The Eighth Doctor’s snake bite

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) and his companions Charley (India Fisher) and Audacity (Jaye Griffiths) return for three brand-new episodes of full-cast audio drama in December’s box set Deadly Strangers – and among the threats they’ll be facing is the terrifying Mara. 

First seen in 1982 Doctor Who TV story Kinda, before returning in the following year’s Snakedance, the Mara is a gestalt entity that manifests itself in the form of a snake and takes over hosts via their dreams. 

A luxury sleep clinic, where a rich elite lay dormant through the dark times of their planet, is the perfect hunting ground for the Mara. The TARDIS lands in the midst of this in Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle’s The Gloaming – and one of the crew is targeted to become the Mara’s latest puppet. 

Before that, though, the time travellers encounter the legendary composer Puccini (in a story written by the Doctor Who TV movie’s scriptwriter Matthew Jacobs, making his Big Finish debut) and meet a troubled child during a women’s strike in 1970s Iceland. 

Doctor Who – The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Deadly Strangers is now available to pre-order as a collector’s edition 3-disc CD box set (+ download for just £22.99) or as a digital download only (for just £18.99), exclusively here.

The three new adventures for the Eighth Doctor and his companions are: 

Puccini and the Doctor by Matthew Jacobs

Inspired by his friends, the Doctor takes Charley and Audacity to Milan to meet Puccini and hear the music of love. 

But the Doctor is not the only alien entranced by humanity. The mysterious Tura is setting riddles, and for those who answer, the experience is transformative... 

Women’s Day Off by Lisa McMullin

Iceland, 1975 – Charley and Audacity are thrilled to discover that the women have gone on strike. All of them. With potentially disastrous consequences for a girl called Kyla – and everyone she comes into contact with. 

The Gloaming by Lauren Mooney & Stewart Pringle

The Doctor, Charley and Audacity arrive on Gloaming, a luxury sleep clinic in orbit around a dead world. Gloaming is filled with wealthy Sleepers, dreaming through the dark ages of their world in suspended animation. 

But something is growing here, creeping into minds and poisoning dreams. Something the Doctor fought long ago... 

Producer David Richardson said: “We’ve been wanting to bring the Mara back to Doctor Who for a while now, and I thought it would be interesting to see how they would work in the context of a different TARDIS team. Every previous TV and audio tale has focused on the fantastic Fifth Doctor team, but it’s good to shake things up and here it’s the Eighth Doctor and his friends who face their malign influence.” 

The Gloaming co-writer Lauren Mooney added: “What’s rich about this TARDIS team setup is that Charlie has a long history with the Doctor but Audacity is relatively new. There’s an insecurity that can arise from being a new part of a team, and with the Mara, that opens up.” 

And, co-writer Stewart Pringle said: “It's been so exciting to dive back into Kinda and Snakedance, two incredible stories, and also into the world and the mythology that Christopher Bailey wrote for the Mara, which is this incredibly deep and very literate conceptual world, heavily influenced by modernist poetry, T.S. Eliot in particular. We wanted to lean deeper into that and the idea of the Mara as a creature that emerges at the death of an empire.” 

Big Finish listeners can save money by pre-ordering Deadly Strangers in a multibuy bundle with the previous Eighth Doctor Adventures box set, Echoes, for just £44 (collector’s edition CD + 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 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.