Fifty years ago on this very day, the first episode of Robot was broadcast, and Tom Baker immediately put his stamp on Doctor Who history. Season 12, featuring the fledgling Fourth Doctor alongside companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, remains a favourite of many fans. 

To celebrate the anniversary, Big Finish Productions today release The Curse of Time, a special full-cast audio drama that expands the story arc of Season 12 and is set immediately after the events of its final serial, Revenge of the Cybermen. 

The Curse of Time is written by Jonathan Morris and begins with the Doctor, Sarah (Sadie Miller) and Harry (Christopher Naylor) arriving in what seems to be medieval England. They soon discover they're actually in the far future, long after solar flares caused most of Earth’s population to flee into space (as seen in The Ark in Space and The Sontaran Experiment). 

On this severely changed Earth, they encounter the creepy magician Faustus Black (Angus Dunican) and the megalomaniacal scientist Zaphiel Ixon (Terence Wilton) – two sinister villains whose schemes put the TARDIS crew in grave danger. 

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Curse of Time is now available to purchase for just £15.99 (collector's edition double CD with slipcase + download) or £12.99 (download only), exclusively here. Please note: the collector’s edition double CD is strictly limited to 1,500 copies and will not be repressed. 

After being dragged through a rip in the time vortex, the TARDIS returns the Doctor, Sarah and Harry to Earth. They are in medieval times, but something strange is afoot. 

The villagers live in fear of the sinister Brotherhood, an order of monks that upholds the sacred laws. Then there’s Faustus Black, with his troupe of travelling players. What connects them is a terrible secret hidden in the Forbidden Forest... a cave from which nobody has ever returned... 

The cast of The Curse of Time also includes Scarlett Courtney as Arnica, Rosemary Ashe as Mother Cassava, Andrew French as Brother Voss and George Naylor as Winterbird. 

Tom Baker, reflecting on being cast as the Doctor half a century ago, said: “It changed my whole life. And it also marked a time of pleasure and laughter and excitement and everything like that, which has lasted right the way through. When I came to record this special anniversary story, I feel just as enthusiastic as I did all that time ago. It just comes back to me and it makes me so happy. When I start learning these lines, I become the Doctor.” 

Sadie Miller, who inherited the role of Sarah Jane from her late mother Elisabeth Sladen, added: “From that first episode where he’s trying on all the different costumes, you can really see Tom as the actor trying on the different ways that he wants to be the Doctor, and then deciding in a very Tom Baker way that actually he’s going to be all of them, all the Doctors, all the time. 

“But he’s so clever that he has that spontaneity to it as well, and the child in you instantly connects with that energy. That’s why Tom has such a wide-ranging appeal.” 

Christopher Naylor, playing Harry Sullivan, said: “I’ve got wonderful, happy memories of watching Tom, as a boy all those years ago. I do remember Ian Marter as Harry, and feeling very sad when Sarah left the show. With due respect to all of the other actors who’ve played companions since, I don’t think that trio was ever equalled. 

“The Curse of Time has a wonderful historical feel, as it rather cleverly takes us into the Middle Ages, although of course, it’s actually set thousands of years in the future. And it has a real feel of those 1970s stories where they were wonderfully atmospheric and exciting in how the sense of place is very well captured, and there’s a real sense of jeopardy.” 

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Curse of Time is now available to own for just £15.99 (collector's edition double CD with slipcase + download) or £12.99 (download only), exclusively here. 

This is a special release in the Fourth Doctor Adventures range, produced separately to the three other Fourth Doctor box sets released in 2024. Listeners can buy those box sets (Storm of the Sea Devils, Metamorphosis, and Dominant Species) as a bundle for just £48 (downloads only).

All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release. 

Please note that 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.