Doctor Who, but many previous incarnations of the Doctor are getting in on the act via Doctor Who: Once and Future. Big Finish Productions has released a trailer for the first installment of Doctor Who: Once and Future. TItled Past Lives, the story sees the Doctor hit with a degeneration weapon during the Time War, sending him through time and back to the visage of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker. Guest stars include Doctor Who television stars Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (who is returning to the Doctor Who television series and might be leading a Doctor Who television spinoff), Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood, and Sadie Miller voicing former Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith. Here’s Big Finish’s synopsis for the story.
“The Time War. The Doctor has been injured and brought to a Time Lord field hospital. His body glows with energy, but this is no regeneration into a future form – instead, the Doctor’s past faces begin to appear as he flits haphazardly between incarnations… Staggering to his TARDIS, the Doctor sets out to solve the mystery of his ‘degeneration’. Who has done this to him? How? And why? From the Earth to the stars, across an array of familiar times and places, he follows clues to retrace his steps, encountering old friends and enemies along the way. Tumbling through his lives, the Doctor must stop his degeneration before he loses himself completely… Settling as his Fourth incarnation, the Doctor goes in search of the Monk, with a vague memory that he had something to do with his ‘degeneration’. On Earth, the Monk is meddling, bringing Sarah Jane Smith to the future UNIT HQ to steal a device for an alien race. The Doctor must help Kate Stewart and Osgood foil an invasion before he can confront the Monk about what he knows…”
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What is Doctor Who: Once and Future?
Doctor Who: Once and Future will star Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann (four of whom showed up in Jodie Whittaker’s final Doctor Who episode), Christopher Eccleston (who previously teased his involvement in a 60th anniversary Doctor Who story), and David Tennant (who will play the Fourteenth Doctor in the upcoming Doctor Who 60th-anniversary television specials) in an eight-part event that celebrates the history of the long-running sci-fi television series. Big Finish will release the series monthly, with the first seven parts debuting between May and October 2023, and a “coda” following in November 2024.
Doctor Who: Once and Future Two also features several popular returning Doctor Who stars. Big Finish released the list of guest stars appearing in Once and Future, which includes several reprising roles from Doctor Who television. Here’s the list:
- Michelle Gomez (as Missy)
- Nicola Walker (as Liv Chenka)
- Georgia Tennant (as Jenny, the Doctor’s Daughter)
- Michelle Ryan (as Lady Christina)
- Camille Coduri (as Jackie Tyler)
- Neve McIntosh (as Madame Vastra)
- Catrin Stewart (as Jenny Flint)
- Dan Starkey (as Strax)
- Sadie Miller (as Sarah Jane Smith)
- Christopher Naylor (as Harry Sullivan)
- Ken Bones (as The General)
- Beth Chalmers (as Veklin)
Additionally, Once and Future will feature Stephen Noonan as the First Doctor, Michael Troughton as the Second Doctor, and Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor. It also includes David Warner’s final performance as the Unbound Doctor.
Doctor Who: Once and Future is available to pre-order as a bundle of all eight audio adventures on special edition CD or digital at the Big Finish website.