David Bradley returns as the first incarnation of the Doctor, along with companions Susan (Claudia Grant), Barbara Wright (Jemma Powell) and Ian Chesterton (Jamie Glover) in a pair of stories that take them from the sewers of a desperate planet to the great Globe itself, where rebellion is in the air! 

Alongside the previously announced Wendy Craig and Lauren Cornelius, the cast is completed by Nicholas Asbury (Space: 1999, The Paternoster Gang), Ian Conningham (The Robots, The Diary of River Song), Susie Emmett (Gallifrey: Time War, Doctor Who: Ravenous), Amanda Hurwitz (Derry Girls, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Phil Mulryne (The Avengers, The Omega Factor), Phyllida Nash (Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures), Clive Wood (Doctor Who: Stranded, The Human Frontier) and Big Finish newcomer Liane-Rose Bunce. 

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures – Volume 5 is now available as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively HERE!

The two TARDIS tales are as follows: 

For the Glory of Urth by Guy Adams 

The TARDIS has barely landed in an alien sewer when a distant scream sends Susan racing to give aid, and the crew split up.  

Trying to reunite, the travellers find themselves in something resembling a monastery led by a man half-way between an Abbot and a warlord. They discover that they are in Urth, a barbaric place clinging on to its former glory.  

It's somewhere its populace are never allowed to leave, somewhere keeping many secrets from its people.  

And today those secrets will be revealed... 

The Hollow Crown by Sarah Grochala

When the TARDIS lands in Shoreditch, 1601, the Doctor suggests going to see a play at the Globe Theatre and his friends readily agree.  

But this is a turbulent time. There is violence in the street, plots against the Queen, and rebellion is in the air. At the centre of it all stands the most famous playwright in British history - William Shakespeare - who is having troubles of his own.  

As tensions mount and wheels turn within wheels, the travellers are about to discover if the play really is the thing... 

Of writing The Hollow Crown, Sarah Grochala said: “I loved writing for [Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I], they’re two characters that I’m fascinated with! It was also interesting writing for them within the context of what other writers have done for Doctor Who. There is a nod to Elizabeth’s previous relationship with the Doctor and to the fact that Shakespeare has met the Doctor before. The First Doctor, however, looks very different to the Tenth Doctor so neither of them recognise this incarnation.” 

Writer of For the Glory of Urth Guy Adams added: “When I’m writing for the First Doctor, the voice in my head is somewhere between William Hartnell and David Bradley. I find it very hard not to let my ears get a little bit infected by the performance, and David’s is brilliant – it’s his performance of the First Doctor as well as a beautiful channelling of William Hartnell.  

“David’s a great actor, and great actors don’t just do impressions. They can’t – the quality will always shine through and it will become something more multi-layered and textured. Listen carefully and you will hear the delightful elements that are more Bradley than Hartnell.” 

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Adventures – Volume 5 is now available as a collector's edition box set (on CD at £24.99) and as a digital download (at £19.99), exclusively HERE!

Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.