Best Stuff

Some preamble

There are, broadly, 4 different kinds of audio releases:

• Audiobooks, which we won’t be recommending here.
• BBC Audio Dramas, of which there are only a few.
• Big Finish Audio Dramas, of which there are many.
• BBV Audio Dramas, which are (sort of) fan productions.

Unlike the TV show, which was released in order, from one Doctor to the next, the Audio Dramas jump all over the place – so instead of ordering these in terms of chronological order in the story line, they’re organised in a “natural listening order” based on when the drama was written, but also without breaking up a series if something else was released in the middle.

This guide is much more interactive and choiced based than the Doctor Who guide, because the situation with the audio dramas is more interesting.

TBD: describe and link to the big finish guide

How the recommendations work

By default, every story is considered worth listening to. If a story is really good, then it will be surrounded with stars and have a different background. If a story is really garbage, then it will be faded out and surrounded with crosses.

This guide couldn’t have been created without the efforts of MaximumSpidercide, but there are a number of minor changes between this guide and their guide – mostly shifting things around a little to make the guide simpler to follow.

Between 1976 and 1996, the BBC produced 5 radio dramas, starring the 3rd, 4th, and 6th Doctors.

BBV productions was a video and audio production company, designed to create Doctor Who content for fans, including the original actors (and often original authors), without actually being “official”. While a lot of their content is interesting, they didn’t have the rights to anything owned by the BBC (for example, The Doctor, or The TARDIS), so any of their content that features “The Doctor” changes the name and the parts of the character, to make the production not illegal. However, sometimes they tried to get the permission of one of the original writers to use a species or character that the writer owned – the stories where they succeeded will be covered in this guide.

In 1999, BBV Productions decided to make a sequel to the TV episode Warrior’s Gate, where Romana II and K9 were left in E-Space. They got the original actors (Lalla Ward and John Leeson) to voice the parts, and the rights to K9, but were unable to get the rights for Romana or E-Space, so Romana remains unnamed and they are travelling in Ecto-Space.

Big Finish has produced the vast majority of Doctor Who Audio Dramas. Their Main Range (originally called the Monthly Range) is a series of unrelated Doctor Who stories – in other words, you can choose any Main Range story you like and listen to it.

Until 2014, Big Finish was only licensed for “classic series” content, and weren’t allowed to touch anything used in the new series, so it’s very much in the classic style until then.

The Main Range stories form the backbone of this guide, as they go all the way through it. Here’s the first bunch:

Another BBV story.

Bernice Summerfield is a former companion of the 7th Doctor. If you don’t recognise her name, that’s because she was never in the TV show! She was introduced in the Virgin New Adventures range of novels, and Big Finish adapted a number of those novels to make the first Series of Bernice Summerfield audio dramas. These were, in fact, some of the first audio dramas to be produced by Big Finish, and were instrumental in convincing the BBC to allow them to make audio dramas about Doctor Who.

So, if these started before the Main Range, why is this later in the list? The answer is: to not break up this season, and instead keep it all connected.

As an aside, the stories Making Myths and Closure are part of a special release called “Buried Treasures”, rather than as part of Series 1, but they slot into the series just fine.

Sontarans is another series produced by BBV. Unsurprisingly, it’s about Sontarans. The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind is a single story from BBV, about The Rani and the Tetraps.

And now we resume the main range. The second half of this segment involves the first appearance of the 8th Doctor in audio dramas! It also introduces the companion Charlotte Pollard (Charley), who would go on to have her own series.

Two stories here: The Last of the Titans, a Big Finish special release, and The Wirrn: Race Memory, a BBV release.

(The MaximumSpidercide guide put “The Killing Stone” here as well, but I can’t find any info on it aside from “it’s not considered to be part of the Doctor Who Universe”)

Now back to the Main Range, to finish off the remaining stories for 2001

Bernice Summerfield is back! Beginning with this series, Big Finish started creating its own original stories about her, and also published novels and short stories that fit in with the seasons. The novels aren’t part of this list, but if you want to get the full context for this series you might want to read them.

The Dalek Empire stories started with a thread through 4 stories in the Main Range (The Genocide Machine, The Apocalypse Element, The Mutant Phase, and The Time of the Daleks), but then span off into its own series.

At the start of this segment is the special release The Ratings War, then the first half of 2002’s Main Range, which focused on the 8th Doctor.

Two audio dramas from BBV, featuring Krynoids.

Big Finish produced a number of “Short Trip Rarities”, available only as bonus downloads to subscribers, then eventually released to the public in 2016-2018. In this guide, they’re placed in amongst where they were originally released, but generally they can be found in a collection that was released much later.

We’ve mixed two storylines in together for this segment, mostly because they’re actually linked together. This is all but the last story of Series 3 of Bernice Summerfield, and all the stories from the Excelis Saga, which chronicles the events in the city of Excelis on the planet Artaris.

Two more stories from BBV

And now the final half of the Main Range for 2002, as well as a Bonus Release: The Maltese Penguin.

Big Finish productions made a spin off series involving Sarah Jane Smith, set in the years after she was left on Earth by the Doctor. It unfortunately only lasted 2 series, as (mere weeks after the second series was released) the new series returned the character to the screen, making her unavailable to Big Finish.

This segment also contains No Place Like Home, a special release, and The Little Drummer Boy, a short trip rarity.

The Dalek Empire series returns…

This is a complex segment, so pay attention!

We (almost) finish off 2003’s Main Range:

We now have 2 more stories: the Big Finish audio play version of Shada (a 4th Doctor story that was never finished), which features the 8th Doctor; and the Special Release Living Legend.

Also in this segment is the start of 2004’s main range:

The last episode of Series 3 is put here, to make it not a standalone story outside of any segment.

A series from BBV, focusing on Faction Paradox. If you’ve only seen the TV show, you won’t have heard of this faction of Time Lords. They are a criminal syndicate, devoted to inducing paradoxes and opposing the traditional Time Lord philosophy of stability and not intervening.

These 3 stories are divided into 2 related parts.

A small segment, including a Short Trip Rarity: One Small Step….

A Big Finish spin off series, centering on Gallifry and its affairs.

Another Main Range segment, including another Short Trip Rarity: Lant Land.

The Dalek Empire series continues, 2500 years after the previous series.

This segment has a Bernice Summerfield bonus release, and a regular Big Finish bonus release

The first half of 2005’s Main Range. Note that halfway through this segment is when the show was revived on television.

Bernice Summerfield returns for another season.

Not to be confused with the 2015 series UNIT: The New Series, this was an audio series focusing on UNIT dealing with various problems, without the help of the Doctor.

The second half of 2005’s Main Range, alongside Neptune (a Short Trip Rarity) and Cryptobiosis (a Bonus Release).

More stories from Gallifrey

Iris Wildthyme, the transtemporal adventuress who travels the multiverse in a double decker bus, gets her own series.

The first quarter of 2006’s Main Range, plus Special Release The Veiled Leopard.

A Big Finish series about… Cybermen!

The final series of Big Finish’s series featuring Sarah Jane. Unfortunately, it ends on a cliffhanger, as they were no longer able to use the character after this series.

The second quarter of 2006’s Main Range.

Bernice Summerfield returns for another season. Note that stories 3 and 4 were actually published out of order, for some reason. That’s “corrected” in this table.

The final half of 2006’s Main Range.

More stories from Gallifrey, featuring Romana II, Leela, K9 II, and others.

Bernice Summerfield returns for another season, broadcast just after the end of the previous one.

These dramas chart the rise to supremacy of the infamous Davros.

Another complex segment!

This segment has a Bonus Release, then a Short Trip Rarity.

Next is Circular Time, an anthology of 4 stories, and then the remaining Main Range releases up to August (which includes a number of double story releases, where one story is 3 episodes and the other is 1 episode)

The Companion Chronicles is a unique series - it aims to tell stories using the companions of the first 4 doctors. It also usually only used two actors per story, meaning that the stories are often halfway between an audiobook and a full cast drama.

The first series was released as an anthology.

At last — a series just for the Eighth Doctor! This forms a rather long story line involving the Eighth Doctor, which slowly takes him down a darker path…

This segment includes 100, another anthology of 4 stories, and then the remaining Main Range releases for 2007, and then the Bonus Release Return to the Web Planet.

Yet another season of Bernice! (I hope when I get to listening to these I have something more interesting to say here)

The final series of Dalek Empire, set at the same time as the first 2 series, but from a different perspective.

Unlike the first series, these stories were released episodically.

Another Main Range segment, with Special Release Cuddlesome in the middle:

The Eighth Doctor’s second series of adventures with Lucie.

Summerfield returns, 10 years after her first audio series!

The Stageplays was an audio series from Big Finish, based on theatrical plays from the 60s and 80s.

The BBC produced a number of Radio plays for Torchwood, the first of which celebrated the switching on of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

The final Main Range stories for 2008, and the Bonus Release Return of the Krotons.

A series produced by Big Finish, featuring hypothetical stories set in variants of the Doctor Who universe, with premises fundamentally altered – such as “what if the Doctor hadn’t left Gallifrey” or “what if the Doctor hadn’t been UNIT’s scientific advisor”

The first half of Main Range in 2009:

The last series produced by BBV in this list.

The Mists of Time was a special release in Big Finish’s Companion Chronicles.

Iris Wildthyme returns!

The Companion Chronicles got many more stories in this series, and for the first time included stories from Doctors after the 4th.

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio, these stories are set just before Series 3 of the TV show.

Series 10 of Bernice Summerfield is the first one to not have any accompanying prose.

The second half of Main Range in 2009:

The Eighth Doctor’s third series of adventures with Lucie.

This is the first of 2 series in this list from Magic Bullet Productions, another fan-made Spin-Off producer of audio dramas.

These stories continue on after The Faction Paradox Protocols

The first series of audio dramas produced by the BBC for Doctor Who in a very long time, featuring Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor for the first time in audio since 1976.

This is part of a 3 series production titled The Next Cottage Chronicles.

The first story of Series 4 of the Eighth Doctor Adventures was released as a Christmas Special - the rest of the series didn’t start for another 7 months.

Also here is a Bonus Release: An Earthly Child, also featuring the 8th Doctor.

The second (and final) series in the Big Finish Cyberman spin-off, released as a box set.

Another complex segment!

First, some Main Range:

Then, some Companion Chronicles releases:

And then we finish off with some more Main Range:

Jago & Litefoot is a series by Big Finish, focusing on the titular characters (introduced in The Talons of Weng-Chiang) solving mysteries in 1890s London.

Another Big Finish series. It took scripts that had been officially proposed to the BBC during the Classic era, converted them to audio dramas, and recorded them. It lasted for 4 seasons (until they had run out of unmade scripts to convert)

The “Season” column indicates what Season it was meant to be broadcast in originally.

And now the final Main Range stories for 2010, followed by the Bonus Release The Four Doctors

Short Trips Volumes contain 8 short stories, featuring each of the 8 Doctors. These are essentially audiobooks, but produced by Big Finish.

Graceless is a series featuring two Tracers in Human form, Abby and Zara.

The last Series style release of Bernice Summerfield - the subsequent releases were as named boxsets.

The Second BBC series featuring the 4th Doctor.

A short Main Range segment this time

Jago & Litefoot return for a second series.

The second short trips anthology

The Gallifrey series returns, after a long break. It features Romana II, Leela, K9 II, and more.

The final series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures. (Don’t worry, the Eighth Doctor still has stories after this!)

Note that this is missing story 1 of Series 4, since that was released as a Christmas episode.

Another short Main Range segment

The second short trips anthology

Jago & Litefoot return for a third series!

More of the Lost stories. This Series features 1st and 2nd Doctor stories, which (due to missing actors) are halfway between a Companion Chronicle and a full cast drama.

The second set of Torchwood audio dramas. The first 2 take place before Series 3 of the TV show, and the last one takes place afterwards.

The second half of 2011’s Main Range.

The fourth short trips anthology

The first boxset release of Bernice Summerfield

The third BBC series featuring the 4th Doctor, and the final one in the Nest Cottage Chronicles.

We start off this segment with a Bonus Release:

Next, some Main Range releases:

And then, a special release, finishing off the I, Davros series:

Abby and Zara return for a second series.

Road Trip begins a pattern of 3 audio stories and 1 tie in novel per boxset.

More tales of mystery.

A few more Main Range releases.

The first story, The Revenants, is a special release outside of the Series.

At last – Big Finish creates a series with Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor.

A few more Main Range releases.

This series involves several characters from the Remembrance of the Daleks (Group Captain Ian Gilmore, Preofessor Rachel Jenson, and Allison Williams), solving mysteries relating to the paranormal or alien in Britain in 1964, as part of the Intrusion Countermeasures Group.

Another series from Magic Bullet Productions, focusing around Kaldor City (the city from the TV serial The Robots of Death and the novel Corpse Marker). The writer of the original stories was heavily involved in the production. The stories involve a character called Carnell, who was originally in a Blake’s 7 episode, which makes this series technically a cross over.

The series is 6 parts long, but there are 2 special releases (The Prisoner and Metafiction).

This concludes the Magic Bullet productions that relate to Doctor Who. The rest of this guide has only BBC or Big Finish releases.

Iris Wildthyme returns again, after a large break.

More of the Lost stories. In the middle, there’s another Lost Stories release that isn’t part of Series 3: The Fourth Doctor Box Set, which includes The Foe from the Future and The Valley of Death.

First, a few more Main Range releases:

Next, a Big Finish Novel Adaption of the novel that introduced Bernice Summerfield, and a special release to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her introduction.

And finally, a UNIT special release:

The 8th Doctor resumes his adventures, except instead of in a series format they’re in a boxset format.

Jago & Litefoot travel with the Doctor on 2 adventures.

The first few Main Range releases of 2013:

The Gallifrey series returns. It features Romana II, Leela, Narvin, and more.

More tales of mystery.

Abby and Zara return for a third series.

The continuing adventures of the ICMG.

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, this time with Romana I.

Iris Wildthyme returns for her final numbered series.

More tales of mystery.

The Gallifrey series returns. It features Romana II, Leela, Narvin, and more.

First, a Special Release (the Big Finish 50th anniversary release) and a Bonus Release:

Next, The Destiny of the Doctor — A collaboration between AudioGO and Big Finish productions. It was released each month between January and November 2013, to celebrate the 50th anniversary. It’s similar to the Companion Chronicles, in that there are generally only one or two voice actors.

The release of The Destiny of the Doctors was somewhat disrupted by AudioGO going into administration in October 2013, but the last story was released by Big Finish.

The final series of Lost Stories:

The last release of Bernice Summerfield before The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield.

The Dark Eyes storyline continues…

More tales of mystery.

These stories follow the adventures of Charlotte Pollard after she parted ways with the 6th Doctor in Blue Forgotten Planet, and in particular these stories focus on the Viyrans.

Once Big Finish had the license for “New Series” content, they created a successor series to Bernice Summerfield, so they could involve that content. The first and second boxsets reunited Bernice with Ace and the 7th Doctor.

The final series under the Companion Chronicles name – the show would live on in The First Doctor and The Second Doctor.

A large bundle of Main Range releases for you:

The continuing adventures of the ICMG.

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, with Leela again.

A full cast audio anthology featuring the 5th Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric (played by Matthew Waterhouse for the first time since 1984).

This is the first part of a series of audio dramas written by Hinchcliffe (the producer of the show for the first 3 seasons of Tom Baker’s tenure), starring the 4th Doctor and Leela.

A special release to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Sirens of Time, the first Doctor Who release from Big Finish. It features the crossover of a number of the big finish spin off ranges: Jago & Litefoot, Counter-Measures, Gallifrey, and UNIT.

More tales of mystery.

A small collection of Main Range releases:

And also, a Novel Adaption:

The Dark Eyes storyline continues…

The Early Adventures continued telling stories from the first 2 doctors, like The Companion Chronicles did, but the format was pushed to make it as close to a full cast drama as possible.

The first series features stories from the First Doctor.

A small collection of Main Range releases:

And also, 2 Novel Adaptions:

The Gallifrey series returns for a single story.

The conclusion of Dark Eyes.

More tales of mystery.

A small collection of Main Range releases:

And also The Worlds of Big Finish, which is a crossover between many Big Finish releases, some of them in the Doctor Who Universe:

And finally, a Short Trip Rarity:

The continuation of the Companion Chronicles after the end of the monthly releases, focusing on the first doctor.

This series sees the return of Sutekh from The Pyramids of Mars.

The final series of Counter-Measures.

Iris Wildthyme returns!

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, with Leela.

The Third Doctor Adventures stars the 3rd Doctor, played by Tim Treloar, and Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning.

A complex segment again!

First, 2 Short Trip Rarities:

Next, some Main Range releases:

Then a special release: the stories that reveal the events leading up to the Sixth Doctor’s regeneration.

Doom Coalition is another series of adventures featuring the 8th Doctor and companions Liv and Helen.

More tales of mystery, with a bonus episode at the end

The new UNIT series focuses on the exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood.

In Extinction, UNIT confront an invasion by the Nestene Consciousness.

The first story in this table is a Short Trip Rarity, the rest are from Series 5.

The series The War Doctor depicted the events of the Time War and the War Doctor’s role in them.

The Diary of River Song involves River Song teaming up with Classic era doctors. Series 1 features the 8th Doctor.

The second series of Early Adventures features the 2nd Doctor.

A new-who spin-off series, starring the version of Winston Churchill established in the TV show.

The first series to use Big Finish’s expanded license for new era content, Torchwood returns. Series 1 focuses on the Committee.

The War Doctor’s tale continues…

Doom Coalition, featuring the 8th Doctor, Liv, and Helen, continues…

First, some short trip rarities:

And then a few Main Range releases, featuring the Master:

And now a novel adaption:

More tales of mystery

David Tennant returns to the role of the 10th doctor in this series of audio dramas.

The Gallifrey series returns for another story

The continuation of the Companion Chronicles after the end of the monthly releases, focusing on the second doctor.

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue.

Some more Main Range:

Then, a short trip rarity:

The Counter-Measures series continues, forging forward into the 70s.

An audio series, featuring (unsurprisingly) Doctors from the classic series, alongside aliens from the revived era.

Torchwood returns for a second series, continuing the Committee arc.

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, with Romana II.

For this box set, Bernice joins a version of the doctor from a parallel universe (the one from Sympathy for the Devil in Unbound.)

The second story from Philip Hinchcliffe, featuring the 4th Doctor and Leela.

Doom Coalition, featuring the 8th Doctor, Liv, and Helen, continues…

The War Doctor’s tale continues…

More tales of mystery

2 more adventures of the 3rd Doctor and Jo

The final few Main Range dramas of 2016:

and then, this:

Two Torchwood specials were released in 2016

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue, this time featuring the Silents.

The third series of The Early Adventures features the 1st doctor again.

The last 2 novel adaptions from big finish:

After the special release Who Killed Toby Kinsella?, Big Finish created a series of stories for the New Counter-Measures.

Series 2 of River Song’s adventures with classic doctors, featuring the 7th and 6th Doctors

The last story in this segment is a Short Trip Rarity, rather than part of the series.

Big Finish starts another Torchwood series, focusing on Torchwood One before the Battle of Canary Wharf (featured in the TV episode Doomsday).

Abby and Zara return for a fourth (and final, as of writing) series.

The final anthology centered around The War Doctor. It was released only a month after John Hurt’s death.

Doom Coalition, featuring the 8th Doctor, Liv, and Helen, concludes.

Charlotte Pollard’s adventures continue… (as of writing, this is the last series of Charlotte Pollard)

The third and final story from Philip Hinchcliffe, featuring the 4th Doctor and Leela.

The final series of Jago & Litefoot, before Trevor Baxter (the actor for Litefoot) died.

Big Finish produced an audio anthology, featuring Nicholas Briggs as both Narrator and as the voice of the Ninth Doctor.

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue, featuring the Silurians.

Another spin off series from Big Finish, featuring Jack Harkness’s adventures outside of Torchwood

The First Doctor’s stories continue

First, a Rarity:

and then a few Main Range releases:

2 more adventures of the 3rd Doctor and Jo

This next Series of stories was never marketed as “Series 3”, and instead is bundled as “stories 13–18”. Unlike the previous series, which focused on the Committee, this series has no overall arc.

Bernice’s Adventures in the Unbound Universe continue.

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, with Romana II.

Big Finish began releasing a series of Torchwood adventures in boxsets, set after the events of the TV series and previous Big Finish audio stories set after the Miracle Day.

Somewhat confusingly, Series 4 of Big Finish’s Torchwood episodes are released in the middle of this series of boxsets.

The final Main Range stories of 2017:

A prequel to The War Doctor, this series features the 8th Doctor and companion Bliss.

Three more stories featuring the Tenth Doctor, this time with Rose as his companion.

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue.

The second box set of Aliens Among Us

Somewhat confusingly, Series 4 of Big Finish’s Torchwood episodes are released in the middle of this series of boxsets.

The War Master stars the Master, played by Derek Jacobi.

The fourth series of The Early Adventures features the 2nd doctor again.

Big Finish productions created another series starring the first doctor. Using the cast of An Adventure in Space and Time, they began producing full-cast adventures with the Doctor and the original set of companions. This series also introduces a new incarnation of the Master, played by James Dreyfus.

The first few stories of 2018:

Series 3 of River Song’s adventures with classic doctors, featuring the 5th Doctor.

The Gallifrey series returns for another story

The second volume of stories centering around Churchill.

This box set focused around New Earth (as shown in the TV episodes New Earth and Gridlock).

2 more adventures of the 3rd Doctor and Jo

Another series of 8th Doctor adventures, following on from the events of Doom Coalition.

One Torchwood special was released in 2018

Featuring Jacob Dudman as both Narrator and as the voice of the Tenth Doctor.

The end of the Jago & Litefoot series. Litefoot’s lines were taken from archive recordings.

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue. This series focuses on technology and cybermen.

The 4th Doctor’s adventures continue, with Leela.

The final box set of Aliens Among Us

Somewhat confusingly, Series 4 of Big Finish’s Torchwood episodes are released in the middle of this series of boxsets.

A series focusing on the exploits of Jenny after the events of the TV episode The Doctor’s Daughter.

The Second volume of 2nd Doctor stories.

The tales of Torchwood One continue.

The continuation of the 8th Doctor’s time in the Time War

The second volume of adventures using the cast of An Adventure in Space and Time.

The tales of thief Lady Christina de Souza.

This next Series of stories was never marketed as “Series 4”.

This was a series of audio stories centred around the TV show Class (a Doctor Who spin-off). The license for the show was acquired before its cancellation, so the audio dramas can’t develop the cliffhanger at the end of season 1 of the show, so instead they all take place during the show’s first (and only) season.

Featuring Jacob Dudman as both Narrator and as the voice of the Eleventh Doctor.

First, the 2 box sets, summarising the different eras of Bernice’s life:

And then, Treasury, an anthology of previously published short stories in the Bernice Summerfield series:

Series 4 of River Song’s adventures with classic doctors, featuring the 4th Doctor.

The 8th Doctor storyline Ravenous continues…

The first box set of God Among Us, which follows after the events of Aliens Among Us.

The fifth series of The Early Adventures features the 1st doctor again.

This series is a continuation of the New Adventures novels, featuring the companions Roz and Chris.

The exploits of UNIT under the command of Kate Stewart and Petronella Osgood continue.

The War Master series continues…

In Flux

Everything after this point is in flux - I will be attempting to add every 2019 release as it comes out under here, and then once 2019 is over I will re-arrange them into segments.

The End… for now