I’ll be honest: I’m a big fan of Big Finish's many Time War audios. While not every release has been solid, I’ve generally enjoyed how this key piece of Doctor Who mythology has been handled. Whether it’s from the perspective of the Doctor’s race, or even that of his greatest enemy, exploring such a major piece of Doctor Who history has been fascinating.
Of course, one key character that we’re all particularly interested in is the Doctor. Even his perspective has been divided into two. “The Night of the Doctor” revealed that the Eighth Doctor refused to take part in the Time War, and this has been explored across many audios leading up to “Night”. But just as interesting is his immediate successor: the War Doctor.
On screen, the War Doctor was an incarnation that we barely got to explore. Even in his sole TV appearance, he was already at the end of his long life. But Steven Moffat’s writing and John Hurt’s performance gave us a clear idea of what this Doctor was like. This was a man who was filled with regret with the actions he’s taken. A man who actively gave up his very identity to become the best warrior that he could be.
Of course, at the same time, John Hurt’s War Doctor was still recognizably “the Doctor”. He had a sharp sense of wit; a highly intelligent mind, and he still had a strong sense of morality, even when trying to act against it. This was a man who was constantly fighting against everything he was. “The Day of the Doctor” explored the character well, but it also felt like the clear ending of his story. This made fans like myself ask the key question: what was the rest of this Doctor’s story?
Beyond the TV series
It’s perhaps unsurprising, perhaps even inevitable, that the character would be explored more deeply in expanded media. Novels or comics seemed like the best option. Indeed, 2014 saw the publication of “Engines of War”, currently the only novel featuring this Doctor. And while he hasn’t been given his own comic series, both Doctor Who Magazine and Titan have featured the character in multiple comic stories.
However, while Big Finish had explored many Doctors, it seemed incredibly unlikely that a series with John Hurt would ever happen. It’s one thing to get one of Britain’s greatest actors for one of Doctor Who’s biggest episodes ever. It’s another thing entirely to expect him to play the role again in a full-cast audio series.
So it was a massive surprise when, in Oct 2015, Big Finish announced that John Hurt was starring in a new full-cast series as the War Doctor. Even more surprising was reading that the series would begin just two months later, so we didn’t have long to wait. (Unlike The Fugitive Doctor, which finally begins this month after a long wait of more than two and a half years!)
The War Doctor
Set during the final years of his long life, The War Doctor was Big Finish’s first big dive into the Time War. Up until this point, the audio stories had only been able to hint at or foreshadow the War, usually in very indirect ways.
In fact, for the longest time, the New Series was entirely off-limits to Big Finish. They could hint at events to come, but no more than that. They couldn’t tell stories with River Song, Captain Jack Harkness, or even any of the New Series Doctors or Masters.
That changed in June 2015 – just a matter of months before The War Doctor was released. So it felt incredibly exciting that they were diving into such a big part of New Series mythology already.
Exploring the Time War
Across four volumes, The War Doctor gave us a nice variety of Time War stories. They didn’t dive too deeply into the mythology of the War – for example, none of the stories featured “the Nightmare Child” or other horrors that the New Series only hinted at. But each volume gave us a clear idea of how the Time War could be depicted.
For example, “Only the Monstrous” felt almost like a typical war story in a sci-fi setting, while “Infernal Devices” featured an episode where time itself was a weapon. Overall, The War Doctor was an enjoyable series that gave us our first big look at the Time War while presenting us with a very different kind of Doctor.
Of course, the real highlight of the series was hearing John Hurt’s consistently excellent performance in the role. In every episode, he portrayed the War Doctor with the exact amount of gravitas, weariness, and even charm, reminding us of the kind of man the Doctor used to be.
Sadly, the series had to come to an end when John Hurt passed away in Jan 2017. And while we were lucky to have the equivalent of one season – with the series totalling 12 episodes – it was also a shame knowing that there’d never be more. But then again, never say never.
The War Doctor Begins
In Oct 2020, five years after The War Doctor was revealed, Big Finish announced The War Doctor Begins, starring Jonathon Carley. The announcement came with a sound clip, which was exciting to listen to, for two reasons.
First, the clip was clearly set immediately after the War Doctor’s “birth” at the end of “The Night of the Doctor”, establishing that the series would live up to the promise of its title. Second, there was Carley’s incredibly uncanny performance. Carley had already voiced the War Doctor for several fan productions, including the fun little skit for Doctor Who Lockdown, “Doctors Assemble!” Seeing him getting to play the character in an official Big Finish audio was exciting to hear.
Depicting the young War Doctor during his earliest days helped Begins to stand out on its own terms. John Hurt’s audio series was great to listen to, but because it was also set so late in this incarnation’s life, it also depicted much of the same regret and weariness that we had already seen in “The Day of the Doctor”.
Early days
Begins gave us the chance to explore this Doctor before all of that. When he has to start making choices rather than regretting the consequences of them. It also explores the self-doubt of this incarnation as he makes his first steps into the War. At this point, there’s still a part of him that wants to be the Doctor, even if he denies it.
The series came to a natural conclusion in 2023 with “Enemy Mine”, where a reunion with his previous self helped the War Doctor to understand who he no longer was – and, more importantly, who he had to be.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the War Doctor on audio. In 2024, a new series called The War Doctor Rises began, exploring the next chapter of the War Doctor’s long life. On top of that, the incarnation has appeared in other series, including the 60th anniversary series Once and Future. Whatever happens next, it’s clear that Big Finish is keen to continue telling stories of this unique Doctor, and I’m excited to hear his next battle.