Categories Audio Dramas & Radio Doctor Who

UNIT Revisitations – Synopsis

Big Finish have released the synopsis for “UNIT – Revisitations” which is due for release in November:

Over the years, UNIT has faced hundreds of extra-terrestrial threats. The Black Archive holds relics of many such encounters, and UNIT’s files are filled with reports of strange and dangerous aliens.

And sometimes, they come back.

7.1 and 7.2 Hosts of the Wirrn by Chris Chapman

After the world’s strangest interview, UNIT’s latest recruit, Shana Siddiqui, hits the ground running to help Osgood with her latest assignment.

The Master left UNIT a parting gift – something alien and deadly. The Wirrn have come to Earth, and now they are free…

7.3 Breach of Trust by David K Barnes

An alien vessel arrives on Earth, its occupants seeking refuge, and Osgood takes them in.

But there is reason to mistrust this cry for help. The files show that UNIT has faced the Kalvyri before. What else they reveal will set Kate at odds with her most trusted friends.

7.4 Open the Box by Roy Gill

In the years since the Stangmoor Prison incident, Captain Chin Lee found a new calling. She now heads up an international organisation, dedicated to meditation and ‘mental fortitude’ training.

But there is a menace deep inside the Pandora Institute. And Kate, Osgood and Josh must face their darkest fears…

Deploying November 2018
Directed By: Ken Bentley

Cast
Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood), James Joyce (Captain Josh Carter), Ramon Tikaram (Colonel Shindi), more details to follow

Producer David Richardson
Script Editor Matt Fitton
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

You can pre-order “UNIT Revisitations” from Big Finish priced £23 for the CD and £20 for the digital download.

Categories Audio Dramas & Radio Doctor Who

Jemma Redgrave Joins Cast of Big Finish’s 20th Anniversary Audio Boxset

In 2019 Big Finish will celebrate 20 years of creating Doctor Who stories on audio, and it’s doing so in style with The Legacy of Time – the biggest audio crossover event ever! Six hour-long stories see characters from the entire history of Doctor Who crossing paths – some for the very first time – Classic and New Series Doctor Who will collide!

Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) meets her predecessor, another time-travelling archaeologist, Professor Bernice Summerfield (Lisa Bowerman). Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) travels back in time to classic UNIT and meets the Third Doctor (voiced by Tim Treloar) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning).

As 2018 is also the 30th anniversary year of their first appearance in Remembrance of the Daleks, the Counter-Measures team will be reunited with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred). And the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and his companion Charlotte Pollard (India Fisher) once again meet Detective Inspector Patricia Menzies (Anna Hope) in a police procedural like no other!

Plus we go to Gallifrey, and elsewhere we enter the Time War. Doctors will meet, and there will be Easter Eggs aplenty.

Time is collapsing. Incidents of temporal chaos and devastation are appearing throughout the many lives of the Doctor and his friends – fallout from one terrible disaster.

The Doctor must save history itself – and he will need all the help he can get.

1. Lies in Ruins by James Goss
2. The Split Infinitive by John Dorney
3. The Sacrifice of Jo Grant by Guy Adams
4. Episode four by Matt Fitton (to be confirmed)
5. The Avenues of Possibility by Jonny Morris
6. Collision Course by Guy Adams

The truth is revealed, and it will take more than one Doctor to save the day!

Executive Producer and one of the founding members of Big Finish, Nicholas Briggs told us about this exciting new release: “The Legacy of Time will probably go down in Big Finish history as our biggest, most exciting production, ever! Celebrating 20 years of Doctor Who at Big Finish, it expertly pulls together all the strands from our many and varied Doctor Who ranges.

“This is down to the brilliance of script editor Matt Fitton and producer David Richardson. They epitomise the creative strength, organisational expertise and leadership of the company. Quite simply, this is going to blow people’s minds! It’s got everything!”

“How do you celebrate 20 years of Doctor Who at Big Finish?” questions the producer assigned this epic task, David Richardson. “How do you celebrate something that has meant so much to all of us who work here – the friendships, the freedom to be creative, the glory that is Doctor Who itself? That was the challenge facing myself and Matt Fitton, but once I’d had an idea for what this six-hour epic would be about (spoilers!) it was then relatively easy to start assembling the huge team of characters and actors who would take us on the journey.

“The Legacy of Time is quite possibly the biggest Doctor Who story we have ever told at Big Finish. It’s been so hugely satisfying to make – I hope everyone finds it just as satisfying to listen to!”

Chairman and Executive producer of Big Finish, Jason Haigh-Ellery, “In July 1999 we released The Sirens of Time. In July 2019 we’re releasing The Legacy of Time. Those two decades have been so fulfilling for us at Big Finish – a chance to work with so many great and talented actors, writers, production crews and all of our friends at the BBC. This is a celebration of it all, with lots of surprise returns and references. Think of it as one massive Doctor Who party – and everyone is invited…”

Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time will be available from www.bigfinish.com on download and, as we’re one of the last audio producers and distributors still making CDs, released in an eight-disc CD set with a limited edition of just 4,000.

Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time will be released in July 2019, marking the 20th anniversary of Big Finish’s first Doctor Who release, The Sirens of Time.

Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time will be priced at £45 on CD or £40 download, rising to £60 on CD or £55 on download on its general release. Pre-order now at Big Finish.

Or you can save in a bundle with Big Finish’s special 50th anniversary of Doctor Who release, The Light at the End. Get the special editions of The Light at the End with The Legacy of Time, priced at £75 on CD or £65 on download.

Categories Audio Dramas & Radio Doctor Who TV series

UNIT Revisitations – Details and Cover Released

And it’s a wrap on the next series of tales for the UNIT team! After saving humanity from a new alien paradigm in Cyber-Reality, the UNIT Team face more intergalactic threats in their seventh series of adventures in UNIT – Revisitations.

Coming out in November this year, a couple of familiar foes are returning and UNIT is humanity’s best and only defence against them. In UNIT – Revisitations, the team are still reeling after the consequences of UNIT – Cyber-Reality – but the threats just keep on coming!

This next box set finds the UNIT team fighting an incursion of the Wirrn (first seen in the Fourth Doctor television story The Ark in Space) in a tale by Chris Chapman, there’s a morality drama by David K Barnes, and the return of Pik- Sen Lim as Chin Lee (originally in the Third Doctor story The Mind of Evil), now a Doctor herself in an adventure by Roy Gill. Will we also see a return of the fearful Keller Machine?

7.1 and 7.2 Hosts of the Wirrn by Chris Chapman
7.3 Breach of Trust by David K Barnes
7.4 Open the Box by Roy Gill

Jemma Redgrave returns as Kate Stewart, leader of UNIT, joined by Ingrid Oliver as Osgood, UNIT’s Scientific Advisor, James Joyce as Captain Josh Carter and Ramon Tikaram as Colonel Shindi. (For everyone missing Warren Brown as Sam Bishop, you can catch him in August’s box set, Lady Christina, opposite Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina de Souza).

UNIT – Revisitations is available for pre-order now at £23 on CD or £20 on download.

Categories Doctor Who Interviews & TV Appearances TV series

Big Finish’s New Year’s Day podcast with Jemma Redgrave


Categories Articles & Interviews Audio Dramas & Radio Doctor Who Media TV series

Coming in May – UNIT: Assembled

In May, UNIT teams old and new meet in our UNIT – New Series range…

Today we’re delighted to reveal full story details for the fourth of our releases featuring Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) and their team in UNIT – The New Series: Assembled. This time, Kate is meeting some familiar faces from her father’s past in stories directed by Ken Bentley, written by Matt Fitton and Guy Adams, and featuring Katy Manning, Richard Franklin and John Levene:

4.1 Call to Arms by Matt Fitton

Mike Yates braves a stormy night in the Lakes to help celebrate a milestone for John Benton. An evening of fond reminiscences of old glories and friends awaits. But a long-buried past is about to catch up with them.

Meanwhile, on the rain-lashed moors, what begins as a routine mission for modern-day UNIT quickly becomes a fight for survival.

4.2 Tidal Wave by Guy Adams

When an experimental tidal power generator needs its eco-friendly credentials checked, Kate Stewart calls in an expert.

Soon, Jo Jones is bound for ‘Project Charybdis’ in the South Atlantic, along with an awestruck Osgood.

But out at sea, a treacherous plan is set in motion to awake an ancient race. Beneath the seabed an army is sleeping – an army of Sea Devils!

4.3 Retrieval by Guy Adams

As the Earth’s primeval rulers reclaim their birthright, UNIT must stand against them. And Kate Stewart and Osgood must venture into a Mediterranean stronghold to retrieve a means to fight back.

But a Silurian warrior is on their trail. Once she has the humans’ scent, Commander Tryska will never give up the hunt.

4.4 United by Matt Fitton

The Silurians hold Great Britain under siege. Grand Marshal Jastrok rules the seas and the skies with reptile forces. On the ground, Commander Kalana crushes all ape resistance.

With Kate Stewart trapped, defence of the realm falls to UNIT’s old guard. Jo Jones, Mike Yates and John Benton are ready to do their duty and stand united.

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Categories Audio Dramas & Radio Doctor Who TV series

Big Finish confirms 4 new UNIT adventures with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave)



Such great news!

Categories Appearances Doctor Who TV series

Talking with Peter Davison, Jemma Redgrave, and Nicholas Briggs at L.I. Who 4

Jemma Redgrave – Kate Lethbridge-Stewart


Photo by Jen Clapp

Jemma: (referencing our glitter eyeshadow) God, you SPARKLE. Twinkle and sparkle!

Kim: That is our mantra! We will be in glitter all weekend.

Jemma: I’m going to need some of that!

Kim: Welcome to LI Who! Weren’t you supposed to come last year?

Jemma: I wanted to come last year but I got a job, so we were delayed by a year. I’m so glad to be here now!

Kim: I want to talk about that scene from “The Zygon Inversion” with Peter, Jenna, and Ingrid. What was that LIKE for you?

Jemma: You’re not the first person to ask me about that scene. It was a fantastic script, a completely brilliant piece of writing and it was toned down slightly because of the obvious parallels. But it’s an incredible scene and it plays out…I think it’s 5 or 6 minutes and we rehearsed it and Peter came in and that performance! My God, that man works. When Peter’s not filming, he’s round the corner on set and there’s a desk for him because he’s got scripts and he’s studying. He’s learning and learning and learning because he’s got these huge speeches. But that…that was like theatre. He came in and it was mesmerizing.

Kim: And you are watching and reacting to him but you’ve still got to deliver your line!

Jemma: It was an extraordinary scene to be a part of and it required absolutely no acting because it was so moving and so from the heart. From Steven Moffat’s heart and from Peter Capaldi’s. It was a privilege and an honor to be a part of it.

Sage: I love that in Series 9 you see the relationship that develops between Kate and Clara, where Clara is somebody who gets the call. It seems like there are things that occurred and there were conversations that were had and they’ve been planning and scheming about what to do when something happens. Do you get to have conversations about Kate’s arc for the whole series or does it just come script by script?

Jemma: Script by script.

Sage: So then how do you say “Jenna, this is what our relationship should be like in this particular episode?”

Jemma: We develop it scene by scene. You get the script and you get on the floor. You get used to picking up the clues very quickly. Jenna and Peter are fantastic. Jenna is a MARVELOUS actress. Peter, you see it and you see his brain working. Jenna is…when you are working with her on the floor, you see a certain amount of it. But when you actually really see it, when you see it on-screen, she’s working on two levels. She works so sensitively and communicates things to the camera that you don’t pick up when you’re face to face. The relationships really develop in the moment. Script by script, certain aspects of Kate’s background or character get revealed. So I didn’t know she was a bridge player and a gardener till I got that episode. Although, I might have guessed that. I’ve done a lot of work on her, created a background and a private life for her. I do think there’s a certain amount done, for example, with costume design. Peter said, when there was a lot of walking around with the Zygons in rubbly basements…

Kim: And you were doing it in heels!

Jemma: And Peter kept looking at my feet going “Really? REALLY? You know UNIT is an Army. Really?” But you see, the thing is, the costume designer and I worked on the character. Yes, she’s part of an Army and yes, she wears suits, and yes, she’s kick ass but there’s something really nice about the fact that she displays her individualism through quirks of costume. She likes to wear heels!

Kim: And that’s just a way for her to promote her femininity too. “I can still be all these things and rock a pair of heels.”

Sage: It’s so wonderful, with those episodes in particular, we have Kate and Osgood and two versions of Clara. It was such a wonderful female-forward arc for the show. It seems like having Kate in charge of UNIT changes the dynamic. As soon as she comes on-screen, it’s like the ladies are double in charge. It shifts it.

Jemma: It does! And if you look around at the episodes that I’ve been in, like the Cybermen episode (“Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven”), there’s Osgood and Kate and Missy and Clara. They create fantastically strong female characters. And all very distinct. They are not similar, there’s an age range, they are all flawed, they’re brilliant. It’s very empowering for girls to watch. And that’s great.

Kim: When you did the 50th Anniversary, did you expect that you would become a recurring presence?

Jemma: No. I had no idea. It’s been an unfolding joy and it’s been a great joy of my life. Because I think our lives are profoundly affected by it. There are few things as important to a human being as a sense of community and one of the things that has opened up to me through this part and this series is being a part of an incredible community. I’ve been embraced, partly because of Steven Moffat and partly because of Nicholas Courtney and I’m immensely grateful. It’s a privilege and an honor to be a part of it. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

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