History Radio / BigFinishDoctorWho

* ArcWords: The Divergent arc ("Scherzo" up until "The Next Life") has revolution, reincarnation, evolution, death and rebirth, becoming food for other lifeforms, reptilian into mammalian, fluid consciousness between multiple beings, mother, spinning in a circle, breaking free of the cycle, the next life and the beyond.

* MrFanservice: PaulMcGann, as usual, manages to lose his shirt on occasion... even in a sound-only medium. According to Charley, Eight also naturally smells like honey.

A number of the writers were hired for the 2005 series recommission and several new series episodes have had more or less direct audio antecedents. MarkGatiss adapted [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho002Phantasmagoria "Phantasmagoria"]] into [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], Robert Shearman's episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E6Dalek Dalek]]" was heavily adapted by him from his audio [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho040Jubilee "Jubilee"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires Of Pompeii"]] took inspiration from [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho012TheFiresOfVulcan "The Fires Of Vulcan"]], and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E5RiseOfTheCybermen Rise of the Cybermen]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E6TheAgeOfSteel The Age of Steel]]" (as well as elements of [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]) took strong inspiration from [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho034SpareParts "Spare Parts"]] with author Marc Platt getting a story credit on the episodes.

* WholePlotReference: "Loups-Garoux" to LittleRedRidingHood, "Neverland" to ''PeterPan'', "Zagreus" to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', "The Natural History Of Fear" to ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' and ''Film/DarkCity'', "Doctor Who And The Pirates" to GilbertAndSullivan musicals, "Flip-Flop" to ''GroundhogDay'', ''{{Terminator}}'' and ''ItsAWonderfulLife''.

* Gayngst: PlayedWith in the case of original companion Oliver Harper, who's ''scared as hell'' of having to come out of the closet to the First Doctor and Steven Taylor. Of course, the First Doctor really doesn't care, and neither does Steven, being from the 23rd century.

* CharacterFocus: A few. The loosely tied trilogy of "Omega", "Davros" and "Master" each focused on...well, the villains [[DrivenToVillainy Omega]], [[MadScientist Davros]] and TheMaster. The Companion Chronicles are also all about this trope.

* WholePlotReference: "Loups-Garoux" to LittleRedRidingHood, "Neverland" to ''PeterPan'', "Zagreus" to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', "The Natural History Of Fear" to ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''Film/DarkCity'', "Doctor Who And The Pirates" to GilbertAndSullivan musicals, "Flip-Flop" to ''GroundhogDay'', ''{{Terminator}}'' and ''ItsAWonderfulLife''.

* [[http://bigfinish.com/Sarah-Jane-Smith Sarah Jane Smith]]

* LovecraftLite: "Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge" is basically a WholePlotReference to ''AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' with some meta-concepts thrown in and a thinly veiled HPLovecraft {{expy}} playing a central role.

* WholePlotReference: "Loups-Garoux" to LittleRedRidingHood, "Neverland" to ''PeterPan'', "Zagreus" to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', "The Natural History Of Fear" to ''NineteenEightyFour'' and ''Film/DarkCity'', "Doctor Who And The Pirates" to GilbertAndSullivan musicals.

** Six spends the first episode of his long Story Arc wearing black velvet and ruffles. ColinBaker wanted to play his Doctor dressed in black in the TV, but was veto'd by JohnNathanTurner.

* TimeyWimeyBall: "The Chimes Of Midnight", "Jubilee", "Seasons Of Fear", "The Four Doctors", "The Eye Of The Scorpion" and "Dark Eyes" are just a ''few'' examples of the many different ways time travel can work. The Web Of Time is a fickle thing a well; "Storm Warning", "Doctor Who And The Pirates" and "To The Death" all show wildly different things that may or may not happen, should someone who's supposed to be dead get rescued. In addition to that, the entire Divergent arc takes place in a separate ''universe'', which operates under its own laws of physics and technically doesn't even have time.

* LanguageEqualsThought: No one is allowed to ask questions in Light City in "The Natural History of Fear" and Alternate Timeline England in "Jubilee" bans contractions.

* BuryYourGays: PlayedWith in the case of original companion Oliver Harper, who's ''scared as hell'' of having to come out of the closet to the First Doctor and Steven Taylor. Of course, the First Doctor really doesn't care, and neither does Steven, being from the 23rd century.

* BuryYourGays: PlayedWith in the case of original companion Oliver Harper, who's ''scared as hell'' of having to come out of the closet to the First Doctor and Steven Taylor. Of course, the First Doctor really doesn't care.

BigFinish [[ExiledFromContinuity is currently not legally able]] to use any elements or characters from the revived 2005 series, since BBC Audio holds the licence for New Who audiobooks. The occasional sneaky reference is thrown in, though, and the ban was temporarily ignored (in cooperation with licence holders [=AudioGo=]) to record a few prose stories for the 50th anniversary. While Big Finish can use the Eighth Doctor, licensing issues with {{Fox}} has prevented Big Finish from using Grace Holloway or Chang Lee -- but this hasn't stopped Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso from appearing in other roles, and Grace is mentioned occasionally. Also notable are a few characters who, from 2003 onwards, were played by some Scottish guy named DavidTennant.

BigFinish [[ExiledFromContinuity is currently not legally able]] to use any elements or characters from the revived 2005 series, since BBC Audio holds the license for New Who audiobooks. The occasional sneaky reference is thrown in, though, and the ban was temporarily ignored (in cooperation with licence holders [=AudioGo=]) to record a few prose stories for the 50th anniversary. While Big Finish can use the Eighth Doctor, licensing issues with {{Fox}} has prevented Big Finish from using Grace Holloway or Chang Lee -- but this hasn't stopped Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso from appearing in other roles, and Grace is mentioned occasionally. Also notable are a few characters who, from 2003 onwards, were played by some Scottish guy named DavidTennant.

In 1999, after producing a series of audio dramas for ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' companion [[BerniceSummerfield Benny Summerfield]], BigFinish finally nabbed the license to produce new audio dramas starring the original (still living) Doctors and their companions. PeterDavison, ColinBaker and SylvesterMcCoy immediately signed, followed a few years later by PaulMcGann. Over a decade after the others, TomBaker agreed to reprise his role as well. Other Doctors appear in prose stories, read by their friends. Pretty much every single companion and villain from the classic series shows up in the episodes, almost always played by the original actors, in addition to many new characters. NicholasBriggs had previously played the Doctor in the 1984 fan group project (well, Briggs-with-a-bunch-of-pseudonyms project) "DoctorWhoAudioVisuals", and adapted many of its stories into later BigFinish episodes.

BigFinish [[ExiledFromContinuity is currently not legally able]] to use any elements or characters from the revived 2005 series, since BBC Audio holds the license for New Who audiobooks (although the occasional sneaky reference is thrown in). While Big Finish can use the Eighth Doctor, licensing issues with {{Fox}} has prevented Big Finish from using Grace Holloway or Chang Lee -- but this hasn't stopped Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso from appearing in other roles, and Grace is mentioned occasionally. Also notable are a few characters who, from 2003 onwards, were played by some Scottish bloke named DavidTennant.

In 1999, after producing a series of audio dramas for ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' companion [[BerniceSummerfield Benny Summerfield]], BigFinish finally nabbed the license to produce new audio dramas starring the original (still living) Doctors and their companions. PeterDavison, ColinBaker and SylvesterMcCoy immediately signed, followed a few years later by PaulMcGann. Over a decade after the others, TomBaker agreed to reprise his role as well. Pretty much every single companion and villain from the classic series shows up in the episodes, almost always played by the original actors, in addition to many new characters. NicholasBriggs had previously played the Doctor in the 1984 fan group project (well, Briggs-with-a-bunch-of-pseudonyms project) "DoctorWhoAudioVisuals", and adapted many of its stories into later BigFinish episodes.

A number of the writers were hired for the 2005 series recommission and several new series episodes have had more or less direct audio antecedents: Robert Shearman's episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E6Dalek Dalek]]" was heavily adapted from his audio [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho040Jubilee "Jubilee"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires Of Pompeii"]] took inspiration from [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho012TheFiresOfVulcan "The Fires Of Vulcan"]], and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E5RiseOfTheCybermen Rise of the Cybermen]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E6TheAgeOfSteel The Age of Steel]]" draws one of its most powerful scenes from the audio [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho034SpareParts "Spare Parts"]] (with author Marc Platt getting a story credit on the episodes).

* AccidentalEngagement: Happens to the Doctor with some frequency.

** The writers have also freely admitted that the timeline of Six' companions is slightly wobbly. Which is something of a MythologyGag and Callback to the TV series, where trying to figure out the Six & Mel timeline has caused many a fan a headache.

** The writers have also freely admitted that the timeline of Six' companions is slightly wobbly.