Big Finish Productions is a production company that is best well known for its Doctor Who audio plays. They have a license to produce plays based on Classic Doctor Who, and have produced full-cast stories starring all five surviving Classic Doctors (Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann). The first three Doctors are also represented in the Big Finish catalogue, generally as stories that combine narration with full-cast stories. If you are completely new to Big Finish and love Doctor Who, listen to The Light at the End. It is Big Finish's celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. It is a multi-Doctor story, and it is very well done. If you are not into Doctor Who, but still want to give audio plays a try, The Worlds of Big Finish is a six-part story that features stories starring characters from different ranges of the Big Finish catalogue. It is not the most straight-forward story, but it does give a good sampling of the variety of stories that have been released over the years.
Big Finish has produced many, many ranges of Doctor Who stories. Their main monthly series now has over 200 episodes, currently starring either the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Doctor. The Eighth Doctor used to also feature in the Monthly Range, but he now stars in his own range (more on that later). The Monthly Range is structured much like Classic Doctor Who, with each story featuring four 25-35 minute episodes. Like the classic series, there tends not to be long story arcs, so most stories are self contained. The Monthly Range is an excellent starting point for lovers of Doctor Who who want more stories to listen to or something to keep them entertained in those growing spaces between episodes of the current series. The writers and actors at Big Finish truly care about Doctor Who and the production values are excellent. If you're interested in Doctor Who and want more, pick a Doctor that you like and a story that sounds interesting and give it a shot. The first 50 episodes are available to download for $2.99 each at the Big Finish website. If you're a fan of the Fifth Doctor, give Spare Parts a listen. Give Jubilee a shot if you like the Sixth Doctor or if you enjoyed the 2005 TV episode Dalek. Colditz is a great Seventh Doctor Story, and The Chimes of Midnight serves as an excellent introduction to the Eighth Doctor.
Over the years, Big Finish has done a great deal with the character of the Eighth Doctor. Paul McGann first started at Big Finish as part of the Monthly Range in 2001, and he has been going ever since. In 2007, Big Finish created a new range starring the Eighth Doctor. Episodes of the Eighth Doctor Adventures are structured more like New Who episodes. Each story is 45-60 minutes long with the occasional two parter. Each story is self contained, but there is also a story arc that is not quite resolved until the end of the series. The Eighth Doctor Adventures was originally 4 series long, beginning with Blood of the Daleks (Parts 1 and 2) in 2007 and ending with Lucie Miller/To the Death in 2011. Because of the way the story is told, it is best to start at the beginning and work your way to the end. Following the conclusion of the first four series, the Eighth Doctor Adventures continue in the form of Dark Eyes, which is a story that consists of four box sets, each with four approximately one hour stories. Each box set can stand alone, but they are also linked and are best listened to in order. Start with the first box set, and decide after that whether to continue the series. The Eighth Doctor's adventures will continue with Doom Coalition in late 2015.
The Fourth Doctor has his own range of stories, which is structured much like the Eighth Doctor Adventures. I have only listened to the second series, which stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Mary Tamm as Romana I. The Auntie Matter is a hilarious story set on Earth in the 1920s, which is pretty much Doctor Who in the style of P.G. Wodehouse. There is a Jeeves type character and a Wooster type character and some aliens, and it is a fun romp.
There are many more Doctor Who related ranges in the Big Finish Catalogue, and it is not really possible for one person to listen to them all. The Companion Chronicles is a very popular range that consists of adventures told from the perspective of the companions. They usually feature one or two actors (the companion and one or two others) and are read more like audiobooks than the full-cast dramas of the other ranges. They frequently (but not always) feature companions of the first three Doctors. I have not listened to many Companion Chronicles, but The Mahogany Murderers, which serves as an enjoyable introduction to both the Companion Chronicles and another hugely popular range, Jago and Litefoot (based on the characters from the Classic Who TV story The Talons of Weng-Chiang).
Jago and Litefoot is not the only Doctor Who spin-off range in the Big Finish catalogue, but it is one of the only ones I have listened to and the only one I recommend if you are new to audio plays or new to Big Finish, so I am not going to discuss them in any detail here. UNIT is an intriguing four-part miniseries starring the Brigadier (now retired General) Lethbridge-Stewart. There are also upcoming series featuring the UNIT of the new series (featuring the Brigadier's daughter, Kate) and Torchwood. These two series will be Big Finish's first forays into the characters of New Who, which will be continuing in 2016. None of these stories have been released yet.
But after all of that, what if you just don't like Doctor Who? Well, Big Finish still has something for you. Big Finish has the license to produce audio plays of several other old TV shows, so they are adding new things all the time. New stories based on the characters of Dark Shadows are released regularly. The 13-part miniseries Bloodlust is an excellent introduction to both audio plays in general and a good place to introduce yourself to Dark Shadows. I have never seen the show. but after listening to Bloodlust, I felt that I had been to Collinsport and never wanted to leave. I have listened to several other Dark Shadows stories since then, and have never heard one I didn't like. I have not listened to any of the other adaptations of old TV shows, but there is something for everyone (provided you like science fiction, fantasy, or the Avengers (spies, not superheroes)).
If you're not really into old TV shows, but you are into classic literature, there is still something for you. There is a range of full-cast audio adaptations of classic novels (including Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray). There is a range of Sherlock Holmes stories that alternates between original stories and dramatic readings of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a good adaptation and Holmes and the Ripper is a very entertaining original story.
This brings me to my final recommendation: The Confessions of Dorian Gray, which is my favourite Big Finish range. Frostbite is a short story (available for free!) that is a perfect example of the style of the Dorian Gray stories. The series, starring Alexander Vlahos (who has a beautiful voice) as Dorian Gray, imagines that Dorian was a real person who was friends with Oscar Wilde, so Oscar Wilde wrote a book about him. Dorian lives for hundreds of years as his portrait ages and decays. In my opinion, there are no bad Dorian Gray stories. There aren't even any mediocre stories. Listen to Frostbite. And if you like that, then start at the beginning and work your way to the end.
If you are looking for somewhere else to get story recommendations, check out The Time Scales, which is a Big Finish fan review site. Also check out Doc Oho Reviews, who does very thorough reviews of Big Finish stories (among other things).
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