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May 29th, 2019 20 comments

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Doctor Who The Lost Stories 5.1. The Ultimate Evil

Available to order from www.bigfinsih.com

Lost Doctor Who stories return on audio

Two classic Doctor Who television stories that didn’t get past the pre-production stage are being resurrected this year as full-cast audio productions. Peter Davison and Colin Baker return as the Fifth and Sixth Doctors in two fantastic releases by Big Finish Productions in association with BBC Studios.

The iconic British science fiction series of Doctor Who has been running for over 55 years, and it has inspired and nurtured numerous writers, directors, performers and creatives. Throughout the process of producing the TV series, however, many stories didn’t make it to our screens for a variety of reasons. Big Finish Productions is now bringing back two of the stories that were previously left on the production room floor in the 1980s.

The Ultimate Evil by writer Wally K Daly and Nightmare Country by Stephen Gallagher are returning on audio this November. In The Ultimate Evil, Colin Baker’s colourful Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant’s Peri are on a holiday gone awry, while Nightmare Country reunites Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor with companion Tegan played by Janet Fielding and Turlough played by Mark Strickson.

The Ultimate Evil by Wally K Daly
The Doctor and Peri’s holiday plans go awry when they cross paths with the slimy super-salesman Mordant and his scheme to start a war.

Wally K Daly tells us more: “I wrote The Ultimate Evil for TV in 1984 but sadly it was never made because Michael Grade decided to take Doctor Who off the air. I adapted it as a novel some years later, but am delighted to bring it back now as an audio play. It’s proof that it’s impossible to kill Doctor Who!”

And Stephen Gallagher told us: “Nightmare Country was my detailed pitch for Season 21 and would have been my third story for the show, but for a terse note from the production office that read, ‘You’ve sent us another million-dollar movie and we just can’t do them’. Some ideas you can recycle, some parts you can reuse; but where do you find another show like Who? So my million dollar movie went into the files and I moved on, until the day my and the Doctor’s paths crossed again. Sometimes, it seems, you just have to stay ready and keep the faith.”

David Richardson, producer of Doctor Who – The Lost Stories adds: “Can it really be 10 years since The Lost Stories range began? It was one of my first commissions as a producer at Big Finish as I’d proposed to Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery the idea of bringing these missing treasures from Doctor Who’s history to audio. The original intention was to make all of the episodes that would have been Season 23, and although The Nightmare Fair and Mission to Magnus were adapted and released on audio, at the time we were unable to secure The Ultimate Evil”

“Wind forward to 2019 and we now have Wally adapting his own script of The Ultimate Evil, which will be released alongside Stephen Gallagher’s Nightmare Country. The latter was brought to me by Guy Adams who has script edited Stephen’s adaptation, and it’s a wonderful piece of Season 21 mind-blowing fantasy. How brilliant to be able to launch them both in the range’s tenth anniversary year!”

Out for release this November (the month that Doctor Who was first broadcast back in 1963), these two Lost Stories are available for pre-order now at £14.99 on CD or £12.99 on download each.

Or why not save more money and purchase both stories together in a bundle priced at £28 on CD or £25 on download.

Executive Producers: Jason Haigh-Ellery, Nicholas Briggs
Producer: David Richardson
Script Editors: (The Ultimate Evil) John Dorney (Nightmare Country) Guy Adams
Directors: (The Ultimate Evil) Helen Goldwyn (Nightmare Country) Ken Bentley
Writers: (The Ultimate Evil) Wally K Daly (Nightmare Country) Stephen Gallagher

PRICING
Pre-order: £14.99 CD release / £12.99 download each from www.bigfinsih.com
Bundle price: £28 CD releases / £25 download each from www.bigfinsih.com

ABOUT BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

Big Finish Productions is an audio production company and publisher best known for its range of Doctor Who plays (with its many spin-offs). They also produce a wide range of audio drama and audiobooks featuring the characters from Blake’s 7, Dark Shadows, 2000AD (Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog), Terrahawks, The Avengers, The Prisoner, Survivors and The Omega Factor, as well as classics such as HG Wells, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the Opera and Dorian Gray. Big Finish also produces original creations such as Graceless, Charlotte Pollard and The Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, plus the Big Finish Originals range featuring seven great new series including ATA Girl, Cicero, Jeremiah Bourne in Time, Shilling & Sixpence Investigate and Blind Terror.


Categorised under: Big Finish, CD, The lost stories

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20 comments

  • Anonymous

    June 2nd, 2019 - 4:55pm

    It’s funny but if I’m honest I never really liked the ultimate evil. Last time I read it (2015) I really didn’t enjoy it. It just felt like a poor version of sil!

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      June 2nd, 2019 - 4:56pm

      By the way, I’m happy for those who want this that it’s coming out.

  • Anonymous

    June 1st, 2019 - 9:23pm

    For those mentioning yellow fever, I’ve checked and there is definitely no script. Neither the three part season 22 version or the six part version commissioned for season 23 exists beyond an outline.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    May 30th, 2019 - 10:13pm

    Is it possible for the next story to be Yellow Fever and How it cure it. I know someone has mentioned it, but I would like it.

    Even if they get someone new to write it. I would like love to see it adapted

    Reply
    • The ergon

      May 31st, 2019 - 10:42am

      When they released the Lost Stories on audio they planned to adapt it but at the time felt that they could not do justice to this particular story. I don,t think I would enjoy it the same anyway without the vocals of Antony Ainley and Kate o Mara. Even though Ainley frivolously turned down working for Big Finish. The Nightmare Fair was a really good story but there again i felt it would have added Gravitas with Michael Gough resurrecting The original Celestial Toymaker rather than David Baillie. It could have been such an epic had it been televised.

    • Anonymous

      June 1st, 2019 - 9:19pm

      As far as I’m aware there is no script for yellow fever just an outline

    • The ergon

      June 2nd, 2019 - 12:31am

      Thats what i meant.Writers might not wish to taint that core idea that Robert Holmes would have envisaged. Excellent idea that it was.

  • Tim M

    May 30th, 2019 - 10:24am

    Will these two releases have reverse cd case front and back covers. So that they match in with the original ‘Lost Stories’ Big Finish releases from 10 years ago?

    Reply
    • Acefan2005

      May 30th, 2019 - 10:56am

      Hope so

    • Anonymous

      May 30th, 2019 - 5:30pm

      I strongly doubt it. BF are obliged to have this logo and I think this format.

    • Whofan44

      May 30th, 2019 - 5:55pm

      All Doctor Who releases (except 8th Doctor) have a reversible cover that has a era correct logo on it. unlikely that it will match the design of the previous Lost Stories releases.

  • TigerMan1995

    May 30th, 2019 - 5:00am

    Finally this is getting adapted. I don’t know why Wally K Daly didn’t let BF adapt this back when the other original S23 stories were being done. But it’s finally happening!

    Reply
  • Sons of Skaro

    May 29th, 2019 - 11:53pm

    At last! I love the novelisation. Can’t wait to hear this. And I thought my lost stories collection was complete.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    May 29th, 2019 - 6:26pm

    I hope that some day, they do lost stories from the 10th doctor era.

    Reply
    • The Flying Shark

      May 29th, 2019 - 6:31pm

      Mark Gatiss’ The Suicide Exhibiton or Tom MacRae’s haunted house script from Series 4 (that was taken over by Midnight) would be my top picks for new series Lost Stories.

    • booboo

      May 29th, 2019 - 6:34pm

      presumably Steven Fry’s exists somewhere

  • 70’s child

    May 29th, 2019 - 3:52pm

    This is brilliant news!! Thank you Big finish!! Cannot wait for the release of these missing stories. I hope there will be an opportunity for more novel adaptions too like Blood Harvest, Legacy and Festival of Death. What about Lungbarrow too?

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      May 30th, 2019 - 4:20pm

      Is it hard to ask for Yellow Fever and How to Cure it. Since we have Jon Clushaw playing the Brig now and A New Rani knocking about, I would love to see it adapted.

    • Jason Z

      May 30th, 2019 - 6:21pm

      I’m still hoping for one or both of the Christopher Priest scripts to be produced…

    • SJF

      May 30th, 2019 - 7:32pm

      I don’t think a script actually exists for Yellow Fever and How To Cure It.

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