Tom Baker, the last surviving star of the original Doctor Who TV series not to be involved with Big Finish Productions’ series of audio dramas, has finally firmed up plans to appear in a series of adventures due out early next year.
Baker recently recorded five original Doctor Who plays for BBC Audio, and last year he let it drop that he was in talks with Big Finish, which has been making new full-cast episodes with the show’s original stars since before the TV series was relaunched in 2005.
The new storeis will co-star Louise Jameson as the savage Leela and Mary Tamm as the Time Lady Romana — though, presumably not simultaneously, of course, as those characters never appeared together.
Of course, this opens up many casting possibilities that I’m already geeking out about: Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), K9 (John Leeson), Romana II (Lalla Ward) and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), all of whom have been involved with Big Finish to some extend. It’s a big Who-niverse.
Read on for the full statement from Big Finish:
We’re delighted to announce that Tom Baker will be playing the Fourth Doctor in a number of audio adventures for Big Finish, to be released from the beginning of 2012. Storylines and scripts are already at an advanced stage, and we plan to start recording early in the summer.
The first season of six single-disc releases will begin in January 2012, with a second season of seven single-disc releases to follow at a date to be confirmed. There will also be a five-disc box set entitled Doctor Who: The Lost Stories – The Fourth Doctor Box Set… The producers across the Fourth Doctor adventures are Nicholas Briggs and David Richardson.
“As many of you will know, we’ve been talking to Tom for a long time,” says Big Finish executive producer Nick Briggs. “David Richardson and I went to visit Tom at his home not long ago to chat about it all. We had a really great time. At that point, I sincerely felt that had we taken a microphone with us, Tom would have started there and then – but, of course, there are always finer details to sort out. Now that our plans are in place, and Tom has enthusiastically told the world that we’re going ahead, we thought it best to follow-up with our own announcement. Rest assured that in the coming months we will be releasing news on this as soon as we are able.”
Executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery says: “I am delighted that Tom will be joining the Big Finish audio adventures of Doctor Who. As a small child, I remember how charismatic and engaging his performance was each Saturday tea time – and we are all looking forward to recreating that era again.”
We can confirm that the companions in these productions will be Louise Jameson as Leela and Mary Tamm as Romana, and some familiar monstrous faces from the past will be popping up too.
