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February 14th, 2020 46 comments

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Big Finish Doctor Who Stranded 1

Tom Baker is The Curator in Doctor Who: Stranded

For the first time since his surprising appearance at the climax of the 50th anniversary Doctor Who story, The Day of the Doctor, Tom Baker will reprise the role of the mysterious Curator. Considered by many –but never confirmed on screen – to be a future incarnation of the Doctor, the Curator will take a pivotal role in the forthcoming Eighth Doctor full-cast audio adventure series, Doctor Who: Stranded, making his first introduction in the box set due for release in July 2020.

Doctor Who: Stranded 1is now available to pre-order as a collector’s edition CD box set (priced at £24.99), or as a digital download (at £19.99) exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.

The TARDIS is gone. Stranded in one time and place, the Doctor, Liv and Helen seek refuge in Baker Street. But the house has changed: they now have neighbours – not all of them welcoming. And someone has a dire warning for the future. The Doctor and friends face their greatest challenge yet: living one day after another, in 2020 London.On coming back to the Curator, actor Tom Baker said: “Who would have thought that doing that little scene written for me all those years ago would have such repercussions years and years later? A lot of fans were intrigued by it, and here we are at last doing something else with him. “We had to have a little discussion about how to do it. The lines as they are written are very evocative but they don’t mean exactly what they say. Am I being deliberately evasive, or am I playing a part? Whichever way I look at it, the language remains compelling.”

Producer David Richardson added: “Stranded is Doctor Who, but it’s also a contemporary drama… and present-day Earth is precisely where the Curator resides, so it was an irresistible idea to have him step into this series. We approached Steven Moffat with the idea and he was very enthusiastic -giving us some insights to the character which were incredibly useful! The Curator joins River Song, new UNIT, The Paternoster Gang and Missy at Big Finish -fantastic Steven Moffat creations that have gained an extended life on audio.”

Doctor Who: Stranded 1contains four intriguing stories:

  • Lost Propertyby Matt Fitton Wild
  • Animals by John Dorney
  • Must-See TV by Lisa McMullin
  • Divine Intervention by David K Barnes

Paul McGann stars as the Doctor, alongside Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Rebecca Root (Tania Bell), Tom Price (Sergeant Andy Davidson) and Clive Wood (Mr Bird). Doctor Who: Stranded 1is now available to pre-order in collector’s edition CD format (priced at £24.99), or on download (at £19.99) at the Big Finish website. Big Finish listeners can save even more money with a bundle of all four box sets, pre-ordering the entire series of Doctor Who: Stranded for just £88 as a collector’s edition CD box set or £79 as a digital download.


Categorised under: CD, The 8th Doctor

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46 comments

  • Anonymous

    February 18th, 2020 - 12:02pm

    Would you have had to listened to any previous 8th doctor box sets before listening to this such as ravenous. I really want to listen to this but I don’t want to spend a lot of money to listen to the ones that came before to understand this.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      February 18th, 2020 - 1:28pm

      I’d say you might be able to get away with it. Obviously this ties on from the end of Ravenous but they might provide a bit of context as Big Finish will recognise it as a potential jumping on point. If I’m honest it’s hard to tell because no ones heard it yet so can’t really tell how much they reference previous events. That said you might be able to read up somewhere on the events of Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition and Ravenous if you don’t want to buy them though I would definitely recommend checking them out as they are brilliant

    • Anonymous

      February 18th, 2020 - 2:56pm

      Thanks for letting me know. I would definitely love to hear them but it’s just a lot of money. Unfortunately I have to prioritise other releases such as Missy series 2 but I would love to listen to them one day. Hopefully Big Finish could do a subscription service one day as that would be pretty cool 🙂

    • RPG74

      February 23rd, 2020 - 6:20pm

      Did you know that you can listen to Big Finish Doctor Who stories for free on Spotify? Not the complete catalogue I think, but a fair few. I found this out only recently, and i’m now busy making my way through some of Five’s tales. They have some stories of Eight’s too, so perhaps you can start there?

    • RPG74

      February 24th, 2020 - 3:14pm

      Yep, further to my original post, I count at least 17 Eighth Doctor BF audios available to stream on Spotify-all unabridged. Hope this helps.

  • Bob James

    February 16th, 2020 - 12:49am

    This all just got even more anticipated and interesting for me!

    Reply
  • Daz

    February 15th, 2020 - 10:07am

    The Curator is still a character I’m confused about lol, haven’t seen that episode for a bit.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      February 16th, 2020 - 2:21am

      What are you confused about ?

    • Daz

      February 16th, 2020 - 6:23pm

      I think it’s the fan theories mixing me up lol, it wasn’t explicitly said he was a future Doctor just a hinted at and knowing Moffet he could be anyone.
      I rather like the idea he’s from another universe, one where the fourth Doctor didn’t regenerate into the 5th and he just kept getting older as Tom Baker.

  • Reece

    February 14th, 2020 - 9:41pm

    when i read, “and Tom Baker as The Curator’, i literally said out loud: “What The F**k?!?!”

    Reply
    • Chris

      February 15th, 2020 - 12:15am

      Same! Very excited to hear this!

  • Alan Silvester

    December 24th, 2019 - 10:23am

    Please keep these releases for the 8th Doctor as proper boxsets of 4 CD’s + bonus disc. It does seem we are paying more for less, and I enjoy the artwork. I don’t want to stop buying, but this sort of thing makes me reconsider. Disappointing BF. (And, yes, I do get the “plastic” thing – so reduce the price!)

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      December 24th, 2019 - 11:23am

      Agreed, how long before the fourth doctor adventures go the same way?

    • Anonymous

      December 24th, 2019 - 1:01pm

      I doubt that they’d do the jewel case stuff to the 4th doctor adventures – they’re collected single releases which you can download separately, unlike the boxset sagas…

    • Anonymous

      December 24th, 2019 - 3:59pm

      Plastic. Plastic. Plastic.

      Stops the autons

    • SamWho

      December 24th, 2019 - 5:54pm

      The plastic is actually more expensive then you think they should have increased the price for the 4 cd sets ages ago but they didn’t because they are nice and know the customers like them so held it back as long as possible but now because of all the real world stuff going on they have to cut back on plastic to make a profit and help save the environment

    • Anonymous

      December 24th, 2019 - 6:45pm

      No it doesn’t…. It only helps them…..

    • SamWho

      December 24th, 2019 - 9:39pm

      And that’s bad because what they should work for free

    • Anonymous

      January 5th, 2020 - 2:31pm

      Why not just make the individual covers download only (so that you have the physical jewel case but still enjoy the individual cover art)?

    • Anonymous

      January 5th, 2020 - 3:55pm

      As they would then have to hire an artist to produce those four covers which costs money.

    • Anonymous

      February 15th, 2020 - 11:32am

      I think these are still good value, in this day and age of everything going up, £25 pre-order is good value no matter how it’s package. £35 I would say is about right for what you get. No complaints here.

  • Anonymous

    December 21st, 2019 - 6:10pm

    Interesting that people have assumed that this will be a “sitcom”… none of the given info has suggested a comedic element at all (and you’d expect that if it was intended as a sitcom-styled series the initial info would say as much!!) I’m imagining it to be somewhere between the Pertwee era (minus UNIT) and the televised Who spin-offs (but for an audio Doctor Who audience) – in that it will be earthbound adventures in an audio Who style.
    Don’t want anyone ordering this expecting one thing when in fact it’s another!!

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      December 23rd, 2019 - 2:19am

      Agree, there is no mention of a sitcom element in fact the initial quote is “It’s not our usual fare, so it feels refreshing and somehow wintry. It’s dark outside. That time of year when the walls are closing in a bit. It’s got the flavour of a bunch of polar explorers stuck on a rock for the winter.” Doesn’t sound like a sitcom to me!

    • Anonymous

      December 23rd, 2019 - 11:12am

      Where exactly does it say anything about this new boxset saga being a sitcom? It resembles something like Rose Tyler The Dimension Cannon or Years & Years to me, albeit with the Doctor and friends stranded in 2020…

    • Anonymous

      December 23rd, 2019 - 11:36am

      It’s just people making things up like how they’re saying it’s a Torchwood crossover just because Andy Davidson is in it.

  • Anonymous

    December 21st, 2019 - 11:16am

    Policeman from Torchwood as a companion/ house share sitcom? Is this not scraping the barrel a little?

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      December 28th, 2019 - 6:04am

      Are you kidding me

    • Anonymous

      February 14th, 2020 - 11:57pm

      Where did it say it was a sit come and this is huge as it’ll be Torchwood crossing over in to classic who

    • Anonymous

      February 15th, 2020 - 9:52am

      Having a third rate supporting actor from the original series is a bit naff if this is supposed to be a Torchwood/classic Who crossover. Why not Capt Jack Or Gwen?

    • TARDIS_H63

      February 15th, 2020 - 6:29pm

      Andy has actually become a really big character in Torchwood now… Not a ‘third rate’ character… Also this is set in 2020… Owen is dead…

    • Anonymous

      February 16th, 2020 - 11:49am

      Andy is huge.

      If it were Jack or Gwen it’d be a cop out crossover for the sake of a crossover. Andy has been going far both with and without Torchwood Three in the audios, and he’s more than welcome here.

  • Doctor909

    December 20th, 2019 - 11:22pm

    Real shame they’ve decided to drop these releases to 4 disc jewel-case releases. Loved having them as proper boxsets of 4 CDs with a behind the scenes disc. Also means we’ll probably lose the artwork for each episode which is also a shame as it normally helps build up an atmosphere and a bit of a visual for each individual episode. Don’t get me wrong I’m still really hyped for this range but I just find it a shame that Big Finish seem to be cutting costs and arguably giving a cheaper product for a greater price

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      December 21st, 2019 - 11:55am

      I agree. Proper boxsets with cover art in them are lovely – I rarely buy jewel case releases…

    • Anonymous

      December 21st, 2019 - 6:50pm

      Scott Hancock said earlier on instagram in response to a question about the war master boxsets that big finish are trying to cut back on their plastic emissions which is actually a good thing. It may be a small niggle, I also love the separate cover art but if it is helping the planet then I’m all for it. There will likely be a fifth disc as it’s the same size as the war master boxsets. Let’s face it, it’s just to soon to judge and speculate on what this series will be before it actually comes out. Give it a chance people! Paul mcgann has never failed us before.

    • Anonymous

      December 22nd, 2019 - 1:44pm

      The mostly of people who buy the cds are collectors so makes no sense. Use glass

    • Anonymous

      February 15th, 2020 - 10:05am

      Plastic waste is the problem, disposable stuff that people throw away. That’s not the case here, I collect and keep all the box sets. If we are heading towards a download-only service one day, I think that’s sad.

  • Andrew

    December 20th, 2019 - 7:29pm

    As much as I love McGann’s Doctor I’ve pretty much zoned out on following the Box-set sagas past Dark Eyes. Besides the financial factor of a big chunk of change for each volume, the heavy serialization of it all feels a bit overwhelming. I wish he’d be open to doing stories in the monthly range again, which isn’t helped by a rumor I heard with McGann not wanting to jump around his Doctor’s timeline the way the other monthy-range Doctors do.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      December 21st, 2019 - 6:53pm

      Not a rumour. Nicholas Briggs said in doctor who magazine when dark eyes began that paul wanted his doctor to regenerate but was convinced to continue when the boxsets were proposed.

  • Anonymous

    December 20th, 2019 - 4:37pm

    Wow the end of the sagas for the eighth doctor. Four sagas and then time war.

    Really am wondering how this is gonna tie into the time war

    Reply
    • O

      December 20th, 2019 - 5:32pm

      Where does it say that Stranded is the last saga before the Time War? Last time I checked, Big Finish said they were reluctant to lead directly into the Time War so that they still had a gap for the Eighth Doctor.

    • Anonymous

      December 20th, 2019 - 6:04pm

      It’s not the last saga, at all.

      Although BF have more recently said that they want to lead directly into the Time War stuff at some stage.

    • Anonymous

      December 20th, 2019 - 6:44pm

      These boxsets complete the first saga of 4 series of 4 boxsets, 4 stories

      To complete the rule of 4 we need 64 (or if you wanna include time war, 60) more boxsets to complete 4/4/4/4 rule

      Big finish are no where near done with the eighth doctor.

      They sure have enough for 256 stories for this doctor.

    • Anonymous

      December 22nd, 2019 - 7:12pm

      If your bizarre rule is accurate, then (and this figure counts for all of the Main Range stuff, boxset sagas, special releases and Eighth Doctor Adventures) Big Finish have done 149 out of the 256 stories you have prophesised. This means that there is still another 107 stories to go – 6 more boxsets plus a few more special releases to go…

    • Anonymous

      December 24th, 2019 - 6:05pm

      By my rule I mean

      256 more stories

      Any ideas for the next couple of boxsets

    • Anonymous

      February 15th, 2020 - 4:15am

      Why are you lying ?

  • TARDIS_H63

    December 20th, 2019 - 4:22pm

    I can’t believe Andy Davidson is the new Doctor Who companion…

    Reply

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