Doctor Who news: New Eighth Doctor series Stranded begins today!
By James Aggas
The Eighth Doctor and his friends work out how to live an ordinary life in the brand new series Doctor Who: Stranded – out now!
Paul McGann’s Doctor has faced a great deal over the years, particularly in Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio dramas. He’s faced Daleks, Ravenous monsters, and many Masters. (In fact, in the finale of his last series, he faced three of them at once!) But now he has a new challenge: coping with ordinary life in modern-day London.
Stranded marks something of a clear fresh start for Big Finish’s Eighth Doctor audios. Since 2012, there’s been a heavy focus on telling big, epic stories. Dark Eyes was a saga that featured the Daleks, the Master, and Big Finish’s own creation the Eminence. Doom Coalition was focused more on completely original villains while presenting a puzzle-box mystery. Both of these series were relatively good starting points.
Previous series Ravenous was a little less accessible. Not just because it continued directly from Doom Coalition‘s cliffhanger, but also because major villain the Eleven carried over from one series to the next. But after how Ravenous ended, it looks like the Eighth Doctor and his friends will be heading towards a fresh start – in a big way…
The cast of the Eighth Doctor’s latest series Stranded: (L to R) Hattie Morahan, Rebecca Root, Tom Price, Paul McGann, and Nicola Walker.
Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.
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Friends old and new
Along with the previously existing team of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker), and Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan), this opening box set will also feature other major characters, both new and old. These include Tania Bell (Rebecca Root), Mr Bird (Clive Wood), Sergeant Andy Davidson (Tom Price), and the Curator (Tom Baker).
Those last two characters will certainly stand out to fans of the Doctor Who universe. Andy has been a key character in Torchwood – even more so in the audios where he’s been given plenty of rich character development.
But perhaps even more intriguing is the return of the Curator. While Tom Baker has featured in many Big Finish audios already, this will be the first time he’s played this particular character since the fiftieth-anniversary special The Day of the Doctor over six years ago. So his inclusion should be especially intriguing.
An ordinary life
Producer David Richardson is extremely excited about this new series.
"We’d always intended Doctor Who: Stranded to be focused on characters, and what’s been lovely is that as we got underway, and saw these characters and actors inter-relating, it made us realise the endless possibilities we have to play with…The more we explored this large ensemble, the more excited we got – we’ve found, I think, a very different way of telling Doctor Who stories."
Putting the Doctor in a grounded modern-day setting is certainly exciting. We’ve seen the Doctor stuck on Earth before, back in his third incarnation when he was working for UNIT. But this sounds like a fresh take on the idea, especially with him stuck in a more ordinary setting than usual. How will he cope with living an ordinary life? Can he really get used to the idea of being stuck on Earth? We can’t wait to find out.
Doctor Who: Stranded 1 is available to purchase on CD and download now directly from Big Finish’s website.
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Are you excited about the Eighth Doctor’s new series? Have you followed his previous audio adventures? Do you think the idea of the Doctor being stuck on Earth is worth exploring? Let us know in the comments below.