A new traveller joins the TARDIS team, as companion Peri finds herself a boyfriend in the forthcoming Sixth Doctor special, Blood on Santa’s Claw and Other Stories.

This four-part box set will be released in time for Christmas, and is now available for pre-order as a collector’s edition CD or on download from £12.99.

Blood on Santa’s Claw introduces a new companion for Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor, a famous pop star whom Peri meets after travelling back in time to attend a studio recording of Top of the Pops.

Joe Carnaby is the lead singer of the 1980s’ hottest new synth band, Arcadia Rising. He is played by actor Luke Allen-Gale who said, of becoming Peri’s boyfriend: “They are very much enamoured with each other in that young love kind of way. It’s exciting and new and adventurous and there’s lots of laughter. Joe wants to have a good time and enjoy himself.”

Actor Nicola Bryant added: “I am very excited that Peri is finally going to get the lovely boyfriend that she deserves.  It’s nice that she has someone she feels responsible for. I also like the fact she takes on more of the Doctor’s role in these stories and teaches Joe how to be a companion.

“The fact that it is music that brings them together makes it all the more wonderful. Peri’s not had much luck with husbands in the past (Davey Silverman in The Piscon Paradox and Ycarnos in Widow’s Assassin), so it’s very much third time lucky for her. Fingers crossed!”

Nev Fountain, one of the four authors of these festive fables, explained how the brief for the new companion came about: “I was simply asked to make it Christmassy!  Oh yes, and I was told that Peri’s boyfriend was now travelling with them. Is this the first time there’s been implied hanky-panky in the TARDIS during the time of a ‘classic’ Doctor?

“The idea of introducing him by just throwing him into a box set of short stories was an interesting one and I think it worked. We meet the Doctor, Peri and new TARDIS traveller Joe Carnaby as they journey through the 59th century, an annoyingly silly time in Earth’s history. I look forward to writing for the Doctor, Peri and Joe in their next series of adventures!”

Producer and director, John Ainsworth added: “I was delighted when I was told that this year’s Christmas release would be featuring the Sixth Doctor, and therefore fell to me to produce. It’s hard to come up with a new spin on the Christmas theme and tell exciting Doctor Who stories at the same time, but I think our four stories in this anthology tick all the boxes – tinsel, carols, Dickens, reindeer, and even Santa himself. But this is still Doctor Who, and there’s plenty to keep the Doctor, Peri and her new beau on their toes. The stories actually get quite dark in places, and Peri in particular has to live through some quite traumatic events.”

As previously revealed, the four stories in this compendium of Christmas crackers are as follows:

Blood on Santa’s Claw by Alan Terigo

The Doctor and Peri land on the planet Naxios, where they discover the body of Father Christmas. Who killed him? The strange individuals dressed in Shakespearian costume or the talking animals wearing waistcoats digging in the tunnels?

The Baby Awakes by Susan Dennom

The Doctor and Peri visit the Ishtar institute, where the term ‘Designer Babies’ takes on a new and sinister meaning. Will our heroes survive Christmas day?

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day by Andrew Lias

A Christmas party that’s been going on for three years. Strange silver robots who guard the Christmas decorations with lethal force. What is the secret behind the festivities on Tate Galactic?

Brightly Shone The Moon That Night by Nev Fountain

The TARDIS crew encounters a shameful secret of the Time Lords. History has been rewritten, and this time it’s all the Doctor’s fault.

You can now pre-order Doctor Who: Blood on Santa’s Claw as a collector’s edition CD or download at the Big Finish website from £12.99. It’s all your Christmases come at once!

Big Finish have been producing Doctor Who audios since 1999, starring Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, David Tennant and John Hurt.

Nicola Bryant once actually appeared on screen during a 1980s episode of Top of the Pops hosted by DJ Gary Davies. At the time, she was taking a break from recording the Doctor Who story Vengeance on Varos in an adjoining studio.

DOCTOR WHO: BLOOD ON SANTA’S CLAW AND OTHER STORIES

Duration: 120 minutes approx.

Released: December 2019, exclusively from the Big Finish website.

Director: John Ainsworth

Producer: John Ainsworth

Senior Producer: David Richardson

Written by: Alan Terigo, Susan Dennom, Andrew Lias and Nev Fountain

Executive Producers: Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery

PRICING

RRP: £14.99 (collector’s edition CD) £12.99 (download) from www.bigfinish.com

Sales enquiries – Tel: 01628 824 102 / Email: sales@bigfinish.com

Press enquiries – Tel: 020 3755 0589 / Email: press@bigfinish.com

ABOUT BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

Big Finish Productions is an audio production company and publisher best known for its range of Doctor Who plays (with its many spin-offs). The company also produces a wide range of audio drama and audiobooks featuring the characters from Blake’s 7, Space: 1999, Dark Shadows, Torchwood, Terrahawks, The Avengers, The Prisoner, Survivors and The Omega Factor, as well as classics such as HG Wells, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the Opera and Dorian Gray. Big Finish also produces original creations such as Graceless, Charlotte Pollard and The Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, plus the Big Finish Originals range featuring seven great new series including ATA Girl, Cicero, Jeremiah Bourne in Time, Shilling & Sixpence Investigate, Blind Terror and Transference.

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