The Comic Strip Adaptions
Tom Baker (The Doctor), Rhianne Starbuck (Sharon), Brian Protheroe (General Ironicus/Milkman), Christine Kavanagh (Juno/Magog), Joseph Kloska (Morris/Centurion), Toby Longworth (Vesuvius/Grubb/Overseer), Luke Franks (Adolphus Caesar), Alistair Lock (Babiyon), Steve Hansell (Doug/Barbarius/Alien Guard), Esther Hall (Viv/Commentator), Ben Hunter (Fudge/UNIT Corporal), Bethan Dixon Bate (The Meep/Wrarth Surgeon), Angela Rippon (Newsreader), David Schaal (Inspector Zogroth/Bus Driver), Chris Walker-Thomson (Sergeant Zreeg/Councillor/UNIT Lieutenant), Sian Reeves (Mrs Higgins). Other parts played by members of the cast.
1. Doctor Who and the Iron Legion adapted by Alan Barnes
1979 AD! Led by the terrible General Ironicus, the mighty Iron Legion – robot veterans of the Eternal War – have come, seen and conquered the English village of Stockbridge!
Caught up in the mayhem, The Doctor pursues the Legion back through the great Dimension Duct to their place of origin – an alternative Earth where Rome never fell…
But can he survive the horrors of the gladiatorial Hyp-Arena long enough to uncover the terrifying secret at the heart of the Galactic Roman Empire?
2. Doctor Who and the Star Beast adapted by Alan Barnes
1980 AD! In Yorkshire, the authorities have dismissed reports that an Unidentified Flying Object was seen plummeting towards the ground… moments before the explosion that destroyed the Blackcastle Steel Mills. After all, Blackcastle is the last place on Earth aliens would ever want to visit…
Local teenagers Sharon and Fudge know better. ’Cos they’ve found an actual space alien hiding in the allotments. He’s their alien. Their secret. And his name is… The Meep.
He’s not the only alien in Blackcastle, though. His pursuers, the terrible Wrarth Warriors, are on his trail, along with their unwitting accomplice: The Doctor!
From the comic strips written by Pat Mills and John Wagner, with art by Dave Gibbons
Written by: Alan Barnes
Directed by: Nicholas Briggs
Two new adventures are also being released for the bohemian Fourth Doctor adapted from the comic strip by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons that featured in Doctor Who Magazine (when it was Doctor Who Weekly).
Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations will be released in March 2019 comprising of:
1. Doctor Who and the Iron Legion adapted by Alan Barnes
2. Doctor Who and the Star Beast adapted by Alan Barnes
In these two adventures, we find the Fourth Doctor travelling with his famed elongated technicolour scarf for company. He’ll encounter the Iron Legion, an army of robotic Roman legionaries, and in Doctor Who and the Star Beast, the Fourth Doctor encounters one of the deadliest and most adorable villains ever – Beep the Meep!
Nicholas Briggs, directorof the Fourth Doctor audio adventures, explains: “These Fourth Doctor comic strip adaptions have a whole different feel to them. It’s like they’re from a parallel universe vision of Doctor Who. Tom Baker spotted it straight away, emailing me the moment he’d read The Iron Legion, commenting that this was ‘a bit DIFFERENT’ – actually typing ‘different’ in capitals! But he rose manfully to the challenge and entered into the spirit of it all wonderfully. And that spirit is that they are, essentially, wackier.
“There’s a feeling of ‘we could do anything because there are no budget restrictions’ in the original comic strips, and our adaptor, Alan Barnes, has captured this perfectly. Crazy characters, extravagant action sequences. And Alistair Lock has done a superb job with his sound design and music.
“The Star Beast has a slightly different feel. The alien monster craziness is contrasted sharply with a dash of kitchen sink drama and a touch of Grange Hill, which predated the series exploring more domestic settings. It’s interesting how the brilliant comics writerof these strips, Pat Mills, kind of anticipated this. Alan has a great love for Pat’s work, and he was absolutely the right fit to adapt these beautiful, bonkers adventures of an extra-eccentric Fourth Doctor.”
Welcome to Rhianne Starbuck, who will be playing Sharon alongsidethe Fourth Doctor in the Comic Strip Adaptions, due for release March 2019. The popular character has returned for this new retelling of Doctor Who, we interview Rhianne today.
Alan Barnes told us more about the Star Beast, coming March 2019, “A few people had asked about the Comic Stripscoming back over the years. I was very keen. I was an original readerof Doctor Who Weekly and they’re utterly fantastic. The Star Beast is so modern”.
We chatted to Rhianne about recording with Tom Baker, coming into the world of Doctor Who, creating a new companion, and, of course, the Big Finish lunches!
Big Finish (BF): Well, welcome to the new companion for the Fourth Doctor! It’s very exciting as 2019 sees two new companions for the Fourth Doctor, for the first time at Big Finish.
Rhianne Starbuck (RS): It’s exciting it’s finally coming out for me! I don’t know how long these things take to turn around (the original recording was back in October 2017). I hadn’t heard in a while and then when you all said it was out in March next year, I was thoroughly excited!
These two epic stories will be released in March 2019 as a 5-disc CD box set for £23 oron download at £20 from www.bigfinish.com.
coming soon
