private company industry entertainment founded 1996 1 headquarters berkshire uk key people jason haigh ellery md nicholas briggs executive producer kris griffin marketing consultant barnaby edwards casting director david richardson producer ian atkins producer s assistant xanna eve chown books production products list of doctor who audio plays by big finish list of dark shadows audio plays list of blake s 7 audio plays the avengers audio drama the prisoner audio drama website www.bigfinish.com big finish productions is a british company that produces books and audio plays released straight to compact disc and for download in mp3 and m4b format based primarily on cult 2 3 4 science fiction properties . they are best known for their doctor who line ; citation needed other properties include the characters judge dredd and strontium dog from 2000 ad blake s 7 dark shadows dracula sapphire & steel sir arthur conan doyle s sherlock holmes character stargate the avengers the prisoner and torchwood . contents 1 history 2 organization 3 big finish day 4 downloads 5 available releases 5.1 doctor who 6 characters actors and villains 6.1 2000 ad 6.2 blake s 7 6.3 earthsearch 7 former releases 7.1 the tomorrow people 8 other productions 8.1 warhammer 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message many of those initially involved in big finish had worked on the audio visuals fan series of unlicensed doctor who audio plays . citation needed big finish began in 1996 with a series of audio plays adapted from new adventures a series of novels from virgin books which had originally been licensed doctor who stories but by then had become officially independent from the show and were based around the character of bernice benny summerfield . in 1999 big finish obtained a non exclusive licence to produce official doctor who plays beginning with the multi doctor story the sirens of time . doctor who and spin offs have remained the main part of the company s output ever since although they have since diversified . the company s first foray into books also came through benny and a series of paperbacks . this range was later abandoned but the company then obtained a non exclusive licence to produce hardback doctor who short story collections . eventually this licence ended and the collections went out of print . the company subsequently returned to benny books and other doctor who spin offs but have kept with the hardback format . organization edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message until july 2006 gary russell served as producer of the doctor who audios . when russell left the company jason haigh ellery and nicholas briggs took joint responsibility as executive producers . briggs now bears creative responsibility for big finish s doctor who range along with script editor alan barnes . in late 2007 david richardson took over from sharon gosling who and now holds the title of producer clarification needed organising the schedules across the company s output as well as having creative responsibility for the companion chronicles lost stories and the spin off jago & litefoot . the managing director of the company is jason haigh ellery . citation needed big finish day edit on 11 june 2011 tenth planet events hosted the first big finish day in barking with such guests as sophie aldred colin baker and sarah sutton . 5 on 11 february 2012 a second one was held with such guests as tom baker paul darrow louise jameson terry molloy katy manning and anneke wills . 6 as of september 2015 there have been seven big finish days with an eighth soon to come . 7 downloads edit in february 2008 big finish launched a new download service through their website which would provide audio plays in mp3 format free of any drm . they currently provide the large majority of their catalogue in mp3 and m4b format with very few outstanding exceptions . citation needed in june 2008 big finish announced a download subscription service that mirrors its physical cd service . in addition those who purchase big finish productions on cd through the company s website receive access to a complimentary download of the story . citation needed in september 2008 they released their first free downloadable play . unit the coup had previously been given away with an issue of doctor who magazine . 8 since then the company has also made a couple of single episode plays from its companion chronicles line available for exclusive download through doctor who magazine . more recently selected complete stories and single episode samplers from longer stories have been made available through soundcloud . this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message available releases edit doctor who edit the doctor who audio plays feature seven of the ten surviving actors to play the character of the doctor in the series tom baker peter davison colin baker sylvester mccoy paul mcgann john hurt and david tennant as well as many of the regular supporting actors over the many years of the programme . 9 the late jon pertwee s voice is featured in the 40th anniversary story zagreus . his part in the story was pieced together from snippets of pertwee s dialogue from the fan produced doctor who video devious . citation needed of the surviving doctors tom baker for years declined invitations to return to the role but he eventually changed his mind having first returned as the fourth doctor for the bbc in the nest cottage chronicles which comprised three audio series hornets nest 2009 demon quest 2010 and serpents quest 2011 and then for big finish audios since 2012 . citation needed currently christopher eccleston matt smith and peter capaldi the incumbent are the only surviving doctor actors who have yet to reprise their roles in the audio plays . previously big finish s licence only covered the original doctor who series . citation needed however it was announced on 27 june 2015 that they were now permitted to use characters and themes from the revived series . citation needed prior to that big finish was unable to feature any material from or references to the new series . before the restriction was lifted the character of the ninth doctor made a silent off screen appearance that affects the plot of the kingmaker 2006 . a major exception to this restriction was an 11 chapter arc entitled destiny of the doctor 2013 produced by big finish in conjunction with audiogo rights holders to the 2005 present series which allowed big finish to produce storylines featuring the ninth tenth and eleventh doctors to mark the 50th anniversary of the franchise . citation needed in february 2015 big finish announced that following a licensing deal with bbc worldwide they had been permitted to produce an audio series entitled unit extinction starring kate stewart played by jemma redgrave . the debut of the character on audio marks the second time big finish have been actively permitted to utilise material introduced in the 2005 revival . in may 2015 big finish announced a new series of torchwood featuring john barrowman . 10 on 27 june 2015 it was announced that big finish would produce a line of stories featuring river song and the eighth doctor as well as stories from winston churchill and his interactions with the doctor . further it was announced that a special set would be released featuring classic doctors in this case the fifth sixth seventh and eighth doctors with new series monsters the weeping angels the judoon the sycorax and the sontarans . the latter story will also connect into the time war . according to big finish s website their licence extends no further than the time of the doctor . therefore they can not feature the twelfth doctor or anything introduced in his era . 11 developments in the 2005 revival tv series also impacted the availability of certain characters . for example big finish was no longer allowed to use the character of davros following his return to the series in 2008 although this restriction has since been lifted and davros returned to big finish in the curse of davros january 2012 . prior to the character s being featured in the new series he had been used in several plays portrayed by terry molloy who played davros in three tv serials in the 1980s . in a 2008 podcast nicholas briggs explained that all scripts are sent through the tv show s offices in cardiff to prevent any potential conflicts in continuity . 12 one reason for the restriction was that bbc audiobooks has since 2008 been producing its own exclusive to audio stories featuring the fourth tenth and eleventh doctors sarah jane smith and torchwood as well as releasing full cast audio dramas similar to big finish s format based upon torchwood . however despite bbc audio s also producing an ongoing series of fourth doctor adventures this has not affected big finish s ability to feature the character as well . the return of sarah jane smith to the continuity of the tv series and subsequent the sarah jane adventures spin off resulted in the character s no longer being available to big finish forcing the cancellation of an ongoing sarah jane smith audio series . according to briggs permission from russell t davies producer and creator of the sarah jane adventures had been secured that would have allowed the character and actress elisabeth sladen to return to big finish for a series of stories alongside tom baker s fourth doctor but sladen s illness and death in april 2011 put an end to those plans . 13 the return of doctor who to television in 2005 did not have an immediate impact on the audio plays save that the grouping of eighth doctor adventures into seasons ceased and subsequent releases starring paul mcgann were folded into the regular releases featuring previous doctors . mcgann who appeared as the doctor in a 1996 telemovie yet never got a television series of his own concluded his fourth and last continuous audio season with the release of the next life 2004 and has continued to appear in standalone releases as of 2013 . six of the earliest eighth doctor dramas were broadcast in bbc 7 s the 7th dimension slot between august 2005 and january 2006 these were storm warning sword of orion the stones of venice invaders from mars shada and the chimes of midnight . minuet in hell originally released on cd between the stones of venice and invaders from mars was judged unsuitable for the timeslot . citation needed all six of these stories were rebroadcast on bbc 7 beginning in july 2006 and again in september 2007 . citation needed in september 2006 doctor who magazine announced that big finish would be producing a new eight part audio miniseries featuring the eighth doctor and new companion lucie miller played by sheridan smith set later in the character s chronology i.e. after he has parted ways with then current companions charley pollard and c rizz . the miniseries was broadcast on bbc 7 beginning on new year s eve 2006 and subsequently released on cd . citation needed each episode was 50 minutes long ; most were one part stories with