Doctor Who news: The Nightmare Fair: Part 1 is available for free
By James Aggas
This week, dip into the past with part 1 of The Nightmare Fair – a Doctor Who story planned for TV and brought to life on audio!
Well, yesterday brought some pretty exciting news, didn’t it? Over fifteen years since he last played the role, it was announced that Christopher Eccleston will finally play the Ninth Doctor again, in a brand new Doctor Who audio series from Big Finish. That’s definitely going to be the biggest Doctor Who news this week, and it’s going to be a long wait for May 2021.
In the meantime, however, fans do have plenty of other exciting audio stories to enjoy. One of which you can listen to right now for free, in fact: part 1 of the almost legendary Sixth Doctor story, The Nightmare Fair.
Originally planned for Season 23, it was instead scrapped along with everything else in the season when the show was briefly axed by the BBC. When Season 23 was eventually broadcast, it was with the fourteen-part story The Trial of a Time Lord, instead.
The Doctor and Peri face a powerful and ancient enemy in Blackpool in The Nightmare Fair. Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
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Lost and found
Back in 2009, Big Finish decided to adapt these previously unmade stories for The Lost Stories range. These audios offer a unique glimpse into what could have been. Some of these stories are more successful than others, but for fans of Eighties Who, it’s a great dip into the past.
Part 1 of The Nightmare Fair is currently available for free from Big Finish’s website. Set in Blackpool, the story was originally planned to be the long-overdue on-screen reunion between the Doctor and the incredibly powerful Celestial Toymaker (originally played by Michael Gough in the titular First Doctor story, now played by david bailie in this audio). While it’s a shame that this didn’t happen on TV, the story still works rather well on audio.
If you enjoy the first part of the story, you can enjoy the rest of it at the currently reduced price of £4.99. On top of that, the rest of the stories from series 1 of The Lost Stories are currently on sale at over half price. For a glimpse of Sixties Who, the box set The Lost Stories: The Second Doctor is also currently on sale.
dark. Next. Why Christopher Eccleston’s return is much more exciting on audio
Have you listened to The Lost Stories range? Do you wish the stories had been made on television as planned? Let us know in the comments below.