June 26th, 2014
17 comments
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Big Finish – The Rani Returns
Big Finish – The Rani Returns
The Rani, the Time Lord villain created by Pip and Jane Baker in the 1980s, is to make her first appearance on audio in Doctor Who: The Rani Elite, out in December.
She will be reunited with the Sixth Doctor and Peri, in a story set written by Justin Richards and set in a galactic university.
The character has had three appearances on television in Mark of the Rani (1985), Time and the Rani (1987) and Dimensions in Time (1993), each time played by the late Kate O’Mara.
“The Rani’s return was very much prompted by Kate,” says producer David Richardson. “Her agent contacted me and said that she would love to reprise the role with us, and when I mentioned this to executive producer Nicholas Briggs and script editor Alan Barnes they leapt at the opportunity.
“Justin wrote The Rani Elite for us, and we were just a few weeks away from recording when the terrible news reached us that Kate had passed away. At first, we were not sure what to do – until Kate’s agent again got in touch again, and said that it had been Kate’s wish that we proceed with a new incarnation of the Rani.”
In her latest body the Rani is played by Siobhan Redmond, whose many leading television credits include Between the Lines, The High Life, The Smoking Room, Taggart and Holby City.
“We’d worked with Siobhan a few months ago as a different character in Revenge of the Swarm,” continues David, “and we fell in love with her. She’s a smart, delightful person and also an amazing actress – she’s the perfect choice for this new, slightly different version of the Rani.”
The Rani Elite is available to pre-order now, and can be purchased as part of the main range subscription package.
You can pre-order The Rani Elite atwww.bigfinish.com
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the ergon
June 27th, 2014 - 12:58pmSo pip and jane baker have relented to the use of the rani. I hope they extend their blessing should they ever bring the rani back to tv.
100000BC
June 26th, 2014 - 9:23pmFantastic! Such a shame Kate couldn’t do it, but her wish for a new incarnation of the Rani shall reunite new generations with the character.
RhysCH
June 26th, 2014 - 5:24pmExciting!! But sad :'( RIP Kate O’Mara! :'(
Trenzalore
June 26th, 2014 - 3:51pmI wonder if she’ll try to keep the same voice as Kate O’Mara or her own voice, I suppose since it’s a new regeneration it will be a different voice from Kate’s. It would be great if she was still alive to do this but I’m sure it will be great nonetheless.
Aaron
June 26th, 2014 - 3:48pmWhat about the previous audio The Rani Reaps The Whirlwind?
DOCTOR WHO ONE
June 26th, 2014 - 1:40pmI read about this in the latest DWM, but it claims that Siobhan’s version of the Rani is with the 6th Doctor.
This would lead to a continuity error, because if she is playing a new incarnation of the Rani, then in terms of continuity, the Rani starts off as Kate, then Siobhan, then back to Kate –
[Kate] The Mark of the Rani.
[Siobhan] The Rani Elite.
[Kate] The Time of the Rani.
Time of the Rani introduces the 7th Doctor while the Rani was still played by Kate, not Siobhan, so clearly Big Finish have made an error. It might as well feature
DOCTOR WHO ONE
June 26th, 2014 - 1:40pm[continued] the 7th or even the 8th Doctor.
TheMysteryLiker
June 26th, 2014 - 1:50pmEver heard of time travel?
The Other
June 26th, 2014 - 2:03pmIt sounds like time travel is easily able to fix this, after all, look at River and The Doctor
DOCTOR WHO ONE
June 26th, 2014 - 2:41pmI know what time travel is bud, but this is surely a continuity error I’m talking about.
Some bloke
June 26th, 2014 - 2:59pmNo DOCTOR WHO ONE, the sixth doctor could go back in time and encounter an earlier rani, or travel into the future and meet a future rani. Its no different than Big Finish’s Evelyn Smythe character; she travelled with the 8th doctor, then travelled with the 6th. Its all plausible. You just don’t seem to understand. And if this new rani story were to have appeared on TV, then it would have worked then aswell, with the same reason given. Again, it’s like John Hurts War Doctor; we never knew he existed until now. So it works, ok? 😛
100000BC
June 26th, 2014 - 3:23pmOther characters (i.e. the Master and the Brigadier) have been timey-wimied by Big Finish, and the Master in the Five Doctors is the ‘wrong’ master for all the first four Doctors out of the five who appear (okay, Doctor four doesn’t encounter the master, but the point still remains), along with the 5th Doctor era Dalek met by the 1st Doctor and Susan in the same episode, and even the Doctors themselves in all the multi-Doctor stories, and the Daleks in the asylum, and Paul McGann in Night of the Doctor (whose era had ‘finished’).
100000BC
June 26th, 2014 - 3:27pmDo you want me to continue? There’s the River Song plotline, Rose in the End of Time, and all the major episodes of the Matt Smith era have been a timey wimey mix-up of the results of his final battle at Trenzalore…
Anonymous
June 29th, 2014 - 6:08pmWelcome to the internet, if it doesn’t make sense to someone it is either a “continuity error” or a “plot hole”.
Anonymous
May 11th, 2020 - 9:00pmIn the story she literally says that she was expecting a later incarnation and was surprised at the sixth doctor’s arrival
Melkur
June 26th, 2014 - 1:26pmIt is great news, I’ve been looking forward to BF fleshing out the character and giving her another chance.
Pigbin Josh
June 26th, 2014 - 10:39amCool!