Tom Baker joins Big Finish
Big Finish has scored its biggest coup since winning the licence to make BBC-sanctioned Doctor Who audio dramas by signing Tom Baker to reprise the Fourth Doctor for a series of new stories.
Baker, who recently recorded two sets of audio adventures for BBC Audio/AudioGO with Richard (Captain Yates) Franklin, is set to record at least 13 full-length audio dramas for Big Finish (to be released as two “seasons” beginning in early 2012), which will reunite him with both Louise Jameson as Leela and Mary Tamm as Romana (not surprisingly, perhaps, there’s no word as to whether he’ll record anything with Lalla Ward - aka Romana II, aka. the former Mrs. Tom Baker). A Lost Stories box set featuring planned but unmade Fourth Doctor stories is also in the works.
According to Big Finish’s announcement here, the first set of stories will be recorded this summer.
Posted by Alex on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:36 am
8 Comments...
Of course the prospect of doing a Lost Stories box only means one thing to a lot of fans, including myself: Could Tom Baker finally record Shada? And would Lalla Ward be persuaded to come back as well?
I suspect the answers are no, and no, but you know that’s what fans are aching for… That and an opportunity to have Shada without Paul McGann’s leaden line delivery and Shaun Bickerstaff’s black hole singularity that sucks all drama from the soundtrack
Posted by Graeme on 03/16 at 08:55 AM
I agree Shada is probably off-limits, especially since BF already did it with McGann. I suppose it might be possible for them to reedit it to replace McGann with Tom Baker, but I can’t imagine they’d want to annoy McGann!
The other unknown is Elisabeth Sladen. Would the BBC allow her to take part in a recording session for the Lost Stories? And will they be able to sign John Leeson for K-9 for the Leela/Romana I stories?
I’m also expecting we might see an Adric story. Matthew Waterhouse apparently has declined to reprise the role for audio, but I believe Andrew Sachs (Manuel from Fawlty Towers!) has already played him for Big Finish, so they could bring Sachs back to play Adric. I can’t see there being any space in the chronology to fit a new story with Sarah Sutton or Janet Fielding in, though.
And, of course, let’s not forget the other “elephant in the room” - will Big Finish try and mount a new Five Doctors-style production with its stable of Doctors? In fact, in some respects an 8 Doctors production of some sort is possible since actors from all eras of the original series now work for BF.
Posted by Alex on 03/16 at 09:09 AM
I don’t think McGann having done Shada is a factor for consideration at all, if it provides an opportunity for it to be done with the original Doctor the script was intended for. The McGann Shada was almost a decade ago. This is Tom Baker finishing his lost story, written by Douglas Adams. I think the only things that could hold it up are Lalla Ward’s involvement and if they’d want to negoitate with Douglas Adams’ estate again, without BBCi money.
A more interesting potential “Lost Story” project would be an audio adaptation of Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, the aborted film script by Tom Baker, Ian Marter and someone whose name completely eludes me. I would be very surprised if it isn’t included somehow.
As for Lis Sladen: in the plus column, Sladen and Tom Baker remain to be great friends. In the minus column, Lis Sladen has probably become very expensive to contract of late…
Posted by Graeme on 03/16 at 09:58 AM
I’d say this is the biggest coup since getting the license in the first place, getting 5, 6 & 7 then getting McGann and subsequently keeping McGann who was going to leave after the first BBC7 season but that energized him.
As for Shada Ian Levine has recorded at the missing bits to audio using all the original cast available (plus replacements) save for Tom who he asked but said no to so a sound alike was used. Levine is also apparently doing The Dark Dimension according to Sylvester who did lines for this recently.
Too bad Sladen doesn’t seem to be involved. She’s also not doing anything with BBC DVD anymore and anything she’s on like the Planet of the Spiders commentary was recorded a while ago.
Posted by Ryan on 03/16 at 01:20 PM
Yeah, but the Levine thing isn’t anything official. It’s just Ian Levine having the money to make his own fan projects writ large. Must be nice. Big Finish could still potentially do Shada.
Sladen was quite clear in interviews that she and 2Entertain weren’t able to come to terms anymore. It’s a sign that when you’re a star of a BBC series, even a childrens series, you start getting clout you didn’t have as a former companion actor.
Posted by Graeme on 03/16 at 01:33 PM
@Ryan. I wouldn’t read anything into that. She’s involved with the Sarah Jane Adventures and that takes up a lot of time. As I wrote above the question is whether the BBC would allow her to do such a project. She hasn’t cut ties with anyone as far as we know (although I see Graeme has some information that says different so I stand corrected) - but with her show continually winning awards and the BBC specifically naming it as one of the main tenants (along with Doctor Who) after the new Cardiff studio complex opens in 2012, she’s got a busy social calendar. But considering a Tom Baker/Lis Sladen audio drama could potentially be the biggest seller BF has ever produced, they might be willing to pony up the cash—again assuming the BBC has no objection.
I’m looking forward to the pairings with Louise and Mary because the former didn’t have a good working relationship with Tom back in the 1970s but they’ve apparently long made peace over that and so it’ll be cool to hear how the chemistry works 35 years on. Mary and Tom I thought had great chemistry in The Key to Time (at the risk of being accused of blasphemy I think they got on better on screen than Tom and Lalla did, including in the sexual chemistry arena) but Mary only did the one season. I’d love to hear a non-Key to Time story with the two of them.
So while having Lis Sladen come back would be fantastic, there’s going to be plenty for us to enjoy I think with what’s being planned…
Posted by Alex on 03/16 at 01:38 PM
Alex: Sladen indicated in interviews in 2009 that she and 2Entertain weren’t able to come to terms and that’s why she wasn’t doing the commentaries or special features.
Posted by Graeme on 03/16 at 01:40 PM
@ Graeme You might have read an earlier version of my comment. I updated it when I saw your followup earlier. I stand corrected. Though that doesn’t mean anything with regards to BF. They might be willing to pay the fee for a potential huge-seller like this unless the BBC has an issue.
Posted by Alex on 03/16 at 01:42 PM
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