Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures,[1] formerly subtitled as the Main Range, is a series that consists of full-cast audio dramas based on the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, produced by Nicholas Briggs and Big Finish Productions and starring one of the original actors to play The Doctor on television in the classic era of the programme. The main audio series currently feature the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, and have since developed the pattern of thirteen releases per year, one every month with two in September or December.[2] In May 2020, Big Finish announced that the Main Range would conclude with its 275th release in March 2021, to be replaced with regular releases of each Doctor in their own boxsets throughout the year from January 2022.[3] With 275 releases over 22 years, in 2021 the series achieved the Guinness World Record for longest running science fiction audio play series.
Big Finish Productions began producing audio dramas featuring the Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, and Seventh Doctors, starting with The Sirens of Time in July 1999.[4] [5] This continued through to 2000, and from 2001 to 2007, the main range also included releases featuring the Eighth Doctor with his companions Charley Pollard and C'rizz, but these were ended due to the simultaneously-running Eighth Doctor Adventures, which ran from 2006 to 2011 and featured companion Lucie Miller.[6] From 2008 to late 2011, only one Eighth Doctor release was produced for the main range: The Company of Friends, featuring companions from other media to the audio plays and the historical figure Mary Shelley.[7] The Eighth Doctor returned to the main range in a trilogy of adventures with Mary Shelley in October 2011.[8]
| Actor | Character | Appearances | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| '99 | '00 | '01 | '02 | '03 | '04 | '05 | '06 | '07 | '08 | '09 | '10 | '11 | '12 | '13 | '14 | '15 | '16 | '17 | '18 | '19 | '20 | '21 | ||
| Peter Davison | Fifth Doctor | colspan="23" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Colin Baker | Sixth Doctor | colspan="23" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sylvester McCoy | Seventh Doctor | colspan="23" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paul McGann | Eighth Doctor | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Strickson | Vislor Turlough | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nicola Bryant | Peri Brown | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sarah Sutton | Nyssa | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sophie Aldred | Ace | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maggie Stables | Evelyn Smythe | colspan="10" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonnie Langford | Mel Bush | colspan="3" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| India Fisher | Charley Pollard | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Caroline Morris | Erimem | colspan="13" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracey Childs | Elizabeth Klein | colspan="3" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conrad Westmaas | C'rizz | colspan="14" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philip Olivier | Hex | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Janet Fielding | Tegan Jovanka | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lisa Greenwood | Flip Jackson | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miranda Raison | Constance Clarke | colspan="2" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matthew Waterhouse | Adric | colspan="3" | ||||||||||||||||||||||
In May 2020, Big Finish announced that the Main Range would conclude with its 275th release in March 2021, to be replaced with regular releases of each Doctor in their own boxsets throughout the year from January 2022. The new boxsets for each Doctor were announced in May 2021.[9] With the exception of the Second Doctor, Big Finish already produced boxset ranges for each Doctor. The First, Third, Fourth and Eighth Doctor Adventures ranges enjoyed regular releases by the time the Monthly Adventures ended, whereas the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctor Adventures ranges had only occasional releases prior to these series being relaunched.[10]
| Doctor | Title | Released | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | |||||
| data-sort-value="1" | First | The Outlaws | data-sort-value="2022-04" | April 2022 | New series in The First Doctor Adventures range, with Stephen Noonan as the Doctor. The David Bradley series (2017–present) will coexist with the new series.[11] |
| data-sort-value="2" | Second | Beyond War Games | data-sort-value="2022-07" | July 2022 | Brand new The Second Doctor Adventures range, with Michael Troughton as the Doctor.[12] |
| data-sort-value="3" rowspan="2" | Third | The Annihilators | data-sort-value="2022-02" | February 2022 | Reformatting of The Third Doctor Adventures range (2015–present).[13] |
| Kaleidoscope | data-sort-value="2022-10" | October 2022 | |||
| data-sort-value="4" rowspan="2" | Fourth | Solo | data-sort-value="2022-03" | March 2022 | Volume 11 in The Fourth Doctor Adventures ongoing range (2012–present).[14] |
| The Nine | data-sort-value="2022-06" | June 2022 | |||
| data-sort-value="5" rowspan="2" | Fifth | Forty | data-sort-value="2022-01" | January 2022 | First regular release in The Fifth Doctor Adventures range (2003–present).[15] |
| data-sort-value="2022-09" | September 2022 | ||||
| data-sort-value="6" rowspan="2" | Sixth | Water Worlds | data-sort-value="2022-05" | May 2022 | First regular release in The Sixth Doctor Adventures range (2002–present).[16] |
| Purity Undreamed | data-sort-value="2022-08" | August 2022 | |||
| data-sort-value="7" rowspan="2" | Seventh | Silver & Ice | data-sort-value="2022-06" | June 2022 | First regular release in The Seventh Doctor Adventures range (2001–present).[17] |
| Sullivan and Cross – AWOL | data-sort-value="2022-11" | November 2022 | |||
| data-sort-value="8" rowspan="2" | Eighth | What Lies Inside? | data-sort-value="2022-11" | November 2022 | Reformatting of The Eighth Doctor Adventures range (2007–present).[18] |
| Connections | data-sort-value="2022-12" | December 2022 | |||
| +Name of record body, year the record was awarded, name of the record, and the name of the record holder | Publication | Year | World record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guinness World Records | 2021 | Longest running science fiction audio play series | [19] |