◼ New cast members for series one – coming in May – have been announced: Genesis Lynea (Shadow And Bone, A Discovery Of Witches) and Gwïon Morris Jones (The Winter King).
◼ New directors have also been announced: Amanda Brotchie (Gentlemen Jack) and Makalla McPherson (EastEnders).
◼ BBC Writers joined the Whoniverse last month, with a dedicated section in the Script Library area on their website. It hosts over 200 scripts from various Doctor Who productions, with more to follow.
◼ Demon Records have released details of their vinyl offering for Record Store Day 2024, taking place on 20 April. “The Edge Of Destruction” – available as a 12” zoetrope picture disc – includes the complete televised soundtrack, with new linking narration and interview from Carole Ann Ford. A CD version is planned for release in May.
◼ BBC Audio also have a raft of releases planned for 2024, including novelisation readings for “Kinda” (narrated by Janet Fielding), “The Horns Of Nimon” (narrated by Geoffrey Beevers and John Leeson), “Destiny Of The Daleks” and Harry Sullivan’s War. “Snakedance” follows in 2025.
◼ The Apocalypse Collection features TV stories narrated by Maureen O’Brien, Peter Purves, John Leeson and Nicholas Briggs. A second volume of Eleventh Doctor Novels collects four more books.
◼ New adventures are also planned, including Fifth Doctor story The Resurrection Plant by Will Hadlock and Eighth Doctor story The Force Of Death by Andrew Lane. Also coming soon are The Demons Within by Gary Russell (Tenth Doctor, read by David Banks) and River Of Death by John Peel (Sixth Doctor, Nicola Bryant).
Deep breath for Big Finish, the most frequent visitor to the SFX inbox… New releases include The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Metamorphosis, coming in June, which pits Tom Baker against Annette Badland as the Toymaker. The Fourth Doctor also appears in the April box set The Casebook Of Paternoster Row, which reunites Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) for three brand new mysteries.
An epic 24-part (!) story kicks off in April when Dark Gallifrey begins with the first of eight trilogies, these ones focussing on Morbius, played by Samuel Row cast. West. Paul McGann returns as the Eighth Doctor for three new stories in April, released as box set Echoes, while Missy: Bad Influence releases in May with three new adventures starring Michelle Gomez.
Big Finish also announced a brand new official podcast: Into The TARDIS, which showcases fan-favourite stories from their 25-year history, launched in March and i
