2009 - 2014 and beyond...

Another little 'catch up' posting this week to mention that almost unbelievably, it's been five years since my first ever Big Finish story, Dr Who: Paper Cuts. Checking my diary for March 2009, I notice that at the recommendation of Nicola Bryant, I sent in a 'demo reel' on 10th, was amazingly offered a job on Friday 13th and started recording on 23rd - if only all jobs came about so promptly!

My memories of that first day's recording are of course that it held a fair degree of trepidation, if not outright terror. After all, apart from working in a medium in which I had almost no experience, I'd also be working with 'famous people'. As things turned out, I needn't have worried.

David Richardson greeted me warmly when I arrived at the studio and offered me some coffee (not all producers do that!). Similarly Nick Briggs made me feel very welcome and within a very short time in the studio with the Doctor, in this instance, the brilliant Colin Baker, I started to feel very much at home. And of course, there was also Toby's legendary lunch to look forward to!

The nature of working with Big Finish was established that day and has never wavered; David, Nick and Moat Studios' Toby Hrycek-Robinson create a very warm and conducive working environment and huge thanks go to them, as well as to Ken Bentley, Lisa Bowerman, Paul Spragg and Barnaby Edwards for making the last five years such a delight.

I consider myself fortunate indeed to have the privilege of  knowing and working with such amazingly creative and talented people and look forward to, hopefully, many more adventures with the Big Finish crew.

Nekropolis trilogy

It's getting quite late in the day and I'm back in the studio tomorrow, so it's a 'crack of dawn' start and just a very quick update for the moment.

All three of the Nekropolis audio books are released tomorrow, Friday 21st, from Audible.co.uk, which includes, Nekropolis, Dead Streets and Dark War - there's much more about these books in previous postings, so I won't repeat any of that now; just to say, the audio covers are different to the original book covers and here they are:

All I can say about tomorrow's studio day is that I'll be teaming up with someone I haven't worked with for almost exactly 14 years; we'll be recording some Dr Who adventures and I'm really looking forward to it - despite the early start!

There's much more to mention over the next few days, but for now, that's all folks!

Dr Who: Scavenger

I've begun many a posting with an expression of bemused surprise that the year has progressed so rapidly and this month is no different; March already - Spring is springing and the birds are singing etc etc. Curiously, the most popular post over the last several weeks has been last March's update on the release of Dr Who: The Seeds of War and by a considerable margin. I have no idea why that should be; maybe everyone really likes the photo of Bonnie???

Anyway, a whole year later, this March sees the release of Dr Who: Scavenger and here are some details from Big Finish:

Thursday 28 May 2071: the day the Anglo-Indian Salvage 2 rocket launches. Its mission: to clean up space; to remove from Earth’s orbit over a century’s worth of man-made junk…

From the viewing window of a nearby space station, the Doctor and Flip have a unique view of Salvage 2 as it sets about its essential task – and of the disaster that unfolds when Salvage 2 encounters something it’s not been programmed to deal with. Something not of human manufacture…

Back on Earth, the Doctor fights to save Flip from becoming part of a 500-year tragedy being played out in orbit, hundreds of miles above. And millions will die if he fails.

 Colin Baker  The Doctor    Lisa Greenwood  Flip Jackson 

Anjli Mohindra  Jyoti Cutler    Tariq Bhatti  Salim 

Kate McEwen  Jessica Allaway    Tania Rodrigues  Anarkali - Melissa - Isra Tech #2  

John Banks  Scavenger - Commander Gabbard - Isra Tech #1 - Security Guy

Written by William Gallagher
Directed by  Nicholas Briggs 

I have very fond memories of working on Scavenger, which we recorded last summer; in fact, day two of recording took place on my birthday. The company were particularly fun to be with and having discovered a mutual passion, I have a vague recollection of agreeing to open a shoe shop with Lisa and Anjli, although my feeling is that both Anjli and Lisa would want to keep the entire stock to wear themselves! 

So, fond memories indeed and I'm really looking forward to hearing this story.

* * * * *

                                                  

As the time rolls merrily along, June isn't too far away and champing at the bit, just yesterday, Big Finish released a trailer for the forthcoming first series of Survivors - and here it is:

* * * * *

And to round off this posting, I thought I'd just mention that my final episode of 'Allo, 'Allo!, recorded in the summer of 1989, has just been repeated on BBC2. How strange to jump back in time, remembering many of the details of recording and musing on how much has happened in the interim, how many of those actors appearing in the show are no longer around, David Croft too - yet more fond memories...

 Until next time, this is Nighthawk signing off - a bientot!