Tom Baker signs up for Big Finish!

Having spent many years said he never would, Lord Thomas of Baker has signed on the dotted line.

We’re delighted to announce that Tom Baker will be playing the Fourth Doctor in a number of audio adventures for Big Finish, to be released from the beginning of 2012. Storylines and scripts are already at an advanced stage, and we plan to start recording early in the summer.

The first season of six single-disc releases will begin in January 2012, with a second season of seven single-disc releases to follow at a date to be confirmed. There will also be a five-disc box set entitled Doctor Who: The Lost Stories – The Fourth Doctor Box Set... The producers across the Fourth Doctor adventures are Nicholas Briggs and David Richardson.

“As many of you will know, we've been talking to Tom for a long time,” says Big Finish executive producer Nick Briggs. “David Richardson and I went to visit Tom at his home not long ago to chat about it all. We had a really great time. At that point, I sincerely felt that had we taken a microphone with us, Tom would have started there and then - but, of course, there are always finer details to sort out. Now that our plans are in place, and Tom has enthusiastically told the world that we're going ahead, we thought it best to follow-up with our own announcement. Rest assured that in the coming months we will be releasing news on this as soon as we are able.”

Executive producer Jason Haigh-Ellery says: "I am delighted that Tom will be joining the Big Finish audio adventures of Doctor Who. As a small child, I remember how charismatic and engaging his performance was each Saturday tea time - and we are all looking forward to recreating that era again."

We can confirm that the companions in these productions will be Louise Jameson as Leela and Mary Tamm as Romana, and some familiar monstrous faces from the past will be popping up too.

Brilliant!!!!!

< > Excellent! </ >

Very much looking forward to these adventures.

Zoltar wrote:Very much looking forward to these adventures.

Zoltar, your avatar looks all a dither about this news.

Patrick wrote:Zoltar, your avatar looks all a dither about this news.

I think he's looking forward to seeing Leela and Romana 1 again...

It's a fantastic turnaround by Tom. When Gary Russell was Executive Producer on BF he tried and tried but simply couldn't get him interested.

I think that as time goes on, so Tom realises he would like to leave a modern legacy alongside his fellow classic series Doctors.

Good news - I'm very happy to hear this.