The Fifth Doctor is sent to The Great Beyond
Peter Davison stars in an epic new Doctor Who full-cast audio drama, due for release in September from Big Finish Productions.
2024’s second Fifth Doctor Adventures release sees the celery-wearing Time Lord (Peter Davison) banged up in a terrifying deep space prison. He’s not alone, though – among his jail mates are companions Tegan (Janet Fielding), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse).
This fan-favourite TARDIS crew star in an expansive six-part story written by James Kettle. It’ll take all the skills they can muster to escape Beyond.
Doctor Who – The Fifth Doctor Adventures: The Great Beyond is now available to pre-order for just £22.99 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £18.99 (digital download only), exclusively here.
The Doctor has been sent to Beyond – for the rest of his natural lives.
In the years after a devastating intergalactic war, a prison facility was set up on a distant planet. To preserve the fragile peace, the most dangerous former combatants are sentenced to life in Beyond. Like the notorious Starclair sisters, whose involvement on both sides of the war is the stuff of legend – as well as a certain Time Lord with a reputation for interfering in things that don’t concern them.
But there’s something else on the planet too. Something that adds an infinite variety of agony to a life sentence on Beyond, and makes the inmates wish for the relative comfort of death. Because what’s coming to those that stay too long in Beyond is almost too hideous to contemplate. Alive and conscious, deprived of your senses and all movement. Just locked in, alone in a darkness that lasts forever.
Doctor Who – The Fifth Doctor Adventures: The Great Beyond guest stars Philip Hurd-Wood, who voiced the Graske in Doctor Who: Music of the Spheres and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as the villainous prison governor Ivan.
Also on the cast list are Maggie Service (Good Omens), Anna Crichlow (Sense & Sensibility), Paksie Vernon (Angels in America), John Hopkins (Masters of the Air), and Andrew Wincott (The Archers).
Producer David Richardson said: “The Fifth Doctor and his companions had brilliant stories on TV, but none of them went beyond four episodes. The Great Beyond is a massive six episodes – three hours of audio – which allows writer James Kettle so much more scope for worldbuilding and character development, and more opportunities to up the stakes.
“This is the Doctor and his friends in prison – but it’s a prison with a difference, on a bleak alien world, and they’ll discover that there’s a terrible price to pay if they are ever to return to their old lives…”
Praise for previous releases in The Fifth Doctor Adventures range:
“In The Night understands just how brilliant this core cast can be. It gives them plenty of opportunities for emotion and humour worthy of their talents.”
Blogtor Who“The Pursuit of the Nightjar is almost disorienting in how good it is, a real love letter to the ’80s era of the show. It’s the sort of story I could praise all day and listen to repeatedly.”
Nerdgazm“Without a doubt one of the strongest Doctor Who releases of 2023, giving us two solid stories full of excellent performances and thought-provoking discussions.”
Who Review“Davison and company are as ever in top form, relishing in the chance to deepen characters that tended to be underwritten on television.”
Indie Mac User
The Great Beyond can be pre-ordered in a bundle with 2024’s other Fifth Doctor Adventures box set, The Dream Team, for just £44 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £36 (download only).
All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release.
Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,500 copies and will not be repressed.
Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.