Notable for a fun series conceit - Counter-Measures features black-and-white covers and stories set primarily in Britain with an early-60s aesthetic inspired by the likes of Quatermass. In the Retool The New Counter-Measures the stories take place in more exotic locations, and the covers switch to full, bright colour, as if it was a genuine Sixties series switching to colour, like The Avengers (1960s) or Doctor Who itself.
The series currently amounts to four series of the "original" run; "Who Killed Toby Kinsella?", a special release branded as the first part of The New Counter-Measures; and three series of The New Counter-Measures. Additionally, there is also a Doctor Who story in Big Finish's main Who range, 1963: The Assassination Games, which features the team and is a Prequel to the series, and a standalone adventure that's part of the 2014 Worlds of Doctor Who Cross Through anthology.
Recaps are listed under Big Finish Doctor Who.
Tropes used in this series include:
- Aborted Arc: The planned arc of The New Counter-Measures was unable to even get underway due to the range going on a hiatus following the second series. The only hints of it are in The Hollow King, which was an episode originally planned for the second series, but was moved out of that set at the last minute in favour of another story with the intention that it would appear in the third series, but was then released as a standalone "special" to avoid becoming a
Missing Episode when the range got canned. The arc was finally put back on track when the series returned in 2020. - All There in the Manual: Several plot points are taken from the Target novelisation of Remembrance.
- Canon Foreigner: Sir Toby Kinsella, the only regular character who didn't appear in "Remembrance" and was created specifically for the audio series.
- Cool Old Guy: Sir Toby, who's stated to have been born in the 19th century.
- Grand Finale: The trilogy of The Hollow King, The Movellan Maneouvre, and The Dalek Gambit.
- Historical Domain Character: Harold Wilson is a character in State of Emergency.
- Pilot Movie: "Who Killed Toby Kinsella/The Dead Don't Rise" feels like one of these, being a two-hour special introducing the "revival"-esque New Counter-Measures.
- Sequel Episode: The final story in The New Counter-Measures Series 2, Time of the Intelligence, is a sequel to the two Yeti stories from televised Doctor Who, "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear".
- Time Skip: Between Counter-Measures and The New Counter-Measures, although it's unclear how big a skip it is; the covers use present-day pictures of the actors in character, implying it's been 30 years, but dialogue in the series suggests it's less than that.
