TWIDW Update: Big Finish Who Audios On BBC7!
(posted 24th Jul 2005, 4:55am - TWIDW post #0325)

BBC 7 - Doctor Who - Saturdays 6:30PM (repeat 12:30AM) BST starting
6 August, 16 week run

BBC 7 is on:
Digital radio
Freeview channel 78
Digital satellite channel 881
ntl: home channel 866
Telewest channel 910
Audio stream in RealPlayer or Windows Media Player at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7
all programmes archived for one week at the same website

The BBC has announced plans to air several of Big Finish's Doctor
Who audio stories on digital radio station BBC7. The 3 BBC produced
Doctor Who radio stories that aired on BBC7 in the past (The
Paradise Of Death, The Ghosts Of N-Space, and Slipback) have been
popular with listeners.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/pdfs/radio/week32/bbcradiow
k32_sat.pdf - pages 3+4

Big Finish http://www.doctorwho.co.uk is a company making audio and
book products in several science fiction lines, their primary one
being Doctor Who. Since 1999 they have been releasing new Doctor Who
audio stories (roughly one a month). The regular line of stories has
rotated between Peter Davison (returning as the 5th Doctor), Colin
Baker (returning as the 6th Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (returning as
the 7th Doctor), and Paul McGann (returning as the 8th Doctor). In
most cases, the CD releases are 2 discs long and consist of 4
episodes, structured like a traditional Doctor Who story. See the
Big Finish website for more details.

This marks the first time any of the Big Finish Doctor Who stories
have ever appeared on radio. Big Finish did make "Real Time" and the
2003 remake of Shada for the BBC Doctor Who website. Presumably
this is a test run with the hope of further stories if it goes well.

4 Paul McGann stories have been chosen for the first run of
broadcasts on BBC7. Storm Warning (#16, first McGann audio), Sword
Of Orion (#17), The Stones Of Venice (#18), and Invaders From Mars
(#28, 5th McGann audio). There is no official reason why the 4th
McGann audio (Minuet In Hell #19) has been skipped, or if it would
be included in future seasons.

Episodes will air Saturdays at 6:30PM BST with a 12:30AM repeat from
6 August through 19 November. 1 episode per week.

Big Finish has typically allowed Doctor Who episodes to vary
radically in length. BBC7 wants episodes to fit in the time slot and
not run over. All episodes must be 29 minutes or shorter. It is
unknown at this time if Big Finish will move any cliffhangers on
their stories to save material by getting stuff from a long episode
into a short one. Steve Manfred of the Doctor Who on North American
DVD/VHS FAQ list http://home.comcast.net/~smanfred/ has come up with
the following unofficial tallies for the unedited length of each
episode if given full length opening/closing credits for radio:

Storm Warning, part 1 26:12
part 2 26:41
part 3 37:23
part 4 29:53

Sword of Orion, part 1 35:55
part 2 27:36
part 3 30:12
part 4 33:54

The Stones of Venice, part 1 33:17
part 2 28:23
part 3 26:06
part 4 27:33

Invaders from Mars, part 1 22:31
part 2 21:19
part 3 23:24
part 4 30:22

One edit will be Ramsey the Vortisore. It is unknown how his role in
Storm Warning will be edited (suffice it to say he can't be excised
completely). But Ramsey's small role will be entirely missing from
Sword Of Orion and The Stones Of Venice. Ramsey's story arc
concluded in Minuet In Hell, which is not being presented in this
run, necessitating the cut.

It's great that some of the Big Finish stories will finally get a
chance to be heard by a wider audience on radio. The stories are
still out on CD unedited to buy.

Benjamin F. Elliott
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thisweekindoctorwho