The First Doctor’s Family History 

Generations. Found. Lost. Families take many forms. Across time and space and sometimes closer than they would think, the Doctor’s friends have encountered many different forms of family who have touched their hearts over the years. 

Big Finish Productions’ popular Doctor Who range The Companion Chronicles returns today, with a box set of four dramatised readings of brand-new stories, each focusing on a companion of the First Doctor. 

The box set opens with an adventure for Vicki (Maureen O'Brien), followed by a new tale for Susan (Carole Ann Ford), which begins after her appearances in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series. Then, there are trips into history for Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Lauren Cornelius). 

In the first two episodes, Duncan Wisbey plays various characters, while the third and fourth stories feature Stephen Noonan as the First Doctor and other voices. 

Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: Families is now available to purchase for just £24.99 (download to own) or £30.99 (collector's edition 4-disc CD box set + download), exclusively here. Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,000 copies and will not be repressed. 

 The four fantastic new audio stories are: 

The Temple of Light by Jonathan Morris 

Time has stopped. The TARDIS has frozen. And yet, Vicki finds herself with an entirely unfamiliar civilisation while the Doctor, Ian and Barbara are nowhere to be seen… 

Stardust and Ashes by Ian Potter

Reflecting on all she has lost, Susan recalls a time long ago, when she and her travelling family were trapped, their lives at the mercy of a machine intelligence. But everyone can learn from circumstance and from those around them – even in the ashes of hope, we can sometimes see stardust. 

The White Ship by Paul Morris

The Doctor and Steven land in Normandy, where Henry I is preparing to set sail for England. Steven gets mistaken for Stephen of Blois – the cousin of Henry’s heir and the future king… on the day the White Ship sank. 

The Y Factor by Christopher Cooper

Aided by septuagenarian jujitsu expert Edith Garrud, the First Doctor and Dodo Chaplet encounter an alien fungus that warps evil thoughts into evil deeds. 

 

Maureen O'Brien, who reads The Temple of Light, said: “I don’t know how people write Doctor Who scripts – they are always enormously inventive. This one was delightful. Vicki has her usual spirit of defiant adventurousness, refusal to be beaten by anything, enormous curiosity, and extraordinary humanity.” 

Of his episode, The White Ship, Peter Purves said: “I thought, what a great story. It wasn’t a piece of history I’d ever heard. When I was in the TV show, I always loved the history stories. When it was a historical script, it was always much more fun to do.” 

And Lauren Cornelius, who makes her Companion Chronicles debut in The Y Factor, said: “This script was very different to a lot of the other ones that I’ve done. It was really interesting to get my head round doing the narration and then jumping into the action and throwing my voice in as Edith as well. It has an audiobook quality to it, but you’ve still got all that gorgeous Big Finish drama in there too. I loved it.” 

Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: Families is now available to purchase for just £24.99 (download to own) or £30.99 (collector's edition 4-disc CD box set + download), exclusively here.  

All the above prices (including pre-order and multibuy bundle discounts) are fixed for a limited time only and guaranteed no later than 31 May 2025. 

For a limited time only, selected Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles releases are available up to 50% off. Click here to browse the discounts. (Offers expire no later that 23:59, UK time, on 05 May 2025.)

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.