This month, in Vortex:

Doctor Who - The First Doctor Adventures Stephen Noonan plays the Doctor, with Lauren Cornelius as Dodo, and Anneke Wills returning to the role of Polly for the first time since 2019. When Polly sets off to investigate a fantastic new net-zero city, nothing goes quite according to plan. Help is on hand, though, as she encounters a very familiar face - the Doctor. The problem is, from his perspective, he hasn’t met her yet! Doctor Who - The First Doctor Adventures: Beware the City of Illusions will be released in March 2026.

Doctor Who - Christmas: It's a Wonderful War and Other Stories A special festive box set comprising four stories featuring a host of beloved characters from Big Finish's Doctor Who ranges. Unholy Night stars Michelle Gomez as Missy, Legacy of Blood stars Colin Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela, tying in with Jago & Litefoot, Presents of Mind stars Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan, with John Leeson as K9. The final story, It’s a Wonderful War, stars Paul McGann as the Doctor and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks, in a seasonal story set during the Time War. Doctor Who: Christmas: It's a Wonderful War and Other Stories is released on CD and download to own in December 2025.

Hell's Bells A dark comedy for Christmas, starring Bonnie Langford, David Calder, Arthur Darvill and Lu Corfield. This play  was written by Sally Wood and directed by Scott Handcock. Sally told Vortex: "I wanted to write a dark comedy about a family imploding over Christmas - all those tensions that happen when everyone's piling up on each other and secrets are exposed..." Hell's Bells is released on download to own in December 2025.

Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Wednesday That Wasn't  Big Finish's Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity marks its tenth anniversary this year. Held annually, the opportunity was created in memory of our beloved friend and colleague, a champion of new writing talent, who sadly passed away on 8 May 2014. This year, the theme was the Thirteenth Doctor, and writers were invited to pitch stories featuring Jodie Whittaker's Time Lord. The winning entry was an adventure proposed by Luke Hollands. Read by Clare Corbett, Doctor Who Short Trips: The Wednesday That Wasn't  will be released as a free download exclusively from the Big Finish website on 29 December 2025.

Doctor Who - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor, with Mandip Gill as Yaz, in a story set on a war-torn world, where conscripted humans battle the terrifying Banshee. Doctor Who - The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Ride or Die will be released in January 2026.

Space Security Service Jane Slavin returns as Anya Kingdom, with Joe Sims as Mark Seven in three new adventures for the Space Security Service. Jon Culshaw takes on the role of Bret Vyon, originally played by Nicholas Courtney in the TV serial The Daleks' Master Plan. Space Security Service: Bret Vyon Lives! will be released on download to own in February 2026.

Doctor Who - The Audio Novellas A new range of shorter-length audiobook adventures, featuring Doctors and companions from across the show's history. Producer David Richardson explains that the Audio Novellas sit between Short Trips and the Audio Novels - two hour tales that dip into different eras of Doctor Who. This first release comprises two adventures:  The Time Splitters, a first Doctor story written by Colin Brake and narrated by Peter Purves, and Dimension 13, an adventure for the third Doctor, written by Roland Moore and narrated by Jon Culshaw. Doctor Who - The Audio Novellas: The Time Splitters and Dimension 13 is released on download to own in January 2026.

Doctor Who - The First Doctor Unbound David Bradley plays the Unbound First Doctor, with Claudia Grant as Susan, Jemma Powell as Barbara and Jamie Glover as Ian, in the second box set in this new range. The TARDIS returns to Marinus, 100 years after the events in The Keys of Marinus. The Doctor and his companions are greeted as returning heroes, figures of legend. But something is amiss in the city of Millenius...  Doctor Who - The First Doctor Unbound: Return to Marinus  is released on CD and download to own in January 2026.

Star Cops David Calder returns as Commander Nathan Spring, with Linda Newton as Chief Superintendent Pal Kenzy and Trevor Cooper as Inspector Colin Devis, in Star Cops: Conflict, a new 6-part miniseries. A series of suspected sabotage incidents at the Moon's south pole and an attempted assassination on Earth, threaten to provoke tensions to the point of war. Can the officers of the International Space Police Force avert an escalating catastrophe? The first episode, Star Cops - Conflict: Suspicion and Sabotage is released on download to own in January 2026.

Lonely No More A pre-apocalyptic audio drama, written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, directed by Jessica Dromgoole and released by Big Finish in association with Audiama. The phrase Lonely No More - daubed on walls, trending on socials, appearing in every language in every country all over the world and always reading the same. Nobody knows where it originated only that it can't be ignored. And then - in the blink of an eye - everything changes... Lonely No More is released on download to own in January 2026.

Plus: The Big Finish Book Club: revisit Doctor Who: The Curse of Davros  on download throughout December for only £2.99.

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