History AudioPlay / BigFinishDoctorWho

* AlternateContinuity: Although there isn't ''technically'' a canon for mainstream ''Series/DoctorWho'' (unless you count the BBC as the 'owner'), the Big Finish audio dramas are ''sort of'' one to the television series, with changes that may overwrite or contradict the TV series in BroadStrokes. Some Big Finish stories even have other AlternateContinuities ''within'' themselves:

The company started producing ''Series/DoctorWho'' audios in 1998, with a range of stories focusing on companion Franchise/BerniceSummerfield. The following year, the licence for stories starring the Doctor was secured. The main ''Doctor Who'' range released a new story every month [[LongRunners from 1999 to 2021]][[note]]The first three releases were a bit more sporadic, with a three month gap between the July release of ''The Sirens of Time'' and the October release of ''Phantasmagoria'', and no release for December after the November release of ''Whispers of Terror''. Starting in January 2000 the releases proceeded monthly, barring the occasional ScheduleSlip.[[/note]], with an extra one every September; the monthly range was made up of four trilogies of stories (having previously bounced from Doctor to Doctor every month), plus one standalone release (usually an anthology of short stories) every year, and featured the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors.

* ''[[http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/bernice-summerfield Bernice Summerfield]]'' (has [[Franchise/BerniceSummerfield its own Tropes page]])

** [[Franchise/BerniceSummerfield Benny Summerfield]] introduces a whole lot of snarls. She debuted in the New Adventures, then took over that series as the lead character, leading to some WritingAroundTrademarks when the Doctor was mentioned. Then she got one of the first Big Finish series, some of which [[AdaptedOut adapted the books, but without the Doctor involved]]. They also involve her boss, Braxiatel. Then she meets Bev, who's come over from the mainstream Big Finish Seventh Doctor continuity. And Braxiatel appears in the ''Gallifrey'' series, again in the mainstream continuity. Then Big Finish adapt some more of the novels as part of the BS series, but featuring the Doctor again. Even better, a recent New Series Adventure features the ''Twelfth Doctor'' meeting Benny, along with a ContinuityNod or ten to novels, audios and TV episodes. More recent prose stories indicate Benny's timeline is so twisted now she remembers ''Just War'' happening ''both'' ways (once with the Doctor and once with Jason)! And of course, she's met Iris Wildthyme, who gleefully tramples over ideas like "continuity" just for laughs.

** In "...ish", the story apparently resulted in the creation of an impossibly thick encyclopedia volume starting with DAL, referring to Creator/TerryNation’s apocryphal claim to have named his creations from the spine of an encyclopedia volume covering DAL to LEK. Also, "The Adjective of Noun" is used to describe the structure of many classic episode titles (especially those of Season 14).

* TheSandman: There's an alien race called the Galyari that fight [[TheNthDoctor the Doctor]] in various times (against the [[Creator/ColinBaker Sixth]] and [[Creator/SylvesterMcCoy Seventh Doctor]]) as well some of his companions (Franchise/BerniceSummerfield). They're anthropomorfic chameleon-like aliens who had a shared story with the Doctor, whose see him as "The Sandman".

* CListFodder: Companions created by Big Finish don't often survive. Those that do tend to get [[BreakTheCutie broken]]. Even classic series companions are fair game, since Big Finish has no problems with bringing them back [[BackForTheDead just to have them killed.]] Hell, even the Doctors die [[TheyKilledKenny a few times over]], either in timelines that get reset or before being resurrected again.

* LargeHam: It ''is'' Series/DoctorWho, what did you expect?
** Special mention to Creator/SylvesterMcCoy in "Unregenerate!", where Seven comes down with a case of frothing insanity. You can almost ''hear'' the bacon frying.
** Bonus point to Queen Angvia, played by the legendary [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Pat Quinn]] in "Bang-Bang-A-Boom!", for ''almost'' out-hamming Creator/SylvesterMcCoy.
** Another special mention to Paul [=McGann=] in "Zagreus", with a grand helping of EvilIsHammy.
** Davros makes an admirable effort to out-ham everything else on the planet, including entire ''armies'' of Daleks - on some occasions, he succeeds.
** Any time ''any'' Master actor appears, ''especially'' Alex Macqueen who seems determined to eat ''the entire world''. He often succeeds.

* ''[[https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/the-confessions-of-dorian-gray The Confessions of Dorian Gray]]'' ([[AudioPlay/TheConfessionsOfDorianGray Which also has its own Tropes page now).]]

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* ''[[http://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/v/counter-measures Counter Measures]]'' (a spin-off from the 1988 TV story ''Remembrance of the Daleks''; has [[AudioPlay/CounterMeasures its own Tropes page]])

* ''[[http://bigfinish.com/Jago-and-Litefoot Jago & Litefoot]]'' (a spin-off from the 1977 TV story ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang''; has [[AudioPlay/JagoAndLitefoot its own Tropes page]])

** "Return of the Cybermen", adapted from early scripts for "Revenge of the Cybermen", was originally going to end with the timeline being rewritten to match the televised version. The Time Lord messenger from "Genesis of the Daleks" would appear and outright mention various pre-existing [[ContinuitySnarl continuity snarls]], implying just about ''everything'' in the franchise probably happened one way or another.

** [[https://twitter.com/MrJohnDorney/status/1319930958179696640/ A deleted scene]] in "Return of the Cybermen" would have blamed the Time War for every snarl in ''Doctor Who'' ever, explicitly naming the contradictory fates of companions across the various expanded universe canons, "Human Nature" being both [[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresHumanNature a Seventh Doctor New Adventure]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature a Tenth Doctor episode]], and the Thirteenth Doctor episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E8TheHauntingOfVillaDiodati The Haunting of Villa Diodati]]" overwriting Big Finish on the subject of Creator/MaryShelley's life with the Doctor as its ramifications as it spread across the Doctor's timeline from the fallout of "Genesis of the Daleks". It was cut for being "very, very silly".

* AlternateContinuity: Although there isn't ''technically'' a canon for mainstream ''Series/DoctorWho'' (unless you count the BBC as the 'owner'), the Big Finish audio dramas are ''sort of'' one to the television series, with changes that may overwrite or contradict the TV series in BroadStrokes. This audio drama has some other AlternateContinuities ''within'' itself:
** The ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' canon is a separate continuity from mainline Big Finish continuity, with a different StoryArc and recurring characters.

** In a sense, the Axis of Time ensures that there are many AlternateContinuities within this audio drama.
** "Return of the Cybermen", adapted from early scripts for "Revenge of the Cybermen", was originally going to end with the timeline being rewritten to match the televised version. The Time Lord messaged from "Genesis of the Daleks" would appear and outright mention various pre-existing [[ContinuitySnarl continuity snarls]], implying just about ''everything'' in the franchise probably happened one way or another.

** ''Return of the Cybermen'', adapted from early scripts for ''Revenge of the Cybermen'', was originally going to end with a timeline change, with a Time Lord outright mentioning various pre-existing ContinuitySnarls, implying just about ''everything'' in the franchise probably happened one way or another.

Although the audios are (and always have been) officially part of the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, other ''Doctor Who'' media can at times contradict or overwrite the events described here, or even adapt them for the televised continuity. In the early years, Big Finish marked stories taking place in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' continuity or ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' continuity as "Side Step" episodes. It soon took on a more holistic approach, and later stories cross over into various other ''Doctor Who'' continuities without setting strict boundaries. In the interest of avoiding a dread ContinuitySnarl (considering its massive amount of interconnected ''and yet'' mutually exclusive stories), Big Finish had long since introduced the concept of the Axis of Time, which allows for different timelines to [[TheMultiverse exist independently]] of each other. This allows the company to treat all its stories as canon within their own respective timelines and universes, which it happily does, without having to worry about being contradicting (or being contradicted by) other ''Who'' media. To cement Big Finish's general canonical status, though, the 2013 TV series minisode "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor The Night of the Doctor]]" (written by Creator/StevenMoffat) referenced several Big Finish companions by name.

Big Finish ended up having a Big Influence on the TV series. A number of the writers were hired for the 2005 TV series recommission, and several new series episodes have had direct audio antecedents. Most notably, Creator/RobertShearman's episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]" was adapted by him from his audio "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho040Jubilee Jubilee]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen Rise of the Cybermen]]" / "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel The Age of Steel]]" (as well as elements of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday Doomsday]]") took strong inspiration from "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho034SpareParts Spare Parts]]", with author Marc Platt getting a story credit on the episodes. Also notable are a few bit characters who, from 2001 onwards, were played by some Scottish guy named Creator/DavidTennant who ''really'' wanted to be in ''Doctor Who'' -- which seems to have come full circle, as Big Finish now has a range of Tenth Doctor audio dramas in which Tennant reprises his role.

* AlternateContinuity: Although there isn't ''technically'' a canon for mainstream ''Series/DoctorWho'' (unless you count the BBC as the 'owner'), the Big Finish audio dramas are one to the television series, with changes that may overwrite or contradict the TV series in BroadStrokes. This audio drama has some other AlternateContinuities ''within'' itself:

''Big Finish Doctor Who'' is a long-running and ongoing audio series by Creator/BigFinish, with Creator/NicholasBriggs as the current ShowRunner. The series is written and produced by much of the regular ''Series/DoctorWho'' crew. Pretty much every single companion and villain from the TV series shows up in the episodes, (almost) always played by the original actors whenever possible, in addition to many new characters and creatures. Characters whose actors are unavailable (or dead) appear in prose stories told by their friends, or at times voiced by other actors. The episodes are available both as [=CDs=] and as digital downloads.

''Big Finish Doctor Who'' is a long-running and ongoing audio series by Creator/BigFinish, with Creator/NicholasBriggs as the current ShowRunner. The series is written and produced by much of the regular ''Series/DoctorWho'' crew. Pretty much every single companion and villain from the TV series shows up in the episodes, (almost) always played by the original actors, in addition to many new characters. Characters whose actors are unavailable (or dead) appear in prose stories told by their friends, or at times voiced by other actors. The episodes are available both as [=CDs=] and as digital downloads.

* NotQuiteDead: "The Boy That Time Forgot." Adric comes back. As a heavily-aged [[NotGoodWithPeople insane]] [[RealityWarper reality-bending]] [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant insect]] god-king. ''Wow.''

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Frobisher stars in "The Holy Terror" and "[[ShoutOut The Maltese]] Penguin".

Following the huge success of Paul [=McGann=]'s audio adventures, the Eighth Doctor's episodes were expanded beyond the monthlies and replaced by a long separate series from 2007 onwards ("The New Eighth Doctor Adventures"), which were also broadcast on BBC radio; these were wrapped up in 2011 and the Eighth Doctor's continuing adventures were next told in series of box sets. After the conclusion of the main range, the adventures of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor also took on box set forms. The Fourth, War, Ninth and Tenth Doctors also exclusively star in their own series outside of the monthlies. Some stories are presented as special releases or in separate box sets. Big Finish originally did not have the licence for the 2005 revival, but now can use every Doctor up to the [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor Thirteenth]]; their "classic series" (also known as the "heritage" licence) and "new series" licences were broadly kept separate at first, but have begun to crossover more and more so stories where the Fourth Doctor meets the Weeping Angels and the Fifth Doctor takes on the Slitheen start to appear.[[note]]The one limitation appears to be that they cannot use the incumbent TV Doctor until their time is done. Yes, people have wondered how the Fourteenth Doctor factors into releasing Tenth Doctor stories but only time will tell[[/note]]

The company started producing ''Series/DoctorWho'' audios in 1998, with a range of stories focusing on companion Franchise/BerniceSummerfield. The following year, the licence for stories starring the Doctor was secured. The main ''Doctor Who'' range released a new story every month [[LongRunners from 1999 to 2021]], with an extra one every September; the monthly range was made up of four trilogies of stories (having previously bounced from Doctor to Doctor every month), plus one standalone release (usually an anthology of short stories) every year, and featured the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors.

Following the huge success of Paul [=McGann=]'s audio adventures, the Eighth Doctor's episodes were expanded beyond the monthlies and replaced by a long separate series from 2007 onwards ("The New Eighth Doctor Adventures"), which were also broadcast on BBC radio; these were wrapped up in 2011 and the Eighth Doctor's continuing adventures were next told in series of box sets. After the conclusion of the main range, the adventures of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor also took on box set forms. The Fourth, War, Ninth and Tenth Doctors also exclusively star in their own series outside of the monthlies. Some stories are presented as special releases or in separate box sets. Big Finish originally did not have the licence for the 2005 revival, but now can use every Doctor up to the [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor Twelfth]]; their "classic series" (also known as the "heritage" licence) and "new series" licences were broadly kept separate at first, but have begun to crossover more and more so stories where the Fourth Doctor meets the Weeping Angels and the Fifth Doctor takes on the Slitheen start to appear.

->''"For the love of stories"''[[note]]Changed in 2022 from their original slogan ''We love stories''[[/note]]

->''"We Love Stories"''

** "The Holy Terror" [[spoiler:has the biggest KillEmAll Six ever had to endure.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The Fifth Doctor's tendency to stumble into KillEmAll plots -- and the Eighth Doctor slowly starting to realise that he's at ''war'' with the Daleks, and that it may end very, very, very badly.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AndIMustScream: Davros's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW2xxxaplz0 description of his imprisonment]], turned UpToEleven.

*** Taken UpToEleven with the multi-Doctor story "The Wrong Doctors," involving [[spoiler: two different Sixes meeting up with the wrong Melanie Bushes.]]

** Lance Parkin likes [[ContinuityNod continuity references]]. Lots and lots of [[FanWank continuity references]], often of old and forgotten stories like the Sixties comics. Though since he nearly always does it [[TropesAreTools in service of a clever idea or interesting story]], it usually works. Some have referred to it as "[[ContinuityPorn continuity erotica]]".

* BaitTheDog: At first Red Jasper in "Doctor Who and the Pirates" seems like a LaughablyEvil, LargeHam, [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything pirate that doesn't do anything]]. [[{{Squick}} Then he cuts out a guy's tongue and forces him to eat it.]] ''[[DarkReprise Hurrah for the Pirate King...]]''

** "The Chimes of Midnight" (2002): An Absurdist mix of BlackComedy and NightmareFuel.

* CreatorCameo: ''Many''. Gary Russell in particular, as he has a distinctive voice, it's a joke amongst listeners to try and spot his various cameos in every other release (Yes, just like Creator/AlfredHitchcock). Although, the entire cast has helped with putting in the odd voice in more recent releases. Creator/NicholasBriggs and Barnaby Edwards frequently have small roles too (although with Briggs it's more of a case of DescendedCreator half the time, especially when playing the Daleks). One sarcastic fan once suggested that they make a story with two insane geniuses played by Russell and Briggs who were planning to seed the universe with their genes and end with a montage of their numerous roles in order to suggest that they succeeded.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition:
** The 50th Anniversary release "The Light at the End" was available in a vanilla version that featured just the episodes and nothing else, a deluxe limited edition in special book-style packaging with three extra discs (a Companion Chronicle that was previously a freebie with ''Doctor Who Magazine'' and two behind-the-scenes discs) and professional photographs of the cast and crew, and a vinyl edition.
** The book-style packaging was also used for some of the novel adaptations ("The Romance of Crime" / "The English Way of Death" and "The Well-Mannered War" / "Damaged Goods" were each collected in this way); each deluxe set featured a bonus disc of extras, with the stories also available individually as vanilla editions.
** This format of collector's edition has been used more and more frequently with special releases, with such specials as the spin-off IntercontinuityCrossover "The Worlds of Doctor Who," the Sixth Doctor GrandFinale "The Last Adventure," and the first volume of the new Tenth Doctor Adventures. Even non-Doctor Who works are getting the treatment, such as the first volume of of the Big Finish adaptation of ''Series/{{The Prisoner|1967}}.''

** The Eighth Doctor delivers one in "Phobos". When facing a monster that feeds on adrenaline but is harmed by actual fear, the Doctor conquers it effortlessly by showing it his own mind. He starts by feeding it memories of all the things he's seen in the past, followed by all the evil he's seen from the future... and as a final blow, [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds all the things he's afraid he might do someday]]. The whole SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome takes several minutes, with the Doctor continuously mocking the monster throughout. Oh, and he does it ''while bungee jumping into the monster's transdimensional portal''.

* ShowWithinAShow: An, erm... ''[[SoBadItsGood reinterpreted]]'' Doctor Who appears in "Jubilee". Yes, it's Doctor Who within Doctor Who.

* ''[[https://www.bigfinish.com/ranges/released/the-confessions-of-dorian-gray The Confessions of Dorian Gray]]'' ([[Series/TheConfessionsOfDorianGray Which also has its own Tropes page now).]]

** The titles for the Seventh Doctor's ''Lost Stories'' weren't Andrew Cartmel's preferred ones, but since they'd become established in fanon courtesy of a speculative Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine article, they decided to go with them (apart from "Ice Time", which became "Thin Ice"). The intended titles were "Action at a Distance" for "Crime of the Century", "Bad Destination" for "Earth Aid", and "Blood and Iron" for "Animal" (Though, to be fair, DWM were the ones who revealed the intended titles as well).