Big Finish Update

More on the recent news posted today at the Big Finish website, including further details of the releases for the latter half of 2006 (in more detail than the recent report in Doctor Who Magazine). "There will be seven new double-CD stories," says the site, "including two releases in September. Plus, as a bonus, anyone who purchases the plays by subscription direct from Big Finish, will receive an exclusive extra story. The single-CD, subscriber-only adventure is entitled Return of the Daleks and features a companion-less Seventh Doctor in a battle with his arch enemies. Nicholas Briggs, who is of course the voice of the Daleks in the new Doctor Who TV series, will be heard once again shouting 'Exterminate' at the Doctor. Briggs is also writing and directing Return of the Daleks which will be something of a cross-over with his earlier Dalek Empire audio series. Return of the Daleks will be available to subscribers only and will not be available to purchase separately before December 2007. Following on from the previously announced release schedule, Nicholas Briggs is also writing the July 2006 play. Entitled The Nowhere Place, the story finds the Sixth Doctor experiencing ghostly encounters. The ominously entitled Red, by Stewart Sheargold, is August's release and features the Seventh Doctor and an exploration in to the motivation behind murder. The Reaping is the first of Joseph Lidster's two plays to be released in September. The Sixth Doctor discovers that someone is making novel use of the recently dead. September's second release is The Gathering and the Fifth Doctor is reunited with an old friend who might not be that pleased to see him. The Eighth Doctor, Charley and C'rizz take a stroll down Memory Lane in October. Written by Eddie Robson, the travellers find themselves locked in a suburban Hell where there really is nothing at the end of the lane. Novermber's release is We are the Deadby Martin Day. The Seventh Doctor finds himself trapped in the trenches of the first World War, but the enemy maybe closer to home than Europe. Finally, in December, Paul Cornell and Mike Maddox tells four seasonal tales with the Fifth Doctor in Circular Time. The Doctor Who audio adventures continue in 2007."

Other news: Paul Darrow, long-time star of "Blake's 7" and multiple Doctor Who guest actor, will have an autobiography released in hardcover by Big Finish, entitled "You're Him, Aren't You?" The company confirms that their third Gallifrey audio series will be released from May to August 2007, with two releases in July. And further details of the cast list from this month's free giveaway CD on the cover of Doctor Who Magazine, The Veiled Leopardare noted; in addition to stars Nicola Bryant, Caroline Morris, Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier, the cast includes Alan Ruscoe, who starred during the first season of the new series as a background artist in various roles including as a Slitheen, an Auton and one of the "What Not To Wear" androids, as well as actors Lizzie Hopley, Steven Wickham and Stephen Mansfield