BBC Audio Drama Awards 2014

and the winner is... 

 Dr Who: Dark Eyes - The Great War

written and directed by Nick Briggs for Big Finish Productions!

       


                David, Jason & Nick
           

I was thrilled to discover that this episode of Dark Eyes had been nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award as I've mentioned in previous postings and I'm now beyond thrilled that The Great War has actually won in the category 'Best Online or Non-Broadcast Drama'. Congratulations to Producer David Richardson, Executive Producer Jason Haigh-Ellery and of course to writer & director, Nick Briggs - bravo!

The Dark Eyes company includes:

Paul McGann   Ruth Bradley   Peter Egan   Toby Jones   Tim Treloar   Laura Molyneaux  

 Natalie Burt    Ian Cullen    Jonathan Forbes    Alex Mallinson    Beth Chalmers    John Banks     Nicholas Briggs

	Music & Sound Design Andy Hardwick    Cover Artwork Alex Mallinson

 

 

 What the judges said:

WINNER: DOCTOR WHO – DARK EYES: THE GREAT WAR

People’s history, fantasy and high drama. The winning entry was outstanding in every respect: a complex, gripping narrative made visible through three-dimensional characters in believable relationships, some fine acting, and a superbly orchestrated soundscape which never overdoes the atmospherics or signposting of changes in time and place. Above all, it manages its historical and fantastical elements seamlessly and, for a brief period, time is suspended for the listener.

The judges were Viv Gardner and Sofie Mason

Welcome to Nekropolis...

And so, after a hugely enjoyable Big Finish Day 4, meeting lots of very enthusiastic BF fans, including intrepid travellers from Germany, Holland and even Russia, it's back to work in the recording studio.

BFD4 - The Audio Acting Panel: 

Simon Fisher-Becker, Steven Wickham, Lisa Bowerman, Tom Chadbon, John Banks, Tracey Childs

* * * * *

I'm just about to start recording the second of three audio books for Ladbroke Audio, which will become available via Audible.co.uk relatively soon I should imagine. The trilogy is written by Tim Waggoner and includes Nekropolis, Dead Streets and Dark War featuring ex-cop turned Private Eye Matt Richter, who also happens to be a Zombie!

At the moment, between preparations for the audio books, I'm currently catching up on a fair amount of Big Finish recent releases, including The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes, The Avengers Volume 1 and Dr Who: The King of Sontar, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, which we recorded in July 2012.

So, a brief update and off to the studio now; must get myself into zombie mode...

Big Finish Day 4

A quick reminder - as if one were needed! - that the fourth of Big Finish's very own conventions takes place this weekend, on the 18th in fact. Guests invited to attend include Paul McGann, along with Julian Wadham and Anthony Howell from the new series of Avengers stories and the Counter Measures cast, Simon Williams, Karen Gledhill, Pamela Salem and Hugh Ross - funnily enough, I'll be there too, signing and appearing on a Q&A 'panel'.

 

Thanks to Elvina Esanova, who recorded and recently posted this clip of our 'Day In The Life at Big Finish' sketch which we performed at the BBC Official 50th Celebration weekend back in November. Elvina is such a dedicated Dr Who fan, that she travelled all the way from Moscow to attend!

From left to right in the clip: Nick Briggs, Barnaby Edwards, Beth Chalmers and me.

If previous BF Days are anything to go by, Saturday's get together should be an entertaining and fun day out 

- maybe see you there!

Dr Who Short Trips or - 'John Banks plays Romana, Nyssa & Peri shock!'

A lovely summer's day, August 15th 2012; a recording studio somewhere deep in the heart of the Kent countryside and four scripts: Dr Who Short Trips - Subscriber Bonus Releases.

As far as I'm aware, no details or credits have ever been revealed about these recordings, there's no artwork, no CD - just unadorned, downloadable audio files. There appears to be some speculation on the Big Finish web Forum at the moment as to who performed these stories; so, with the permission of Paul Spragg, finally, the truth can be told!

The four stories recorded that day were:

Only Connect by Andy Lane, featuring The Fourth Doctor

Tweaker by Dan Abnett, featuring The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa

Methuselah by George Mann, featuring The Fifth Doctor and Peri

Breadcrumbs by James Moran, featuring The Fourth Doctor and Romana

That was the original order of recording, however, we weren't quite sure that we could fit all four stories into a single recording day and so Methuselah, being the longest, was left until last. Recording these stories was quite a challenge; previously I'd only recorded one solo audio book, The Madness Within for The Black Library/Big Finish, written by Steve Lyons and directed by Lisa Bowerman and the idea of playing two Doctors and three Companions, as well as all the other characters and the narrator, was a bit daunting. 

Only Connect and Breadcrumbs were released to Big Finish subscribers in December 2012. I uploaded short extracts to Soundcloud and to this web site; scroll down and you can listen to them. 

Here's what I wrote when these first two stories were released:

'In total, four Short Trips adventures were recorded, featuring two 'Doctors' and a variety of their respective 'Companions'. We recorded all four stories in a day, which was great fun and quite a challenge as we didn't have time to record the character voices and narration separately - I just started at the beginning and with the unflagging support of director Ken Bentley - ploughed on through to the end!

When I was asked to record these stories, I felt incredibly flattered to have been given such a responsibility and to have been trusted not to screw the whole thing up! Having just recently had the opportunity to listen to 'Only Connect' & 'Breadcrumbs', I am relieved that the mistakes and errors of judgement I've made aren't too glaringly obvious and I hope the listener will enjoy the content of the stories, rather than find themselves being distracted by my shortcomings.'

I had no idea what plans Big Finish had for the release of these recordings and it's come as a very pleasant surprise that Tweaker and Methuselah are also now available - rather than having been binned or consigned to a dusty shelf somewhere at BF Towers! Having now listened to all four stories, immodest as it might sound, I do feel quite proud of the work we did on them - I say 'we' not in a grand sense, but because the process of recording such stories is a collective team effort and great credit should go to the writers, producer David Richardson and director Ken Bentley, who provided invaluable support and encouragement.

If you are able to listen to these stories, I very much hope you enjoy them.

“Subscribers get more at Big Finish!”

The Avengers

I'd intended to post this update much earlier in the day, but a power cut took care of that. We're still reeling a bit from the recent bad weather here in Surrey and there's still quite a bit of local flooding, the River Wey having broken its banks before Christmas.

So, with electricity once more surging through the computer, I can make a start. The working year is well under way and I'm currently recording a Talking Book for the RNIB. We've been in the studio for two days this week, today is a break and we'll finish tomorrow, one day ahead of our allotted recording schedule. I'm thoroughly enjoying the book, The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn and the challenge of playing the numerous, mainly Liverpudlian, characters. I've also decided to 'narrate' in a soft Liverpudlian accent, which has proven to be quite liberating and good fun. Next week, I'm very much looking forward to starting work on a trilogy of audio books with Ladbroke Audio, but more of that at a later date.

This month sees the much anticipated release of a new Big Finish series The Avengers. I am in the series, although you'll probably need a forensic sense of hearing to discern exactly what I'm doing! I wish I could elaborate on that bald statement, but of course I can't, at least, not at the moment.

Here are some details from Big Finish:

The Avengers company features:

Anthony Howell as Dr. David Keel, Julian Wadham as John Steed & Lucy Briggs-Owen as Carol Wilson

&

Colin Baker, Camilla Power, Tim Bentinck, Adrian Lukis, Phil Mulryne, Blake Ritson,  

Anjella Mackintosh, Kieran Bew, George Rainsford, Alan Cox, Beth Chalmers, Sophie Aldred, Sam Clemens, Francesca Hunt, Nigel Carrington, Nicholas Briggs, Terry Molloy, John Banks.

The stories are:

                                 

                                         Hot Snow by Ray Rigby                                                                                 

          Brought To Book by Brian Clemens          

Square Root of Evil by Richard Harris

 One for the Mortuary by Brian Clemens

Adapted by John Dorney

Sound Design and Music by	Toby Hrycek-Robinson

	Directed by Ken Bentley

These original 'written for television' stories have been adapted for audio production by the ever brilliant John Dorney and directed by Ken Bentley - and it's thanks to the efforts and enthusiasm of producer David Richardson that the series has come to fruition via Big Finish. As a child of the sixties, I adored The Avengers on television, particularly the era of Steed and Mrs Peel. But how fascinating it is to go back to the very beginning of the series, even before Cathy Gale, to stories that I wasn't even aware of.  To have had the opportunity of taking part was genuinely a professional dream come true and I can't wait to listen to the stories in this 4 CD Box Set.

* * * * *

Some 'hot off the press' news I came across yesterday, is this from BBC Media:

'The finalists for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2014 have been announced with nominees including

 Doctor Who: Dark Eyes: The Great War, for Best Online or Non-Broadcast Drama.'

The series Dark Eyes was written and directed by Nick Briggs for Big Finish and stars Paul McGann and Ruth Bradley - and I'm delighted to have been in it too! Fingers crossed that Nick's production will be given the award!

* * * * *

And finally for this posting; should you wish to read a 'behind the scenes' feature on Dr Who: The Heroes of Sontar, there's an interesting article in this month's issue of Vortex magazine.

Kenny Smith, who wrote the article, asked me to contribute some of my recollections of the production, which I was very happy to do.  

Vortex is free to download via Big Finish Productions

  

PS: I've always found the 'most popular posts' section of the site to be quite fascinating. For some time, Stargate SG-1 has been in pole position, but for the last several days, it's been The Horus Heresy: Grey Angel and by a considerable margin - interesting - so, many thanks to all the Warhammer fans for checking in!

All for now - more soon!

...and a Happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one...

Happy New Year and welcome!

Out with the old and in with the new - or 'on' with the new! And without wasting a moment in retrospection, this month has some very interesting audio releases from Big Finish. Of the ones I've had something to do with, the first adventure of January 2014 comes in the guise of Dr Who: The King of Sontar, starring Tom Baker & Louise Jameson. There's another highly anticipated release this month - (what?) - but more of that later.

As I'm not sure in which order these recordings will become available, I've decided to mention them in the order they were recorded. First in that case, and by quite a margin, is The King of Sontar, which we recorded in July 2012 - eons ago!

Here are some details:

Dowcra base. The third Elite Sontaran Assassination Squad closes in on its target. A dozen trained killers, but even they will be unable to bring down the invincible Strang…

Manipulated by the Time Lords, the TARDIS also arrives on Dowcra. And the Doctor is set to encounter the greatest Sontaran ever cloned...

Tom Baker The Doctor      Louise Jameson Leela  

Dan Starkey Strang    David Collings Rosato    John Banks Vilhol
Jenny Funnell  Reaver   David Seddon Irving

Written by: John Dorney
Directed by: Nicholas Briggs 

* * * * *

A short 'n' sweet start then to the new year; there's much more to come in the days, weeks and months ahead and whatever is fit to publish will appear here - so do come back soon for further updates!