cargo shop. They're undercover – on an urgent, secret mission. Their task is to locate a device called a Progenitor, then drop it into the nearest black hole - and quickly, before it can hatch. But at least one person on board is determined to save the Progenitor and unleash its deadly contents: a whole army of Daleks.
    • 2.3 The Sky is for Sale by James Kettle A huge satellite mines the atmosphere of Saturn. Following a number of threats, agent Sola Akinyemi of the Space Security Service is on board, tasked with keeping the workers and their families safe. Meanwhile, Anya Kingdom is at Triple-S headquarters, working to expose and eradicate corruption in the service. But just as she's making progress, HQ is attacked. And then the mining satellite is invaded - by a different hostile force! In the desperate battle that follows, Anya and Sola will have to make impossible choices. Who can they really trust? And what horrors are they willing to sanction if it means defeating the Daleks?

Trailers

• The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Wings of Steel
• The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill

Cover Reveals

• The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• Official News
  • The Fifth Doctor’s smart tech. The Doctor and Nyssa return later this year in two stories set between Seasons 19 and 20. The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Shock and Awe (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99) is due for release in September.
    • Lair of the Voltaxa by Roland Moore (4 parts) The time travellers' plans for a break in Devon are disrupted by a report of a car 'coming to life' and attacking someone. The Doctor suspects a link to the 'Miri Cube' - a sentient gadget soon to be launched nationwide. Technology that is decades ahead of its time. But the cubes contain a disturbing secret - an alien intellect is preparing its plans for conquest.
    • March of the Colossus by Alan Ronald (2 parts) On a beautiful, unspoiled world, the Doctor and Nyssa meet the Dianasa, a primitive tribe who await Arrival Day, when the giant deity that protects them will descend from the sky. An intriguing myth. Except the Colossus is real, as a ruthless off-worlder has discovered. And he will stop at nothing to exploit this discovery for his own ends.
  • The Circuit will be complete. Circuit Breaker comes to an epic conclusion this September in Full Circuit (DTO: £13.99 | DTO + CD: £21.99), the full-cast climax of the multi-media event. It will be followed by the anthology Short Circuits (DTO: £11.99), also due out in September.
    • Full Circuit Synopsis: Strange alien artifacts begin appearing inside UNIT's Black Archive. Each object is unmistakably linked to a different regeneration of the Doctor, but they've been tampered with. A corrupted energy signature of unknown origin pulses through them, and their sudden arrival has torn tiny ruptures across time and space. To solve the mystery, UNIT calls upon a little-known incarnation of the Time Lord: the Fugitive Doctor. But how does UNIT know about her? And is she the Doctor they expect? The Doctor, Osgood and Andrew are joined by Kate Lethbridge Stewart. A final mysterious object is manifesting, this one at the pinnacle of UNIT Tower itself. A Time Bomb! Which threatens a dark future for all of the Doctor’s incarnations. Only this Doctor can save herself - and her other selves - from this intricately woven scheme.
    • Short Circuits Synopsis: Wherever the Doctor has gone, and whatever challenges have lain ahead of her, she has always made new friends and enemies along the way. And as the final pieces of a complex scheme fall into place, this has never been truer. But all of those friends and enemies have stories have their own...
    • 1. Battleships by Alex Hewitt – Meet the Conductor. This cadaverous specimen is a peerless tactical genius. But life is hard for a man who stands out from his fellows, and this formidable mastermind must outwit certain rivals before setting his sights on his true enemy.
    • 2. Get Rich or Die Trying by Alex Hewitt, from a story by Natasha Siegel Meet Andrew – A young man with a good job and a mysterious benefactor. Following a coded message to the Jurassic Coast, where a team of palaeontologists are digging up a dinosaur skeleton, Andrew encounters a stranger who gives him a so-called time-travel device. Before he knows what’s happened, Andrew is plunged back through history, all the way to the Jurassic Period itself. Why has he been sent here? Who is his anonymous benefactor? And is he the victim of a sinister experiment? Only time will tell...
  • Your chance to quiz royalty! Ask your questions to Lalla Ward, Louise Jameson and Sean Carlsen and Big Finish will choose their favorites to put them in a video Q/A. Reply to the post linked or use the hashtag #GallifreyQueens for your question.
  • New Website FAQ - Big Finish are constantly updating this page with information to help people navigate the new website as well as the updated apps. Key updates this week include:
    • Android app version 2.2.4 has now been released from review and is available to update through the Play store. This update addresses a number of instability issues and also missing content from a number of releases.
    • iOS instability issues reported on the 9th July have been fixed. Please ensure that you are running the most up to date iOS version available for your device to minimise any potential compatibility bugs.
    • Missing supplementary media has now been restored, including subscriber exclusive content where applicable.
    • You can now once again sort your library by date purchased.
    • The Range filter in your customer library now only shows ranges present in your collection.

Out of Print This Week

• Rutans vs Sontarans: Rendition

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Warehouse Clearance Sale: Deep discounts on dozens and dozens of remaining inventory across Big Finish's catalog. (Ends 2 August 2026)
  • UNIT: Brave New World: Seabird One
  • Rani Takes on the World: Beyond Bannerman Road
  • The War Doctor Rises: He Who Fights With Monsters
  • The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles Volume 03: Geronimo! (don't let the Volume 03 part throw you off, this is the start of an incredible series!)
  • The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 03
  • The Eighth Doctor Adventures: What Lies Inside?
  • The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Water Worlds
  • The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 07
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 3: The Stuff of Nightmares
  • The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 07: Blood and Steel
• Dark Shadows Sale: Up to 67% off everything in the Dark Shadows collection. (Ends 2 August)
• DWM632 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code POTATO at checkout. (Ends 31 October)
  • The Diary of River Song Series 06
  • Classic Doctors, New Monsters 1
  • Paternoster Gang: Heritage 1
  • Wicked Sisters

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. July's selection: Dark Shadows: Blood and Fire (50th Anniversary Special) for just £3.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. July's selection is The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind: The Second Death (excerpt). Just click on the link and use this month's code BARD.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Audio Novels: The Dead Star Part 1 (excerpt). Use discount code LONDON68 at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Audio Novels: The Dead Star (Ends 2 August).

Big Finish Release Schedule (TBD for most releases, but 12DAs are on a schedule and the podcast had some info on 2DAs and 9DAs)

• 4 August - The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill
• 5 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Wings of Steel
• 12 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: Duty of Care
• 13 August* - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides (*The date is not confirmed, but according to the podcast it will come out this week, so my guess is either the 11th or the 13th)
• 19 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind: The Second Death of the Daleks
• 19 August - The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind (Full Box Set/Bundle Release)
• TBD August - The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion
• TBD August - The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight
• TBD August - Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 2

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
1	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast, Be Kind
	The Second Death	3.89/5	131 votes
	The Broken Man	3.90/5	91 votes
	The Beautiful and the Damned	3.49/5	36 votes
6.1	Dark Gallifrey: The Decayed Master Part 1	3.64/5	45 votes
1.4	Rutans vs Sontarans: Peace at Last	3.97/5	79 votes
1.7	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: The Hallamshire Incident	4.23/5	127 votes
2	Space Security Service: Bret Vyon Lives!
	The Man Inside	3.83/5	6 votes
	The Wages of Death	-	Not Enough Votes
	The Sky is for Sale	-	Not Enough Votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Torchwood: The Conspiracy, Gallifrey: War Room: Loyalties - Propaganda and The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: The Beautiful and the Damned.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• Colin Baker Talks The Sixth Doctor, Regeneration, Peri and the "Most Chilling" episode of Doctor Who | The Whoniverse Show

The Rumor Mill

• None

Media/Merchandise

• Circuit Breaker: The Deadliest Weapon is released on 30 July.

Circuit Breaker Event Guide

• 25 June - Calling the Doctor (UNIT Website)
• 8 July - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #1 - Adversary of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 23 July - The Honourable Society (DWM #632)
• 30 July - The Deadliest Weapon (BBC Audio)
• 4 August - Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 - Dawn of the Daleks (Titan Comics)
• 6 August - Castling (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 17 August - Don't Blink (UNIT Website)
• 20 August - The Doctor and the Three Witches (BBC Books)
• 27 August - Momento Mori (Doctor Who: Lost in Time mobile game)
• 31 August - The Black Archive Files (Blu-ray)
• 3 September - The Kaleidoscope (BBC Books)
• 22 September - Full Circuit (Big Finish)
• 24 September - Short Circuits (Big Finish)

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Most of the podcast this week featured a discussion with cast and crew of Turpin: Essex Pistols, which didn't leave a lot of room for much else including Doctor Who.
• The podcast will be off on a 4-week summer break. It will return on 31 July, where they will discuss the upcoming releases of The Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill and The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Wings of Steel (somewhat confirming that the 12DAs will kick off the week of July 13th) as well as catching up on the releases they missed between now and then.
  • Fear not! I'll still be posting as normal each week and following along with announcements on the Big Finish website and socials as well as making notes of July's issue of Vortex, plus keeping up with new releases and out-of-print titles!

Random Tangents: Nick has gotten into trouble for not taking enough vacation.

Production Interviews: Turpin: Essex Pistols Mat Braddy and Darren Rapier and The Ninth Doctor Adventures: 4.6 Thirteen O'Clock by Robert Valentine

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: Turpin: Essex Pistols by Mat Braddy and Darren Rapier

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. This week's selection: The Companion Chronicles: 7.6 The Child

Big Finish News

New Releases

• Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon is released on 23 June (DTO: £9.99 | DTO + CD: £14.99)
  • Synopsis: The Doctor and Peri track a criminal imposter to a moon sanctuary of healing ponds, only to discover the lone Rutan the Doctor has previously met trapped in a self-made web of lies. Experiments to rejoin the Host have forged a bond with grieving pond farmer, Ooland. As their mutual obsession tightens, so Ooland's ponds grow more polluted and their farm cut off from what is really happening on the moon: a full-on Rutan invasion. As the Doctor and Peri strive to free Melmoth and Ooland from each other, another Doctor is at work close by - with far-reaching plans of his own for the lone Rutan.
• Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties is released on 25 June (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99), accompanied by a video trailer.
  • Synopsis: As the Time War rages, another battle takes place in the War Room - for Gallifrey's soul... As Rassilon tries to control the narrative of the Time War at home, the Cardinals fight to prove their loyalty. Out amid the conflict, the Resistance struggles to make a difference, and Gallifrey’s most faithful warriors face the ultimate challenge.
    • 3.1 Propaganda by Georgia Cook With unrest brewing in Low Town, Rassilon demands the immediate location and destruction of a rogue broadcast mocking his name. With Rasmus, the General and Cresta trapped in the Drylands, and riots bubbling on the streets, Ollistra attempts to steer a course to cement her rule over the War Room.
    • 3.2 Resistance by Katharine Armitage Eris is trying to hold a crumbling Resistance together; Ollistra is trying to tear it apart. Both have audacious plans to ensure the victory of their side and everyone else has to choose where their loyalties truly lie.
    • 3.3 Hope by Fio Trethewey Leela has a job to do, and she cannot do it alone, and so she enlists the most unlikely of allies for the task. Time is not on her side, and she must succeed, or else all of them are doomed.
    • 3.4 Eye for an Eye by Matt Fitton Cardinal Ollistra must serve the will of Rassilon and see the Resistance destroyed. But the Resistance is already falling apart. With Leela and Rasmus missing, the General and Veklin are given a mission that neither relish. Loyalties will be tested, and vengeance will be had.

Trailers

• The Eighth Doctor Adventures: New Pathways

Cover Reveals

• The Confessions of Dorian Gray: A Night at the Theatre

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• News
  • Torchwood heroes from across the ages - Details and covers are out for the previously announced Torchwood: Legacy sets coming out in September and October 2027 (announced on Friday, but I was on vacation last week and did not have time to update it). Torchwood: Legacy Volume 01: The Living Will Fall and Torchwood: Legacy Volume 02: The Dead Will Rise will be comprised of twelve half-hour episodes telling one epic story across all eras of the Torchwood Institute's history:
    • Cornucopia by Tim Foley
    • Meet Lonely by James Goss
    • Yvonne Hartman's Ultimate Weapon by Gareth David-Lloyd
    • The Corn Mother by William Carroll
    • Hitler's Last Secret by James Goss
    • Pangea by Ash Darby
    • Roberta's Gone to Iceland by Guy Adams
    • What It Is to Lose by Tim Foley
    • Viking Funeral by Guy Adams
    • Hullaballoo by Ash Darby
    • Torchwood's Last Stand by Patrick O'Connor
    • Rainbow Bridge by James Goss
• Non-Doctor Who News
  • The new Bond, Young Bond revealed! Isaac Rouse and Charlotte McBurney have been cast as James Bond and Wilder Lawless in Young Bond: SilverFin, a new full-cast audio drama due for release in October 2026.
  • Dorian Gray returns! Alexander Vlahos stars in The Confessions of Dorian Gray: A Night at the Theatre, a brand-new feature-length audio adventure, due for release in October 2026.

 

Out of Print This Week

• None

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Gallifrey Sale: Up to 50% off the Gallifrey and Dark Gallifrey ranges! (Ends 28 June 2026)
  • Gallifrey Series 04
  • Gallifrey: Intervention Earth
  • Gallifrey: Enemy Lines
  • Gallifrey: Time War 1 - 4 (Time War 1 | Time War 2 | Time War 3 | Time War 4)
  • Gallifrey: War Room 1: Allegiance
• DWM628 Offer (LAST CHANCE!): 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code FICTIONAL at checkout (Ends 30 June 2026)
  • The Monthly Adventures: 14. The Holy Terror
  • The Monthly Adventures: 271. Plight of the Pimpernel
  • The Seventh Doctor New Adventures Volume 01
  • The War Master: Escape from Reality

Big Finish Book Club (LAST CHANCE!): Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. June's selection: Gallifrey: Time War 1 for just £14.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt (LAST CHANCE!): Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. June's selection is The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Continuum: Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code DAEDALUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Monthly Adventures: 256. Tartarus Part 1. Use discount code CICERO at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Monthly Adventures: 256. Tartarus (Ends 28 June).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 29 June - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Thirteen O'Clock

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
2	Planet Krynoid: Survivors
	The Hunt	3.49/5	40 votes
	The Harrow	3.58/5	38 votes
	The Harvest	3.62/5	33 votes
5.3	Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks Part 3
	Monky Puzzle	4.40/5	87 votes
	Monky About	4.46/5	85 votes
1.3	Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon	3.03/5	39 votes
15	Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties
	Propaganda	3.63/5	30 votes
	Resistance	4.52/5	26 votes
	Hope	4.60/5	20 votes
	Eye for an Eye	3.83/5	15 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Planet Krynoid: Survivors - The Harrow. Always love me some Eight and Liv.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• The Ninth Doctor in 'The Day of the Doctor"? Interview with Steven Moffat | The Whoniverse Show
• Circuit Breaker, the newest multi-media Doctor Who event, has begun! The first story, Calling the Doctor, can be found on the UNIT Headquarters page of the Doctor Who website.

The Rumor Mill

• Not much as far as I saw this week

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who Magazine #631 is released on 25 June.
• Corruption of The Daleks, a collection of Fifteenth Doctor comic strips from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, is available for pre-order and will be released 4 November.
• Doctor Who Annual 2027 is available for pre-order and will be released 20 August.

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• The podcast was recorded after the news broke of putting Doctor Who out to tender, but they don't touch on it much, and when they do it's as fans chatting and not anything newsworthy about Big Finish. Benji think's it's exciting that we have no clue what Doctor Who will be like when it returns.
• Producers and/or directors will meet with cover artists, who will be given the script for the story, and they will discuss what they want the cover to look like. Nick often makes little doodles of what he's imagining. Prolific cover artist Sean Longmore often will read the script and approach them with what he thinks would be appropriate.
  • Big Finish prefer Photoshop covers because it's easier to change and create iterations of. The BBC will often have comments on the covers and request things be changed or moved, which is harder to do when it's an illustrated cover. Nick also thinks artistic covers like the first few sets of First and Second Doctor Adventures are not popular with listeners.
• Marc Platt does not work on Big Finish anymore. He felt that he reached the end of the line on writing Doctor Who. It has been five years since his last work released (adapting Philip Hinchcliffe Presents Volume 04: The God of Phantoms)
• Oliver Tobias has been asked to appear in a Big Finish release before, but he declined.
• Lisa Bowerman directed Nick Briggs recently as he played a Judoon. The only announced story right now featuring the Judoon is the Eleventh Doctor Adventures, but that was recorded months ago and not directed by Lisa Bowerman. She did, however, direct the upcoming Twelfth Doctor Adventures. I wonder if this could be for another set of those?

Random Tangents: Jonathan Sausage Stewart Powell

Production Interviews: Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties - Propaganda by Georgia Cook and Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon by Lizzie Hopley

Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties - Propaganda by Georgia Cook

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. This week's selection: The Companion Chronicles: The First Wave.

Big Finish News

New Releases

• Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks Part 3 is released on 16 June (DTO: £8.99 | DTO + CD: £10.99)
  • Synopsis: The Meddling Monk and the Meddling Nun are stranded on Earth with a broken TARDIS and find themselves involved in a series of odd escapades, each more onerous than expected. But the greatest challenge is still to come...
    • Monky Puzzle An international jigsaw competition has come to town. Do the Monk and the Nun have time to compete before the arrival of a very special guest? There's only one way to find out. What could possibly go wrong?
    • Monky About What's it all about? Well, it's a Big Finish finale so there's bound to be explosions, and chases with perhaps a starry cameo and a threat to all life on Earth. What could possibly go wrong?

Trailers

• Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon
• Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties

Cover Reveals

• None

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• News
  • Due to unexplained circumstances, Big Finish have pushed back The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Thirteen O'Clock from 18 June to 29 June.
  • This was brought up last week, but Big Finish are charging shipping now on UK releases. Per the Big Finish website: "UK pre-order (i.e. orders placed before the release date) now incur a minimum shipping charge of £2.50 for single item orders. Shipping is capped at £4.50 when purchasing multiple pre-order releases. Bundle shipping will be charged at the standard rate of £4.50, although exceptions may apply for particularly heavy or special items."

Out of Print This Week

• None!

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• The Monthly Adventures Sale: Monthly Adventures #151 - 200 for £4.99 each! (Ends 21 June 2026)
  • The Silver Turk / The Witch from the Well / Army of Death
  • The Emerald Tiger
  • The Wrong Doctors
  • The Lady of Mercia
  • Prisoners of Fate
  • 1963 Trilogy (1963: Fanfare for the Common Men / 1963: The Space Race / 1963: The Assassination Games)
  • Tomb Ship
  • Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories
  • Locum Doctors Trilogy (The Defectors / Last of the Cybermen / The Secret History)
• Samuel West Birthday Sale: Up to 50% off releases featuring Samuel West, who has played Morbius in several releases! (Ends 21 June 2026)
  • Dark Gallifrey: Morbius (Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3)
  • The War Doctor Rises: Morbius the Mighty
• DWM628 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code FICTIONAL at checkout (Ends 30 June 2026)
  • The Monthly Adventures: 14. The Holy Terror
  • The Monthly Adventures: 271. Plight of the Pimpernel
  • The Seventh Doctor New Adventures Volume 01
  • The War Master: Escape from Reality

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. June's selection: Gallifrey: Time War 1 for just £14.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. June's selection is The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Continuum: Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code DAEDALUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: The Paternoster Gang: Trespassers 1: The Ghost and the Potato Man (excerpt). Use discount code STRAX at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Paternoster Gang: Trespassers 1: Rogues Gallery (Ends 22 June). (NOTE: This is an amazing release and a great deal. Pick this up if you can!)

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 23 June - Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon
• 25 June - Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties
• 29 June - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Thirteen O'Clock

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
15B	The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: Lethal Progress
	Green and Pleasant Planet	3.05/5	40 votes
	The Continuum	3.18/5	40 votes
	The Audience	3.61/5	38 votes
2	Planet Krynoid: Survivors
	The Hunt	3.50/5	35 votes
	The Harrow	3.63/5	26 votes
	The Harvest	3.75/5	22 votes
5.3	Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks Part 3
	Monky Puzzle	4.51/5	58 votes
	Monky About	4.54/5	55 votes

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: The second episode of The Audience, as well as the first story in Planet Krynoid: Survivors.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• No real official news, but...

The Rumor Mill

• On The Rest is Entertainment Podcast, Richard Osman states that the BBC were already set to put Doctor Who out to tender by 2028/2029 as part of the BBC's mandate to put all new business out to competitive tender, and with that in mind thought a Christmas special would be good to bridge the gap between the Disney era and the next. But they realized that to not focus on the tender would probably delay the future of the show more, so they wanted to do it sooner. But if they had continued on with the Christmas special during this process, it would have left too many variables for any new producer to contend with, so they decided to scrap the special altogether.

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who: The Peter Davison Collection (4LP Red & Purple Vinyl) is available to preorder and will be released 25 September.
• The Cybermen from Dark Water Vortex Set will be available to order from 10am BST on 29 June.
• Dalek Parliament Set 2 is available to preorder from Master Replicas, and is due out in September.
• Limited Edition Brass Dalek (only 150 available worldwide) is available to preorder from Master Replicas, and is due out in September.
• Battles in Time The First Doctor Limited Edition Collector's Set is available to preorder from Master Replicas, and is due out in September.

Introduction

Hello all and welcome back to the Big Finish Podcast Notes! Hope you've all had a lovely week.

Obviously we had some big news this week, but I'll save my non-Big Finish thoughts on this for the end of the post. But one of my immediate thoughts is that this could potentially be very good for Big Finish and other EU content over the next few years. With people looking for a place to put their passion for Who we could see some new ranges pop up or wider releases on physical media. Also, I updated my Guide to Big Finish, for anyone interested.

In my opinion, I think it's in the BBC's best interests to let Big Finish pick up from The Reality War. When Doctor Who does return in the next 3-5 years, there is almost a 0% chance they will be addressing or continuing any of what happened in RTD2, especially not the Billie Piper-sized elephant in the room. Let's be honest -- we're Doctor Who fans. We want that story to be told. Let's let Big Finish have its day in the sun and carry the torch, pave new ground into uncharted territory for the first time in over 20 years. I think Big Finish should pick up from that cliffhanger, decide whether Billie is the Doctor or if there are some other shennanigans about, and do a limited run that wraps up as many loose threads as is still narratively compelling to juggle from RTD2.

I understand many people don't like the idea of Billie as the Doctor, or whatever's happening. And I get it. But it's gotta be addressed somehow at some point, and I don't think the main show will touch it. I also understand the danger of "putting the continuation of the series behind a paywall", but it's either that or they don't do anything with it at all, and if you want to be a mainline believer that only the Doctors in the show are canon, you can run with that. But for those who want that gap filled, I think this would be a smart move.

Podcast

Podcast Notes

• Still no sign of continuing Rani Takes On The World.
• A short podcast this week, so not a lot of info. Hopefully next week they can discuss this week's news.

Random Tangents: The nuns are disappearing.

Production Interviews and Fifteen Minute Drama Tease: Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks Part 3

The Good Review Guy: Rani Takes On The World: Beyond Bannerman Road

Randomoid Selectotron: 25% off a random Big Finish release every week! Just click on this link and enter the code BUCKUP. This week's selection: The Fifth Doctor Box Set

Big Finish News

New Releases

• Planet Krynoid: Survivors is released on 11 June (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £29.99)
  • Synopsis: Colony Sunlight has been destroyed, ravaged by a ruthlessly aggressive galactic weed known only as the Krynoid. As the planet turns cold, sinister forces descend on the surface, and time runs out for the scattered survivors. Could salvation lie a hundred years ago - with a Doctor, a MedTech and a big blue box?
    • 2.1 The Hunt by Jonathan S Powell Blackmailed by the unscrupulous Raynor Cross, Sunlight survivors Tiro Hart and Letty Hodan must battle the icy remains of the life they left behind. But they are not the only ones with their sights set on a pod.
    • 2.2 The Harrow by Georgia Cook Nobody knows what really happened to Station One, Verdana's first, doomed colony. But after materialising in the path of a Krynoid, the Doctor and Liv are about to find out.
    • 2.3 The Harvest by Jonathan Morris When a band of survivors reach a mysterious settlement, they are promised food, shelter and harmony. But deliverance in Greenhaven comes at a price - and Father Nature is ready to collect.

Trailers

• None

Cover Reveals

• The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion

News, Announcements, Videos, and Blog Posts

• News
  • Turlough goes home. Peri and Turlough's travels with the Sixth Doctor take them back to Trion in August's The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Reunion (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99).
    • Synopsis: The Doctor and Peri's travels with the mercurial Turlough continue, but nothing lasts forever... and Turlough seems to know it. Trials of love, sacrifice and war lie ahead, and beyond them all lurks something else: the ever-approaching spectre of death.
    • 1. Save the Date by Matthew Sweet London, 1969, and the Eternal Joy dating agency has a new secretary: Miss Perpugilliam Brown. Peri's undercover. Her mission: to find the source of the sonic boom that rang out across London, discover the secrets of Eternal Joy’s big pink computer... and set the Doctor and Turlough up on a double date with two young ladies.
    • 2. Poison's Reach by Paul Sutton The civilisation of Freefall is powered by a natural radiation stream rising from its moon. That's the official story. Engineer Sandra Silva knows the truth. She's determined to expose the Stelta Corporation's crimes, and she has a trio of time-travelling sightseers on her side. Turlough is about to learn that, to achieve a worthy aim, sometimes the ultimate sacrifice has to be made...
    • 3. Broken Home by AK Benedict and Guy Adams Once a traitor, always a traitor? Vislor Turlough returns to Trion at last - and promptly hands the Doctor and Peri over to the occupying forces. Has Turlough learned any lessons from the Time Lord he was once tasked with killing? And in order to liberate his broken home, who is he willing to sacrifice?
  • A world without the Doctor! Zoe, Jaimie, and the Doctor, now joined by his handler Raven, are on the run from the Time Lords in August's Second Doctor Adventures: The Haunted Windmill (DTO: £19.99 | DTO + CD: £24.99). Deciding to hide out on Earth 1963, they discover a planet they don't recognize. One where the Doctor never landed. The box set is comprised of three stories, all written by Alan Barnes.
    • The Haunted Windmill
    • The Crystal Ship
    • The Hungry Glass

 

Out of Print This Week

• Bernice Summerfield: 7.3 The Worst Thing in the World

Sales and Recommendations (As a reminder, bulleted stories are recommended by me, and those in bold are my favorites)

• Short Trips Sale: Up to 40% off Short Trips and Short Trips Rarities (Ends 14 June 2026)
  • Her Own Bootstraps
  • The World Beyond the Trees / Damascus
  • Erasure
  • A Heart on Both Sides
  • All Hands on Deck
  • O Tannenbaum
  • The Blame Game
  • The Siege of Big Ben / Flight Into Hull!
  • Museum Peace
• DWM628 Offer: 50% off a select number of releases. Use the discount code FICTIONAL at checkout (Ends 30 June 2026)
  • The Monthly Adventures: 14. The Holy Terror
  • The Monthly Adventures: 271. Plight of the Pimpernel
  • The Seventh Doctor New Adventures Volume 01
  • The War Master: Escape from Reality

Big Finish Book Club: Discounts on a specially selected Big Finish audio drama every month. June's selection: Gallifrey: Time War 1 for just £14.99 on DTO.

Free Excerpt: Every month a 15 minute excerpt is chosen from an upcoming release to download for free. June's selection is The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Continuum: Part 1. Just click on the link and use this month's code DAEDALUS.

Free Day Friday: Every week, Big Finish highlights an excerpt from their Big Finish For Free! collection, and offer 25% off the full release using a unique sale code. This week's selection: Subterfuge Part 1. Use discount code WINSTON at checkout to save 25% off the full release of The Monthly Adventures: Subterfuge (Ends 15 June).

Big Finish Release Schedule

• 16 June - Dark Gallifrey: The Meddling Monks Part 3
• 18 June - The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Thirteen O'Clock
• 23 June - Rutans vs Sontarans: Grave Moon
• 25 June - Gallifrey: War Room 3: Loyalties

Community Reviews via TARDIS Guide:

Release No.	Title	Score	Votes
100	Torchwood: Fare Well	4.62/5	64 votes
15B	The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: Lethal Progress
	Green and Pleasant Planet	3.11/5	33 votes
	The Continuum	3.18/5	31 votes
	The Audience	3.63/5	27 votes
2	Planet Krynoid: Survivors
	The Hunt	3.50/5	9 votes
	The Harrow	3.50/5	6 votes
	The Harvest	???	???

What Big Finish I Was Listening To This Week: Just the first episode of The Audience this week.

General Doctor Who / Non-Big Finish News

News

• An update on the future of Doctor Who. Key points:
  • The Christmas Special has been cancelled. It was intended to bridge the gap between RTD2 and the next era, but the BBC feel their efforts are best put towards investing in the show's long-term success and setting up future series to come.
  • Russell T. Davies has left the show, along with Bad Wolf.
  • Doctor Who is being put out to competitive tender, meaning production companies will be bidding on producing the show going forward -- rights are not an issue here.
  • The previously announced CBeebies animated show is currently in production.

The Rumor Mill

• Deadline reports that several producers that they contacted say you would be mad to take on Doctor Who right now. This was a report immediately after the news so only time will tell, but that lack of immediate interest was something to note.

Media/Merchandise

• Doctor Who: The Time Museum from Panini is released on 11 June.
• Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker: The Deadliest Weapon is available to pre-order on CD, vinyl, and digital. Due for release 31 July.
• The Queerest of Folk, a new memoir from RTD, is announced for release on 8 October.

My Thoughts on RTD2 and the Hiatus

Welp, it happened. No Christmas Special. Russell and Bad Wolf are gone. Doctor Who will be off air for a few years. I have to say, though I personally had no problem with the output of RTD2, and several episodes sit amongst my favorites in all of Who, I think this is probably for the best. Russell seemed set in his ways and unyielding on how he wanted things, and it's becoming ever more clear there were major behind the scenes issues. I have great respect for the man and what he's done both with this show and others, but at the end of the day I just don't think it was working as well as it could.

It is interesting though. I think all in all, there was much more good than bad when it came to the episodes of RTD2, it's just that the bad ones were carrying some extra weight as they were premieres and finales. I think the middle episodes were as consistent as any other era, but general opinion was heavily colored by Empire of Death and The Reality War.

I think the same thing that's happening with Doctor Who is happening with the MCU and Star Wars, two other major franchises that have pretty much lost the interest of their fanbase in recent years and relied on stunt casting or fan service to retain a base audience. It's clear that fans are done with that, and want to move on to having more substantial and consequential storytelling. I think Doctor Who sits in a different category where it's hard to have long-term consequences, so it relies on character-driven storytelling to drive that drama season-to-season. And even though that was Russell's strong suit in RTD1, it was majorly lacking in RTD2. Maybe it was the brevity of the seasons, maybe he lost his way, I don't know. But Doctor Who definitely needs a fresh take to keep moving on.

Introduction

Hello all. I usually update this guide at the new year, but as we are entering a hiatus on the show and some things have changed even in the past six months, I figured I'd give this an update. I had also only previously posted these on r/Gallifrey so it makes sense I make one available here.

To make a bit of a disclaimer: I have some stats scattered throughout this post. All these numbers come from my personal spreadsheet I use to track Big Finish releases. Exact counts of releases get a little blurry, as Big Finish have packaged, compiled, and re-released their stories on many occasions. I use my best judgement on how to track them, e.g. I don't list The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller Series 01 as a single release.

1. I’m completely new and not sure what Big Finish is. Can you explain it?

Overview

Big Finish releases audiobooks and audio dramas taking place in all corners and eras of the Whoniverse. From the tentpole ranges like the Eighth Doctor Adventures to the more obscure Robots, there’s all manners of stories told, featuring characters and worlds you may or may not already know. Currently, Big Finish have the license to produce Doctor Who stories in the worlds of Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, and of course Doctor Who through the Fifteenth Doctor's era.

Big Finish's bread and butter is slotting stories for past Doctors in between their television adventures. Most of the time this is done with existing companions (such as the Fourth Doctor and Leela), but on many occasions Big Finish have made new companions for audio where it makes sense (such as the Eleventh Doctor's travels with Valerie pre-Bells of Saint John). There are also Big Finish original versions of the Doctor in the Unbound range -- the most popular of which being the alternate Third Doctor played by the late David Warner.

Release Types

The company's most popular output are their full-cast audio dramas featuring the original actors from the show. However, there are several actors who have long since passed away or for one reason or another are unavailable for recording. In these cases, Big Finish casts actors to do impressions of these Doctors. These include the First, Second, Third, War, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors. As of 2026, each Doctor from the First to the Thirteenth has their own “Adventures” range, which can be anything from individual 60-minutes release to four-hour box sets. The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors are the newcomers to the format, with Miles Taylor and Jon Culshaw taking on the respective roles.

Additionally, there are several other non-Doctor focused full-cast audio dramas with original actors, such as the long-running Gallifrey range (featuring Romana, Leela, and Narvin), the ever-popular River Song range (featuring River Song and many, many Doctors), and what is my and many other's favorite spin-off range, the War Master (featuring Derek Jacobi).

There are also many ranges that are not full-cast, and either feature a single narrator reading an audiobook, or a narrator and a few other actors performing a dramatic reading of a story that blends elements of audiobooks and audio dramas, complete with sound effects.

Release Formats

Big Finish got its start in the worlds of Doctor Who with Bernice Summerfield, but their first range to feature the Doctor was the Monthly Range. For over 20 years, Big Finish would release a 2-hour CD every month that featured the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Doctors. There are 275 of these releases, and they remain one of the cheapest and most accessible ranges in their catalog. This range is how the Eighth Doctor got a new life after the TV movie, receiving a new companion in Charley Pollard and a story arc that extended through several releases.

Depending on the range, format, and story, releases come in many different lengths. Most audio dramas are formatted like their respective eras. For example, Classic Doctor ranges will have 30 minute episodes, ranging from 2 to 8 episodes per story. New Who ranges will typically have 60 minute episodes, with occasional two or three-parters. 70% of Big Finish's output comes in a "box set" format, whether on CD or digital. These typically are three or four hour releases broken up into episodes at the producers' discretion.

2. I understand what Big Finish is and I want to try it out. Is there any way I can do so for free?

Over the last several years, there have been more attempts to make Big Finish more accessible for new fans. There are several ways you can listen to Big Finish for free and try it out, including:

• Spotify or Apple Music
• Hoopla
• BBC Sounds
• Into the TARDIS Podcast

Below I will detail each option.

Spotify or Apple Music

Spotify and Apple Music have a selection of Doctor Who stories, including the first 50 stories in the Monthly Range and the first series of both the Eighth Doctor Adventures and the Fourth Doctor Adventures. I would recommend starting here to get your bearings in Big Finish.

Perhaps the best place to start is with Blood of the Daleks, Part 1, especially if you're a New Who fan. The Eighth Doctor, to me, is THE Big Finish Doctor and tied with Capaldi as my favorite Doctor. You don’t need to know anything about the previous Eighth Doctor monthly releases to follow along. The stories have both the same format of New Who (a “season” of 1 hour stories, with occasional two-parters), and the same feel. There’s a lot more action and witty dialogue, and new companion Lucie Miller has all the sass and grit you've come to expect from modern companions. The first series (eight stories total) is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Personally, as a lover of the Eighth Doctor I recommend starting with the beginning of the Eighth Doctor’s monthly adventures, Storm Warning. You’ll be introduced to the quintessential audio companion, Charley Pollard, and get a good feel for early Big Finish. The format will be 2-hour stories broken into four 30 minute parts, which is typical for the Monthly Range. These releases are available on Spotify and Apple Music, but they only have the first 50 monthly adventures, meaning you will get every Eighth Doctor monthly adventure up to Zagreus. Listen in release order and you won't be lost.

If you are interested in and/or already familiar with Classic Doctor Who, I’d recommend starting with the Fifth Doctor story Spare Parts. It’s not only one of the best monthlies, but one of the best Cyberman stories to boot. It gives a good feel for what the continuing adventures of classic Doctors feels like. From there, you can follow the Fifth Doctor's releases in those first fifty in really any order you like, as they do jump around quite a bit depending on what companion actors were available, or you can start at the beginning of the monthlies with the Sirens of Time. Like the rest of the first 50 monthly releases, these are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Hoopla

I'll admit I'm not as familiar with Hoopla, but I always see this one recommended. Looking at their selection, they cover a large amount of what Apple Music and Spotify cover plus a lot more, including other ranges such as Short Trips, Jago & Litefoot, and many more. They also have the entire second series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures with Lucie Miller. All in all, they have 372 releases from Big Finish, including non-Doctor Who releases such as Dorian Gray.

BBC Sounds

For the 60th Anniversary, a good selection of Big Finish stories were made available for free on BBC Sounds. The first set of the Tenth Doctor Adventures was broadcast on Radio 4 and is therefore under its own series called simply Doctor Who, but the rest are under Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures. Please note that as of 21 July 2025, BBC Sounds is not available outside the UK (so get out those VPNs). The stories included are listed below:

1. Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures
   1. Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1 (Fifth through Eighth Doctors)
   2. The Companion Chronicles: The Beginning (First Doctor and Susan)
   3. The Early Adventures: The Isos Network (Second Doctor and Jamie)
   4. The Lost Stories: Mind of the Hodiac (Sixth Doctor and Mel)
   5. The Monthly Adventures: 1963 - The Assassination Games (Seventh Doctor and Ace)
   6. The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers (Ninth Doctor)
   7. Out of Time 1 (Tenth and Fourth Doctors)
2. Doctor Who
   1. The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 01 (Tenth Doctor and Donna)
      1. Technophobia
      2. Time Reaver
      3. Death and the Queen

Into the TARDIS Podcast

As a celebration of 25 years of producing Doctor Who audio dramas, Big Finish launched the Into the TARDIS podcast. Every Saturday from March 2024 to April 2025, they released episodic installments of popular audio dramas, for free with ads. Released episodes include stories from Classic Doctors New Monsters, First Doctor Adventures, Third Doctor Adventures, Fourth Doctor adventures, Eighth Doctor Adventures, Ninth Doctor Adventures, and Tenth Doctor Adventures. This podcast can be found on multiple services, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Acast.

3. I've dipped my toes with the free options but I want more. Where can I buy releases from Big Finish?

www.bigfinish.com

The easiest way is directly through the Big Finish website. By buying through the Big Finish website you not only get a CD and/or download that can either be downloaded directly (.mp3 or .m4b) or listened to through their official app, but you directly support the business and the production you're listening to, and help fund future projects. Big Finish is a very small company that relies entirely on sales to fund their stories -- they aren't supported financially by the BBC and they don't do ads of any sort -- so if you want good quality content, it helps to give them direct support.

I have almost never paid full retail price for Big Finish releases, and that is largely because of their pre-order discounts and wonderful sales. Big Finish typically have weekly sales on existing releases, usually centered around a specific range or theme they're trying to push that week. A lot of their sales are focused around promoting a new release or celebrating some milestone or birthday of a creative. For example, if a new First Doctor box set comes out, you can probably expect a sale on that range the week of release. Sometimes they'll even double or triple up on sales in a week. Throughout the year, pretty much every single Big Finish release will be on sale at some point. In fact, at the time of writing this, 876 of Big Finish's 1,334 Doctor Who-related stories have been on sale at some point since January 1st. Unless you're desperate to buy something in the moment, it almost always works to wait for a sale.

New releases have an exclusive pre-order price that lasts through a release's first two months on sale, at which point the price increases by about £2 or £3 on average on download and CD. If you're wanting a new release it's best to get them during this period. Big Finish sells their releases individually, but you can also get a discount by selecting one of their pre-determined bundles where available, which discounts both pre-orders as well as existing releases. For example: if you want to buy all four Dark Eyes box sets individually, you could do so for £19.99 each, OR you could buy a bundle for £68 total (15% off). Just select a release and see if it has a "Save money with a bundle" option, and select your bundle. Big Finish also offers you 10% off your cart of £50 or more of non-discounted releases. So to use the Dark Eyes example again, if you added Dark Eyes 1 - 4 non-bundled and non-discounted to your cart, you would only pay £71.96 after your 10% off discount.

Third Party Sellers

As someone who got their start in Big Finish through free releases and 3rd party sellers, I understand wanting to find good deals and bang for your buck. Big Finish sells their physical releases through Amazon, which carries existing releases as well as allowing pre-orders of future releases in many cases. Do note that Big Finish keep their releases exclusive for the first two months, so if you pre-order elsewhere there will be a delay. There are also always people clearing out their collections on eBay, so there's some good hunting to be had there. I have also been lucky to find releases at second-hand bookstores such as Half Price Books here in the US, so I'd imagine you'd find some good look at similar store sin the UK as well. Lastly, there are some fan shops such as The WHO Shop (UK) and the Doctor Who Store (US) that carry Big Finish releases. An important note to make here is that CDs do not come with digital download codes, so if you want digital files you will have to rip the discs and upload them to whatever player is most convenient for you.

4. I know how to buy Big Finish but I don't know where to start.

The first thing to do is determine what exactly you're wanting to listen to. If you have a specific range in mind, or even a broader grouping such as New Who releases, there are several hubs on the Big Finish website for you to peruse. I will list good starting points for several ranges below.

If you're thinking about cost first, I would recommend starting with the Monthly Adventures. Most releases in this range are sold out on CD, so I will only be looking at prices of digital releases. The pricing for each release is staggered, so more recent releases cost more. Big Finish revisit their pricing model from time to time, but the current digital rates are:

Monthly Range 001 - 100	£3.99
Monthly Range 101 - 150	£4.99
Monthly Range 151 - 200	£7.99
Monthly Range 201 - 275	£12.99

Listening to each Doctor at Big Finish, in timeline order, is very very hard to do. There are certainly guides out there that you can follow, but this is not a resource for that. For the most part, you should be able to follow a range in order of release for each Doctor. There may be some you can (such as the first two volumes of The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles) or some you have to skip around other releases to get one story arc (Ace and Hex in the Monthly Range).

If you want to dive into Big Finish's backlog, there are plenty of options depending on which Doctor you want to listen to. Each Doctor, from the First to the Thirteenth, has a home at Big Finish. Some Doctors have been there for 25 years, some just started in the last six months, and some are yet to start. Below I will detail ranges and personal recommendations of full-cast stories for each Doctor.

Doctor	Actor	Ranges	Recommendation
Fugitive Doctor	Jo Martin	The Fugitive Doctor	The Fugitive Doctor: Most Wanted
First Doctor	Stephen Noonan / David Bradley	The First Doctor Adventures	The First Doctor Adventures: Fugitive of the Daleks / The First Doctor Adventures Volume 02
Second Doctor	Michael Troughton	The Second Doctor Adventures	The Second Doctor Adventures: Beyond War Games
Third Doctor	Tim Treloar	The Third Doctor Adventures	The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 07
Fourth Doctor	Tom Baker	The Fourth Doctor Adventures	The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Trouble with Drax
Fifth Doctor	Peter Davison	The Fifth Doctor Adventures	The Monthly Adventures: 034. Spare Parts
Sixth Doctor	Colin Baker	The Sixth Doctor Adventures	The Monthly Adventures: 006. The Marian Conspiracy
Seventh Doctor	Sylvester McCoy	The Seventh Doctor Adventures	The Monthly Adventures: 025. Colditz
Eighth Doctor	Paul McGann	The Eighth Doctor Adventures	The Monthly Adventures: 016. Storm Warning
War Doctor	Sir John Hurt / Jonathan Carley	The War Doctor	The War Doctor Begins: Forged in Fire
Ninth Doctor	Christopher Eccleston	The Ninth Doctor Adventures	The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare
Tenth Doctor	David Tennant	The Tenth Doctor Adventures	The Tenth Doctor and River Song
Eleventh Doctor	Miles Taylor / Jacob Dudman	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures / The Doctor Chronicles	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question / The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Geronimo!
Twelfth Doctor	Jon Culshaw / Jacob Dudman	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures / The Doctor Chronicles	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind / The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles Volume 02: Timejacked!
Thirteenth Doctor	Jodie Whittaker	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Vampire Weekend

If you want to follow new releases, then go with the Adventures ranges. The Doctor Adventures ranges started with the Eighth Doctor, and eventually expanded as new actors like Tom Baker and David Tennant joined. A few years ago, Big Finish made them standard for all their Doctors they had actors for (1 through 10 at the time, then eventually 11 - 13), so there are recent starting points across the board for all these ranges.

Some of the Doctor Adventures ranges have bigger arcs at play where it only makes sense to start at the beginning or with a specific release. Some simply use each new release to tell a story in a specific part of that Doctor's era, and are not necessarily sequential. See below for my recommendations of where to start for each of these ranges. If a range falls into that second camp, then my recommendation will most likely be one of the standouts of the range in my eyes. I do try to keep cost in mind, so if there's two good starting points but one is 10 less than the other, I'll recommend the cheaper one.

Range	Starting Point	Price, GBP (DTO / CD)
The Fugitive Doctor	The Fugitive Doctor: Most Wanted	£21.99 (DTO)
The First Doctor Adventures	The First Doctor Adventures: Fugitive of the Daleks	£21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD)
The Second Doctor Adventures	The Second Doctor Adventures: Beyond War Games	£19.99 (DTO)
The Third Doctor Adventures	The Third Doctor Adventures: The Annihilators	£19.99 (DTO)
The Fourth Doctor Adventures	The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: The Ministry of Death	£22.99 (DTO)
The Fifth Doctor Adventures	The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 1	£22.99 (DTO)
The Sixth Doctor Adventures	The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Bad Terms	£22.99 (DTO) / £32.99 (CD)
The Seventh Doctor Adventures	The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward	£22.99 (DTO) / £32.99 (CD)
The Eighth Doctor Adventures	The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Audacity	£21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD)
The War Doctor	The War Doctor Rises: Morbius the Mighty	£21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD)
The Ninth Doctor Adventures	The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare	£10.99 (DTO)
The Tenth Doctor Adventures	The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 01	£24.99 (DTO)
The Eleventh Doctor Adventures	The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question	£22.99 (DTO)
The Twelfth Doctor Adventures	The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind (Upcoming)	£43.99 (DTO)
The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures	The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Vampire Weekend	£10.99 (DTO)

There are several spin-off ranges I am quite fond of. Find these listed below:

Range	Starring	Status
The War Master	Sir Derek Jacobi	Ongoing
River Song	Alex Kingston, various Doctors	Ongoing (under The Death and Life of River Song)
The Robots	Nicola Walker, Claire Rushbrook	Concluded
Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon	Billie Piper	Concluded
Call Me Master	Sasha Dhawan	No upcoming releases announced
Gallifrey	Louise Jameson, Seán Carlsen, Lalla Ward	Ongoing (under Gallifrey: War Room)
Susan's War	Carole Ann Ford	No upcoming releases announced
Smith & Sullivan	Sadie Miller, Christopher Naylor	No upcoming releases announced

5. What are some of the best recent releases?

I'll make some suggestions here based both on my own personal taste and ratings from the TARDIS Guide.

Release	TARDIS Guide Score	# of Votes
The War Doctor Rises: Fallen Heroes
The Dead Sea by Alfie Shaw	4.42/5	139 votes
Unit 26 by Alfie Shaw	4.39/5	138 votes
Yesterday is Tomorrow and Tomorrow is Today by Alfie Shaw	4.54/5	137 votes
The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 1 by Tim Foley	4.47/5	211 votes
The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 2 by Tim Foley	4.38/5	178 votes
The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Causeway
Lost Amongst the Stars by Rochana Patel	3.93/5	151 votes
The Time You Never Had by Tim Foley	4.45/5	149 votes
Rutans vs Sontarans: Betrayal at the House of Sontar by John Dorney	4.40/5	132 votes
The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question
The Final Cut by Lisa McMullin, from a story by Max Kashevsky	4.00/5	180 votes
The Tourist Trap by Beth Axford	4.09/5	174 votes
A Delusion of Witches by Lisa McMullin	4.32/5	170 votes
The Ninth Doctor Adventures Series 04
The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare by Tim Foley	3.97/5	340 votes
The Last Days of the Powell Estate by Timothy X Atack	4.22/5	297 votes
The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dare You by Lisa McMullin	4.05/5	262 votes
The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Cloud Eight by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle	4.20/5	238 votes
The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Pandemonium by Katherine Armitage	3.88/5	178 votes
The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 14: The Last Queen of the Nile
Conspiracy of Silence by Jonathan Morris	3.70/5	74 votes
The Last Queen of the Nile by David K Barnes	4.42/5	73 votes
The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward
With the Angels Part 1 by John Dorney	4.25/5	95 votes
Catastrophix by Lizzie Hopley	3.34/5	94 votes
With the Angels Part 2 by John Dorney	4.18/5	93 votes
The Death and Life of River Song Series 03: The Dissolution of Time
The Armgeddon Game	4.18/5	48 votes
Anne Boleyn Must Die	4.28/5	48 votes
A Good Woman Goes to War	4.31/5	48 votes
The Schism Bloom	4.25/5	48 votes
Smith & Sullivan: Reunited
The Caller	4.07/5	88 votes
Union of the Snake	3.77/5	82 votes
Blood Type	4.00/5	83 votes

6. What are some tips and tricks to Big Finish?

Purchasing

• If you’re going to buy multiple releases in a series eventually, buy in bundles now. You will always get the cheapest price per set if you buy in bundles, plus you don’t have to pay the per order charge.
• Pre-order prices are the cheapest sets will be. If you’re interested in an upcoming release, there is two month window where it will be at pre-order price. After that, Big Finish gives them to retailers and the price goes up to buy from them.
• Watch for sales. There are frequent sales, whether to celebrate an actor or writer’s birthday, a release’s anniversary, or what have you. If there’s a popular set you have your eye on, you can usually count on a sale at some point in the year.
• Buying physically also gives you a digital version of the release. You’ll make a Big Finish account when you order a release. Whether you buy a release digitally or physically, you’ll be able to listen to the story in the Big Finish app or download them as .mp3 or .mb4 files from their website.
• Big Finish will charge you up-front, rather than when it ships. For me this is helpful because it helps me budget, and I don’t have to worry about surprises charges if I forget about a pre-order.
• You can buy gift cards for yourself in your currency. This is how I order all my purchases anymore, since PayPal's conversion rate is typically higher than the real one.

Listening

• New releases come out at 9:30am GMT the day of release. You will have to refresh your Big Finish app to get a new release to show up in your account, and the bigger your library the longer a refresh will take.
• You might not retain everything in a story, and that’s okay. There are very few audios I’ve listened to where I can recall and tell you exactly what happened from start to finish, outside of the big picture. It’s the nature of the format that all you can do is be told what is happening, so it’s much, much harder to remember what happened if you can’t even picture it.
• Imagining the scene can either be very beneficial or very distracting. I rarely listen to a story and picture what’s happening the entire time. I only do so when they’re at a new location or there’s a new character, or if something really important is happening. If you try to do it the whole time, you’ll focus too much on figuring out what things should look like and you’ll miss what’s happening.
• Don't try too hard to follow a chronological order. Especially for the Main Range, due to the nature of writing for past Doctors and slotting stories into their timelines, there's a lot of jumping around between time periods for certain Doctors. You might have the Fifth Doctor with Nyssa in one story, then get Peri and Erimem in the next, and round it all off with one with Turlough for good measure.

Other

• The TARDIS Guide is a great resource for reviews and tracking progress. If you are hard-pressed to figure out how to spend your money wisely, search for releases on this website to help you. You can search all audio dramas and filter by characters and ranges, then sort by quality and see what's recommended. Once you finish a story, you can either rate it or simply mark it as completed.

I hope this helped some of you, and please, fellow Big Finish listeners, let me know anything I should add. And drop your own recommendations in the comments.