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Introduction Hello all. I usually update this guide at the new year, but as we are entering a hiatus on the show and some things have changed even in the past six months, I figured I'd give this an update. I had also only previously posted these on r/Gallifrey so it makes sense I make one available here. To make a bit of a disclaimer: I have some stats scattered throughout this post. All these numbers come from my personal spreadsheet I use to track Big Finish releases. Exact counts of releases get a little blurry, as Big Finish have packaged, compiled, and re-released their stories on many occasions. I use my best judgement on how to track them, e.g. I don't list The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller Series 01 as a single release. 1. I’m completely new and not sure what Big Finish is. Can you explain it? Overview Big Finish releases audiobooks and audio dramas taking place in all corners and eras of the Whoniverse. From the tentpole ranges like the Eighth Doctor Adventures to the more obscure Robots, there’s all manners of stories told, featuring characters and worlds you may or may not already know. Currently, Big Finish have the license to produce Doctor Who stories in the worlds of Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, and of course Doctor Who through the Fifteenth Doctor's era. Big Finish's bread and butter is slotting stories for past Doctors in between their television adventures. Most of the time this is done with existing companions (such as the Fourth Doctor and Leela), but on many occasions Big Finish have made new companions for audio where it makes sense (such as the Eleventh Doctor's travels with Valerie pre-Bells of Saint John). There are also Big Finish original versions of the Doctor in the Unbound range -- the most popular of which being the alternate Third Doctor played by the late David Warner. Release Types The company's most popular output are their full-cast audio dramas featuring the original actors from the show. However, there are several actors who have long since passed away or for one reason or another are unavailable for recording. In these cases, Big Finish casts actors to do impressions of these Doctors. These include the First, Second, Third, War, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors. As of 2026, each Doctor from the First to the Thirteenth has their own “Adventures” range, which can be anything from individual 60-minutes release to four-hour box sets. The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors are the newcomers to the format, with Miles Taylor and Jon Culshaw taking on the respective roles. Additionally, there are several other non-Doctor focused full-cast audio dramas with original actors, such as the long-running Gallifrey range (featuring Romana, Leela, and Narvin), the ever-popular River Song range (featuring River Song and many, many Doctors), and what is my and many other's favorite spin-off range, the War Master (featuring Derek Jacobi). There are also many ranges that are not full-cast, and either feature a single narrator reading an audiobook, or a narrator and a few other actors performing a dramatic reading of a story that blends elements of audiobooks and audio dramas, complete with sound effects. Release Formats Big Finish got its start in the worlds of Doctor Who with Bernice Summerfield, but their first range to feature the Doctor was the Monthly Range. For over 20 years, Big Finish would release a 2-hour CD every month that featured the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Doctors. There are 275 of these releases, and they remain one of the cheapest and most accessible ranges in their catalog. This range is how the Eighth Doctor got a new life after the TV movie, receiving a new companion in Charley Pollard and a story arc that extended through several releases. Depending on the range, format, and story, releases come in many different lengths. Most audio dramas are formatted like their respective eras. For example, Classic Doctor ranges will have 30 minute episodes, ranging from 2 to 8 episodes per story. New Who ranges will typically have 60 minute episodes, with occasional two or three-parters. 70% of Big Finish's output comes in a "box set" format, whether on CD or digital. These typically are three or four hour releases broken up into episodes at the producers' discretion. 2. I understand what Big Finish is and I want to try it out. Is there any way I can do so for free? Over the last several years, there have been more attempts to make Big Finish more accessible for new fans. There are several ways you can listen to Big Finish for free and try it out, including: Spotify or Apple Music Hoopla BBC Sounds Into the TARDIS Podcast Below I will detail each option. Spotify or Apple Music Spotify and Apple Music have a selection of Doctor Who stories, including the first 50 stories in the Monthly Range and the first series of both the Eighth Doctor Adventures and the Fourth Doctor Adventures. I would recommend starting here to get your bearings in Big Finish. Perhaps the best place to start is with Blood of the Daleks, Part 1 , especially if you're a New Who fan. The Eighth Doctor, to me, is THE Big Finish Doctor and tied with Capaldi as my favorite Doctor. You don’t need to know anything about the previous Eighth Doctor monthly releases to follow along. The stories have both the same format of New Who (a “season” of 1 hour stories, with occasional two-parters), and the same feel. There’s a lot more action and witty dialogue, and new companion Lucie Miller has all the sass and grit you've come to expect from modern companions. The first series (eight stories total) is available on Spotify and Apple Music. Personally, as a lover of the Eighth Doctor I recommend starting with the beginning of the Eighth Doctor’s monthly adventures, Storm Warning . You’ll be introduced to the quintessential audio companion, Charley Pollard, and get a good feel for early Big Finish. The format will be 2-hour stories broken into four 30 minute parts, which is typical for the Monthly Range. These releases are available on Spotify and Apple Music, but they only have the first 50 monthly adventures, meaning you will get every Eighth Doctor monthly adventure up to Zagreus. Listen in release order and you won't be lost. If you are interested in and/or already familiar with Classic Doctor Who, I’d recommend starting with the Fifth Doctor story Spare Parts . It’s not only one of the best monthlies, but one of the best Cyberman stories to boot. It gives a good feel for what the continuing adventures of classic Doctors feels like. From there, you can follow the Fifth Doctor's releases in those first fifty in really any order you like, as they do jump around quite a bit depending on what companion actors were available, or you can start at the beginning of the monthlies with the Sirens of Time. Like the rest of the first 50 monthly releases, these are available on Spotify and Apple Music. Hoopla I'll admit I'm not as familiar with Hoopla, but I always see this one recommended. Looking at their selection, they cover a large amount of what Apple Music and Spotify cover plus a lot more, including other ranges such as Short Trips, Jago & Litefoot, and many more. They also have the entire second series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures with Lucie Miller. All in all, they have 372 releases from Big Finish, including non-Doctor Who releases such as Dorian Gray. BBC Sounds For the 60th Anniversary, a good selection of Big Finish stories were made available for free on BBC Sounds. The first set of the Tenth Doctor Adventures was broadcast on Radio 4 and is therefore under its own series called simply Doctor Who, but the rest are under Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures. Please note that as of 21 July 2025, BBC Sounds is not available outside the UK (so get out those VPNs). The stories included are listed below: Doctor Who: The Audio Adventures Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1 (Fifth through Eighth Doctors) The Companion Chronicles: The Beginning (First Doctor and Susan) The Early Adventures: The Isos Network (Second Doctor and Jamie) The Lost Stories: Mind of the Hodiac (Sixth Doctor and Mel) The Monthly Adventures: 1963 - The Assassination Games (Seventh Doctor and Ace) The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers (Ninth Doctor) Out of Time 1 (Tenth and Fourth Doctors) Doctor Who The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 01 (Tenth Doctor and Donna) Technophobia Time Reaver Death and the Queen Into the TARDIS Podcast As a celebration of 25 years of producing Doctor Who audio dramas, Big Finish launched the Into the TARDIS podcast. Every Saturday from March 2024 to April 2025, they released episodic installments of popular audio dramas, for free with ads. Released episodes include stories from Classic Doctors New Monsters, First Doctor Adventures, Third Doctor Adventures, Fourth Doctor adventures, Eighth Doctor Adventures, Ninth Doctor Adventures, and Tenth Doctor Adventures. This podcast can be found on multiple services, including Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Amazon Music , and Acast . 3. I've dipped my toes with the free options but I want more. Where can I buy releases from Big Finish? www.bigfinish.com The easiest way is directly through the Big Finish website. By buying through the Big Finish website you not only get a CD and/or download that can either be downloaded directly (.mp3 or .m4b) or listened to through their official app, but you directly support the business and the production you're listening to, and help fund future projects. Big Finish is a very small company that relies entirely on sales to fund their stories -- they aren't supported financially by the BBC and they don't do ads of any sort -- so if you want good quality content, it helps to give them direct support. I have almost never paid full retail price for Big Finish releases, and that is largely because of their pre-order discounts and wonderful sales. Big Finish typically have weekly sales on existing releases, usually centered around a specific range or theme they're trying to push that week. A lot of their sales are focused around promoting a new release or celebrating some milestone or birthday of a creative. For example, if a new First Doctor box set comes out, you can probably expect a sale on that range the week of release. Sometimes they'll even double or triple up on sales in a week. Throughout the year, pretty much every single Big Finish release will be on sale at some point. In fact, at the time of writing this, 876 of Big Finish's 1,334 Doctor Who-related stories have been on sale at some point since January 1st . Unless you're desperate to buy something in the moment, it almost always works to wait for a sale. New releases have an exclusive pre-order price that lasts through a release's first two months on sale, at which point the price increases by about £2 or £3 on average on download and CD. If you're wanting a new release it's best to get them during this period. Big Finish sells their releases individually, but you can also get a discount by selecting one of their pre-determined bundles where available, which discounts both pre-orders as well as existing releases. For example: if you want to buy all four Dark Eyes box sets individually, you could do so for £19.99 each, OR you could buy a bundle for £68 total (15% off). Just select a release and see if it has a "Save money with a bundle" option, and select your bundle. Big Finish also offers you 10% off your cart of £50 or more of non-discounted releases. So to use the Dark Eyes example again, if you added Dark Eyes 1 - 4 non-bundled and non-discounted to your cart, you would only pay £71.96 after your 10% off discount. Third Party Sellers As someone who got their start in Big Finish through free releases and 3rd party sellers, I understand wanting to find good deals and bang for your buck. Big Finish sells their physical releases through Amazon , which carries existing releases as well as allowing pre-orders of future releases in many cases. Do note that Big Finish keep their releases exclusive for the first two months, so if you pre-order elsewhere there will be a delay. There are also always people clearing out their collections on eBay, so there's some good hunting to be had there. I have also been lucky to find releases at second-hand bookstores such as Half Price Books here in the US, so I'd imagine you'd find some good look at similar store sin the UK as well. Lastly, there are some fan shops such as The WHO Shop (UK) and the Doctor Who Store (US) that carry Big Finish releases. An important note to make here is that CDs do not come with digital download codes, so if you want digital files you will have to rip the discs and upload them to whatever player is most convenient for you . 4. I know how to buy Big Finish but I don't know where to start. The first thing to do is determine what exactly you're wanting to listen to. If you have a specific range in mind, or even a broader grouping such as New Who releases, there are several hubs on the Big Finish website for you to peruse. I will list good starting points for several ranges below. If you're thinking about cost first, I would recommend starting with the Monthly Adventures . Most releases in this range are sold out on CD, so I will only be looking at prices of digital releases. The pricing for each release is staggered, so more recent releases cost more. Big Finish revisit their pricing model from time to time, but the current digital rates are: Monthly Range 001 - 100 £3.99 Monthly Range 101 - 150 £4.99 Monthly Range 151 - 200 £7.99 Monthly Range 201 - 275 £12.99 Listening to each Doctor at Big Finish, in timeline order, is very very hard to do. There are certainly guides out there that you can follow, but this is not a resource for that. For the most part, you should be able to follow a range in order of release for each Doctor. There may be some you can (such as the first two volumes of The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles) or some you have to skip around other releases to get one story arc (Ace and Hex in the Monthly Range). If you want to dive into Big Finish's backlog, there are plenty of options depending on which Doctor you want to listen to. Each Doctor, from the First to the Thirteenth, has a home at Big Finish. Some Doctors have been there for 25 years, some just started in the last six months, and some are yet to start. Below I will detail ranges and personal recommendations of full-cast stories for each Doctor. Doctor Actor Ranges Recommendation Fugitive Doctor Jo Martin The Fugitive Doctor The Fugitive Doctor: Most Wanted First Doctor Stephen Noonan / David Bradley The First Doctor Adventures The First Doctor Adventures: Fugitive of the Daleks / The First Doctor Adventures Volume 02 Second Doctor Michael Troughton The Second Doctor Adventures The Second Doctor Adventures: Beyond War Games Third Doctor Tim Trealor The Third Doctor Adventures The Third Doctor Adventures Volume 07 Fourth Doctor Tom Baker The Fourth Doctor Adventures The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Trouble with Drax Fifth Doctor Peter Davison The Fifth Doctor Adventures The Monthly Adventures: 034. Spare Parts Sixth Doctor Colin Baker The Sixth Doctor Adventures The Monthly Adventures: 006. The Marian Conspiracy Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy The Seventh Doctor Adventures The Monthly Adventures: 025. Colditz Eighth Doctor Paul McGann The Eighth Doctor Adventures The Monthly Adventures: 016. Storm Warning War Doctor Sir John Hurt / Jonathan Carley The War Doctor The War Doctor Begins: Forged in Fire Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston The Ninth Doctor Adventures The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare Tenth Doctor David Tennant The Tenth Doctor Adventures The Tenth Doctor and River Song Eleventh Doctor Miles Taylor / Jacob Dudman The Eleventh Doctor Adventures / The Doctor Chronicles The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question / The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Geronimo! Twelfth Doctor Jon Culshaw / Jacob Dudman The Twelfth Doctor Adventures / The Doctor Chronicles The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind / The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles Volume 02: Timejacked! Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Vampire Weekend If you want to follow new releases, then go with the Adventures ranges. The Doctor Adventures ranges started with the Eighth Doctor, and eventually expanded as new actors like Tom Baker and David Tennant joined. A few years ago, Big Finish made them standard for all their Doctors they had actors for (1 through 10 at the time, then eventually 11 - 13), so there are recent starting points across the board for all these ranges. Some of the Doctor Adventures ranges have bigger arcs at play where it only makes sense to start at the beginning or with a specific release. Some simply use each new release to tell a story in a specific part of that Doctor's era, and are not necessarily sequential. See below for my recommendations of where to start for each of these ranges. If a range falls into that second camp, then my recommendation will most likely be one of the standouts of the range in my eyes. I do try to keep cost in mind, so if there's two good starting points but one is 10 less than the other, I'll recommend the cheaper one. Range Starting Point Price, GBP (DTO / CD) The Fugitive Doctor The Fugitive Doctor: Most Wanted £21.99 (DTO) The First Doctor Adventures The First Doctor Adventures: Fugitive of the Daleks £21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD) The Second Doctor Adventures The Second Doctor Adventures: Beyond War Games £19.99 (DTO) The Third Doctor Adventures The Third Doctor Adventures: The Annihilators £19.99 (DTO) The Fourth Doctor Adventures The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: The Ministry of Death £22.99 (DTO) The Fifth Doctor Adventures The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 1 £22.99 (DTO) The Sixth Doctor Adventures The Sixth Doctor Adventures: Bad Terms £22.99 (DTO) / £32.99 (CD) The Seventh Doctor Adventures The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward £22.99 (DTO) / £32.99 (CD) The Eighth Doctor Adventures The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Audacity £21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD) The War Doctor The War Doctor Rises: Morbius the Mighty £21.99 (DTO) / £26.99 (CD) The Ninth Doctor Adventures The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare £10.99 (DTO) The Tenth Doctor Adventures The Tenth Doctor Adventures Volume 01 £24.99 (DTO) The Eleventh Doctor Adventures The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question ) £22.99 (DTO) The Twelfth Doctor Adventures The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind (Upcoming) £43.99 (DTO) The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures: Vampire Weekend £10.99 (DTO) There are several spin-off ranges I am quite fond of. Find these listed below: Range Starring Status The War Master Sir Derek Jacobi Ongoing River Song Alex Kingston, various Doctors Ongoing (under The Death and Life of River Song) The Robots Nicola Walker, Claire Rushbrook Concluded Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon Billie Piper Concluded Call Me Master Sasha Dhawan No upcoming releases announced Gallifrey Louise Jameson, Seán Carlsen, Lalla Ward Ongoing (under Gallifrey: War Room) Susan's War Carole Ann Ford No upcoming releases announced Smith & Sullivan Sadie Miller, Christopher Naylor No upcoming releases announced 5. What are some of the best recent releases? I'll make some suggestions here based both on my own personal taste and ratings from the TARDIS Guide . Release TARDIS Guide Score # of Votes The War Doctor Rises: Fallen Heroes The Dead Sea by Alfie Shaw 4.42/5 139 votes Unit 26 by Alfie Shaw 4.39/5 138 votes Yesterday is Tomorrow and Tomorrow is Today by Alfie Shaw 4.54/5 137 votes The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 1 by Tim Foley 4.47/5 211 votes The Fifth Doctor Adventures: Hooklight 2 by Tim Foley 4.38/5 178 votes The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Causeway Lost Amongst the Stars by Rochana Patel 3.93/5 151 votes The Time You Never Had by Tim Foley 4.45/5 149 votes Rutans vs Sontarans: Betrayal at the House of Sontar by John Dorney 4.40/5 132 votes The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: The First Question The Final Cut by Lisa McMullin, from a story by Max Kashevsky 4.00/5 180 votes The Tourist Trap by Beth Axford 4.09/5 174 votes A Delusion of Witches by Lisa McMullin 4.32/5 170 votes The Ninth Doctor Adventures Series 04 The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Snare by Tim Foley 3.97/5 340 votes The Last Days of the Powell Estate by Timothy X Atack 4.22/5 297 votes The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dare You by Lisa McMullin 4.05/5 262 votes The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Cloud Eight by Lauren Mooney and Stewart Pringle 4.20/5 238 votes The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Pandemonium by Katherine Armitage 3.88/5 178 votes The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 14: The Last Queen of the Nile Conspiracy of Silence by Jonathan Morris 3.70/5 74 votes The Last Queen of the Nile by David K Barnes 4.42/5 73 votes The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Past Forward With the Angels Part 1 by John Dorney 4.25/5 95 votes Catastrophix by Lizzie Hopley 3.34/5 94 votes With the Angels Part 2 by John Dorney 4.18/5 93 votes The Death and Life of River Song Series 03: The Dissolution of Time The Armgeddon Game 4.18/5 48 votes Anne Boleyn Must Die 4.28/5 48 votes A Good Woman Goes to War 4.31/5 48 votes The Schism Bloom 4.25/5 48 votes Smith & Sullivan: Reunited The Caller 4.07/5 88 votes Union of the Snake 3.77/5 82 votes Blood Type 4.00/5 83 votes 6. What are some tips and tricks to Big Finish? Purchasing If you’re going to buy multiple releases in a series eventually, buy in bundles now . You will always get the cheapest price per set if you buy in bundles, plus you don’t have to pay the per order charge. Pre-order prices are the cheapest sets will be. If you’re interested in an upcoming release, there is two month window where it will be at pre-order price. After that, Big Finish gives them to retailers and the price goes up to buy from them. Watch for sales. There are frequent sales, whether to celebrate an actor or writer’s birthday, a release’s anniversary, or what have you. If there’s a popular set you have your eye on, you can usually count on a sale at some point in the year. Buying physically also gives you a digital version of the release. You’ll make a Big Finish account when you order a release. Whether you buy a release digitally or physically, you’ll be able to listen to the story in the Big Finish app or download them as .mp3 or .mb4 files from their website. Big Finish will charge you up-front, rather than when it ships. For me this is helpful because it helps me budget, and I don’t have to worry about surprises charges if I forget about a pre-order. You can buy gift cards for yourself in your currency. This is how I order all my purchases anymore, since PayPal's conversion rate is typically higher than the real one. Listening New releases come out at 9:30am GMT the day of release. You will have to refresh your Big Finish app to get a new release to show up in your account, and the bigger your library the longer a refresh will take. You might not retain everything in a story, and that’s okay. There are very few audios I’ve listened to where I can recall and tell you exactly what happened from start to finish, outside of the big picture. It’s the nature of the format that all you can do is be told what is happening, so it’s much, much harder to remember what happened if you can’t even picture it. Imagining the scene can either be very beneficial or very distracting. I rarely listen to a story and picture what’s happening the entire time. I only do so when they’re at a new location or there’s a new character, or if something really important is happening. If you try to do it the whole time, you’ll focus too much on figuring out what things should look like and you’ll miss what’s happening. Don't try too hard to follow a chronological order . Especially for the Main Range, due to the nature of writing for past Doctors and slotting stories into their timelines, there's a lot of jumping around between time periods for certain Doctors. You might have the Fifth Doctor with Nyssa in one story, then get Peri and Erimem in the next, and round it all off with one with Turlough for good measure. Other The TARDIS Guide is a great resource for reviews and tracking progress. If you are hard-pressed to figure out how to spend your money wisely, search for releases on this website to help you. You can search all audio dramas and filter by characters and ranges, then sort by quality and see what's recommended. Once you finish a story, you can either rate it or simply mark it as completed. I hope this helped some of you, and please, fellow Big Finish listeners, let me know anything I should add. And drop your own recommendations in the comments.
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