For one week only, Tom Baker’s very first episode of Doctor Who at Big Finish is available to download completely free. Tom Baker originally played the Fourth Doctor on television, to great success and acclaim, between 1974 and 1981, before going on to star in numerous TV and stage productions. In September 2011, he agreed to reprise the role in the first of a series of new, full-cast audio adventures.

Tom Baker and his return to Doctor Who

Upon returning to the role that made him famous, Tom Baker said:

“I don’t know how it happened. I think it was because of Louise Jameson, because I lived briefly in Tunbridge Wells and I’ve become very fond of Louise; I still admire her hard work and ingenuity to make a living. She said, ‘Tom, we’ve got to do some’ and so I said okay and sent a message and they got straight back to me and I was on. Of course, I’ve never stopped being the Doctor. Even though I left thirty-odd years ago, I’ve never stopped being the Doctor simply because, for one reason or another, mostly the enthusiasm of the fans, that’s the way they saw me. The only great success I ever really had was the Doctor and it’s lasted so long that whatever I’ve done since, it’s been the Doctor. Because that’s really all I know what to do!”

This week’s Big Finish free download

Doctor Who: Destination Nerva Part 1, Tom Baker’s first audio adventure, written by Nicholas Briggs, is this week’s download.

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson star in Big Finish’s continuation of the Fourth Doctor and Leela’s adventures following the events of the 1977 TV Doctor Who story, The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

After saying their goodbyes to Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago, the Doctor and Leela respond to an alien distress call beamed direct from Victorian England. It is the beginning of a journey that will take them to the newly built Space Dock Nerva… where a long-overdue homecoming is expected. This is a homecoming that could bring about the end of the human race!

Over the coming weeks, Big Finish is releasing a selection of giveaways including free and discounted releases, entitled Weekly Freebies. These will be made available to download exclusively from the Big Finish web site’s Weekly Deals page.

Each download will be available for one week only, and comes accompanied by a special discount offer on related titles, available as either downloads or collector’s edition CDs or box sets.

For more Big Finish press releases:

Doctor Who Short Trips – These Stolen Hours is out from Big Finish

Doctor Who: Out of Time 1 with Tom Baker and David Tennant out now!

River Song vs Robots: Diary of River Song Series Eight out now!