Big Finish Productions

Big Finish Productions is an British audio production company founded in 1998, which since 1999 has produced audio dramas and prose stories related to Doctor Who. Big Finish began in late 1998 with audio adaptations of novels featuring the Seventh Doctor's former companion Bernice Summerfield, before securing the license to produce authorized Doctor Who audio plays. Later, the company branched out into prose publishing, producing a long-running series of novels and short story anthologies featuring Summerfield, followed by its acquisition of the Short Trips line of Doctor Who-related short stories, previously published by BBC Books.

The company has also obtained the licence to produce original audio dramas based upon other franchises, including Sapphire and Steel, Stargate SG-1, and The Tomorrow People.

A number of Big Finish writers and production personnel and actors, among them David Tennant, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Briggs, Gareth Roberts, Gary Russell, Paul Cornell, Matt Jones and Robert Shearman, among others, have gone to do work for Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood. Many, such as Briggs, were also involved in the production of unlicenced audio productions (such as Audio Visuals), as well as non-Who audio and video productions such as The Stranger. Briggs currently serves as producer for the Big Finish line of Doctor Who audio adventures, concurrent with his ongoing voiceover work on the BBC TV series.

Currently, Big Finish produces a monthly series of Doctor Who dramas in a four 30-minute episode format (similar to the format of the classic TV serials. These stories randomly feature the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors. In 2007, a separate monthly series of one-hour Eighth Doctor adventures was created, though the Eighth Doctor continues to appear occasionally in the main Doctor Who range. In addition, Big Finish produces the monthly Companion Chronicles, a series of hour-long stories narrated by former companions of the Doctor; and a number of other spin-offs including Dalek Empire, Sarah Jane Smith, Cyberman, Unbound, and Gallifrey. Another spin-off, Jago and Litefoot, was recently announced, in addition to a new Gallifrey series.

The Companion Chronicles has allowed Big Finish to feature stories involving the first four Doctors, despite their original actors being unavailable (the narrator of each story performs the role). As such, all eight "classic series" Doctors have now been represented in some way in Big Finish productions. (The company does not, at present, have the rights to produce any audio stories based upon the Ninth, Tenth, or Eleventh Doctors, and related characters, as BBC Audio holds those rights. Actors involved in the 2005-present revival, such as Georgia Moffett, have participated in Big Finish productions, however.)

In April 2009, Big Finish was forced to terminate its prolific Short Trips books when the BBC did not renew its licence to publish Doctor Who-related prose. However, in August 2009 it was announced that the BBC had renewed Big Finish's licence to produce Doctor Who-related audio dramas through to 31st December 2011. In February 2010, Big Finish announced that they had opted to continue producing the Short Trips range in the form of audio dramas adapted from fan-submitted stories. 

In March 2010, Tom Baker made a surprise posting on his website indicating that he was in discussions with Big Finish about possibly recording audio dramas for the company, reprising the Fourth Doctor. Big Finish followed this confirming that they and Tom Baker are in talks, but nothing is confirmed as yet. Nicholas Briggs posted that 'Tom and I have been communicating about possible projects for some time. There is really no firm news other than that, but we are both keen to make something happen. Lis Sladen, Louise Jameson and Nicholas Courtney have also expressed an interest in being involved, but no storylines have been written or approved yet and we don't anticipate anything being available before 2011.'

Doctor Who Related Series

 * Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Dramas
 * Big Finish Bernice Summerfield Series
 * Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Spin-offs
 * Short Trips