The black-and-white era of the First Doctor returns to vivid life in the third season of Doctor Who: The Early Adventures, a new run of full-cast audio adventures from Big Finish.
The season launches in September with The Age of Endurance by Nick Wallace, in which the TARDIS lands aboard the Vangard, a deep space vessel which is boarded by the forces of the military dreadnought Endurance The crew is fleeing a race known as the Shifts – and the travellers become embroiled in this battle for survival. Carole Ann Ford returns as Susan, William Russell plays Ian Chesterton and the Doctor, while Jemma Powell makes her début as Barbara Wright.
“I’ve always needed a great deal of convincing to recast the Doctor and companions on audio,” says producer David Richardson, “but after our success with Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor and Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson, I became more open to recasting Barbara, who was played so wonderfully by Jacqueline Hill on TV. Really there was only one choice – Jemma Powell, who played Jacqueline herself in BBC Two’s An Adventure in Space and Time in 2013. Her arrival at our studio was enthusiastically embraced by her co-stars, who were so admiring of her performance in Mark Gatiss’ brilliant drama.”