Her Final Flight and Cryptobiosis - available for download!
Two of our Doctor Who bonus releases are now available to buy on download!
Previously only available on CD, we can at last offer these two Doctor Who Sixth Doctor stories on download too. Catch Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Doctor and Peri on the Big Finish app!
Her Final Flight was originally released on CD in 2004, before the return of Doctor Who to our TV screens! Written by Julian Shortman, and starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, this story takes place between the television adventures, The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani.
When the Doctor lands on Refiloe, he's not impressed.
In fact, he doesn't intend to stay for more than just a few minutes.
But someone has decided that the TARDIS has made her final flight.
Someone whose future depends on the Doctor's death.
"This is an excellent story and every bit as enjoyable as the full-length ones. Colin Baker is excellent as always..." Matthew Pinto, Outpost Gallifrey Reviews
We caught up with Julian about this unique story. “When I was growing up, Doctor Who was on audio. On Saturday evenings the tape recorder would be strategically placed in front of the television, and my family would be cajoled into silence for the next half hour. In the weeks that followed, the stories would take on greater proportions as I re-listened and re-imagined them. It should’ve been no surprise then to find that Big Finish rekindled my dying flames of enthusiasm for the show. What I’d never imagined, however, was that they’d also spark a flame of ambition in me to write my own story.
“My thanks then to Gary (Russell), Colin, Nicola and the gang for letting my story take flight; to Davy (Darlington) for being so accommodating to my incidental music requests - on which note I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Julian Harris, for generously donating the time and talents of St.James’s Singers to add an extra layer of authenticity; also to my wife, Elizabeth, who despite having no love for Doctor Who, nevertheless sealed up several gaping plot holes in the earlier versions of the story! Finally, I’d like to dedicate this story to Matthew Hobbs and Andrew Diamond, for their bucket loads of encouragement and support from the beginning of my mad imaginings that I might be capable of writing this.
"Now it’s complete, I can only hope you’ll enjoy it half as much as I’ve adored each moment of writing it. It’s been a wonderful reminder that dreams can, and sometimes do, come true.”
Cryptobiosis also features Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. This story takes place between the television adventures Revelation of the Daleks and The Trial of a Time Lord, and follows Big Finish story ...Ish.
There's a ship out there, on the ocean.
She's called Lankester and, every year, she sails from Madagascar to New Orleans and back again. Every year. Without exception. Regular as clockwork.
Her schedule is never behind. Her cargo is always fresh.
This trip, she has passengers. The passengers have baggage.
And the baggage might just be enough to sink her...
Another Sixth adventure, this story was written by Elliot Thorpe, directed by Gary Russell and produced by Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery.
We chatted to Elliot about this adventure: "I'd seen a series of TV adverts at the time for a variation on a children's toy range and I was aware the subject had never been featured before in Doctor Who in any medium (as far as I know!). I'd also been reading about haunted sea vessels, so the two strands together gave me the bones for my story. I knew I wanted, too, from day one: to bring Peri to the forefront. Inspired by the direction the new TV series was taking, certainly with the way Rose was written, I wanted Nicola to carry the story more than was usual and for her character be the catalyst of events.
"I was wrestling with the title for a while, toying with nautical-themed ones such as 'Crossing the Line', 'Trade Winds' and 'Dead Reckoning', but because the story, in essence, told the tale of a hitherto unseen race of subaqua creatures (and I wanted a unique-sounding stand-out title) I settled upon 'Cryptobiosis', which basically means 'secret life '."
Both these releases are available at £5 each on CD, or for the first time, as a download for just £3.99. Check out the Big Finish app for the best listening experience.