Great Intelligence for the Third Doctor!
Remember those classic Doctor Who serials that went on for, oh, say, seven installments?
The Third Doctor and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw are back in another seven-part, full-cast audio drama inspired by the much-loved Season 7 era of Doctor Who on television.
Big Finish’s own UNIT family returns for a seven-part full-cast audio drama packed with government conspiracy, army politics and alien technology, released today by Big Finish Productions.
Doctor Who – The Third Doctor Adventures: Intelligence for War written by Eddie Robson stars Tim Treloar (as the Doctor), Daisy Ashford (as Liz Shaw, the role made famous by her late mother, Caroline John) and Jon Culshaw (as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart).
The Doctor and Liz Shaw investigate a disturbing incident in the quiet Norfolk village of Huncleath, involving a vanishing Nazi soldier. Is time travel technology to blame? And what is the link between the disappearance of the village’s wealthiest resident, Francis Teeling, and antiwar campaigners in Cambridge?
As the Brigadier mobilizes UNIT, a secret branch of the British military has serious concerns about UNIT’s scientific advisor — Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
In the ensuing struggle, Liz must make connections with her past, consider her future and fight against both incarceration and an unusual alien weapon. And try as he might, the Doctor may not be able to help her.
Doctor Who – The Third Doctor Adventures: Intelligence for War is now available as a collector’s edition CD box set (+ download for just £19.99) or as a digital download only (for just £16.99), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com.
Ashford said: “I always love coming back to Liz Shaw. This story is particularly great because she has a very biting humor and dry wit to her this time. And she’s been a little bit naughty! Believe it or not, she’s been accused of something terrible and finds herself locked up.”
Script editor and director Nicholas Briggs added: “I was very keen to have Liz at the center of this story, in a way that would never have been done back in 1970. That was my brief to Big Finish stalwart writer Eddie Robson: ‘Make it all about Liz’. And that’s our modern twist in a tale of intrigue, treachery and, of course, alien threat.’”
Briggs continued:
“It was a real highlight for me to work with Eddie again. I’ve never forgotten how he really fired my enthusiasm back in 2006 with his brilliant Eighth Doctor Cyberman script, Human Resources(recently re-released as part of The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller Series One download compilation). And frankly, he’s never disappointed me since. He’s been off doing all sorts of other exciting things and I was worried he’d be too busy to come on board.
“It’s also brilliant to be working with Luke Pietnik again on the sound design. I’ve composed the incidental music, and Luke and I always have a good time working together. He’s one of the kindest, most polite people I’ve ever encountered. His work is almost always perfect on the first draft.”
Robson said: “It’s always nice to be invited to do something you haven’t tackled before, and I’ve done very little writing for the Third Doctor in any medium. I’m extremely fond of the Pertwee era – several stories were among my earliest VHS purchases and I’ve watched them a lot. Inferno, Terror of the Autons, The Claws of Axos, The Three Doctors and The Pertwee Years tapes are all deeply embedded in my brain.
“Intelligence for War is a very Earthbound TV episode thriller which begins with the Doctor and Liz investigating apparent time-slips in a Norfolk village. But Liz has fallen under suspicion of security breaches, and very soon no one is sure who they can trust.”
It’s great to see Liz Shaw finally getting some much-deserved, overdue love — doing much more than passing the Doctor his test tubes and telling him how brilliant he is …
