Ten Doctor Who Ranges From Big Finish That Are Worth A Try

But First: The Worlds of Doctor Who & The Worlds of Big Finish

These two box sets make a good jumping off point for the main Big Finish ranges (from when they were released in 2014 and 2015 respectively). They're big crossover events hat have the feel of a, good old fashioned, aniversary specail. They arent big, ambitious free for alls though. Like many Big Finish box sets they have a handfull of mostly self contained episodes with an overarching storyline and many of the characters from different ranges (and episodes) don't actually meet. For anyone who prefers to dive into things, stop reading here and go listen to these two to get you started.

1: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield

When I say 'The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield', what I really mean is, anything in which she apears. But this is her Doctor Who range (she has a lot of solo adventures as well as releases in the Doctor Who main range, Companion Chronicles, Novel adaptations). Big Finish have done a lot with Benny, they've been doing it for a quarter of a century and they're good at it.

I am a big fan of Benny, for a whole host of reasons that I won't go into here.

The New Adventures sees Benny, first with The Seventh doctor and Ace for the first two box sets. Later she joins up with David Warner's unbound Doctor and they end up in his (dying) universe with Mark Gatiss' Master.

2: Gallifrey

In which Romana II is Lord Presedent of Gallifrey, Leela is her trusted best friend and sidekick (I ship it), there are no less than two K-9 units (the one who stayed with Leela and the one who went with Romana in E-Space) and The Doctor's brother (possibly pridonian, possibly his actual brother... I'm not sure anymore, the man's an inigma), Braxiatel.

It's a range that's been around a while and had a brief hiatus in the late naughties.

It's kind of a ploitical thriller in space which (asside from the space part) isn't usually my thing but the Romana/Leela (slash deffinatley intended) dynamic is entirely captivating. They're two characters who have absolutly nothing in common except for the Doctor. It's just a really nice dynamic for a whole host of reasons I won't go into.

3: UNIT: The New Series

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Osgood lead a UNIT ensemble. A Colonel, a Captain and a Lieutennant. There are lots of nice callbacks to the original UNIT. Kate talks about her Dad a lot and they come up against Autons and Sea Devils and Silurians. In the third box set (pictured) Kate enlists the help of Mike Yates, John Benton and Jo Jones and it's a bit of a romp.

River comes in at one point, as does (a surprisingly helpful) War Master.

4: Jago & Lightfoot

Remember that odd couple from 'The Tallons of Weng Chiang' (again, I ship it) They have their own range. They rin around Victorian London solving paranormal crimes. Sherlock Holmes, The Paternoster Gang and Jago & Lightfoot all occasionally name drop each other, which I quite like.

They ran for 13 box sets, a companion chronicle and a couple of single releases, in one of which Strax taggs along.

5: The Paternoster Gang

The Paternoster Gang is a shiny, new range and they aren't shy about the Victorian lesbians either. They run around Victorian London solving crimes and being unapologetically queer and occasionally name dropping Sherlock Holmes and Jago & Lightfoot. It's glorious.

6: Iris Wildtyme

I mean, it's Katy Manning running around (often innebreated) in a time travelling London bus with a potty mouthed stuffed panda (yes, he can talk). Where's the downside?

7:The Lives of Captain Jack

The Lives of Captain Jack is a series of adventures from Jack's life outside Torchwood. He teams up with various other people. Jackie Tyler, River Song, Alonso Frame, The Sixth Doctor). There' s some real gems. He trades coats with Six and they pretend to be each other, which is histerical, and one of the best things to ever happen in Big Finish. As is, Jack and River being absolute bros across time and space for an entire episode. They're nice little slices of immortal life, if there were occasionally mortal peril in nice little slices of life.

8: Torchwood

Big Finish do Torchwood well, and they do a lot of it. A lot of it is nice two handers which can broadly stand alone. there are a few throughlines now and then but a lot of the monthly releases can stand alone fairly easily. They also do fairly regular specal releases and box sets. Some of the less promenent characters (like Andy and Rhys) get some nice stuff too.

9: Class

Personally, I'm much fonder of Class on audio than I was on TV. I enjoyed it on TV and a second season (especally sinse they ended on a clifhanger) would have gone a long way. The show was big, it had big ideas and big stories. I just always felt a bit too big and a bit too fast. It needed some ime to settle and find it's feet, to take a breath. The first two volumes are a series of two and three handers where they solve a problem that arises. I like the feel of them, and Ace shows up in the last one with a Dalek and a ball gown.

10: The Diary of River Song

Anyone who has ever mentioned River Song in my presence knows I'm not her bigest fan. Mainly because I don't think much of her as an archaeologist. Due mainly to her lack of ethics, innability to play well with others (arguably two of most important qualities in an arhaeoogist) and several other reasons I won't go into. There is however, the ocasional glimmer of a reasonable archaeologist.

I was hoping for something a bit more archaeological (though it is more so than the TV series) out of the range. I do quite enjoy them though. She will often pair up with a different doctor in each box set and her dynamics with them are interesting.

I don't enjoy this range as much as I do some of the others. A Benny or the UNIT stuff I can go back to over and over in any mood or situation. i have to be in quite a specific place to enjoy or even listen to a Diary of River Song (and I occasionally do).