June the 8th and this week’s free Doctor Who download from Big Finish brings Beep the Meep in an adventure (part one) with Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. Details after the break, including some new low prices on bundles.

Meep.

Comic Strip Adventures

The groundbreaking Doctor Who Magazine comic strip marked the first time a cute alien was the deadly villain, and the first time a person of colour became the Doctor’s companion.  

Since the beginning of the lockdown imposed by the coronavirus crisis, Big Finish has been releasing weekly FREE DOWNLOADS of audio dramas – or #lockdownloads – for a limited time. 

Every Monday, a new story (or episode from a box set collection) can be downloaded exclusively from the Big Finish web site’s Weekly Deals page at https://www.bigfinish.com/collections/v/weekly-deals.  

These stories can be unlocked by anyone who has registered for a Big Finish account (which is free to create) and played on the Big Finish listening app (which is free to install).  

Each story will be available for one week only, and comes accompanied by a special discount offer on related titles.  

This week’s free title is:  

Doctor Who and the Star Beast – episode one, adapted by Alan Barnes 

Starring Tom Baker and Rhianne Starbuck, Doctor Who and the Star Beast is based on the Doctor Who Weekly comic strips written by Pat Mills and John Wagner, with art by Dave Gibbons. 

Nicholas Briggs, director of the story said:

“The alien monster craziness is contrasted sharply with a dash of kitchen sink drama and a touch of Grange Hill, which predated the TV series exploring more domestic settings. It’s interesting how the brilliant comics writer of these strips, Pat Mills, kind of anticipated this. Alan has a great love for Pat’s work, and he was absolutely the right fit to adapt these beautiful, bonkers adventures of an extra-eccentric Fourth Doctor.” 

There is an interview with actor Rhianne Starbuck, who plays companion Sharon, here: https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/new-companion-for-the-fourth-doctor 

Listeners can download this story FREE from now until 23:59 (UK time) 14 June 2020 at the Big Finish website.   

1980 AD! In Yorkshire, the authorities have dismissed reports that an Unidentified Flying Object was seen plummeting towards the ground… moments before the explosion that destroyed the Blackcastle Steel Mills. After all, Blackcastle is the last place on Earth aliens would ever want to visit… 

Local teenagers Sharon and Fudge know better. ’Cos they’ve found an actual space alien hiding in the allotments. He’s their alien. Their secret. And his name is… The Meep. 

He’s not the only alien in Blackcastle, though. His pursuers, the terrible Wrarth Warriors, are on his trail, along with their unwitting accomplice: the Doctor! 

For a limited time, Big Finish listeners can also download the entire box set of Doctor Who – The Comic Strip Adaptations volume one for 33% off, at the Weekly Deals page.  

Additionally, the bundle price of the complete Doctor Who – Novel Adaptations Volume 01-02 is now available at its lowest ever download price of just £35 when both volumes are bought together. All these download discounts will expire at 23:59 (UK time) 14 June 2020.  

Big Finish’s schedule of free lockdownload stories has been extended and new free adventures will continue to be released over the next three weeks.