Story details have been released for the next Sixth Doctor release, The Cosmos and Mrs Clarke, as well as a tribute to  Antoni Fletcher-Goldspink, whose final appearance is in Paul Magrs’ play.

The Doctor meets old friends – and old enemies. But which is which – and who is Who? One thing is sure: they all have a story to tell…

The time travellers visit a forest village with a Dalek (Nicholas Briggs) for a storyteller, reunite with the Doctor’s old acquaintances Marco Polo (Terry Molloy) and Iris Wildthyme (Katy Manning) in thirteenth-century Baghdad, and encounter an unusual creature that duplicates Constance – creating several of her!

The Story Demon by Julian Richards

The Doctor and Mrs Clarke find themselves on a forest world where human settlers shelter from the night in a village built from wrecked spaceships, living in fear of the Birnamen, creatures who raid their settlement leaving death in their wake.

 But are the Birnamen really to blame? Or does the truth lie with the villagers’ ‘Story Demon’, the hollow travel casing of a very familiar alien creature which they use to entertain their children…?

The Key to Many Worlds by Paul Magrs

The Doctor and Constance arrive in thirteenth century Baghdad and encounter an ageing and disenchanted Marco Polo. His adventures at an end, he has been ordered to transport a certain enchantress back to the Doge’s palace in Venice. The Doctor realises his danger too late, as his mind and body are swapped with those of the enchantress – the notorious Iris Wildthyme!

 Now clapped in irons and trapped in Iris’s form, the Doctor is dragged along in Marco’s caravan as it trails across the desert once more… and only Mrs Clarke can save him.

Inconstancy by Ian Potter

On the highly regulated colony world of Hoi, the Doctor is captured by the authorities and taken to the forbidden zone for ‘re-education’. Mrs Clarke escapes and discovers an amorphous being in hiding. This protean creature craves purpose and identity, and wants Constance to make it an instrument of her will. Desperate to rescue the Doctor, she agrees – and suddenly Hoi is threatened by a swarm of wild and ravenous Mrs Clarkes!

Script editor Rob Valentine said: “I’m a huge fan of the Sixth Doctor and Mrs Clarke. Colin Baker and Miranda Raison work beautifully together, and Constance brings out a very particular side of Ol’ Sixie, so the prospect of helping to bring a whole new set of their adventures into the world was extremely enticing.

“It also meant I got to work with Julian Richards, Ian Potter and Paul Magrs, three writers I greatly admire, and their stories are terrific. There’s a particularly unsettling Dalek story, multiple Mrs Clarkes, and the return of a certain other traveller in space and time whom the Doctor was not expecting to meet again. All in all, you’re in for a cosmically good time.”

The Key to Many Worlds includes the final performance of actor Anthony Townsend, also known as Antoni Fletcher-Goldspink, a good friend to many at Big Finish, who sadly passed away in 2022.

Writer Paul Magrs said: “With the casting of Tonio, Marco Polo’s boyfriend, I really lobbied for my late friend Antoni to get the part. Something I never, ever do, but this time I really wanted my friend to get what they’d always wanted – a good part, specially written for them, in a wonderful new Doctor Who story. It’s three years since the writing and recording and Antoni is no longer here. I can’t wait to hear their voice again.”

Doctor Who – The Sixth Doctor Adventures: The Cosmos and Mrs Clarke is available to pre-order now from just £19.99 (download to own) or £24.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD).

 

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