Main Range/2001

A twelve-story batch in the Main Range audio series was released by Big Finish Productions in 2001.

Overview
There were a number of firsts in the 2001 Main Range batch, undoubtedly the most notable being Paul McGann returning to the role of the Eighth Doctor.

Storm Warning featured McGann in the role of the Eighth Doctor for the first time since his debut in the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie. He was joined by an original companion, Charlotte Pollard, played by India Fisher who would feature in all but four of the Eighth Doctor's Main Range stories. His first run of four consecutive stories featured the first appearance of the Cybermen in Sword of Orion and the reappearance of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart in Minuet in Hell.

Elsewhere in the year, played by Geoffrey Beevers had his Big Finish debut in Dust Breeding. Beevers would be the only incarnation of the Master to act at the company for several years. The Silurians debuted in Bloodtide and Elizabeth Klein in Colditz though she would not appear again until A Thousand Tiny Wings in 2010 where she was reintroduced as a companion. The TARDIS team of the Sixth Doctor and Mel debuted at the company in The One Doctor.

In The Eye of the Scorpion, in another Big Finish first, an original companion was introduced alongside one from the television series. In this case Erimem joined the Fifth Doctor and Peri in their travels. Erimem would appear in almost every Fifth Doctor and Peri story until her departure in The Bride of Peladon in 2008.

Nimrod and the Forge first appeared in Project: Twilight and begun an arc that would feature prominently until Gods and Monsters in 2012.

Cast

 * Paul McGann
 * Peter Davison
 * Mark Strickson
 * Sylvester McCoy
 * Sophie Aldred
 * Colin Baker
 * Nicola Bryant
 * Sarah Sutton
 * Bonnie Langford

With

 * India Fisher as Charley
 * Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier