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.
Actress Wendy Craig (Butterflies, Not in Front of the Children) will star as Queen Elizabeth I in the forthcoming Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures story, “The Hollow Crown.”
Written by multi-award-winning playwright and academic Sarah Grochala, this thrilling historical audio drama sees the TARDIS materialize 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.”
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!”
Alongside Wendy Craig and David Bradley, this adventure also features the First Doctor’s companions Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Susan as portrayed by An Adventure in Space and Time actors Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell and Claudia Grant.
This release features a recreation of the first ever cast of Doctor Who, as seen on in 2013’s celebratory TV movie dramatization An Adventure in Space and Time, with star David Bradley then appearing as the First Doctor himself alongside Peter Capaldi in 2017’s “Twice Upon A Time” — the Twelfth Doctor’s final story on TV.
Wendy Craig is a familiar face of stage and screen, perhaps known best to television audiences for her starring roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies, Brighton Belles and Reggie Perrin. In 2020, she was awarded the CBE for services to drama and charity.
Queen Elizabeth I has been portrayed many times in Doctor Who, perhaps most famously in the 50th anniversary TV story “The Day of the Doctor,” when she married the Tenth Doctor.
