Classic TV legend Wendy Craig joins Big Finish for a role fit for a queen!
A sitcom queen will become the real thing when David Bradley’s First Doctor and his time team return in a brand-new box set of full-cast audio adventures due for release in April 2021. Sitcom royalty Wendy Craig is joining Big Finish to play the Queen of England!
Craig (Butterflies) will star as Queen Elizabeth I in a forthcoming Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures story. The Hollow Crown is written by multi-award-winning playwright and academic, Sarah Grochala. And her thrilling historical audio drama sees the TARDIS materialise in the time of Shakespeare, and thrusts the Time Lord and his companions into the turbulent machinations of the royal court.
On taking the role of Good Queen Bess, Wendy Craig said: “This is really going back into ancient history. I’ve always wanted to play Queen Elizabeth I. I think she’s the most wonderful woman – the most wonderful character. I’ve not played royalty before, as I was always rather more ‘below stairs’ really.”
The Hollow Crown is part of a fifth series of Doctor Who adventures in space and time for David Bradley’s Tardis team
Producer David Richardson added: “Wendy Craig is one of my acting heroes. She was a huge part of my childhood and formative years. I’m not alone in that – the whole nation watched Butterflies and …And Mother Makes and Nanny because she creates characters you want to spend time with.
“It is surely a shame that she has never, to date, appeared in Doctor Who on TV. But we’ve more than made up for that at Big Finish. And here she is with the First Doctor, giving us a brilliant Elizabeth I – how lucky we are!”
Craig actually becomes the fifth actor to play Elizabeth I in various Doctor Who media. The monarch first appeared on the television show in the form of Vivienne Bennett on the screen of the Time Space Visualiser in 1965’s The Chase. Then again with Angela Pleasence declaring the Doctor her mortal enemy in 2007’s The Shakespeare Code. And finally with Joanna Page as the young Elizabeth marrying the Doctor in 50th anniversary’s The Day of the Doctor! Meanwhile, Jane Goddard previously cameoed as Elizabeth for Big Finish, once more via the Time Space Visualiser, in Sixth Doctor release The One Doctor.
Alongside Wendy Craig and David Bradley, this adventure also features the First Doctor’s companions Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Susan. All as portrayed by An Adventure in Space and Time actors Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell and Claudia Grant.
Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures – Volume Five
The Hollow Crown is part of Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures – Volume Five, which can be pre-ordered at the special price of £24.99 as a collector’s edition four-disc CD box set, or £19.99 as a download, exclusively from the Big Finish website.
