When I first heard about the Robots boxsets I have to say I was thrilled. I’ve always admired Liv Chenka (as played by Nicola Walker) from her first appearance, and that has grown with her Eighth Doctor adventures. Big Finish has now announced more details of the three boxsets, making December’s first release something I’m really looking forward to. Liv is a great character, Nicola a great actor and it’s a spin-off from older Doctor Who in a portfolio increasingly dominated by the show’s recent outings.

The Robots news

We have some covers, and some information. I’ll quote the parts I’m most intrigued by:

The Robots Volume One contains three thrilling adventures:

1.1 The Robots of Life by Roland Moore

Settling into life back on Kaldor, Liv investigates a medical centre where the patients are dying.

1.2 The Sentient by Robert Whitelock

Vissey is a young child – the sort of perfect young girl any parents would want to adopt. She is also artificial, and she sees the world in a very different way to humans.

1.3 Love Me Not by John Dorney

A widower goes to extreme lengths to keep the memories of his dead wife alive.

We also have information on Volume Two (and more):

In Volume Two, Big Finish Counter-Measures actors Pamela Salem and David Collings reprise their roles as characters Lish Toos and Ander Poul from the television story, The Robots of Death – and we find out what happened to them following the events on the sandminer.

Pamela said on returning to the role:

“I’m so much a part of this character now I don’t feel like I’m coming back! It’s like doing a wonderful serial that goes on for a long time, you have the opportunity to expand the character and it’s so much more fun to do it over many episodes rather than just in a one off. There are facets to this character I never knew I had, and there are several sides in this series that are surprising – I hope the audience will be as surprised as I am!”

Actor, David adds:

“I’ve played the character on TV, and in a novel and another spin off – they are certainly popular!”

Also reprising his role later in the series, as robot D84 from The Robots of Death, is actor Gregory de Poulnay. He said:

“It’s been really interesting coming back to play D84, the script is so different this time. I think D84 has much more to say – he’s a character in himself now rather than a sidekick to the Doctor.”