Doctor Who news: Davros returns in The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4!
By James Aggas
It’s been a long time coming, but the creator of the Daleks will finally join the Daleks’ war against the Time Lords in the upcoming Doctor Who audio box set The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4!
In Sep 2020, the fourth volume of audio series Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor: Time War will be released on CD and download. We’ve been pretty excited about this release for a while, ever since the third volume of the series was released back in Aug 2019. It ended on a pretty major cliffhanger, and it looked like the subsequent volume was going to shake things up in a big way.
However, we didn’t know how big things were going to get until now. Big Finish has finally revealed some crucial details about the fourth volume of the series, including which characters will be returning, both from the audios and the TV series.
These include Julia McKenzie as the Twelve (who previously appeared in Time War Volume 2); Adèle Anderson as recurring character Major Tamasan, and Ken Bones as the General. The last example is particularly exciting, as the character previously appeared in The Day of the Doctor and Hell Bent. So to finally have him appear in the Time War audios feels like another solid link to the TV series.
However, that’s not the most significant news about this release. The biggest return – one that we knew had to happen at some point in the series – is Davros, played by Terry Molloy.
Terry Molloy returns to play Davros once more in Time War 4, with Isla Blair as Charna.
Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
A long-awaited reunion
This is something we’ve been waiting for for a long time. Not just since 2017, when The Eighth Doctor: Time War began. Not even since 2015, when Big Finish not only gained the license to the New Series but even began a series of audios for the War Doctor.
No: this is something that Big Finish fans have been waiting for since Terror Firma was released back in 2005 – the last time Davros met the Eighth Doctor. In that story, the Dalek creator had pushed the Eighth Doctor almost to breaking point. Almost. So Time War or not, a reunion between these two felt inevitable.
What’s also exciting is that Terry Molloy is resuming his old role. While he’s played Davros many times – both in the Classic Series and on audio – it’s fantastic to know that he’ll be performing opposite McGann’s Doctor once more. While Julian Bleach was a great Davros in his own right, Molloy is nothing less than iconic in the role. His Davros in the Time War also adds a nice mix of Classic and New to the box set (as reflected by Molloy’s Davros in Bleach’s chair on the cover).
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A different Davros
While Terry Molloy is returning to a familiar role, this might not be the version of Davros that we’re familiar with. The official description for the opening two-part story, Palindrome by John Dorney, hints that something strange is going on.
"In an alternative universe, Davros lives in peace, until the Doctor and Bliss arrive, and the Daleks emerge in a new reality."
This isn’t too surprising. The end of the third volume of Time War (spoilers of which follow) gave us a massive cliffhanger: the Daleks vanishing from the universe and the Time War apparently coming to an end. Obviously, we know that’s not exactly the case, and that the war will eventually continue. The big question is how.
It’s certainly going to be a long wait to find out that answer. But with the long-overdue reunion between Paul McGann’s Doctor and Terry Molloy’s Davros, it’ll surely be worth the wait.
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Are you excited about the return of Davros? Have you enjoyed previous volumes of The Eighth Doctor: Time War? What are you hoping that the series will explore next? Let us know in the comments below.