A new era of Big Finish boxsets begins with four adventures for the Doctor and Peri
The Doctor. And Peri Brown. In the TARDIS. Arguing mainly. At least, that’s how it was on TV for their two seasons together in the 1980s. Since then the pair have had more then thirty extra adventures on audio thanks to Big Finish Productions. Including ones set long after they parted company during The Trial of a Time Lord, as the widowed Peri travels with the Doctor once more. It’s in this second act for their relationship that this new set of stories is set. And there’s a change in format too. Because they’re stepping into the world of boxsets with Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor and Peri Volume One.
Nicola Bryant, who was one of the first Doctor Who actors to sign up to Big Finish back in 1999, reflects on the process. “As always it’s a delight! And it’s very easy to work with my dear friend and colleague Colin Baker. I have been working with him for over half my life – so ‘easy’ is kind of an understatement!
“I really adore all of these stories,” she says of the new boxset. “Interesting, complex and diverse. They all tackle the inevitable change between the Sixth Doctor and Peri that would be reflected in the decades they have known each other. What is really interesting is that Peri has grown but of course the Doctor hasn’t changed at all.”
Joining Bryant and Baker for this first exciting volume of stories are, among others, Deirdre Mullins (Man Down), Hugh Skinner (Fleabag), Javone Prince (Find Me in Paris), Sarah Douglas (Superman II) and Rosie Baker (actress daughter of Colin, in her first role for Big Finish).
This box set contains four brand new, one-hour adventures
The Headless Ones by James Parsons & Andrew Stirling-Brown
When a distress call from an unknown source threatens to rip the TARDIS from the vortex, the Doctor and Peri arrive in nineteenth-century Africa hoping to find the cause of the disturbance. Instead, they meet a British expedition searching for a long lost tribe: the B’lemyae… better known to the locals as ‘the Headless Ones’.
Like by Jacqueline Rayner
On the Earth colony world Rusina, the populace strive to be popular. Likes lead to promotion, dislikes lead to demotion – and more recently, something worse. So when the Doctor investigates the truth behind their subscriber-led society, he finds himself about to become very unpopular indeed.
The Vanity Trap by Stuart Manning
Myrna Kendal used to be a Hollywood film star. Now she spends her life reminiscing on chat shows but there is always one unfinished film she refuses to talk about… at least until the TARDIS interrupts a TV interview, and the Doctor and Peri’s appearance stirs up long-forgotten memories.
Conflict Theory by Nev Fountain
Concerned by the Doctor’s increasing over-protectiveness, Peri presents him with an ultimatum: either they seek counselling or she leaves the TARDIS permanently. Reluctant to lose one of his closest friends, the Doctor seeks out one of the finest psychoanalysts in the universe: Dr Sigmund Freud.
Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor and Peri Volume One is now available to own as a collector’s edition five-disc box set (£24.99) or as a download (£19.99), exclusively from the Big Finish website.
