Big Finish release a trailer for the 50th anniversary Doctor Who story, The Light At The End

It’s got Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann as the Doctor (obviously), as well as Louise Jameson as Leela, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Nicola Bryant as Peri, Sophie Aldred as Ace and India Fisher as Charley. Plus Geoffrey Beevers is back as The Master – well, one of them, obviously – and there are ‘special guest stars’ promised, too.

I might actually get this when it comes out (and review it for you lovely people). Even if it is written and directed by Nicholas Briggs.

November 23rd 1963 proves to be a significant day in the lives of all eight Doctors…

It’s the day that Bob Dovie’s life is ripped apart…

It’s also a day that sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events which forces the first eight incarnations of the Doctor to fight for their very existence. As a mysterious, insidious chaos unfolds within the TARDIS, the barriers of time break apart…

From suburban England through war-torn alien landscapes and into a deadly, artificial dimension, all these Doctors and their companions must struggle against the power of an unfathomable, alien technology.

From the very beginning, it is clear that the Master is somehow involved. By the end, for the Doctors, there may only be darkness.

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Vince Cosmos, Glam Rock Detective

Vince Cosmos, Glam Rock DetectivePaul Magrs is a very clever chap. He’s a lecturer in creative writing, and has written numerous books and audio plays. Not all of them are about Doctor Who, but quite a lot of them are. Indeed, he’s written a few Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays, including my favourite ever, the insanely clever Ringpullworld. He was even the author who managed to lure Tom Baker back to Doctor Who for a series of BBC audio plays, starting with The Hornets’ Nest.

Largely, if Magrs has a theme, it’s to deconstruct Doctor Who, not just as a show but how it’s written. Indeed, his most famous creation is Iris Wildthyme, a perpetually drunk, lying, sexually active Time Lady (the clue is in the name) with her own range of books from Obverse Books and a range of Big Finish audio plays that stars former Doctor Who companion Katy Manning. Iris, who travels the universe in a double-decker bus with a talking panda for a companion, originally started as a way to subvert Doctor Who, the Doctor and science-fiction conventions – she did what the Doctor doesn’t and that illuminated the nature of the Doctor in various ways.

All this is by way of introduction to Magrs’ latest creations, 70s glam rock star Vince Cosmos and his biggest fan Poppy Munday, who feature in a new series of audio plays from Bafflegab Productions, which is best known for producing The Scarifyers on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Starring Julian Rhind-Tutt of Green Wing, Hippies et al, Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective is an origin story that sees Munday moving down to London from Sunderland and meeting her idol, Vince Cosmos… who for some reason seems to think the Martians are intent on invading the Earth. Is he mad? Will the Martians, if they exist be stopped? And will Munday manage to get her end away with Cosmos before the end of the play?

Sound a bit like it might be subverting and deconstructing Doctor Who? You’d not be wrong.

Continue reading “Review: Vince Cosmos, Glam Rock Detective”

Thursday’s “Multi Doctor Who anniversary story, trailers for Rogue and Hemlock Grove, & too much Anger Management” news

Doctor Who

  • Big Finish to release multi-Doctor, multi-companion 50th anniversary play

Film

Trailers

  • Trailer for The Last Exorcism Part 2

UK TV

US TV

US TV casting

New US TV shows

  • FX to launch two new dramas, three new comedies in 2013
  • ABC orders pilot of Mixology
  • Trailer for The Audience Network’s Rogue, with Thandie Newton
  • Trailer for Netflix’s Hemlock Grove

Friday’s “New BBC DG, new commissions for BBC1, BBC3, Channel 4 and E4, and UKTV’s extra Freeview slot” news

Happy 49th birthday to Doctor Who!

Audio plays

UK TV

  • Tony Hall is the new BBC DG
  • BBC1 commissions What Remains, The Escape Artist, The Great Train Robbery, Happy Valley, By Any Means and more Inspector George Gently
  • BBC3 commissions Way To Go
  • Channel 4 orders third series of Fresh Meat
  • E4 orders third series of PhoneShop
  • UKTV gets an extra Freeview slot

US TV