April 01, 2019
Spring is starting to burst with an array of colourful BBC Audio Doctor Who titles for March and April!
- It’s well known that many of the Doctor’s earliest TV adventures are missing as a visual record, but Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection One presents five of them as narrated audio soundtracks. This popular set has been reissued on CD, and a digital edition is now available for the first time.
- The First Doctor takes on WOTAN, a powerful and evil computer, in Doctor Who: The War Machines, novelised by Ian Stuart Black from his own 1966 TV adventure. Read by Anneke Wills — who played Polly, introduced in this story —, it’s notable for its depiction of the Post Office Tower, then a brand new London landmark!
- April’s excitement begins with Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate, a very special “writers’ cut” of the 1982 Target novelisation. Now published for the very first time in its original version, the story is read by the man of many voices, Jon Culshaw.
- BBC Audio’s latest Audio Original story, Doctor Who: The Winged Coven, is a spooky tale in present day Hexford, the village scene of many of the Fourth Doctor’s original audio adventures. It’s read by Mrs Wibbsey herself in the definitive curmudgeonly voice of Susan Jameson. In tandem with this new release, Doctor Who: The Nest Cottage Chronicles is also being released in a first-time digital edition, packed with special bonus features.
Here’s a more detailed look at the new Doctor Who audiobooks available to buy on CD and download from BBC Audio in Spring 2019:
Five thrilling soundtrack adventures from the early days of Doctor Who, featuring serials lost from the TV archive.
The pictures may be lost, but each of these stories survive as a soundtrack recording. Remastered and with additional linking narration, they can be enjoyed once more.
In Marco Polo, the famous Venetian explorer plans to give the TARDIS to Kublai Khan - unless the Doctor and his companions can stop him. In The Reign of Terror, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan are caught up in the bloody events of the French Revolution. In The Crusade, the TARDIS materialises in the middle of a 12th Century holy war between Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen Saladin. In Galaxy 4, the Doctor, Steven and Vicki meet the Drahvins and the Rills on a planet just one day away from destruction. In The Myth Makers, the Doctor is hailed as the Greek god Zeus and forced to help defeat the Trojans. He forms the idea of a wooden horse…
Special linking narration is provided by William Russell, Carole Ann Ford and Peter Purves, who also recall their time making the original episodes in a series of bonus interviews. The CD editions also feature PDF files featuring high quality scans of the original BBC TV camera scripts.
Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection One is available on Amazon and Audible now.
Michael Cochrane reads this novelisation of a classic TV adventure featuring the First Doctor.
The TARDIS materialises outside the Post Office Tower in London, 1966. The Doctor senses a powerful and evil force, which he and the ever-curious Dodo track down to scientist Professor Brett and WOTAN, his revolutionary new computer.
Designed as a universal problem solver, WOTAN has suddenly begun to think for itself and has formulated a deadly plan. Using its phenomenal power it will programme humans to build mobile fighting computers, and with these indestructible war machines WOTAN will take over the world. With the help of Dodo, Sir Charles Summers and new friends Ben and Polly, the Doctor must find a way to prevent a global catastrophe.
Michael Cochrane, who has played several roles in the BBC TV series, reads Ian Stuart Black's novelisation of his original 1966 serial starring William Hartnell as the Doctor.
Doctor Who: The War Machines is available on Amazon and Audible now.
Jon Culshaw reads this iconic novelisation of a Fourth Doctor TV adventure, newly restored and extended by the author.
The Doctor and his companions are trapped in E-Space, struggling to find their way back into their own universe. Arriving at an intersection, the TARDIS is invaded by a refugee of the enslaved Tharil race.With K9 damaged by the Time Winds, the Doctor, Romana and Adric explore the strange white eternity of the Gateway, where past, present and future cross over.
They also meet the crew of the Privateer, led by the embattled Rorvic. As all parties strive to find a way out, the Doctor realises that Rorvic's ship holds the terrible secret of the Tharils' history and the means of their liberation.
Jon Culshaw reads Stephen Gallagher's novelisation (as John Lydecker) of his 1981 TV adventure starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, now newly extended and restored from an unpublished manuscript. John Leeson provides the voice of K9.
Doctor Who: Warriors’ Gate will be available on Amazon and Audible from 4th April.
Susan Jameson reads a brand new original adventure for the Fourth Doctor, Mrs Wibbsey and Mike Yates
When the Doctor returns to Nest Cottage, in the village of Hexford, England, he discovers strange things afoot in the local woods. Together with the redoubtable Mrs Wibbsey he discovers the local postmistress in an almost desiccated state, and witnesses sinister behaviour at the local mini-mart.The old team investigate a new shop that has opened in the village, run by the glamorously beguiling Camilla Cookson. Soon they realise that a secret society has formed in Hexford under their very noses. But what role has Mrs Wibbsey herself unwittingly played in all of this? It may be time for a few confessions to be heard.
Recruiting Mike Yates, Tish Madoc and Deirdre Whatsit to the cause, the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey set out to penetrate the winged coven - but what they discover at its heart is the greatest horror of all.Read by Susan Jameson, this brand new adventure by Paul Magrs is set after the events of The Nest Cottage Chronicles and The Thing From The Sea.
Doctor Who: The Winged Coven will be available on Amazon and Audible from 4th April.
Available as a digital collection for the first time, Tom Baker stars as the Fourth Doctor in fifteen full-cast audio dramas written by Paul Magrs, plus bonus features exclusive to this edition.
Hornets’ Nest: When former UNIT captain Mike Yates is reunited with a ghost from the past, he and the Doctor are soon united in battle once more, this time against alien insects intent on global domination.
Demon Quest: A key component from the TARDIS disappears, exchanged for a bag containing four curious objects. Each one is a clue, and so the Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey embark on a chase through Time…
Serpent Crest: The Doctor acquires a Skishtari egg, whose powers are both wondrous and deadly. When the village of Hexford comes under attack, Mrs Wibbsey and Mike discover that two Doctors aren’t necessarily better than one…
With Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey and Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, these thrilling adventures also feature Michael Maloney, Rula Lenska, Samuel West, Jan Francis, David Troughton, Michael Jayston, Simon Shepherd, Sophie Ward, Andrew Sachs, Nerys Hughes and many others. Also included in this edition are an exclusive audio interview with Tom Baker, outtakes from the original studio sessions, promotional trailers and a PDF booklet featuring sleeve notes by writer Paul Magrs.
Doctor Who: The Nest Cottage Chronicles will be available on Amazon and Audible from 4th April.
Coming in May and June 2019…
- Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor Novels (Ninth Doctor Novels), written by Justin Richards, Stephen Cole and Jacqueline Rayner
- Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones (Second Doctor Novelisation), written by Terrance Dicks
- Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor (Fourth Doctor Novelisation), written by Terrance Dicks
- Doctor Who and the Pescatons (Fourth Doctor Audio Original) - digital release only, written by Victor Pemberton
All titles are available from Amazon and Audible in March and April. Check back our site soon for an in-depth look at May and June’s releases.
