Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures: Doctor Who and the Brain Drain

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Doctor Who - The Third Doctor Adventures

Released February 2025

Written by Richard James Nicholas Briggs

Starring Tim Treloar Daisy Ashford

From US $25.33

About
Backstage
Cast
Production Credits

This title was released in February 2025. It will be exclusively available to buy from the Big Finish website until 31 March 2025, and on general sale after this date.

A newly exiled Doctor accompanies Liz Shaw and the Brigadier to a symposium held in an imposing Scottish castle. Professor MacLeod and her son have developed a new treatment for memory loss and a possible cure for dementia.

As the Doctor investigates sightings of strange mythical creatures, and ghosts are unleashed in the castle’s corridors, Liz and the Brigadier search for a connection.

Just what is happening to the energy produced by the MacLeods’ revolutionary treatment? And what is the strange creature that hides in the castle grounds?

Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart © Haisman & Lincoln and used under licence.
With thanks to Hannah Haisman and Candy Jar

Recorded on: 10-12 June 2024

Recorded at: Fitzrovia Post

Chronological placement:
This story takes place between the television adventures Spearhead from Space and Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Nicholas Briggs said: "My wife had been editing one of Richard’s books and said to me, he writes beautifully. He also knows his old Doctor Who and has a very clear sense of the Third Doctor era, so I asked him for ideas for Third Doctor stories. He sent this one pitch and it had something about it that I really liked. It felt like Doctor Who, but also like an old-fashioned Sunday afternoon teatime adventure.”

Richard James added: “Nick’s written not just some of the best Doctor Who for Big Finish, but some of the best scripts I've ever heard. I love his Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller stories; I remember listening to those avidly. So I was delighted to co-write with him.

"And I never knew I was such a big fan of the Third Doctor era until I started writing the script and suddenly I could hear the Doctor, the Brigadier and Liz Shaw in my head. It was quite extraordinary. Liz is really interesting, and was criminally underused at the time, so I gave her the opportunity to come to the fore and do her own investigating.

"It was amazing hearing those words coming back to me by the people who were born to say them. Not just the likes of Tim Treloar, Daisy Ashford and Jon Culshaw as the triumvirate that we all know and love, but also the incredible supporting cast."

To mark ten years of his performance as the Third Doctor, we asked some of his colleagues to reflect on Tim Treloar's time in the TARDIS so far...

Daisy Ashford, who plays Liz Shaw, said: "Working with Tim is exciting, invigorating, annoying, loud, relentless, joyful, hilarious. He's lovely. I love Tim."

Jon Culshaw, the voice of the Brigadier, said: "My first time with Tim as the Third Doctor was about five years ago. Primord was the story. And it was a glorious, glorious experience. Tim Treloar is a fabulous tumbling ball of energy to work with, and with such a melodic, rich, resonant portrayal of Jon Pertwee. Working with him is so full of laughter and good camaraderie. The sense of great friendship and happy chaos never gets in the way of doing the job, but energises it. Five years have just gone like that."

And Nicholas Briggs, who has directed Tim throughout The Third Doctor Adventures, said: "Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor - he's kind of my fault. It was my idea to cast him and I had to take responsibility and direct him. And I've been directing him in The Third Doctor Adventures ever since. It’s been a roller coaster. It's lots of fun. I really like him and he just gets better and better, which is probably why he's one of our most popular Doctors."