49-629: The Fifth Doctor Adventures is a Big Finish Productions audio play series based on the television series Doctor Who . It sees the return of Peter Davison reprising his role as the Fifth Doctor . In 1999, beginning with the story " The Sirens of Time ", Big Finish Productions began producing a series of audio adventures featuring the Fifth Doctor , Sixth Doctor and Seventh Doctor . For 22 years these stories continued collectively known as Big Finish's " Main Range ". In May 2020, Big Finish announced
98-483: A new download service through their website, which would provide audio plays in MP3 format, free of any digital rights management . They currently provide the large majority of their catalogue in MP3 and M4B format, with very few outstanding exceptions. In late April 2008, Big Finish released a download subscription service that mirrors its physical CD service. In addition, those who purchase Big Finish productions on CD through
147-591: A new series of Torchwood , featuring Captain Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ). Since this announcement. In 2017, Big Finish announced six new stories of Class featuring original members of the class, as well as a story starring Ace ( Sophie Aldred ). On 27 June 2015, it was announced that Big Finish would produce a line of stories featuring River Song and the Eighth Doctor, as well as stories from Winston Churchill ( Ian McNeice ) and his interactions with
196-516: A non- Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994). Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide ( ISBN 0-563-48600-7 , published by BBC Books 2002). Briggs also voiced the Cyber-Controller and Professor Osborn in the 2002 webcast audio series Real Time . Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided
245-561: A regenerated Doctor . Briggs also recorded a short cameo, as the Daleks for the live Dr Who podcast stage show, 50 Years of Doctor Who: Preachrs Podcast Live 2. He appeared in this alongside a mix of modern and classic Doctor Who actors including; Peter Davison, Richard Franklin, Simon Fisher Becker and Terry Molloy. In 2010, Briggs starred in Doctor Who Live as Winston Churchill . In 2012, Briggs's Doctor Who novel The Dalek Generation
294-515: A special: The Legacy of Time which combined several spin-offs, including UNIT , The Diary of River Song , Bernice Summerfield and Counter-Measures . Other celebratory releases included the third series of Ravenous (featuring almost all Eighth Doctor companions); fourth series of Ravenous (featuring multiple incarnations of the Master ; the sixth Series of the Early Adventures (in which
343-606: Is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include Doctor Who , the characters Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog from 2000 AD , Blake's 7 , Dark Shadows , Dracula , Terrahawks , Sapphire & Steel , Sherlock Holmes , Stargate , The Avengers , The Prisoner , Timeslip , and Torchwood . Founded in 1996, Big Finish in late 1998 began releasing audio plays adapted from
392-571: Is associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs , particularly as the voice of the Daleks and the Cybermen in the 21st century series. Briggs is also the executive producer of Big Finish Productions , for which he has produced, directed and written several audio plays, as well as acting in many of them. Briggs studied at Rose Bruford College with Barry Killerby, who
441-445: Is known for portraying Mr Blobby . Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who -related work was as host of The Myth Makers , a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors, writers and directors involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with Wartime ,
490-532: The Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell (who had been producer of Big Finish since 1999) and became co-executive producer of the company. In 2007, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Water Like a Stone . Briggs voiced the Daleks in a charity theatre production of The Daleks' Master Plan and briefly appeared on stage playing
539-792: The BBC Radio 4 science fiction comedy Nebulous , written by Graham Duff and starring Mark Gatiss . Outside the realm of science fiction, Briggs has appeared on stage at Nottingham 's Theatre Royal since 1997, including a run as Sherlock Holmes in Holmes and the Ripper by Brian Clemens and The House of the Baskervilles , adapted by Briggs himself. Briggs has also been playing Sherlock Holmes in an acclaimed series of audio dramas for Big Finish Productions since 2011. Productions include dramatised adaptations of Conan Doyle stories such as The Hound of
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#1733084718673588-551: The Doctor Who audios. When Russell left the company, Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs took joint responsibility as Co-Executive Producers. Briggs now bears creative responsibility for Big Finish's Doctor Who range, along with script editor Alan Barnes . David Richardson holds the title of senior producer across all ranges, organising the schedules across the company's output, as well as having creative producer responsibility for The Companion Chronicles , Lost Stories, and
637-557: The First Doctor encountered the Second Doctor , as well as using the character of Katerina for the first time); The Diary of River Song series 5 (the first appearance of Eric Roberts ' Master since the 1996 film and the return of Missy ). In August 2020, Big Finish announced a new series of audios beginning release in May 2021, featuring Christopher Eccleston reprising his role as
686-547: The New Adventures , a series of novels from Virgin Books which had originally been licensed Doctor Who stories, but by then had become officially independent from the show and were based around the character of Bernice "Benny" Summerfield . In 1999, Big Finish obtained a non-exclusive licence to produce official Doctor Who plays, beginning with the multi-Doctor story The Sirens of Time . Doctor Who and spin-offs have remained
735-583: The Ninth Doctor (for the first time since his departure from the series in 2005). In December 2021, Big Finish announced that their license to produce Doctor Who audios was extended until the 31st of March 2030. In June 2022, Big Finish announced that in November of the same year, the prices of all unreleased boxsets as of that month would see an increase in price due to the rising costs of production and supply costs. These new prices are yet to be announced as of
784-679: The Patrick McGoohan role. In July 2018, Big Finish released audiobook versions of the first two novels of the Star Trek: Prometheus trilogy. Narrated by Alec Newman , these releases adapt Fire with Fire and The Root of All Rage , with the third story-- In the Heart of Chaos -- released in December 2018. Nicholas Briggs Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He
833-559: The Twelfth Doctor's era up until Twice Upon a Time . This has allowed Big Finish to explore more recent characters and areas from Doctor Who , as seen in Paternoster Gang ; Jenny, The Doctor's Daughter ; and Tales from New Earth . Developments in the 2005 revival TV series also impacted the availability of certain characters. For example, Big Finish was no longer allowed to use the character of Davros , following his return to
882-655: The 15th of September 2022. Other spin-offs include the Gallifrey series (with Lalla Ward as Romana , Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K-9 ); the Dalek Empire series; the UNIT series; the Iris Wildthyme series starring Katy Manning ; the Sarah Jane Smith series and the I, Davros series. Big Finish have also produced a series of Doctor Who plays based on alternative scenarios (for example, what if
931-512: The 1970s storyline The Talons of Weng-Chiang ; Counter-Measures , featuring a group of scientists featured in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks ; Vienna , focusing on an assassin named Vienna Salvatori (played by former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actress Chase Masterson ) who was introduced in the Seventh Doctor audio drama The Shadow Heart ; UNIT, originally focused around the UNIT during
980-468: The 2013 episode " Cold War ". On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth , playing Special Government Advisor Rick Yates. Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays , and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed
1029-955: The Ambassadors of Death ). Two TV spin-offs from the Doctor Who universe have been continued in audio form by Big Finish: Torchwood and Class which has featured the return of several characters from the original cast: Gwen Cooper ( Eve Myles ), Owen Harper ( Burn Gorman ), Toshiko Sato ( Naoko Mori ), Ianto Jones ( Gareth David-Lloyd ), Rhys Williams ( Kai Owen ), Andy Davidson ( Tom Price ), Suzie Costello ( Indira Varma ), Captain John Hart ( James Marsters ) and Bilis Manger ( Murray Melvin ) have all reprised their roles in Torchwood . Characters from Doctor Who have also appeared in Torchwood audios, including Yvonne Hartman ( Tracy-Ann Oberman ) and Jo Grant. Big Finish have also created several new characters of Torchwood in their continuation of
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#17330847186731078-471: The Baskervilles , " The Final Problem " and " The Empty House ", as well as original stories such as The Adventure of the Perfidious Mariner , The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes and The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes . Richard Earl co-stars as Dr. Watson . Briggs also appeared in the films Adulthood and 4.3.2.1 , both written and directed by fellow Doctor Who actor Noel Clarke . Briggs became
1127-893: The British sci-fi comic strip anthology magazine 2000 AD . These consisted of sixteen Judge Dredd stories with two additional plays featuring characters from the Strontium Dog strip. The Judge Dredd series drew heavily upon Big Finish's repertory company established through their Doctor Who series with many actors crossing over such as Toby Longworth (who voiced Dredd), Clare Buckfield , Nicholas Briggs , Mark Donovan and Teresa Gallagher who voiced Chief Judge Hershey . The series would also feature many special guest stars such as The League of Gentlemen ' s Mark Gatiss playing Judge Death , Doctor Who companion actress Nicola Bryant (who would also direct 99 Code Red! ) plus Blake's 7 star Stephen Greif as Efil Drago San. Writers for
1176-506: The Doctor in the series ( Tom Baker , Peter Davison , Colin Baker , Sylvester McCoy , Paul McGann , Christopher Eccleston , and David Tennant ), as well as many of the regular supporting actors over the many years of the programme. The late Jon Pertwee 's voice is featured in the 40th-anniversary story Zagreus . His part in the story was pieced together from snippets of Pertwee's dialogue from
1225-534: The Doctor also appeared in "Party Animals", an instalment of the Doctor Who comic published in Doctor Who Magazine issue 173, cover date 15 May 1991. Briggs also provided the model for the face of the supposed " Ninth Doctor " for Doctor Who Magazine in the late 1990s, when the magazine's comic strip ran a storyline in which the Eighth Doctor apparently regenerated, only for it to later be revealed that
1274-600: The Doctor had never left Gallifrey, or had been a woman), collectively titled Doctor Who Unbound . This has allowed them to cast other actors in the role of the Doctor, including Sir Derek Jacobi , Arabella Weir and David Warner . In 2013, following the death of original Romana actress Mary Tamm , Big Finish introduced a previously unknown third incarnation of Romana, played by American actress Juliet Landau . Other spin-off series include Jago & Litefoot , featuring Henry Gordon Jago ( Christopher Benjamin ) and Professor George Litefoot ( Trevor Baxter ), characters from
1323-670: The Doctor. Further it was announced that a special set would be released featuring classic Doctors (in this case, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors), with new series monsters ( The Weeping Angels , the Judoon , the Sycorax , and the Sontarans ). The latter story will also connect into the Time War . According to Big Finish's website in May 2018, their license was expanded to feature properties set during
1372-886: The TV series in several releases. In March 2024, Big Finish made the stories from all three seasons available once more as digital downloads. This is the first time these have been available in more than a decade. Big Finish also produced and sold 5 seasons of The Tomorrow People audios until renewed licence negotiations failed in late 2007, the range was withdrawn in total in December 2008. Big Finish has released audio dramas based upon other works as well, including Dark Shadows , Sherlock Holmes , Stargate , Captain Scarlet , Terrahawks , The Avengers and The Picture of Dorian Gray . In 2016, Big Finish produced and released its first series of The Prisoner stories , written and directed by Nicholas Briggs and starring Mark Elstob in
1421-550: The TV show's offices in Cardiff to prevent any potential conflicts in continuity. The return of Sarah Jane Smith to the continuity of the TV series, and subsequent The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off, resulted in the character's no longer being available to Big Finish (forcing the cancellation of an ongoing Sarah Jane Smith audio series). According to Briggs, permission from Russell T Davies , producer and creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures , had been secured that would have allowed
1470-457: The character (and actress Elisabeth Sladen ) to return to Big Finish for a series of stories alongside Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, but Sladen's illness and death in April 2011 put an end to those plans. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013, Big Finish created a series in the style of The Companion Chronicles range titled Destiny of the Doctor narrated by companions throughout
1519-405: The company to make a statement on the views expressed by a few individuals they have worked with. The company stated that it is committed to ensuring that those working for the company are protected from discrimination due to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage, pregnancy or maternity leave, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Until July 2006, Gary Russell served as producer of
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1568-465: The company's website receive access to a complimentary download of the story. In September 2008, they released their first free downloadable play. UNIT: The Coup had previously been given away with an issue of Doctor Who Magazine . On February 8, 2017 they announced the Big Finish app. The Doctor Who audio plays have, to date, featured seven of the ten living actors to play the character of
1617-513: The fan-produced Doctor Who video "Devious". The actor John Hurt also recorded appearances as the War Doctor for Big Finish prior to his death in 2017. Destiny of the Doctor , produced in conjunction with AudioGO , who were rights holders to the 2005–present series, marked the first time Big Finish produced storylines featuring the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors to mark the 50th anniversary of
1666-515: The first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner , a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future. In the late 1980s, Briggs also provided the voice of a future incarnation of the Doctor for a series of unofficial audio dramas by Audio Visuals (a forerunner of Big Finish Productions ). This version of
1715-427: The franchise. In February 2015, Big Finish announced that following a licensing deal with BBC Worldwide , they had been permitted to produce an audio series entitled UNIT: Extinction , starring Kate Stewart played by Jemma Redgrave . The debut of the character on audio marks the second time Big Finish have been actively permitted to utilise material introduced in the 2005 revival. In May 2015, Big Finish announced
1764-506: The hiatus years of Doctor Who , starring the Seventh Doctor ( Sylvester McCoy ) and Elizabeth Klein ( Tracey Childs , who first appeared in Colditz ) and later became focused on UNIT from the revived series, featuring Kate Stewart ( Jemma Redgrave and Osgood ( Ingrid Oliver ), as well as guest characters Jo Grant, River Song ( Alex Kingston ) and Doctor Chin Lee ( Pik-Sen Lim , who first appeared in
1813-480: The late 1990s, before a hardback short story anthology licence was granted to Big Finish, who took over the name and produced them until their licence to publish such stories was revoked in the spring of 2009. Big Finish currently continues to produce audio-only Short Trips productions. In 2016, Big Finish's licence to produce Doctor Who audios was extended to 20 June 2025. In 2019, Big Finish reached its 20th anniversary of producing Doctor Who audios and released
1862-512: The main part of the company's output ever since, although they have since diversified. Many of those initially involved in Big Finish had worked on the Audio Visuals fan series of unlicensed Doctor Who audio plays. The name of the company was taken from the episode "The Big Finish" of the 1989-1993 ITV series Press Gang . On 25 July 2019, Big Finish made a statement about equality and diversity in response to requests from fans wishing
1911-703: The main range would conclude in March 2021 and subsequently replaced with regular releases of each Doctor's adventures continuing in their own respective ranges. Several previously released special titles were retroactively reallocated into these new ranges by Big Finish. This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in at least one season. A second boxset is scheduled for release in September 2024. Big Finish's Creative Director Nicholas Briggs described them as "...really imaginative, celebratory adventures that feel like Classic Doctor Who turned right up to eleven, in
1960-657: The series from Miracle Day , most notably Tyler Steele (Jonny Green). Starting with January 2017, Big Finish also began releasing the "Torchwood One" series set before the events of Doomsday (Doctor Who) . Other writers for Big Finish include Rob Shearman and The League of Gentlemen 's Mark Gatiss , who have also written for the 2005 relaunch of the Doctor Who television series. Shearman's 2005 TV episode " Dalek " has been acknowledged as being based upon his Big Finish storyline Jubilee . Between 2002 and 2004, Big Finish released eighteen audio plays featuring characters from
2009-450: The series in 2008, although this restriction has since been lifted and Davros returned to Big Finish in The Curse of Davros (January 2012). Prior to the character's being featured in the new series, he had been used in several plays, portrayed by Terry Molloy , who played Davros in three TV serials in the 1980s. In a 2008 podcast, Nicholas Briggs explained that all scripts are sent through
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2058-522: The series included David Bishop , Dave Stone and James Swallow . In July 2011, Big Finish obtained a licence to produce audiobooks and novels based on the BBC television series Blake's 7 . On 1 February 2012, the first collection of audiobooks, Blake's 7: The Liberator Chronicles , was released featuring original cast members from the television series. Eleven more followed. Since then five series of full cast audio dramas have been released. Earthsearch
2107-502: The show's history. In addition to this, Big Finish released a multi-doctor story featuring all surviving Doctors of the classic series and almost every companion in The Light at the End . Big Finish also published a series of short story anthologies taking place in the Doctor Who universe under the overall title of Short Trips . Three Short Trips collections were published by BBC Books in
2156-503: The spin-off Jago & Litefoot . The Chairman and co-executive producer of the company is Jason Haigh-Ellery. Big Finish Day is a fan convention featuring guest appearances by Big Finish actors. On 11 June 2011, Tenth Planet Events hosted the first Big Finish Day in Barking . On 11 February 2012, a second one was held. As of September 2015, there have been seven Big Finish Days, with more planned. In February 2008, Big Finish launched
2205-466: The very best of ways". On 23 May 2024, Big Finish announced their slate of boxsets for 2025. Senior Producer John Ainsworth said "...in 2025, Peter Davison stars in a 12-part Fifth Doctor story for the first time ever. It's an epic featuring new worlds, new creatures and a searing light that could burn everything to dust." The two boxsets are scheduled for release in April and May 2025, respectively. Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions
2254-600: The voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen . Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode " Rose ", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode " The Long Game ". He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series as well as the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures , and did the voice of the Ice Warrior Skaldak in
2303-493: The whole thing had been a massive deception (see Shayde and Fey Truscott-Sade ). Briggs wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV , including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant . ( In Memory Alone would be the last of the Stranger series to have any similarity to Doctor Who , which had inspired it.) He also wrote and appeared in
2352-735: Was a BBC Radio 4 radio series written by James Follett which was later adapted as a science fiction novel. However, his prequel novel Earthsearch Mindwarp was adapted by Big Finish and broadcast by Digital radio station BBC 7 . Earthsearch Mindwarp stars a number of actors from the Doctor Who range — India Fisher , Nicholas Courtney and Colin Baker . Big Finish produced and sold three seasons of Sapphire & Steel audios on CD until their licence expired. As both actors declined to reprise their original TV roles, Susannah Harker played Sapphire (replacing Joanna Lumley ) and David Warner played Steel (replacing David McCallum ), although David Collings did reprise his role of Silver from
2401-530: Was published by Random House/BBC Books. In 2013, Briggs portrayed the Dalek voice actor Peter Hawkins in the BBC docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time , which depicted the inception of Doctor Who . In November 2013 he also appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot . Briggs also directed, created the sound design and composed the incidental music for all three series of
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