Thursday 2 January 2014

Big Finish January 2014 releases


It’s a new year, so plenty of new stories to enjoy, and such variety! For each release, I will include the information on the product page, and for the ranges I am more familiar with, things like preparatory listening. Hopefully a Who’s Who for the Doctor Who releases should be up at some point this month.






Written By: Philip Martin  
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Lisa Greenwood as Flip, with Nabil Shaban as Sil

This is the first entry in the 2014 Sixth Doctor trilogy, which features Flip as the companion and is 2 discs long

Synopsis:

Future Britain is bankrupt, its corporate owners facing financial ruin. Fortunately, the Universal Monetary Fund, and its slimy representative Sil, are willing to give its President a multi-billion credit bail-out... but terms and conditions apply, and Sil's proposed austerity measures go far beyond mere benefit cuts.

Responding to a distress call, the Doctor and his companion Flip land in a London whose pacified population has been driven largely underground. But the horrors down there in the dark are as nothing to the horrors that await them at ConCorp HQ, where a young biochemist in Sil's employ is working on a permanent solution to the nation's terminal unprofitability.

Because in the final account, Sil plans to make a killing...

CAST:

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Lisa Greenwood (Flip Jackson), Nabil Shaban (Sil), Dawn Murphy, David Dobson (Pan/Lord Mav), Mary-Ann Cafferkey (Cerise), Scott Joseph (Boscoe/Voda/Knight Marshal), Mandy Weston (Kristal/Mistress Na/Velena)



Preparatory listening: Flip first appeared in the January 2011 Main Range release The Crimes Of Thomas Brewster, although not as a companion. She officially joined as a companion in the January 2012 Main Range release The Curse Of Davros, and was in the following stories The Fourth Wall and Wirrn Isle (released February and March of the same year). Sil was in the Sixth Doctor TV stories Vengeance Of Varos and Mindwarp, and the Big Finish adaption of Mission To Magnus (Lost Stories 1.02, released December 2009)





Written By: Matt Fitton 
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman
Featuring Lalla Ward as Romana with Terry Molloy guest starring as Quadrigger Stoyn, a role he is reprising from the previous Companion Chronicles, The Beginning and The Dying Light. It also features Juliet Landau as an incarnation of Romana who appeared in Gallifrey VI (released October 2013)
Luna Romana is the final entry in the 50th Anniversary Companion Chronicles trilogy, all of which feature Terry Molloy as Quadrigger Stoyn. It is also a two disc story, with a length of two hours as opposed to the usual  one hour one disc Companion Chronicle.
Synopsis:
The search for the final segment of the Key to Time takes the Doctor and the First Romana to Ancient Rome. The Time Lady is appalled when her companion prefers to watch the latest Plautus comedy rather than complete their mission, and is even less delighted to meet the playwright himself.
But all is not what it seems, either onstage or behind the scenes…
In the far, far future, the Second Romana is destined to have her own encounter with a legacy of Rome, but Stoyn has been waiting. And his actions will set Romana on a collision course with her own past.
Quadrigger Stoyn wants his final revenge on the Doctor, and only Romana stands in his way.
Both of her.

This is the third story in a Companion Chronicles trilogy celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.


Preparatory listening: For context of the relationship between the Doctor and Stoyn, it is advised that you have heard The Beginning and The Dying Light. I am not sure if you need to have heard Gallifrey VI to understand Juliet Landau’s role in the story.



Interesting fact: this story was meant for Mary Tamm to perform as Romana I, but since her death it went to Lalla Ward as Romana II





Written By: John Dorney Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela

This is the first story in the third series of full cast Fourth Doctor stories and is 1 disc long

Synopsis:

Dowcra base. The third Elite Sontaran Assassination Squad closes in on its target. A dozen trained killers, but even they will be unable to bring down the invincible Strang…

Manipulated by the Time Lords, the TARDIS also arrives on Dowcra. And the Doctor is set to encounter the greatest Sontaran ever cloned...



CAST:

Tom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), Dan Starkey (Strang), David Collings (Rosato)



Preparatory listening: As far as I know, none





Featuring Alexander Vlahos as Dorian Gray

This compiles all the stories that have yet been released under the range, as well as the pilot story, Shades Of Gray (which appears in the Bernice Summerfield box set Legion, released September 2012) on 10 discs. There is no download accompanying the CD of this release

Synopsis:

“To have written such a book was nothing… to convince the world it was a work of fiction was a triumph!”

Inspired by Oscar Wilde's classic story of hedonism and corruption, The Confessions of Dorian Gray imagines a world where Dorian Gray was real, and his friendship with Oscar Wilde once spawned the notorious novel.

Presented as a series of original horror stories, Alexander Vlahos (Merlin, Privates) takes us on a supernatural journey through the twentieth century: from Oscar Wilde’s death in Paris, right through to the present day.

This complete collection features every episode from the first and second series, including three hour-long special episodes – released on CD for the very first time! Also included are the Bernice Summerfield crossover story, Shades of Gray, a soundtrack of James Dunlop’s evocative music score and specially-recorded introductions from Alexander Vlahos, who selects his favourite stories from the series.



CAST:

Alexander Vlahos (Dorian Gray), David Ames (Jack), Ayesha Antoine (Ruth), Colin Baker (Tom Sadler), David Blackwell (Robert Ross/Simon), Lisa Bowerman(Bernice Summerfield), Geoffrey Breton (Brennan Doyle), Nicholas Briggs(Sherlock Holmes), Daniel Brocklebank (James Anderson), Seán Carlsen (Basil Hallward/Billy), Paul Clayton (William Wright), Sarah Douglas (Dorothy Parker),Louise Faulkner (Flora Macintosh), Richard Franklin (The Collector), James Goss(Arp Warden), Alex Griffin-Griffiths (Mark), Lorna Rose Harris (Rosina Sawyer),Bernard Holley (The Mayfair Monster), Marcus Hutton (Radio Announcer), Alice Ingham (Shirley), Rhys Jennings (Rory), Paul Jones (Lenny Starr/Julius Metzger),Marilyn Le Conte (Genevieve Moreau/Lady Brandon), Katharine Mangold (Kayla Grant), Katy Manning (Isadora Rigby), Sophie Melville (Isabelle/Fiona), David Menkin (Otto/Detective Randall), Rebecca Newman (The Lost/Claire/Sibyl Vane),Richard Nichols (Alan Campbell), Charlotte Parkyn (Linda), Antonio Rastelli(Messenger), Thomas Rees-Kaye (Gordon Lancaster), Steffan Rhodri (Oscar Wilde), Miles Richardson (Professor Bloom), Hugh Ross (The Montagues), Gary Russell (Alfred), Wilf Scolding (Alasdair Bellamy/Bentinck Receptionist), Hugh Skinner (Tobias Matthews), Hannah Spearritt (Natalie Isaacs), James Unsworth(Barry), Lalla Ward (Constance Harker), Jolyon Westhorpe (Magic Maurice), Rupert Young (James Moriarty). Other parts played by members of the cast.

See the individual story release pages for each synopsis and cast






Written By: David Lemon
Directed By: David Darlington and Joseph Lidster

A one disc audio reading

Synopsis:

“I stepped off the stage-and floated towards the heavens…”

Former mind reader Leticia Faye thought her music hall days were behind her - but charismatic preacher Joshua King has other ideas.

With little persuasion, Leticia becomes part of King’s act; magic mixed with a rabble-rousing call for revolution.

Leticia enjoys the limelight, but is soon plagued by glimpses of a terrifying future.

Is King’s ‘gospel’ all it seems to be? And what ‘role’ does he really want her to play?



CAST:

Nancy Barrett (Leticia Faye), Peter Brooke (Joshua King), Sheila Steafel (Henrietta Frobisher), Greg Patmore (Ned Porter), Jade Sowersby (Alice Collins), James Lawrence (Patrick Kincaid), Barra Collins (James Samuels), John Chancer (Albert Brown), Alan Flanagan (Father William Flannery), Michael Shon (Police Constable Norman Wicks), Joe Johnsey (Sergeant George Croker)





Written By: Justin Richards Directed By: Ken Bentley

A one disc full cast audio drama

Synopsis:

When problems beset the Liberator, all evidence confirms that one of the crew has turned traitor.



CAST:

Gareth Thomas (Roj Blake), Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal),Jan Chappell (Cally), Sally Knyvette (Jenna Stannis), Brian Croucher (Travis),Alistair Lock (Zen/Orac), Bethan Walker (Mutoid)



Preparatory material: Since I haven’t seen any Blake’s 7, I would assume a basic knowledge of the show is required to get something out of it





Written By: Adapted by John Dorney Directed By: Ken Bentley

Four one disc full cast adaptions of lost episodes (deleted for good) for audio



CAST:

Anthony Howell (Dr Keel), Julian Wadham (John Steed), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Carol Wilson)

1: Hot Snow

Written by Ray Rigby, adapted by John Dorney

Colin Baker (Dr Tredding), Camilla Power (Peggy), Tim Bentinck (Superintendent Wilson), Adrian Lukis (Spicer, Johnson), Phil Mulryne (Big Man), Blake Ritson(Charlie), Anjella Mackintosh (Stella, Mrs Simpson), Kieran Bew (Sergeant Rogers)



2: Brought To Book

Written by Brian Clemens, adapted by John Dorney

Colin Baker (Dr Tredding), Adrian Lukis (Spicer/Vance), Tim Bentinck (Superintendent Wilson), George Rainsford (Pretty Boy), Alan Cox (Mason), Blake Ritson (Prentice)



3: Square Root of Evil

Written by Richard Harris, adapted by John Dorney

Tim Bentinck (The Cardinal), Phil Mulryne (5), Beth Chalmers (Secretary), Alan Cox(Hooper), George Rainsford (Warren), Kieran Bew (Steve), Blake Ritson (Tobert),Sophie Aldred (TBA)



4: One for the Mortuary

Written by Brian Clemens, adapted by John Dorney

Sam Clemens (Wilson), Francesca Hunt (Yvette), Nigel Carrington (Pallaine), Nicholas Briggs (Benson), Terry Molloy (Henry)



Preparatory listening: A passing knowledge of the TV show





Written By: Mark Wright

A one disc full cast audio drama with characters from the game Pathfinder Legends

Synopsis:

Adventurers Ezren, Merisiel, Harsk and Valeros arrive in the sleepy village of Sandpoint at a time when rumors of rampaging dragons and massing armies of giants have everyone on edge. The people of Sandpoint eagerly anticipate the coming festival to commemorate the consecration of a new temple. Yet, at the height of the ceremony, disaster strikes. A band of goblins assaults Sandpoint, and it falls to the heroes to defend the new temple.



A recent complaint with Big Finish in recent months has been the lack of additional announcements concerning this range, particularly its casting. Once Big Finish puts up more information on this release, I'll be sure to share it with you

What are you looking forward to? Please comment with the releases you want and the ones you enjoy.

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