In what may have seemed inevitable with his appearance in the TV episode Twice Upon a Time, Big Finish has today announced a new series of First Doctor Adventures with David Bradley playing the First Doctor. Not only do these feature David Bradley, but the rest of the TARDIS cast from An Adventure in Space and Time are appearing: Jemma Powell as Barbara (already heard on Big Finish), Jamie Glover as Ian and Claudia Grant as Susan.

If you read the announcement (DAVID BRADLEY RETURNS TO THE TARDIS IN DOCTOR WHO – THE FIRST DOCTOR ADVENTURES!) you’ll also see a new incarnation of the Master, the first, played by James Dreyfus. Big Finish has done wonderful work with their own Alex Macqueen Master, so there’s every reason to be excited. The stories will include some pure historicals and be set in the show’s first season.

December 2017 sees Matt Fitton’s The Destination Wars and Guy Adams’s The Great White Hurricane; Jul;y 2018 will see John Dorney’s The Invention of Death and Andrew Smith’s The Barbarian and the Samurai.

As might be expected, fan reaction is mixed, and there are questions over the number of similar products in the Companion Chronicles and Early Adventures ranges. There’s also worry about future recasting of the Second Doctor but we already have Tim Treloar doing a sterling job as the Third Doctor.

I can understand some fans being upset as Big Finish had an easy to understand vision when launched – new stories with original cast members. This new range has none of the original actors in role, but the BBC has recast the First Doctor a few times, and time moves on.