Once and Future Guest Stars Announced!
18 February 2023
Revealed today at the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles: a stellar line-up of actors will feature in Big Finish’s forthcoming Doctor Who audio anniversary series, Once and Future.
As previously announced, the original TV leads – Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant – each reprise their role as the Doctor for this epic, eight-part extravaganza marking 60 years of adventures in space and time.
Joining them are guest stars Stephen Noonan as the First Doctor, Michael Troughton as the Second Doctor and Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor. The series also includes the final performance recorded by David Warner as the Unbound Doctor.
The impressive ensemble cast boasts some very familiar names from Doctor Who series past and present, including:
Michelle Gomez (as Missy)
Nicola Walker (as Liv Chenka)
Georgia Tennant (as Jenny, the Doctor's Daughter)
Michelle Ryan (as Lady Christina)
Camille Coduri (as Jackie Tyler)
Neve McIntosh (as Madame Vastra)
Catrin Stewart (as Jenny Flint)
Dan Starkey (as Strax)
Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith)
Christopher Naylor (as Harry Sullivan)
Ken Bones (as The General)
Beth Chalmers (as Veklin)
With many more guest stars yet to be announced.
Doctor Who – Once and Future will be released monthly, with the first seven parts materialising between May and October 2023, and a final coda in November 2024, as follows:
Past Lives by Robert Valentine
The Artist at the End of Time by James Goss
A Genius for War by Jonathan Morris
Two’s Company by Lisa McMullin
The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 by Jonathan Barnes
Time Lord Immemorial by Lisa McMullin
The Union by Matt Fitton
Coda – The Final Act by Tim Foley
The series’ script editor, Matt Fitton, said: “It was a massive honour to be asked by producer David Richardson to help coordinate this mammoth undertaking. For me, it was a chance to work again with many of Big Finish's barnstorming writers, all of whom I'd had great fun working with before. It's always a joy to send that email inviting someone onto an exciting project like this, and then seeing the number of exclamation marks in the response!
“There were certain characters I felt just had to be involved in such a significant anniversary, but over the course of the whole series, we aim to pay tribute to every single era of the show across its 60 years. The Doctor might not quite be himself at the start, but we've an army of allies and enemies to help remind him what he stands for.”
Doctor Who fans worldwide can pre-order all eight full-cast audio adventures as a special edition bundle on CD + download (for just £75) or as digital downloads only (for just £62), exclusively here.
The special edition CD bundle is strictly limited to just 3,000 pressings and includes numbered CDs, special bonus artworks and additional audio content, including music suites and extended behind-the-scenes interviews.
All eight stories can be pre-ordered as separate single releases on standard collector’s edition CD (and download for £10.99 each) or digital (download only for £8.99 each), exclusively here. A standard bundle is also available to pre-order for just £72 (on CD and download) or £60 (download only). The standard edition does not include the extras contained in the special edition but does include behind-the-scenes features.
All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.
Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.
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Gallifrey: War Room 2: Manoeuvres is now available to buy!
So excited and nervous for this boxset, so glad it's finally been released!
You can go download it here: https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/gallifrey-war-room-2-manoeuvres-2593
More information about the release under the cut:
The War Room co-ordinates the fight against the Daleks, but there is a battle for control. Rival Cardinals Rasmus and Ollistra manipulate Leela, Veklin and the General, seeking Rassilon's favour. And beyond Gallifrey, Narvin and the Resistance are making their own moves to stop the Time War...
2.1 Collaborators by Katharine Armitage
Gallifrey and the Resistance are in a race to secure a vital alliance. But playing politics means secrets, lies and betrayal... and Leela, caught in the middle, must try to rescue honour from chaos.
2.2 Remnants by Georgia Cook
A distress call from a Gallifreyan outpost brings the General, Rasmus and Veklin into contact with weapons of the Time War from both sides. Trapped, young Time Lord Cresta fights for her life against a relentless foe.
2.3 Transference by Fio Trethewey
When a promising scientist is injured and his new technology stolen, Ollistra sets Leela on the trail. Her hunt takes her outside the Citadel to Lowtown, where a shock awaits. Narvin has returned to Gallifrey. But in trying to help his kin, he risks more than he knows.
2.4 Ambition’s Debt by Katharine Armitage
Tensions run high in the War Room as the battle for control intensifies. A world has gone missing, the Daleks are too quiet, and something new lurks in the shadows... A dangerous plan is set in motion with the potential to change everything.
Cast:
Louise Jameson (Leela)
Ken Bones (The General)
Janet Amsden (Clemantia)
Nicholas Briggs (Berserker Dalek / Daleks)
Aaron-Louis Cadogan (Teblin)
Seán Carlsen (Narvin)
Beth Chalmers (Veklin)
James Corrigan (Ferdi)
Sam Gittins (Helico)
Mark Hawkins (Eris)
Chris Jarman (Rasmus)
Pepter Lunkuse (Lenaris)
Faith Omole (Cresta)
Carolyn Pickles (Ollistra)
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When the Bough Breaks: Chapter Two
(A Brokenwood Mysteries fanfic)
FANDOM: The Brokenwood Mysteries
PAIRING: Simmers (Kristin Sims/Daniel Chalmers)
CHARACTERS: Mike Shepherd, Kristin Sims, Daniel Chalmers, Gina Kadinsky, Random OCs
RATING: Teen+ (for now; later parts may become higher)
WARNINGS: Dead bodies/death (and other such associated with Murder Mysteries)
STORY SUMMARY: When a woman is found lying dead outside a treehouse motel, it hits close to home for one of the detectives. Meanwhile, Brokenwood is facing a spree of seemingly random petty crimes committed by random persons. And Kristin and Daniel's personal relationship faces challenges.
CHAPTER SUMMARY: (Mike POV) A seemingly accidental death holds more mysteries (and revelations) than expected.
READ CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
It was a beautiful summer morning in Brokenwood. Blue skies with a couple fluffy clouds. Birds singing. Green leaves rustling in a gentle, warm breeze. Not too hot. Not too cool.
A fantastic day to be alive.
Which somehow made being called to a suspicious death first thing all the more depressing.
Mike Shepherd greeted the officers who’d already secured the scene and nodded to Constable Hayward who was taking information from an individual who seemed rather like he’d had enough (likely the owner of the property who had discovered the body).
Gina thankfully wasn’t on scene yet. But neither were his detectives, either. They would’ve been helpful to the poor overwrought constable with the witness, and for searching the scene with their keen eyes. But honestly, Mike liked having his quiet moment with the deceased, without the amused looks his colleagues exchanged over their eccentric boss.
Aw, such a shame. It always was, wasn’t it. But the younger they were, the shorter their lives, the more tragic it seemed. The brunette woman lying still as death itself on the ground, her eyes staring unblinking and lifeless at the treetops swaying in the blue, blue sky… well, she was definitely no older than Detective Sims, perhaps younger, late 20s or early 30s. Death had taken the vitality from her skin, her eyes, her limbs, which often made it more difficult to hazard a guess at age than with the living.
He crouched down next to the dead woman.
“Good morning…uh… Apologies. I didn’t get your name yet.” He looked up at the treetops and sky… and very fancy looking treehouse. Apparently, it was a thing now. Instead of little cabins, or blocks of motel rooms, treehouse rentals… People never stopped surprising Mike. For good. Or bad. “We’ll take care of you. But first, do you want to tell me what happened? He glanced around, saw the large tree limb lying beside her. Decide to go for a nighttime climb? Hm…”
“Oh my god.”
Mike glanced up just in time to catch Kristin Sims’ fleeing back as she staggered several yards away to vomit next to a tree. He exchanged a brief shocked glance with Daniel Chalmers before the detective constable was sprinting to his partner’s side.
That was quite strange. Kristin was a seasoned veteran of crime scenes and dead bodies. It was also a little strange to watch Daniel comforting her, a hand rubbing her back as she remained doubled over, his fingers brushing the hair back out of her face as he leaned in close and talked quietly to her.
Oh, Mike knew they were romantically involved, would smugly maintain that he’d known there was something going on between them before they did. But they’d told him about a month after they’d finally figured out they were harboring the same sort of feelings for one another and did something about it. And their relationship had never interfered with their work (that he knew of), had seemed to change absolutely nothing, not even an increase in affectionate looks or absent-minded touches (while on duty, anyway).
So witnessing Daniel being the caring partner he was at a crime scene was nearly as shocking as Kristin getting sick at one.
And kind of sweet.
Beth had been right; Mike was married to the job. But that didn’t mean he never longed for companionship, didn’t appreciate what it was to share your life with another person. He just also happened to share a good portion of his life with the job, too. Maybe Kristin and Daniel had gotten it right. The whole idea that cops shouldn’t date other cops was perhaps a fallacy. Maybe only another cop could truly understand...
Kristin was waving Daniel off, using the trunk of the nearby tree as support rather than her solid-as partner. In an uncharacteristic public display of affection, he kissed her cheek, his hand stroking one last lingering caress down her arm before he left her standing there, obviously struggling to get her professional composure back.
“Do you have someone like that?” Mike asked the dead woman as Daniel made his way back to the scene. “We’ll get you home to them soon.”
Mike raised his eyebrows in question when Daniel came to stand beside him and the body.
“Kristin knows the deceased,” he supplied, his face in its deliberately neutral professional detective position. “Her name is Veronica.”
Mike nodded. Got to his feet.
“Does she need to sit this one out?”
“Nah,” Daniel said. “You know Kristin. She’ll be fine. Just give her a mo.”
Mike nodded again. Kristin was resilient and reliable. But during all her years working in Brokenwood, no case had hit close to home before.
Daniel leaned in a little closer. “She uh… also said that Veronica was pregnant.”
Mike glanced back at the dead woman. She was lying on her back, wearing what looked like relaxed-fit yoga clothes, appearing almost peaceful in the soft mix of moss and grass. She was an average build, but sure enough, there was a curve to her belly that could be due to pregnancy. Mike silently gave his condolences to the woman for the loss of her child, as well as her life.
“Oh, I do not like this, Michael.”
Gina had arrived.
“It’s always tragic when a young person has an untimely end.”
“No, not that.” She brushed off his empathy, but glanced at the dead woman and added, “Well, yes it is unfortunate. But not unexpected.”
Mike exchanged a bewildered look with Daniel, but wasn’t as shocked by Gina’s assertion as the younger detective. Her trains of thought were often hard to follow. And Daniel had less tolerance for what often seemed quite a callous attitude from the medical examiner.
“Why not unexpected?” Mike asked.
“With that-” Gina waved a hand at the treehouse rental just a few yards away, looming overhead. “Hut like that of Baba Yaga. Even has roots like chicken legs.” She eyed the treehouse rental more closely, then the surrounding manicured landscape and beyond to the untamed woods. She clutched the snake tooth charm pendant to her chest. Shook her head. “She should’ve known not to enter such a place as this. It’s inviting the interest of Baba Yaga.”
“Baba Yaga?” Daniel asked. He looked equal parts bewildered and fed up with Gina’s rambling tales.
“Isn’t she a Russian witch?” Mike tried to redirect the medical examiner, which was never an easy feat. “So shouldn’t have to worry about her down here, eh?”
“Oh, no, Michael. Baba Yaga is known in many of the forests of Europe, as well as Russia. The primordial forests are all her home.”
Oh, great. A hard redirect was necessary.
“Can you tell me what the cause of death was?” Mike asked. “Aside from possibly Baba Yaga?”
He suppressed his grin as he glanced back at Daniel, who rolled his eyes. Kristin had arrived, still looking ashen, but she gave an attempt at a smile anyway.
“I’m sorry, are we saying the cause of death is what sounds like some sort of Eastern European stew?” she asked.
“It is not good to joke about Baba Yaga. She is a very powerful-”
“Can we focus on the actual real woman lying on the ground here,” Mike said. The medical examiner and detectives were top notch in Mike’s book, but sometimes they needed a more forceful reminder to stay on task. “Are we thinking she fell from the tree?”
Daniel approached the base of the large pine supporting the treehouse structure about 6 or 7 meters up. He looked up, shadowing his eyes against the bright rays of morning sun breaking through the canopy of leaves, and pointed at a large, raw, white scar on a part of the trunk that branched out from where the little house structure was nestled.
“Maybe she climbed out on a limb for some reason…” Daniel walked back towards them, stopped beside the broken bough lying beside the body. “It broke under her weight, she fell… Hit her head? Broke her neck?”
“Gina?” Michael asked as the medical examiner did her cursory evaluation of the body.
“No obvious signs of a broken vertebrae,” she said. “But that does not mean she did not suffer cervical fractures.” She pulled her hands away from palpating the woman’s neck and head, blood showing stark on her latex gloves. “Oh, definitely have a wound to the back of the head.”
Hm… Gina wouldn’t say the likely cause at this stage, Mike knew.
“So it could have been accidental?” Kristin asked. If Veronica had been a friend, then Mike couldn’t blame the detective for wanting her death to be an accident, rather than someone wanting to harm the woman. “But why would she be climbing a tree in the wee hours of the morning? If that’s when we think-”
“I could not say at this juncture.” Gina held to her typical line.
“Alright,” Mike stood. “Chalmers, help Hayward with the witness statement.”
“You got it.” Rather than immediately jumping to it, Daniel hesitated, stepping in close to Kristin, bowing his head to whisper into her ear before looking her straight in the face. Her expression remained neutral when she replied equally inaudibly, but she gave her partner a slight smile when he squeezed her arm before heading off to carry out Mike’s orders.
“You alright?” It felt wrong to even ask the seasoned detective, but also, Kristin Sims was a friend. And he was concerned.
“Yes. I’m fine.” She sighed and gave him an apologetic look for the snappy tone. “Sorry. I’m good. Thanks, Mike.”
He nodded. “What can you tell me about the deceased?”
“Um… Not a whole lot, actually.” Kristin shifted her weight from one leg to the other and back, cleared her throat. For a woman who pried into other people’s personal lives, she got rather uncomfortable about her own.
“You were friends?” Mike prompted.
“Ye-es…” She made a face, shaking her head somewhat, not committing to the answer. “More like acquaintances.”
It figured. Interviewing detectives could be the most difficult of anyone.
“But she confided in you that she was pregnant?”
“Yes.” He could see that she could see that he was becoming frustrated. She gave him another apologetic smile. “It’s that type of thing, though, where it’s easier to tell a stranger stuff than someone who knows you really well… you know?”
Ah, yes. Mike had experienced that before. It created a sort of bond of friendship with a person, even though you weren’t at all close. He nodded.
“Do you know anything about her living situation?” He glanced back up at the treehouse rental. “Family? Work?”
Kristin shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. She never mentioned a partner. I think her job was maybe remote work?”
“Alright. Not sure there’s much else to learn here,” he said, giving the scene another once over. “Let’s head back to the station, piece together what we can about Veronica and her unfortunate accident.”
“Your gut’s telling you it’s not accident, though, isn’t it?”
Mike nodded.
Kristin grimaced, but strode off in her all-business way to collect her partner. Gina was overseeing the packing up and transportation of the body. He would instruct the uniforms to preserve the scene for a while longer, but forensics was packing up what little evidence there’d been to gather.
Well, Veronica, Mike thought. What on earth -or should I say, what in the treetops- happened to you?
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