We’re very pleased to announce that today is the day we’re beginning the release of our 50th anniversary Doctor Who story The Light at the End. We’re beginning with the Limited Edition CD box set.

It's the 23rd of October, one month ahead of the anniversary of Doctor Who on the 23rd of November, and as of today, the digital download releases for all versions of Doctor Who: The Light at the End will be made available. This includes the Limited Edition, the Standard Edition and the Vinyl Edition.

Mailing out of the Limited Edition CD version has begun today.

Nick Briggs, executive producer: ‘The Standard Edition CDs should start to be mailed out this coming Friday, and the Vinyl Edition will start mailing on November 2nd.

‘With the anniversary of Doctor Who imminent,’ continues Nick, ‘and everyone champing at the bit for the celebrations to begin, we thought it only right and proper that our special anniversary full-cast audio should be released a tiny bit early. Our plans for this very nearly went awry when the company responsible for the physical production of our CDs (and LPs!), Key Productions, experienced a series of unforeseeable problems beyond their control. This is what has caused the slight delay on the Standard Edition and the slightly longer delay of the Vinyl Edition. But for all our customers who can access the digital versions of all these releases, they can listen straight away.

‘We know that those customers who favour listening to the CD or the LP rather than downloading a digital version, might find this a little frustrating, but we thought this course of action would benefit the vast majority of our loyal listeners. We offer our sincerest apologies to any customers who find this decision doesn’t suit them, and hope they will understand our reasons for going ahead with the releases now.’

So, for Big Finish Productions, the 50th anniversary has started early. And for any of you who haven't yet ordered your copy of Doctor Who: The Light at the End, it will be on sale at the Dimensions 2013 convention (all tickets now sold) in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors (Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann) will be making guest appearances.

As you may have seen, the BF Website is back up and running again. But we would ask that if you can possibly wait a few hours to download The Light at the End, please do. The problem we have discovered is that although we have ample bandwidth to support the download of the quantity of data needed (loads of downloads of The Light at the End) another issue has emerged. The problem is being caused by the sheer number of customers visiting the site at the same time. We have to confess that this is the unforeseen circumstance we simply didn't anticipate. It is because the demand is so unprecedentedly huge that we didn't know to check this before releasing. The analogy that's been used to explain this to us is that it's a bit like having one shop assistant and thousands of customers all arriving at once. Our IT people will continuing monitoring the site and will make all efforts to correct any hold-ups as the hours pass. But, as we said, if you can possibly manage to wait to initiate your download, we would very much appreciate your patience. Huge apologies from all of us here at Big Finish.

I love the BFI. I love the Doctor and hope you enjoy this presentation. Joe Ahearne directed five of the 13 episodes of the first series. He understood the tone the show needed completely – strong, bold, pacy visuals coupled with wit, warmth and a twinkle in the performances, missus.

If Joe agrees to direct the 100th anniversary special, I will bring my sonic and a stair-lift and – providing the Daleks don’t bring theirs – I, the ninth Doctor, vow to save the universe and all you apes in it.

We wanted to do a proper, fully-fledged multi-Doctor story for this very special occasion, and it's wonderful that all the surviving Doctors threw themselves behind the project so enthusiastically. That's not to say the first three Doctors don't appear – we wanted to pay homage to the whole history of the classic series.

Geoffrey Beevers is back to create mayhem as the Master, and there will be a number of appearances from some much-cherished old friends from the TV series . . .

"We have a long history of adventures with the Eighth Doctor," says writer/director Nicholas Briggs, "and we'd just got to the end of four years' worth of adventures with Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller. So, I wanted to create a fresh start for Paul McGann and our listeners. It's a real jumping-on point where the Doctor is embroiled in a whole new, gigantic adventure. You can listen to this without ever having heard an Eighth Doctor audio drama before and understand every word and nuance. Of course, if you want to go back and find out what happened before, you can always do that too."

Dark Eyes introduces a new companion for the Eighth Doctor in the form of Molly O’Sullivan, played by Ruth Bradley, a volunteer nurse who he meets in France during the First World War. "I wanted there to be a new companion who had something different to offer," Nick continues. "Someone mentioned that there'd never been an Irish companion in the TARDIS and I was already thinking of making her someone who was involved in the First World War, so the two things came together to make something rather unique in the form of Molly O'Sullivan. She's a girl who's seen and experienced the most terrible, harrowing things, so she's no innocent and she's not really a willing participant in the Doctor's adventures. Also, she is the 'Dark Eyes' of the title, so the adventure is all about her relationship with the Doctor."

Dark Eyes also showcases a new costume for Paul McGann’s Doctor, which was designed and made by WETA Workshop. "That's something that Paul McGann worked out with an great Australian guy called William Geradts who organises conventions Down Under," Nick explains. "He and Paul got chatting about creating a new image for the Eighth Doctor and Bill got WETA to make it for him. Paul loved it and came to us, asking if we'd be prepared to use it. Since the Eighth Doctor had had so many adventures with us, and it seemed odd that he'd keep that Wild Bill Hickok costume on for so long, we thought it was high time for a change. Our Doctors show so much loyalty, continuing to work with us over the years, so we're always happy to incorporate their ideas and this was one we were very keen to embrace. We sent the images to the BBC, they approved them, so off we went! It's a brave new era with a great new look."

Dark Eyes (available to order)
by Nicholas Briggs
starring Paul McGann, Ruth Bradley and Peter Egan

'I really hoped it would be a wonderful view... to look back from the end of everything... to see how things finally turned out.'

The Doctor is looking for hope. But instead, he finds himself on a mission. The Time Lords have uncovered terrifying fragments of an insane plot to destroy the universe. And somehow, at the centre of that plot is one, random female in Earth’s history, Molly O’Sullivan.

Soon, the Doctor and Molly find themselves thrown headlong into a series of dangerous and terrifying adventures, with the dreaded Daleks never far behind them.

There's a sombreness and self-doubt and guilt . . . I'm not sure it's guilt, but he's lost hope. He needs a shot in the arm . . . But of course, you don't want him too heavy either. We want the hope. We talk about hope a lot in the story; it's all about hope . . .