The Fourth Doctor is headed to Victorian London to make an appearance in the next box set of The Paternoster Gang’s crime-fighting escapades.
Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) have three brand-new full-cast audio mysteries to solve in The Casebook of Paternoster Row, out today from Big Finish Productions.
Joining them in the first of the three adventures is the Fourth Doctor (played by Tom Baker).
Producer David Richardson said: “There’s a cuckoo in the nest at Paternoster Row, and an alien time and space traveller passing through Victorian London. The Fourth Doctor crashes into Vastra’s life – and listening to the scenes featuring Tom Baker and Neve McIntosh is an absolute thrill.”
Actor Neve McIntosh added: “Acting with Tom Baker has been something I’ve wanted to do for so long. He was my Doctor growing up, from when I was hiding behind the sofa.”
The Paternoster Gang: Trespassers – The Casebook of Paternoster Row is now available to pre-order as a collector’s edition 3-disc CD box set (+ download for just £19.99) or as a digital download only (for just £16.99), exclusively at www.bigfinish.com.
In Victorian England, the Great Detective, Madame Vastra, her resourceful spouse, Jenny Flint, and their loyal valet, Strax, solve conundrums, fight injustice and capture criminals – but an enemy has taken up residence undetected. Vastra believes trespassers are close at hand, and seeks out clues in some of the Gang’s previous cases…
The three investigations puzzling the trio are:
“Anne of a Thousand Light Years” by James Kettle
The course of true love never does run smooth – especially when it involves a high-born young lady, a humble farmhand and extra-terrestrial chameleons on the lookout for breeding stock.
Will Lady Anne Warminster marry the man of her dreams? Will the amorphous Glossophants secure their chosen spawn bride? Will Jenny ever finish reading a novel by Anthony Trollope? In the heart of the English countryside, the Gang tackle an assignment involving romance, skulduggery, and horse manure.
“Pater Noster” by Gary Russell
Something is hiding in the sewers of London, picking off the poor and lost souls who live down there… Madame Vastra opens a case file that takes her back to her early days and a Life Task that must be finally fulfilled. A case where she and her friends face death from an enemy capable of shredding matter into echoing screams…
“The Gentlemen Thieves” by Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle
Vastra reviews the case of a “one-man crime wave” – break-ins and burglaries, committed by the same handsome and daring thief, even when they were committed at exactly the same time.
Unravelling the secrets of these doppelganger ne’er-do-wells, the Gang touch on the fringes of a bigger conspiracy. But as Vastra recalls the past, the dangers of the present are closing in.
The first story, Anne of a Thousand Light Years, features a guest performance from Tom Baker, as the Fourth Doctor teams up with The Paternoster Gang for the first time. And, joining the cast in The Gentleman Thieves is Cassian Bilton (star of Apple TV’s Foundation), making his Big Finish debut as the skulduggerous fop Rackham – and all his mysterious duplicates.
The box set’s cast also includes Karen Archer, Anna Crichlow, Richard Reed, Jamie Newall, Helen Goldwyn, Yasmin Mwanza, Nicholas Boulton, Gareth Armstrong, and Leighton Pugh.
Actor Catrin Stewart said: “It’s really lovely to get the gang back together. We filmed the first episode in 2011, and I can’t believe it’s 2023 and here we are, revisiting these characters again. They don’t go away, and you can always come back to them.”
Dan Starkey added: “Strax as ever has some strong moments, where his enthusiasm overruns his ability to listen and take instructions. So, there’s violence, he’s rather excited about twelve-bore shotguns, and the world is a great surprise for him in his myriad ways!”
And Neve McIntosh said: “We have a very special guest performance from Mr Tom Baker as the Doctor, which I am so stoked about. Acting with Tom Baker has been something I’ve wanted to do for so long. He was my Doctor growing up, from when I was hiding behind the sofa. That’s a wee tick off the bucket list!”
All of time and space …
Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who audio drama releases
| Range | Title | Starring | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sontarans vs Rutans | “The Battle of Giant’s Causeway” | Paul McGann, India Fisher, Conrad Westmaas | Jan. 10, 2024 |
| First Doctor Adventures | “Fugitive of the Daleks” | Stephen Noonan, Maureen O’Brien | Jan. 23, 2024 |
| Doctor Who audio novels | “The Chaos Cascade” | Dan Starkey, Beth Chalmers, Rebecca Root | January 2024 |
| Eleventh Doctor Adventures | “Victory of the Doctor” | Jacob Dudman, Safiyya Ingar | Feb. 6, 2024 |
| Ninth Doctor Adventures | “Buried Threats” | Christopher Eccleston, Lisa Bowerman | February 2024 |
| Third Doctor Adventures | “Revolution in Space” | Tim Treloar, Sadie Miller | Feb. 13, 2024 |
| Sontarans vs Rutans | “The Children of the Future” | Tim Treloar, Sadie Miller, Jon Culshaw | Feb. 8, 2024 |
| Torchwood | “Another Postcard from Mr Colchester” | Paul Clayton | February 2024 |
| Torchwood | “Sabotage” | Sophie Aldred, Paul Clayton | February 2024 |
| Master! | “Planet Doom” | Eric Roberts, Chase Masterson | Feb. 20, 2024 |
| Twelfth Doctor Chronicles | “You Only Die Twice” | Jacob Dudman, Bhavnisha Parmar | March 2024 |
| Sontarans vs Rutans | “Born to Die” | Colin Baker, India Fisher | March 2024 |
| Fourth Doctor Adventures | “Storm of the Sea Devils” | Tom Baker, Christopher Naylor, Eleanor Crooks | March 5, 2024 |
| Sixth Doctor Adventures | “The Quin Dilemma” | Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Bonnie Langford, Miranda Raison, Lisa Greenwood) | March 22, 2024 |
| Fifth Doctor Adventures | “The Dream Team” | Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse | April 9, 2024 |
| The Paternoster Gang | “The Casebook of Paternoster Row” | Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, Dan Starkey, Tom Baker | April 12, 2024 |
| Dark Gallifrey | “Morbius – Part 1” | Samuel West, Hywel Morgan, Andrew French, Mina Anwar, Justin Avoth, Janet Henfrey, Tom Baker | April 3, 2024 |
| Sontarans vs Rutans | “In Name Only” | Jonathon Carley, Dan Starkey, Christopher Ryan, John Banks, Debbie Korley | April 2024 |
| Torchwood | “I Hate Mondays” | Tracy-Ann Oberman, Gareth David-Lloyd, Tim Bentinck | May 2024 |
| Missy | “Bad Influence” | Michelle Gomez, Paterson Joseph, Natalie Gumede, David Shaw Parker | May 2024 |
| Eighth Doctor Adventures | “Echoes” | Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Hattie Morahan | May 2024 |
| Dark Gallifrey | “Morbius – Part 2” | Samuel West, Rachel Atkins, Hywel Morgan, Andrew French, Mina Anwar, Justin Avoth, Janet Henfrey | May 2, 2024 |
| Fourth Doctor Adventures | “Metamorphosis” | Tom Baker, Christopher Naylor, Eleanor Crooks | June 2024 |
| The Novel Adaptations | “Goth Opera” | Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, | July 2024 |
| The Lost Stories | “Deathworld” | Stephen Noonan, Michael Troughton, Tim Treloar | July 2024 |
| The Lost Stories | “Operation Werewolf” | Michael Troughton, Frazier Hines, Wendy Padbury | July 2024 |
| Sixth Doctor Adventures | “Trials of a Time Lord” | Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Bonnie Langford, David Banks | August 2024 |
| Fourth Doctor Adventures | TBA | Tom Baker, Christopher Naylor, Eleanor Crooks | September 2024 |
| Jenny – The Doctor’s Daughter | “Saving Time” | Georgia Tennant | October 2024 |
