A couple of quick updates:
This morning, Big Finish announced the beginning of a very exciting series of audio dramas featuring the superstar actor,
Sir John Hurt, who is playing
The War Doctor. I am beyond thrilled to be involved in this series and very keen to listen to the first box set when it's released in December. In the meantime, here are some details of what's in store, with much more to follow...
In December 2015, the Time War will rage and only one man can save us.
John Hurt is The War Doctor!
John Hurt, the world-renowned star of film and television, is returning to the role of
The War Doctor, in twelve full-cast
Doctor Who audio plays.
The War Doctor was introduced for Doctor Who’s Fiftieth Anniversary,
and played a key part in the record-breaking television special
The Day of the Doctor, alongside
David Tennant and
Matt Smith’s
Doctors. He is the secret incarnation of the Time Lord — but he has
shunned the title ‘Doctor’ in order to fight in the Time War against the
Daleks.
“I have been a huge fan of John since first seeing him in the repeats of
I, Claudius in the 1980s and in his Oscar-nominated role as the eponymous
The Elephant Man,’ says Big Finish executive producer
Jason Haigh-Ellery. ‘Watching his performance in
The Day of the Doctor
I did find myself fantasising that some far off day we might have the
chance to work with him on the audio adventures of Doctor Who and now
two short years later it’s happened! John wove a fantastic character
together from a great script by
Steven Moffat. Now we
have the chance to get to know that character more and hear John stretch
in the role. We’re all in for a hell of a ride as the War Doctor
engages in battle. But who are the greater threat - the Daleks or the
Time Lords?”
The audio adventures of
The War Doctor will be told over four box sets, each containing three linked hour-long episodes. The first box set is entitled
Only The Monstrous, and is written and directed by
Nicholas Briggs, whose many successes for Big Finish include the BBC Audio Award-winning masterpiece
Doctor Who: Dark Eyes.
“The story of the Doctor who refuses to call himself the Doctor in
order to do the unthinkable upon the ultimate battlefield — all of space
and time — was irresistible to me,” says Nicholas. “Such a deeply
disturbing and engaging character created by the formidable talents of
writer Steven Moffat and actor John Hurt. It’s such a privilege to be
working on this.”
The cast of
The War Doctor also includes
Jacqueline Pearce,
who plays Time Lord Cardinal Ollistra — an arch manipulator who is
waging the Time War against the Daleks. Jacqueline’s work includes
The Avengers, Callan, Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time,
Moondial and
Russell T Davies’ Dark Season, and she is known to many science fiction fans for her role as Servalan in the cult classic
Blake’s 7.
Only The Monstrous will be released in December 2015, and will be followed in February 2016 by the second volume,
Infernal Devices, which is written by
John Dorney, Phil Mulryne and
Matt Fitton.
Volumes Three and
Four are currently in pre-production.
“What an utter privilege it is to work with such an iconic actor, playing such a brilliantly devised role,” says producer
David Richardson.
“This is Doctor Who at its darkest — the era in which our hero casts
aside his core values in order to try and save the galaxy in its most
terrible hour. We promise bold and brilliant story-telling with gripping
character drama, and epic and cinematic audio productions.”
* * * * *
In August, audible.co.uk released the audio book version if
Adam Thirlwell's novel,
Lurid&Cute which I narrated. Here are some details:
Shortlisted for the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize
This yarn takes
place in the suburbs of a giant city. In Brasilia they’re coming off
their night shift, in Tokyo they’re having their first whisky sours –
that’s what’s happening elsewhere in the world when our hero wakes up.
Together with his wife and dog, he lives at home with his parents. He
has had the good education and, until recently, the good job. In other
words, the juggernaut of meaning was not parked heavily on our hero’s
lawn.
But then the lurid overtakes him – and whether this lurid
tone is caused by our hero’s new unemployment, or his feelings for a
girl who is not his wife, or the return of his old friend Hiro, it’s
hard to say. What’s definite is that a chain of events begins that feels
to those inside it, narcotic and neurotic, like one long and terrible
descent – complete with lies, deceit, and chicanery; one orgy, one
brothel, and a series of firearms disputes.
While if you start
to notice minute doubles and repeats, or wonder if what you took as some
trick of perspective might in fact be a kink of reality, perhaps that
shouldn't be so much of a surprise... For very possibly this suburban
noir as the story of a woebegone and global generation – and our hero,
the sweetest narrator in world literature, may well also be the most
fearsome.
...all for now, more just as soon as it happens!