Avery's Doctor Who Listening Order and Guide

So, you’ve found the Doctor Who audio dramas, but you don’t know what order to listen to them in? This is the guide for you!

A disclaimer: you don’t have to listen to all of the audio dramas - you absolutely can just listen to a few series and leave it at that (The Eighth Doctor Adventures, Dalek Empire, The Fourth Doctor Adventures, and Gallifrey are some popular choices).

But if you’re like me, you’ll probably have thought “ah but if I wanted to listen to almost everything, what order should I do it in?”

How to follow this guide

This guide is organised into years, and each year is divided into “segments” of related stories.

If you just want to listen to everything, then listen to each segment in order.

If you want to listen to just a few things, then I’ve also added some extra information to each story:

1. Whether it’s Essential listening for following one of the plotlines,
2. Whether it’s Standalone (that is: can you listen to this without listening to anything else first?)

I also mark my favourite stories with a small image of a TARDIS:

Most stories in the Monthly Adventures are Standalone, but most of the stories in other ranges (like Dalek Empire or Ravenous) need to be listened to in order.

Unless I indicate otherwise, “Essential” means “essential for this range only”, and “Not Standalone” means “listen to the previous episodes in this range first”.

If I haven’t listened to an audio drama myself, I won’t indicate whether it is essential or standalone.

Content Warnings

Some audio dramas include unusually strong content (such as heavy violence), especially within the first few years. I’ve added notes on those dramas to warn of potentially upsetting content. Other than anything noted, you can assume that the content in a typical Doctor Who audio drama is roughly equivalent to what you would see in a new series episode; and content in a spin-off series (like Dalek Empire or The War Master) is slightly darker.

Where to get the Audio Dramas

All of the Big Finish audio dramas are available to purchase from the Big Finish website.

The BBC, BBV, and Magic Bullet dramas are quite a bit harder to find, as they mostly went out of print years ago. Your best bet is to find someone who has a copy, and to ask if they can loan it to you.

Saving money

If you’re just occasionally listening to audio dramas, the best thing to do is to just get things when they’re on sale. Big Finish hold sales very regularly, so just check their news page from time to time. Additionally, every week a random release is put on sale by the Randomoid Selectortron in the Big Finish Podcast.

If you’re listening to a whole series, you probably want to get a bundle. Go to the page for an episode of the series, and there should be a button that says “Bundles”.

If you’re listening to the Monthly Adventures, you almost definitely want to get a subscription - go to the Monthly Adventures page, and then on the right side there should be a “Subscriptions” banner.

The Early Years

The Monthly Adventures is a series of standalone Doctor Who stories. Each story consists of four half-hour parts, and features one of the classic doctors. In general, you can choose any story and just listen to it – only a few of them are designed to lead into each other.

The Monthly Adventures form the backbone of this guide. Typically, each segment will only have 6 months worth of audio adventures. This segment is longer than usual, because Big Finish had only just begun, so there weren’t many audio dramas being made yet.

Note: The letter (A) in the title of this segment isn’t an official thing, it’s a little indicator I’ve made so you can more easily keep track of where you are up to.

The Marian Conspiracy introduces a new-to-audio companion, Evelyn.

The early Dalek stories in the Monthly Adventures set up the background story elements for the Dalek Empire series. You don’t need to listen to these in order to understand Dalek Empire, but it can be a good idea.

The Sirens of Time
Featuring: the 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors

Standalone: Yes

Phantasmagoria
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Turlough

Standalone: Yes

Whispers of Terror
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Peri

Standalone: Yes

The Land of the Dead
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa

Standalone: Yes

The Fearmonger
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace

Standalone: Yes

The Marian Conspiracy
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Evelyn)

The Genocide Machine
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Bev, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Dalek Empire)

Red Dawn
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Ice Warriors

Standalone: Yes

The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Brigadier

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting scenes of heavy violence.

Winter for the Adept
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa

Standalone: Yes

The Apocalypse Element
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Romana, Time Lords, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotlines: Dalek Empire, Gallifrey)

The Fires of Vulcan
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

If you’re only just starting your journey into the audio dramas, you may want to skip ahead to the next big finish segment - these radio dramas can be hard to track down, and have a lower standard of quality.

The BBC has produced surprisingly few audio dramas related to Doctor Who – only five of them were made in the 20th century.

The first two existed primarily to try and make some money off the hugely popular Tom Baker. Fun fact: Doctor Who and the Pescatons is one of the only audio dramas in this entire guide which I don’t recommend at all.

The third, Slipback, was made during the hiatus between Season 22 and Season 23.

In the mid-90s, the BBC made The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space, featuring Jon Pertwee reprising his role as the Third Doctor.

Please note that most of the BBV audio dramas are quite dark and edgy, and contain content that isn’t appropriate for younger listeners.

Bill & Ben Video (BBV) was a company founded to create Doctor Who content for fans during the 16 years that Doctor Who was off the air… but they did not have the rights to Doctor Who itself. On audio, they started by creating a series called The Time Travelers, featuring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as “the Professor” and “Ace”. Since these characters are technically not Doctor Who characters, these dramas aren’t included in this guide.

However, certain characters and creatures featured in Doctor Who actually don’t belong to the BBC, but to the writer who introduced them. BBV managed to acquire licenses for a number of characters, and thus these officially-licensed releases will be in the guide.

As an aside: BBV has been repeatedly criticised for various issues: poor treatment of writers, overly edgy storytelling, and not-quite-legal licensing arrangements. As of 2021, their audio dramas are available for purchase on their official website, but I’m only going to recommend their purchase for super-dedicated fans who are ok with janky-ness.

If you’re only just starting your journey into the audio dramas, skip the BBV stuff for now.

Adventures in a Pocket Universe is a two-part sequel to the TV episode Warrior’s Gate, wherein Romana (here referred to as “The Mistress”) and K9 stayed behind in E-space.

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 19 stories (approximately).

1999–2000

Please note that Bernice Summerfield audio dramas contain adult material and may not be suited to younger listeners.

Bernice Summerfield is a professor of archaeology from the 27th century. She travelled with the Seventh Doctor in the Virgin New Adventures series of novels, and then went on to have her own series of novels.

When Big Finish were just getting started, they needed something to convince the BBC that they could do Doctor Who audio dramas. And so they chose to adapt six of the Virgin novels to audio. And here they are!

Due to licensing restrictions, the first 11 Bernice Summerfield seasons were only available on CD for quite a long time - but after some behind-the-scenes negotiations, series 1-6 were made available for download in 2020, and series 7-8 followed in 2021.

There are a lot of Bernice Summerfield stories, so you may want to start with one of the more recent starting points:

Or you, could just start here, right at the beginning!

All the stories in this segment are adaptions of previously published novels, except for the Buried Treasures (Making Myths and Closure) which were the first stories to be written specifically for audio.

General warning for this segment: sexual references.

Please note that most of the BBV audio dramas are quite dark and edgy, and contain content that isn’t appropriate for younger listeners.

Here are the BBV dramas for 2000.

First is a story involving icecream and a terrible conspiracy. It’s narrated and performed by Lisa Bowerman, who also plays Bernice Summerfield.

I Scream

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains adult material and may not be appropriate for younger listeners.

Next, is a series of audio dramas about Sontarans.

Silent Warrior
Featuring: Sontarans

Standalone: Yes

Old Soldiers
Featuring: Sontarans, UNIT

Standalone: Yes

Conduct Unbecoming
Featuring: Sontarans

Standalone: Yes

Finally, The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind, a standalone story featuring The Rani and the Tetraps.

The final three Monthly Adventures for 2000 features a couple of “side-steps” – The Shadow of the Scourge steps sideways into the Virgin New Adventures’ canon; and The Holy Terror steps sideways into the comic books.

The Shadow of the Scourge
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Benny

Standalone: Yes

The Holy Terror
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Frobisher

Standalone: Yes

The Mutant Phase
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Thals, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Dalek Empire)

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 35 stories (approximately).

2001

The first half of 2001 features the first appearance of the Eighth Doctor in audio dramas, accompanied by new companion Charlotte Pollard (Charley for short). It also features the first appearance of The Master, in Dust Breeding.

Storm Warning
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Charley)

Sword of Orion
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, Cybermen

Standalone: Yes

The Stones of Venice
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: Yes

Minuet in Hell
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, Brigadier

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of sexual assault, human trafficking, medical mistreatment, and mental health.

Loups-Garoux
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Turlough

Standalone: Yes

Dust Breeding
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Bev, the Master

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: the Master)

Please note that most of the BBV audio dramas are quite dark and edgy, and contain content that isn’t appropriate for younger listeners.

A BBV story featuring the Wirrn from the TV story The Ark in Space.

Next, a series featuring the zygons:

(The guide that inspired me to create this one put The Killing Stone here as well, but I can barely find any information about it, let alone find the audio drama itself.)

Welcome to the first Miscelaneous segment! This is for all stories that don’t fit in anywhere else – special anniversary releases, bonus releases for subscribers to the Monthly Adventures, self-contained stories that aren’t part of anything else, and so on.

The Last of the Titans is a Big Finish special release, originally released on a free CD with Doctor Who Magazine #300, and currently available for free on the Big Finish website.

Now back to the Monthly Adventures, to finish off the remaining stories for 2001.

Project: Twilight introduces a villain who returns in later audio dramas, and The Eye of the Scorpion introduces a new-to-audio companion Erimem.

Bloodtide
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Silurians

Standalone: Yes

Project: Twilight
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Nimrod, the Forge

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotlines: Evelyn, Forge)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of heavy violence

The Eye of the Scorpion
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Erimem)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of torture

Colditz
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Klein

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotlines: Ace, Klein)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of heavy violence, in addition to implications of sexual assault

Primeval
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Trakenites

Standalone: Yes

The One Doctor
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

Please note that Bernice Summerfield audio dramas contain adult material and may not be suited to younger listeners.

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 tie in to the series.

In series 2, the novels were intrinsically linked into the overall storyline of the series, so much so that many listeners who had skipped the books were surprised to learn that Benny was pregnant in The Skymines of Karthos. If you want the full context of the series, reading the novels (or listening to the recently released audiobook versions of them) is a good idea, but if you don’t want to read them, then here’s what you need to know:

Luckily, Big Finish decided to stop making the novels so essential to the storyline in the subsequent series, due to complaints from listeners.

The Dalek Empire series asks the question “What if the Daleks invaded, and the Doctor wasn’t there to stop them?”.

The Dalek Empire stories were set up in a thread through 4 Monthly Adventures (The Genocide Machine, The Apocalypse Element, The Mutant Phase, and The Time of the Daleks), but the series itself can be listened to without that prior context.

Warning: These stories feature a lot of death. Also, since they form a continuous story (unlike most other releases up to this point) you absolutely need to listen to them in order.

Invasion of the Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Essential

The Human Factor

Standalone: No

Essential

"Death to the Daleks!"

Standalone: No

Essential

Project Infinity

Standalone: No

Essential

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 66 stories (approximately).

2002

The first half of 2002’s Monthly Adventures focused on the Eighth Doctor. These stories form a kind of “season”, with a story arc based around Anti-time, so (unlike other Monthly Adventures segments) I highly recommend that you listen to these in order.

Invaders From Mars
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes potentially upsetting use of a homophobic slur

The Chimes of Midnight
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Storm Warning)

Essential
(plotline: Anti-time)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of death, suicide, and self-harm

Seasons of Fear
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: No
(listen to the Anti-time plotline in order)

Essential
(plotline: Anti-time)

Embrace the Darkness
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Anti-time)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting body horror involving eyes

The Time of the Daleks
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, Daleks

Standalone: No
(listen to the Anti-time plotline in order)

Essential
(plotlines: Anti-time, Dalek Empire)

Neverland
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, Romana, Time Lords

Standalone: No
(listen to the Anti-time plotline in order)

Essential
(plotline: Anti-time)

Please note that most of the BBV audio dramas are quite dark and edgy, and contain content that isn’t appropriate for younger listeners.

First, two audio dramas featuring Krynoids (from the TV story Seeds of Doom)

Then two standalone stories. One features the Rutans (the mortal enemies of the Sontarans), and the other one features Guy de Carnac, a love interest of Benny’s from the Virgin New Adventures novel Sanctuary.

At the start of this segment is the special release The Ratings War, which features the villain Beep the Meep (from the Doctor Who Magazine comics).

A “Short Trip” is a half-hour enhanced audiobook – there’s one narrator (like an audiobook), but it also features sound effects and a soundtrack. Originally, they were released as bonuses for people who subscribed to the Monthly Adventures. These subscriber bonuses were later re-released as “Short Trip: Rarities” in 2016–2018. The Switching is the first of these.

Next, the Excelis Saga, a miniseries centred around a mysterious relic, and set in the city of Excelis. Each of the episodes in the saga is set hundreds of years after the previous, and features a different Doctor. The episodes should be listened to in order. The epilogue of this story, featuring Bernice Summerfield, tangentially links in to Bernice Summerfield Series 3.

And finally, Death Comes to Time, which was originally an animated webcast. It’s considered to be an alternate universe story, because it tries to be a series finale for Doctor Who altogether.

The alternate universe shown in Death Comes to Time continues in a Spin-off series called The Minister of Chance, but since that’s far removed from any actual Doctor Who, it’s not in this guide.

And now the final half of the Monthly Adventures for 2002.

Spare Parts is one of Big Finish’s most popular releases.

The Sandman introduces the Galyari to the Doctor Who Universe.

Spare Parts
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Cybermen

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama (like most cybermen stories) includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of body horror

...ish
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Peri

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains a graphic and potentially upsetting depiction of suicide

The Rapture
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Colditz)

The Sandman
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, the Galyari

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains a potentially upsetting use of a slur against Romani people

The Church and the Crown
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Note: While it is standalone, it is better to listen to "The Eye of the Scorpion" first. This drama includes a graphic and potentially upsetting depiction of torture

Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

And now a new spin-off series starring Sarah Jane Smith, working as an investigative journalist, uncovering corruption and crime wherever she can.

Warning: This is a horror/crime series. It is very dark in tone and contains adult material that may not be suitable for younger listeners.

This segment contains a Bonus Release: The Maltese Penguin, as well as the audio version of a BBC animation, Real Time. Despite being animated, the script and audio production were specifically designed so that the story could be followed and understood perfectly as a purely audio production.

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 96 stories (approximately).

2003

The first half of 2003’s Monthly Adventures.

Jubilee was later adapted into the TV episode Dalek.

Jubilee
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of sexism, abusive relationships, heavy violence, and body horror

Nekromanteia
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Note: This story includes graphic and upsetting depictions of rape, sexism, and heavy violence. It is so abhorrent that the author was banned from writing for Doctor Who ever again, and isn't worth listening to. Please skip it.

The Dark Flame
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Bernice, Joseph

Standalone: Yes

Doctor Who and the Pirates
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama seriously discusses mental health, depression, self-harm and suicide.

Creatures of Beauty
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa

Standalone: Yes

Project: Lazarus
Featuring: the 6th and 7th Doctors, Evelyn, Nimrod, the Forge

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Project: Twilight)

Essential
(plotlines: Evelyn, Forge)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of heavy violence and torture

A third series of Benny’s adventures! Now that Jason has been discovered again, he shows up in a few of these dramas.

Middway through this series is when The Plague Herds of Excelis (the Excelis episode that features Benny) occurs. Originally, I put the Benny adventures in the same segment as Excelis, but that was too confusing (not to mention completely unneccesary, as they don’t impact on each other much.)

The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy
Featuring: Benny, Joseph

Standalone: Yes

The Green-Eyed Monsters
Featuring: Benny, Jason, Adrian, Peter

Standalone: Yes

Essential

The Dance of the Dead
Featuring: Benny, Ice Warriors

Standalone: Yes

Note: Occurs shortly after The Plague Herds of Excelis, but isn't tied to that drama's plot.

Short Stories: A Life of Surprises
Featuring: Various

The Mirror Effect
Featuring: Benny, Brax, Jason, Adrian, Joseph

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This drama contains potentially upsetting scenes focusing on pregnancy.

The Dalek Empire series continues. Dalek War directly follows on from the ending of Dalek Empire.

Dalek War: Chapter One

Standalone: No

Essential

Dalek War: Chapter Two

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This drama contains potentially upsetting depictions of torture and suicide

Dalek War: Chapter Three

Standalone: No

Essential

Dalek War: Chapter Four

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This drama contains potentially upsetting depictions of suicide

This segment contains No Place Like Home, a special release, and The Little Drummer Boy, a Short Trip Rarity.

We (almost*) finish off 2003’s Monthly Adventures. This includes the 50th release in the Monthly Adventures, Zagreus, which is notable for including every single actor from the classic series of Doctor Who that Big Finish had brought back.

*The December release for 2003 is Scherzo, but since it is the first part of a story arc that continues into the next year, I’ve put it at the start of next year’s stories.

Doctor Who Unbound is a series focused around alternate universes and “What ifs”. Each story is built around a different alternate scenario, and features a different actor playing the Doctor.

All these stories were released in 2003, but both Auld Mortality and Sympathy for the Devil were popular enough that sequel stories were made in 2005 and 2008.

The writer of Exile had this to say about it in 2017:

“I think I made a lot of bad decisions on that. At the time I thought, ’I don’t want to do the “typical” thing, which is just to do a Doctor who is female and just does Doctor-y things. […] It was appalling, really. I’m quite ashamed of it… It feels like it was from another era. I would never wish anyone to judge me on all those ill-made decisions.

“And it’s such a shame, is it not, that we didn’t do a really good female Doctor who we could have written further adventures for, like we did with David Warner. I’ve regretted that for quite some time.”

We now have 2 more stories: the Big Finish audio play version of Shada, a Fourth Doctor story that was never finished due to a strike (and has since been completed with animation). This audio adaption features the Eighth Doctor instead of the Fourth. Additionally, we have a special release starring the Eighth Doctor and Charley.

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 127 stories (approximately).

2004

The Monthly Adventures for 2004 start off with the Divergent Universe arc (featuring the Eighth Doctor, Charley, and C’rizz). The first story of this arc, Scherzo, is actually the December 2003 release but it’s in this segment so that you can listen to the arc all at once.

After those, we have three stories with other Doctors, including Arrangements for War (which continues directly on from the events of Project: Lazarus), and The Harvest which introduces the new companion Hex to the TARDIS team of the 7th Doctor and Ace. The Harvest also later links (very loosely) in to two 2006 audio dramas, The Reaping and The Gathering.

Scherzo
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Zagreus)

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of body horror

The Creed of the Kromon
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of body horror, sexual assault, sexism, suicide, and torture.

The Natural History of Fear
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting depictions of suicide, animal cruelty, and torture

The Twilight Kingdom
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

The Axis of Insanity
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Arrangements for War
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Rossiter

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Project: Lazarus)

Essential
(plotline: Evelyn)

The Harvest
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotline: Hex)

Note: Introduces new companion Hex.

Bernice Summerfield returns for another series of adventures. Each story in this series features a different creature from Doctor Who.

The Bellotron Incident
Featuring: Benny, Bev, Brax, Joseph, Rutans

Standalone: Yes

Essential

Note: While the story itself is standalone, Bev was first introduced in the monthly adventure "Dust Harvesting".

The Draconian Rage
Featuring: Benny, Brax, Draconians

Standalone: No
(first listen to: The Dark Flame)

Note: This drama includes potentially upsetting depictions of sexism, suicide, and invasive medical procedures.

The Poison Seas
Featuring: Benny, Brax, Sea Devils

Standalone: Yes

Short Stories: Life During Wartime
Featuring: Various

Standalone: No

Note: These short stories would be essential, but they are summarised briefly at the start of Death and the Daleks.

Death and the Daleks
Featuring: Benny, Brax, Jason, Adrian, Joseph, Bev, Isaac, the Fifth Axis, Daleks

Standalone: No

Essential

Tales of intrigue and political manoeuvring on Gallifrey, starring Romana, Leela, Brax, and many many more - so many more that it was too complex to include a list of featured characters for each story without also spoiling things.

It’s not entirely necessary, but if you want the full background for this series, you should listen to The Apocalypse Element, Neverland, and Zagreus.

Please note: In the Gallifrey audio dramas, characters often refer to Leela using racist anti-indigenous terminology and ideas, such as calling her “s*vage” and dismissing her worth. This is sadly part of many Leela stories, but it is particularly amplified by Time Lords in general being racist themselves in universe. While the Gallifrey stories do have their own dedicated fanbase, they are also often difficult to listen to because of this.

Please note that most of the BBV audio dramas are quite dark and edgy, and contain content that isn’t appropriate for younger listeners.

A series from BBV, focusing on Faction Paradox – a rebelious syndicate of Time Lords, devoted to inducing paradoxes and chaos into the flow of time. Faction Paradox was first introduced in the BBC’s Eighth Doctor Adventures novels.

The Faction Paradox Protocols has a sequel series, The True History of Faction Paradox.

This series is told as 3 chapters, with 2 dramas in each chapter.

Next, another Short Trip Rarity. This was re-released for free on the Big Finish Podcast on the 20th of June 2016.

The last few Monthly Adventures of 2004. This segment concludes the Divergent Universe arc that started with Scherzo.

After this, the 8th Doctor stories were no longer clumped together into “seasons”, and instead were mixed in with the other Monthly Adventures.

The Roof of the World
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Erimem)

Note: This drama includes depictions of colonialism (and also a strange claim about the doctor liking colonialism)

Medicinal Purposes
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Knox

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes ableism, depictions of abuse of mentally ill people, and sexism.

Faith Stealer
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Note: This drama includes a reprise of a scene from The Creed of the Kromon involving suicide.

The Last
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Caerdroia
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

The Next Life
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Kro'ka, Rassilon

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Note: This drama includes depictions of colonialism, suicide, and some very sexist writing.

A new chapter in the Dalek Empire series, set 2500 years after the Dalek War, with the galaxy preparing for the Daleks to invade once again…

The Exterminators

Standalone: No

Essential

The Healers

Standalone: No

Essential

The Survivors

Standalone: No

Essential

The Demons

Standalone: No

Essential

The Warriors

Standalone: No

Essential

The Future

Standalone: No

Essential

A Short Trip Rarity and two bonus releases:

Lant Land
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Tegan, Turlough

Standalone: Yes

Silver Lining
Featuring: Bernice Summerfield, Cybermen

Her Final Flight
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Peri

Standalone: Yes

We also have our first BBC audiobooks of the guide! This is Tales from the TARDIS, a 2 volume collection of previously released audiobooks. As a general rule, audiobooks of novelisations of TV stories aren’t included in this guide, but this collection is an exception due to the fact that it also has a few Short Trips and original stories.

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 175 stories (approximately).

2005

The first half of 2005’s Monthly Adventures. Midway through this segment, Doctor Who returned to television. This was unfortunately a difficult time for Big Finish, as people abandoned the audio dramas in droves (out of a perception of illegitimacy).

The Juggernauts features the Mechanoids from the TV story The Chase.

Three’s a Crowd references many past events of Erimem’s life (in particular The Eye of the Scorpion and The Roof of the World), so you should listen to the previous Erimem stories for the full context.

The Juggernauts
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Mel, Daleks, Davros, Mechanoids

Standalone: Yes

The Game
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes potentially upsetting depictions of heavy violence and sexism.

Dreamtime
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama very heavily (and clumsily) appropriates the imagery and ideas of Aboriginal culture and spirituality. I cannot recommend listening to this.

Catch-1782
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

Three's a Crowd
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Erimem)

Unregenerate!
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

This series of Bernice Summerfield brings back a few old enemies: the Grel (first introduced in the very first episode of Bernice Summerfield Oh No It Isn’t!), the Galyari (first introduced in the Monthly Adventures story The Sandman), and the K1 robot (from the TV story Robot).

Novel: The Big Hunt
Featuring: Benny

The Grel Escape
Featuring: Benny, Jason, Peter, Joseph, the Grel

Standalone: Yes

Short Stories: A Life Worth Living

The Bone of Contention
Featuring: Benny, the Galyari

Standalone: No
(first listen to: The Sandman)

Note: This drama includes the use of the g-slur

The Relics of Jegg-Sau
Featuring: Benny, K1

Standalone: Yes

Short Stories: A Life in Pieces

The Masquerade of Death
Featuring: Benny, Adrian

Standalone: Yes

UNIT is a self-contained mini series, which sees a retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart advising a new UNIT team.

The last story features Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood, played by David Tennant and introduced in the Unbound story Sympathy for the Devil. As the Unbound stories are set in an alternate universe, you don’t need to listen to Sympathy for the Devil first, but there are a few references that you might enjoy if you do.

For more UNIT tales, you can check out the Unit Dominion boxset, released in 2012 and featuring the Seventh Doctor, and the new UNIT series, released from 2015 onwards and featuring Kate Stewart and Osgood.

The last Monthly Adventures releases of 2005:

The Council of Nicaea
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Terror Firma
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz, Daleks, Davros

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Thicker than Water
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Mel, Evelyn, Rossiter

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Arrangements for War)

Essential
(plotline: Evelyn)

LIVE 34
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Scaredy Cat
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

Singularity
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Turlough

Standalone: Yes

Other Lives
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

More stories from Gallifrey.

Iris Wildthyme, the transtemporal adventuress who travels the multiverse in a double decker bus, gets her own series. She first appeared in a short story called Old Flames, and her previous audio appearances were in the Excelis saga and The Wormery.

The Iris dramas are marked as Essential and not Standalone, as they all link in to each other, but there are not many links to the broader Doctor Who universe.

A Bonus Release:

And a Short Trip Rarity. This release can only be gotten with a Monthly Adventures subscription that includes either The Doomsday Quatrain or The House of Blue Fire (both of which are significantly later in the guide). Note: while the audio drama was released in 2011, it is a reading of a story that was written in 2005.

Since the show was revived in 2005, BBC Books also released a number of books, most of which had an audiobook version. I’ve hidden these away so they don’t take up too much space.

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 215 stories (approximately).

2006

The first half of 2006’s Monthly Adventures. Fun fact: every audio drama in this segment features original-to-audio companions.

Pier Pressure
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn

Standalone: Yes

Night Thoughts
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes potentially upsetting depicitions of body horror and suicide

Time Works
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

The Kingmaker
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

The Settling
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama is very dark and centres around a historical massacre.

Something Inside
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

A series about… Cybermen!

This series is set during the Orion War, which was first introduced in the 8th Doctor drama Sword of Orion.

The second series of Sarah Jane Smith. The final episode of this series was released only a few weeks before Elizabeth Sladen returned to TV, and the subsequent creation of the spin off TV series The Sarah Jane Adventures meant that the audio dramas had to be cancelled.

Unfortunately, this means that the series ends with a cliffhanger. Aside from the cliffhanger, this series does wrap up most of its plot threads quite well.

Bernice Summerfield returns for another season.

In this series, the prose releases began to alternate between collections of short stories and groupings of three novellas.

This series has some (minor) linking to the events of Gallifrey Series 2.

A Special Release, featuring four companions on two conflicting missions…

The final half of 2006’s Monthly Adventures.

Of special note is The Reaping and The Gathering. Together, these 2 stories form one larger one, and so they should both be listened to together. They also link loosely to The Harvest (Hex’s first story, released in 2004) so I also recommend you listen to that.

The Gathering is also somewhat unique, in that it brings back Tegan, albeit at a much later point in her life. At the time, Janet Fielding was not interested in returning to the role, and only agreed to do one special episode. She did eventually return to portray the original Tegan, but only several years later.

The Nowhere Place
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn

Standalone: Yes

Red
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes strong violence.

The Reaping
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Peri, Cybermen

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: The Reaping and The Gathering form one big story. This drama includes depictions of grief.

The Gathering
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Tegan, Cybermen

Standalone: No
(first listen to: The Reaping)

Essential

Note: The Reaping and The Gathering form one big story. This drama includes depictions of body horror.

Memory Lane
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes some occasional sexist and ableist dialogue, as well as the use of a slur against Romani people.

No Man's Land
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Hex)

Note: This drama includes scenes of war crimes, torture, and sexism.

Year of the Pig
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Peri

Standalone: Yes

The third series of Gallifrey brings all the plot-threads of the series so far to a conclusion (sort of).

This was the last series of Gallifrey for 5 years.

Bernice Summerfield returns once again!

This series was released very shortly after the previous one.

Novel: Genius Loci

The Tartarus Gate
Featuring: Benny, Jason, Joseph

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes scenes of torture.

Timeless Passages
Featuring: Benny

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes sexism and anti-indigenous language.

The Worst Thing in the World
Featuring: Benny, Jason

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes strong and crass sexual content, violence, animal death, references to suicide and self-harm, transphobia, homophobia, ableism.

Summer of Love
Featuring: Benny, Jason, Bev, Adrian, Doggles, Joseph, Hass

Standalone: No

Note: This drama includes many, many sex scenes and other explicit content. It is not appropriate for children or for listening to in a public place. It also includes some dodgy ideas around consent.

Short Stories: Collected Works

Novellas: Old Friends

The Oracle of Delphi
Featuring: Benny, Jason

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This drama includes sexism and a plague.

The Empire State
Featuring: Benny, Jason, Maggie, Brax

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This drama contains some racist and transphobic dialogue.

These dramas chart the rise to surpemacy of the infamous Davros

This segment has a Bonus Release, then a Short Trip Rarity. Both of them are linked to the Dalek Empire series.

Return of the Daleks
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Susan Mendes, Kalendorf, Daleks

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Dalek Empire Series 1 and 2)

Essential

Museum Peace
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Kalendorf, Daleks

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Return of the Daleks)

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 271 stories (approximately).

2007

This segment sees a number of format experiments with the Monthly Adventures.

Firstly, Circular Time is an anthology of 4 short stories, rather than one long story. Due to it’s popular success, this format was repeated yearly.

Secondly, I.D. (a three episode story) was paired with Urgent Calls (a one episode story). This pattern would appear a few more times in the next few years, but ultimately did not catch on long term.

Circular Time

• Spring
• Summer
• Autumn
• Winter

Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa

Standalone: Yes

Nocturne
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Renaissance of the Daleks
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains weird amounts of military-focused scenes.

I.D.; Urgent Calls
Featuring: the 6th Doctor

Standalone: Yes

Exotron; Urban Myths
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains body horror.

Valhalla
Featuring: the 7th Doctor

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes insects.

The Companion Chronicles delves into the past to tell stories of the Doctor as seen through the eyes of their companions. These stories are partial-cast audio dramas – they generally feature a companion and one other actor, performing all the roles of the story.

The first series was released as an anthology, but the episodes are all available individually.

This segment includes 100, another anthology of 4 stories (and also the 100th release in the Monthly Adventures).

The Eighth Doctor’s stories with Charley and C’rizz come to a conclusion in this segment. The Eighth Doctor’s Adventures continue with a new companion in The Eighth Doctor Adventures.

The Wishing Beast; The Vanity Box
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Mel

Standalone: Yes

Frozen Time
Featuring: the 7th Doctor

Standalone: Yes

Son of the Dragon
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama contains a potentially upsetting use of a slur against Romani people

100

• 100 BC
• My Own Private Wolfgang
• Bedtime Story
• The 100 Days of the Doctor

Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn

Standalone: Yes

Absolution
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, C'rizz

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: The Divergent Universe)

Note: This drama contains body horror and religious references.

The Mind's Eye; Mission of the Viyrans
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem, Viyrans

Standalone: No
(first listen to: Other stories in Erimem's arc.)

The Girl Who Never Was
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Charley, Cybermen

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Charley)

Note: This drama includes some anti-asian dialogue.

At last – a series just for the Eighth Doctor! With a brand new companion Lucie Miller, this series forms an excellent jumping on point for new listeners.

Both Blood of the Daleks and Human Resources are 2-part stories.

Blood of the Daleks
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie, Daleks

Standalone: Yes

Essential

Horror of Glam Rock
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie

Standalone: Yes

Essential

Note: This drama includes graphic and potentially upsetting violence.

Immortal Beloved
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes references to suicide

Phobos
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie

Standalone: Yes

No More Lies
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie

Standalone: Yes

Human Resources
Featuring: the 8th Doctor, Lucie, Cybermen

Standalone: No

Essential

A bonus release:

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 312 stories (approximately).

2008

Another Monthly Adventures segment:

The Bride of Peladon
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Peri, Erimem, Peladonians, Ice Warriors

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Erimem)

The Condemned
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Charley, DI Menzies

Standalone: No

Essential
(plotline: Charley)

The Dark Husband
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Ace, Hex

Standalone: Yes

Note: This drama includes some mild sexism.

The Haunting of Thomas Brewster
Featuring: the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Brewster

Standalone: Yes

Essential
(plotlines: Brewster, Evelyn, Hex)

Note: This drama includes references to suicide, depictions of physical abuse. While it doesn't yet tie in to Evelyn and Hex's arcs, it will be important later on.

Assassin in the Limelight
Featuring: the 6th Doctor, Evelyn, Knox

The Death Collectors; Spider's Shadow
Featuring: the 7th Doctor, Dar Traders

Yet another season of Bernice!

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

If you haven’t, you might want to listen to the 2006 special releases Return of the Daleks and Museum Peace, both of which are linked to the Dalek Empire series.

More partial-cast adventures.

Unlike the first Companion Chronicles series, these stories were released episodically.

A Special Release, currently only available on soundcloud.

Then a few more Monthly Adventures:

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

Note: as of September 2021, series 9-11 of Bernice Summerfield are only available on CD. As series 1 through 8 were recently made available as downloads, I would recommend waiting a little while to see if the remaining episodes will become available too.

Summerfield returns for another Series (10 years after her first!)

This series starts to see the prose releases tapering off.

Due to the popularity of both Geoffrey Bayldon and David Warner’s portrayals of the Doctor in previous Unbound stories (Auld Mortlity and Sympathy for the Devil), two sequel stories were released.

(David Warner’s popularity even extends beyond this series, and he returns in The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, from Volume 3 onwards).

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 Stageplays was a one-off audio series from Big Finish, based on theatrical plays from the 60s and 80s.

Next we have a whole bunch of Short Trip Rarities:

A bonus release:

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 387 stories (approximately).

2009

The first half of the Monthly Adventures in 2009. The first 3 of these form a trilogy of adventures, called The Key 2 Time (and hence being a sequel to Season 16 of Doctor Who, The Key to Time). The new characters introduced in these stories, Amy and Zara, would go on to have stories of their own.

The Key 2 Time also initiated a format change to the monthly adventures - they’re now trilogies of adventures featuring a particular TARDIS team.

Iris’s adventures continue. Unlike series 1, this series is available as a download.

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

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

The 10th series of Bernice Summerfield’s adventures.

The second half of Monthly Adventures in 2009 featured an Eighth Doctor anthology release, The Company of Friends; then a trilogy focused on the Sixth Doctor attempting to discover Charley’s origins; and finally a trilogy featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa.

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

This is the first of two 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, and features a deeper exploration into Sutekh and the Osirians from the TV story The Pyramids of Mars.

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

This is part of a 3 series story line titled The Nest Cottage Chronicles. The Nest Cottage Chronicles all link together in their own little continuity, isolated from the other audio dramas.

Note that this series prominently features hornets, so if you don’t like insects you will probably want to skip it.

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 included here is An Earthly Child. While it’s not technically part of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, it is essential to the plotline.

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

This was one of the first box set releases. Over the next few years, most of the audio dramas transitioned into being released as boxsets, rather than isolated episodes.

An Iris Wildthyme Christmas Episode:

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 466 stories (approximately).

2010

Some more Monthly Adventures! The first 3 feature the return of Klein, the villain of the 25th Monthly Adventure Colditz. The other 3 feature the Sixth Doctor meeting up with Jamie again.

A collection of three special releases from the Companion Chronicles range. These were released as a collection in 2011.

The next 12 Companion Chronicles.

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. Each Jago & Litefoot series was released as a single box set.

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).

This series included canceled stories for season 22, as well as proposed stories for the original version of season 23 (before they decided to make it The Trial of a Timelord instead).

And now the final Monthly Adventures for 2010. The first three feature the Fifth Doctor with Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough – a TARDIS team which had never appeared in audio before. The next three stories feature the Seventh Doctor with Ace and Hex, as well as the Forge and the Sixth Doctor’s companion Evelyn. Finally, December’s release was an anthology story.

Short Trips Volumes contain 8 short stories, featuring each of the 8 Doctors that Big Finish had the license to use.

These are, essentially, enhanced audiobooks - there’s one narrator, accompanied by sound effects and background music.

Graceless is a spin-off sequel to The Key 2 Time, starring the two tracers introduced in that story (Abby and Zara).

The last series-style release of Bernice Summerfield – the subsequent releases were as named box sets.

The second Nest Cottage Chronicles series featuring the Fourth Doctor.

A Bonus Release:

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 545 stories (approximately).

2011

The first quarter of 2011’s Monthly Adventures features the re-introduction of Thomas Brewster, and the introduction of Flip. The second quarter features more adventures with Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough.

Jago & Litefoot return for a second series.

Jago & Litefoot Series 2

• Litefoot and Sanders
• The Necropolis Express
• The Theatre of Dreams
• The Ruthven Inheritance

Featuring: Jago, Litefoot, Sanders, Dr Sacker

Standalone: No

Essential

Note: This boxset includes graphic and potentially upsetting heavy violence

The second Short Trips anthology, once again featuring each of the first 8 Doctors.

The Gallifrey series returns, after a long break. It features Romana II, Leela, K9 II, and more, and is now in boxset format!

The final series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, introducing new companion Tamsin Drew. This series also features the return of the Monk, from the TV story The Time Meddler.

Note that this segment doesn’t include story 1 of Series 4, since that was released as a Christmas episode.

Before listening to the rest of these stories, make sure you’ve listened to Death in Blackpool, the Christmas episode, and An Earthly Child.

After these stories, the Eighth Doctor Adventures continue in Dark Eyes, and Lucie Miller’s adventures continue in The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller (coming in July 2019).

Fans of the 8th Doctor might also like to check out the 3 Monthly Adventures from late 2011 which starred the 8th Doctor and Mary Shelley.

The third Short Trips anthology.

Jago & Litefoot return for a third series! This series features Leela returning to Victorian London and joining the pair.

The second half of 2011’s Monthly Adventures, which includes an anthology story, three stories where the Seventh Doctor is travelling alone (although he does meet some characters who return in the future), and three of the Eighth Doctor’s adventures with Mary Shelley.

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

The Destroyers was not originally intended to be part of Doctor Who - it was to be the pilot for a Dalek TV show by Terry Nation, that was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute.

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

The fourth Short Trips anthology.

A new era for Bernice Summerfield begins, in the lost city of Atlantis…

This is the first boxset format release for Bernice Summerfield, and is the first set which is available for download.

The third and final series of The Nest Cottage Chronicles.

Abby and Zara return for a second series.

A Bonus Release:

And then the audiobooks for 2011

If you've listened to everything so far, then you've listened to 658 stories (approximately).

2012