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

Russell T Davies’ latest series It’s a Sin has just received multiple BAFTA nominations – but a story from the other end of his career is also getting attention today, with the release of Mind of the Hodiac, the Sixth Doctor and Mel story he wrote during the mid-1980s.

Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford star in this brand new (old) adventure for the Sixth Doctor and Mel, based on the recently rediscovered script by Russell T Davies.

The once and future Doctor Who showrunner has adapted his spec 1980s story for audio with director Scott Handcock (who has also scripted episode two based on the original notes).

The stellar ensemble cast, led by Laurie Kynaston (Derry Girls, How to Build a Girl) as the villainous Hodiac, also includes Annette Badland (Doctor Who, Ted Lasso), Alexander Vlahos (Outlander, Sanditon), T’Nia Miller (Years and Years, The Haunting of Bly Manor), Raj Ghatak (Ghosts, Ackley Bridge), Sutara Gayle (Magpie Murders, Silent Witness), and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo (Devs, Wednesday).

In the depths of space, the mysterious Hodiac is manipulating the Galactic Stock Exchange to raise money. His aim? To hire mercenaries for a deadly quest across the stars.  
 
Meanwhile, on Earth, an ordinary British family is plagued by a series of psychic events.  
 
The one thing connecting these events is a magnificent patchwork coat – which just so happens to belong to the Doctor! 

Sixth Doctor Colin Baker said: “When I heard Russell T. Davies had found a script he’d written in the 1980s and that it was going to be released by Big Finish, I honestly didn’t think it was going to be for me – but it was! Bonnie Langford and I were playing our parts on TV when he wrote it so it was a genuine honour to know that I was the first Doctor he had written a script for.

“Mind of the Hodiac is a jolly good adventure. It was also interesting as in the script you can see the germs of the writer he would become. It’s a very simple but clever construction with ordinary people and extraordinary things.”

Russell T Davies, speaking in Doctor Who Magazine issue 574, said: ““Who would have thought, as I sat there in that little flat in Roath in Cardiff, bashing away on an electric typewriter my mother had bought me for my 21st birthday…?”

“Obviously I was writing it in the hope it would be made – and here we are, all these years later. This whole thing… it’s very strange that I’m coming back to Doctor Who [on television] at the same time, because none of this was planned. But it feels all as one. It feels like a whole. It feels like it was meant to be.”

Director and writer Scott Handcock added: “I was actually quite nervous going into this project! I think both Russell and I had a panic about what if episode two wasn’t up to scratch? I’ve never been so nervous waiting for a response. Thankfully, however, he loved it. The great thing about working with Russell is he’s a collaborator so you’re always going to have a healthy back-and-forth even when he’s busy spinning 101 other plates.”

For more from Baker, Langford and Davies, check out our extensive interview here.

Doctor Who — The Lost Stories: Mind of the Hodiac is now available to own for just £14.99 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £12.99 (download only), exclusively from the Big Finish website.