Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Michael Troughton steps into his father’s shoes as the Second Doctor for Big Finish this year – with some foreshadowing provided in the next Third Doctor tale, The Annihilators.

Joining him is Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon. This TARDIS team will collide with the Third Doctor (Tim Treloar), Dr Liz Shaw (Daisy Ashford) and the Brigadier (Jon Culshaw) in the previously-announced seven-part adventure, The Annihilators.

There’s something in the water at Lewgate Docks. Something strange, and green, and deadly. Summoned to the North of England by a mystery informer, the Brigadier finds his investigations hampered at every turn by the local police. Just what are they trying to hide? 

While the Doctor uncovers sinister goings-on in the city morgue, Liz attracts the attention of something unearthly. But with Time running out, quite literally, the Doctor, Liz and UNIT aren’t the only ones to find themselves targeted by a world-shattering alien menace… 

… because they’ve got a previous Doctor and his best friend Jamie in their sights, too! 

Big Finish creative director (and writer of The Annihilators) Nicholas Briggs said: “I’d had in mind to have Michael Troughton play the Second Doctor for ages. He has a lightness of touch, and I knew he’d studied his father’s work a lot for the book he wrote about him. Also, I’ve worked with Michael quite a bit and chatted with him a lot at conventions, and have found him to be such a delightful human being. Always full of cheer, and a really great actor.

“I’ve always been an admirer of Frazer Hines too. And here he gives what I believe to be his best performance ever. He really did some great emotional stuff in this story. I think people sometimes forget what a brilliant and accomplished actor Frazer is. He’s a much-loved part of the Doctor Who furniture, so we think we know what to expect from him. But here, he really pulls the stops out. Such fun.”

Actor Michael Troughton said: “When they phoned up out of the blue and asked, ‘How would you feel about playing the Second Doctor?’, I sort of had to think about it. I said to myself, ‘Well, it would be a really fun thing to try and do,’ not to try and recreate Dad’s voice perfectly, but to give the kind of emotional fun character that he gave. That’s the way I looked at it, so it’s a mix of me and Dad, really.

“I talked with Frazer about it, and lots of the fun stuff was brought to the recordings by them, ad libbed. I think it might have been Tomb of the Cybermen, when they were at a door, and for some reason Dad ended up holding Frazer’s hand. That wasn’t scripted, that was a moment they created together. It’s difficult to do that kind of thing on audio but it was that fun inflection in his voice I tried really hard to get.”

Doctor Who – The Third Doctor Adventures: The Annihilators is now available to pre-order