Big Finish Productions has revealed their plans to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who starting next year! Starting in May 2023, Big Finish will be releasing an eight-part story titled “Doctor Who- Once and Future”. Each part will be published monthly until October 2023 and the final part will release in November 2024.
About Big Finish’s 60th Anniversary Story
Ever excelling at bringing back beloved characters and actors from the show, “Doctor Who- Once and Future” will feature seven Doctors. Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, and David Tennant will all return to play their respective Doctors for this story. This will mark the first time that Christopher Eccleston has returned to the role for an anniversary special in any format, as his involvement with the 50th anniversary was solely archive footage.
But just how will all of these Doctors be returning? Let’s take a look at the story details that Big Finish has released.
“The Time War. The Doctor has been injured and brought to a Time Lord field hospital. His body glows with energy, but this is no regeneration into a future form – instead, the Doctor’s past faces begin to appear as he flits haphazardly between incarnations…
Staggering to his TARDIS, the Doctor sets out to solve the mystery of his ‘degeneration’. Who has done this to him? How? And why? From the Earth to the stars, across an array of familiar times and places, he follows clues to retrace his steps, encountering old friends and enemies along the way. Tumbling through his lives, the Doctor must stop his degeneration before he loses himself completely…”
Each of the eight parts of the story will be approximately an hour long, though specific writers for each episode have not been shared yet. “Doctor Who- Once and Future”‘s producer, David Richardson had this to share about the upcoming story:
“An astonishing array of talent has come aboard to be a part of this epic eight-hour anniversary story. It’s a huge Doctor Who party and a massive celebration that has been years in the making.”
Big Finish’s 60th Anniversary story will be directed by Ken Bentley and Helen Goldwyn with Matt Fitton and Robert Valentine as the Script Editors.
What To Look Forward to for “Doctor Who- Once and Future”
Just the list of returning Doctors is exciting enough, but Big Finish has teased that even more casting announcements are to be made. “Dozens” is the word that they are using! The company has succeeded in bringing back so many actors to the roles they’ve played in Doctor Who over the years, so it’ll be very interesting to hear who else they’ve gotten to play a role in this special anniversary release.
It’s also interesting to note that the story’s summary specifically says the Doctor is regenerating/degenerating into “past faces“… Might we be starting this story with a future regeneration of the Doctor as the most recent Doctor listed in the cast so far is David Tennant? True, Tennant could perhaps be making his audio debut as the 14th Doctor for this story, but who knows? Only time will tell…
It is also interesting to note that while the story itself is eight parts, only seven Doctors have been announced as returning to the role for this special series. Of course, the final episode could just be including all of the Doctors together, but it was something I personally found intriguing!
Pre-Order Options for Big Finish’s 60th Anniversary Story
Big Finish has a large array of options for fans wishing to pre-order “Doctor Who- Once and Future”. For the special edition that includes all eight stories, music suites, and extended behind-the-scenes interviews from the cast you can order the special edition CD (limited to 3,000 copies and including bonus artwork and digital downloads as they become available) for £75. For the special edition download-only bundle, the cost is £62.
Each story in the series can also be pre-ordered for £10.99 on CD (+ download) or £8.99 for download-only each. A standard edition bundle is also available for £72 on CD (+download) or £60 for the digital download version. Standard editions will not include the extras in the special editions, but will still include some behind-the-scenes features.
Stay tuned to Temple of Geek as we learn more about Big Finish’s 60th anniversary plans and “Doctor Who- Once and Future”!
