Doctor Who: The Early Adventures
In February 2013, Big Finish Productions announced that, following the conclusions of the Lost Stories and the monthly Companion Chronicles, they would be launching The Early Adventures, a series of brand new stories featuring the first and second Doctors. The four-part plays star surviving lead actors from the original series, and follow a similar structure to the Lost Stories set in this era, mixing dialogue and narration.[1]
Episodes
Series 1
The first series consist of stories featuring the First Doctor. William Russell reprises the role of Ian Chesterton in the first two stories, while Peter Purves reprises the role of Steven Taylor in the second two. Carole Ann Ford plays Susan Foreman in the first story, Maureen O'Brien plays Vicki in the second and third stories, and Jean Marsh plays Sara Kingdom in the fourth. Additionally, Russell and Purves perform the Doctor's dialogue in their respective stories, while Ford and O'Brien perform the dialogue of Barbara Wright in the first two stories.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Doctor | Featuring | Release Date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Domain of the Voord" | Ken Bentley | Andrew Smith | 1st | Ian Chesterton, Susan Foreman, Barbara Wright, Voord | September 2014 | BFPDWEA01 |
| 2 | "The Doctor’s Tale" | Ken Bentley | Marc Platt | 1st | Ian, Vicki Pallister, Barbara | October 2014 | BFPDWEA02 |
| 3 | "The Bounty of Ceres" | Lisa Bowerman | Ian Potter | 1st | Vicki, Steven Taylor | November 2014 | BFPDWEA03 |
| 4 | "An Ordinary Life" | Ken Bentley | Matt Fitton | 1st | Steven, Sara Kingdom | December 2014 | BFPDWEA04 |
Series 2
The second series consists of stories featuring the Second Doctor, played in all four stories by Frazer Hines, who also reprises his original role from the series as the Doctor's companion Jamie McCrimmon. Anneke Wills reprises her role as Polly Wright in the first two stories, Deborah Watling reprises the role of Victoria Waterfield in the third story, and Wendy Padbury reprises the role of Zoe Heriot in the fourth. In addition, the first two stories feature Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson, originally played by the late Michael Craze.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Doctor | Featuring | Release Date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Yes Men" | TBA | Simon Guerrier | 2nd | Polly Wright, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon | September 2015 | BFPDWEA05 |
| 2 | "The Forsaken" | TBA | Justin Richards | 2nd | Polly, Ben, Jamie | October 2015 | BFPDWEA06 |
| 3 | "The Black Hole" | TBA | Simon Guerrier | 2nd | Jamie, Victoria Waterfield, The Monk | November 2015 | BFPDWEA07 |
| 4 | "The Isos Network" | TBA | Nicholas Briggs | 2nd | Jamie, Zoe Heriot, Cybermen | January 2016 | BFPDWEA08 |
Series 3
The third series of the Early Adventures will see Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Maureen O'Brien, Peter Purves and Jean Marsh reprising their roles as the companions of the First Doctor, joined by Jemma Powell as Barbara Wright, who had previously portrayed the role of original Barbara actress Jacqueline Hill in the 2013 drama An Adventure in Space and Time, and Dan Starkey as the Sontarans. The second story also features actor James Joyce in the role of a new companion, Jospa. [2]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Doctor | Featuring | Release Date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Age of Endurance" | TBA | Nick Wallace | 1st | Susan, Ian, Barbara | September 2016 | BFPDWEA09 |
| 2 | "The Fifth Traveller" | TBA | Phillip Lawrence | 1st | Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Jospa | October 2016 | BFPDWEA10 |
| 3 | "The Ravelli Conspiracy" | TBA | Robert Khan & Tom Salinsky | 1st | Vicki, Steven | November 2016 | BFPDWEA11 |
| 4 | "The Sontarans" | TBA | Simon Guerrier | 1st | Steven, Sara, Sontarans | December 2016 | BFPDWEA12 |
Series 4
It was confirmed that another two series of The Early Adventures had been commissioned for 2017 & 2018.[3]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Doctor | Featuring | Release Date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | September 2017 | BFPDWEA13 |
| 2 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | October 2017 | BFPDWEA14 |
| 3 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | November 2017 | BFPDWEA15 |
| 4 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | December 2017 | BFPDWEA16 |
Series 5
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Doctor | Featuring | Release Date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | September 2018 | BFPDWEA17 |
| 2 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | October 2018 | BFPDWEA18 |
| 3 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | November 2018 | BFPDWEA19 |
| 4 | "TBA" | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | December 2018 | BFPDWEA20 |
