Audio update...

I'm aware of how few updates I've managed to post recently - my apologies! Paradoxically, that is not as a result of there being little to mention or talk about; there is in fact quite a lot going on at the moment in a variety of recording studios and on a variety of projects - which is good!

Unfortunately, on many of these projects, I'm sworn to secrecy, (yeah, I know - yawn, yawn), at least until they are about to be launched. What I think I'm allowed to say, is that I've recently been back in the studio with the Big Finish crew, with whom there are further dates scheduled both this month and next and which of course, I'm very excited about - as usual!

What I can also say this fine April evening, is that I was in the studio for a couple of days last week with producer Neil Gardner, to record an audio book for Audible.co.uk called Black Venus, written by James MacManus, which I very much enjoyed and later this week, have another audio book to record for the same company, Gabriel's Angel by Mark A Radcliffe. At a time nearer their respective release dates, I'll mention them again and add a synopsis for each; meanwhile, here's some artwork from their original book covers, which might well change along with the new format.

...all for now - further updates coming soon!

Dr Who: Moonflesh

"...whenever April showers come along."

Another month, another April and another brief update on recent events. Way back in November 2012 - yes, 2012 - a few of us gathered expectantly at Moat Studios to record Dr Who: Moonflesh and sometime very soon, it will become available for all to hear.

Now I know I almost always say how much I'm looking forward to listening to a particular release and often give the reason, especially if there's a specific memory or event associated with recording etc etc. Moonflesh was recorded so long ago, that I can't remember very much about the story at all, so there's one reason to look forward to catching up with it.

In the meantime, here is some fab cover art by Damien May and a synopsis from Big Finish:

Peter Davison The Doctor   Sarah Sutton  Nyssa   Tim Bentinck Nathaniel Whitlock

Rosanna Miles Phoebe Whitlock   John Banks Silver Crow   Francesca Hunt Hannah Bartholemew
Hugh Fraser Edwin Tremayne   Geoffrey Breton Hector Tremayne

One wouldn't normally expect to find elephants, gorillas and rhinoceroses roaming free in Suffolk in the year 1911. One wouldn't normally expect to find an extra-dimensional police box at the same time/space location either. Two aliens, named the Doctor and Nyssa, exit said box, only to find themselves pursued by a hungry lioness – for they've landed in the private hunting grounds of the famous explorer Nathaniel Whitlock, who's brought together a motley group of friends and acquaintances for a weekend's shooting.

But one of Whitlock's guests isn't all they seem. One of them wants the secrets of the Moonflesh, the mystic mineral looked after by Whitlock's retainer, a Native American known as Silver Crow. Because the Moonflesh is reputed to have the power to call down spirits from another realm…

…and soon, the hunters will become the hunted.

 Written by Mark Morris

  Directed by Ken Bentley 

Hugh, me, Francesca, Tim, Rosanna, Geoffrey
Peter & Sarah 

* * * * *

It's a funny old world. A couple of weeks ago and completely out of the blue, I was offered some voice-over work by Focalpoint Television, a production company I had applied to several years previously without success.

The work involved recording the narrative to an inter-active corporate training film for one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The script was a tangle of jargon and extraordinarily tongue-twisty terminology with some multi-syllabic drug names thrown in for good measure; but in it's own strange way, was good fun and very satisfying to record. I'd love to say more, but given the commercial sensitivity of the content, I had to sign a 'Non Disclosure Agreement' and must remain silent on the subject. (!)

Don't worry, you haven't missed much and as an alternative, listening to Moonflesh should be much more entertaining - at least, I hope it is!

All for now, further updates coming soon!

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!

19th Annual Audie® Awards ...and things that seize up in the night!

Phew! Perhaps some of you who are of a tweeting disposition might already know that at something like 11.30 last night, producer Neil Gardner and I finished recording Tim Waggoner's final Nekropolis novel, Dark War.

I briefly alluded to the technical challenge of recording these books in the last update a few days ago; allow me now to elucidate. Each of the three books, Nekropolis, Dead Streets and Dark War are about 400 pages in length and each was scheduled to be recorded in three four-hour sessions. That's a recording average of 130 + pages per four-hour session. To put that into perspective, a regular Big Finish script usually comes in at around 180 pages and takes sixteen hours to record over a two day period. Because of a computer glitch on Monday, we lost a bit of time, which meant that yesterday, instead of 130 pages, we actually had to record 152 - yikes!

The most I've ever managed to record is 200 pages over seven hours, which apparently is also the most Neil has ever managed to record - what a team! So, anyway, as you can imagine, we had our work cut out. As usual, I'd done quite a bit of preparation for these books so that when I went into the studio, I'd know exactly what I was doing, where the story was going and who the various characters were. I also usually give each character a different highlight colour so that my eye/brain can assimilate who's to be played next as the narration progresses - with 130 + pages to record in four hours, it's not a bad idea to have done a bit of homework!

With a regular novel, there might be a handful of central characters and a few more peripheral characters; maybe ten or so altogether. So, no problem there, just come up with ten different voices, easily remembered and off you go. As an aid, I also note down any details I might need to refer to about each character on a 'crib sheet', which I can have a quick look at if necessary. However, so many characters appear in these novels, that my crib sheet ran to 8 sides of A4 - eight sides!!! Excluding the minor players, I've made notes on 87 recurring characters, each of which, in theory, has a unique, distinctive and identifiable voice!!!

Now just in case you're tempted to think I'm overstating the trickiness and mind bending complexity of this, let me also throw into the mix the fact that only a very few of these characters are actually human; the vast majority are aliens of the most varied and bizarre kind, some without mouths, some without heads and many of them are 'shape-shifters', so each of the 87 might also have a number of 'guises', which racks up the character count considerably. An extreme example of such a character is Lord Amon, who appears in book one of the trilogy, Nekropolis.

For anyone planning to read or listen to these stories, here's a 'SPOILER ALERT' !

Still with me? Ok, so, as I was saying, Lord Amon - a Darklord and shape-shifter supreme - here's a resume of his various character 'guises':
1) a giant were-rabbit 2) a 'British' sounding man in fox-hunting attire 3) Frank Buck - a Big Game Hunter with a gravelly American voice 4) a 'Daniel Boone' type character with a Kentucky accent 5) an African Tribesman 6) a Native American 7) a Caveman 8) a "a beer-gutted, flannel-shirted, John Deere-capped, shotgun-toting hunter" 9) a Large Grey Wolf 10) a Grizzly Bear 11) a Blurry Amoeba and 12) a Giant Serpent - oh, and underlying all of that, he is also a Lycanthrope - naturally.

By 10.30 last night, my voice was fine, but my cheek/face muscles were really starting to ache and almost 24 hours later, they still do - it feels like I've had a thorough work out at the dentist. I mention all this to you now, because I'm just happy to have survived!

* * * * *

And so, to round off today's posting, it has come as a very pleasant surprise indeed to discover the audio anthology Thirteen which I took part in recording last autumn, has been nominated for a 2104 Audie Award in the category Original Work. The Audies are apparently the audio equivalent of the Oscars, so a nomination is in itself a tremendous honour. My congratulations to all involved in the project and big thanks to Neil for asking me to record Dan Abnett's story.

Here are the details:

 19th Annual Audie® Awards

The Audies, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association (APA), is the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audio-books and spoken word entertainment.

Winners will be recognized at the Audies Gala in New York City on May 29, 2014. 

  Hidden Track (part 1) by Scott Harrison read by Barnaby Edwards
  Dead Space  by  George Mann read by Greg Wise
  A Girl, Sitting  by  Mark Morris read by Jilly Bond
  Finding The Path  by  Kaaron Warren read by Trevor White
  The Hairstyle of the Devil  by  Martin Day read by Arthur Darvill
  Down  by  Gary McMahon read by Stephen Rashbrook
  Visions  by  Cavan Scott read by Michael Maloney
  Half Life  by  Dan Abnett read by John Banks
  Hidden Track (part 2) by Scott Harrison read by Barnaby Edwards
  With Her In Spirit  by  Stephen Gallagher read by Frances Barber
  Tabula Rasa  by  Alasdair Stuart read by Lalla Ward
 One Hit Wanda  by  Kim Newman read by Samuel West
  A Glass of Water  by  Mark Wright read by Gemma Arterton
 Ghost Pit  by  Simon Clark read by Jeff Harding
 I Wish  by  Johnny Mains read by Steven Cree
  Hidden Track (part 3) by Scott Harrison read by Barnaby Edwards

Edited by Scott Harrison

Produced by Neil Gardner

 ...all for now, more just as soon as my face muscles have recovered!

Dark War

More of a news bulletin than a fully fledged post, but just to say that after a short hiatus, I'm back in the studio this week to record Dark War, the final book in Tim Waggoner's Nekropolis trilogy. I'm looking forward to cracking on with this book, although I must admit to a slight sense of trepidation in terms of being able to remember some of the recurring character voices.

When recording is completed on these books, I will post more about them, particularly as they represent the most difficult technical challenge I've ever encountered with any audio book; hopefully, when I explain more, you'll see what I mean!

To round off for now, here's some more great 'fan created' artwork by Silver for the two Dr Who Short Trips stories Only Connect and Breadcrumbs.

More soon!

BBC Radio 4 Extra: Graceless

A very quick update just to say that Series I of Simon Guerrier's brilliantly original Graceless stories is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra starting today at 6pm. Series II, which I'm involved in, begins on Thursday and each episode is repeated at other times in the broadcast schedule.

Ciara Janson as Abby   Laura Doddington as Zara   Fraser James as Marek 

Susan Brown   Michael Cochrane   Derek Griffiths   Joanna van Gyseghem   Daisy Ashford

John Banks   Joseph Kloska

Abby and her sister Zara are not real people. They were created by pan-dimensional beings to help save space and time.

They’ve been blessed with special powers. They can see into people’s heads, even influence their thoughts. And, so long as they’re together, they can go anywhere or when.

But the universe is dangerous, unpredictable. Abby and Zara have made mistakes – and many thousands have died. They know they’ve done wrong, that they have made enemies, who scour all of history to find them.

So they keeping moving on, trying to make amends, trying to help people. And not to do any more harm…

Written by Simon Guerrier
Directed by Lisa Bowerman 

Berlin, The Sleeping City and the Art of the Fan

And so, while I'm still catching up on recent Big Finish releases, which include the first series of The Avengers, The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes box set, Dr Who: The King of Sontar and the two subscriber specials, Dr Who Short Trips: Methuselah and Tweaker, there's more to look forward to this month with the release of Dr Who: The Sleeping City, which was recorded in December 2012.

As it was such a while ago, I've forgotten almost everything about the story and I'm therefore really looking forward to catching up with it again. However, I do remember what a pleasure it was to be working with William Russell again, especially as there were only two of us in the story and we could really work together quite intensively.

Here are some details from Big Finish: 

After travelling with the Doctor through time and space, Ian Chesterton is back in his own time. But the mystery of how he and Barbara Wright disappeared in the year 1963 has alerted the authorities – and both are suspected of being enemy agents in the Cold War.

Ian protests his innocence. He has a story to tell about travelling through time and space.

And one adventure in particular – a visit to the city of Hisk…

William Russell Ian Chesterton     John Banks Gerrard

Written by Ian Potter
Directed by Lisa Bowerman 

23rd February:-  

The Sleeping City - Red Rocket Rising review link

 

  * * * * *

As I mentioned last month and have referred to above, the final two Dr Who Short Trips adventures, Methuselah and Tweaker, are now available to Big Finish subscribers. None of these 'freebie' editions come packaged or with the usual BF artwork because they are only available as downloads. However, that seems to have inspired a couple of BF fans to create their own - and what a fine job they've done! Taken from the BF Forum, here are the 'covers' for each of the four Short Trips stories; the first two are by 'bulldogjones' and the second two by 'Silver'. Interesting that Lalla Ward is depicted on the cover of Breadcrumbs; when I was recording the story, I'd imagined myself 'playing' Mary Tamm as the original Romana.

* * * * *

Just to round off this update, I wanted to briefly mention the film I did a voice over for back in November. Hopefully at some point, I'll get to see it; I'm intrigued by the 'teaser trailer' for it which is posted here. The film has been entered for this year's Berlin International Film Festival, so fingers crossed that it makes a good impression and the hard work of Director Henry Vought and Producer Marie Favre at Deadfox Films Ltd is suitably rewarded - hals und beinbruch!

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!