The Ninth Doctor star paid tribute to the late David Warner.
Christopher Eccleston, Nicola Walker and the late David Warner are among the Doctor Who icons set to star in the next episode of Big Finish’s Once and Future storyline.
The 60th anniversary event finds The Doctor in a Time Lord field hospital during the catastrophic Time War, where his body glows with a powerful energy – but it’s no regeneration.
Instead, The Doctor’s past faces begin to haphazardly appear with no clear pattern, prompting him to go on a journey to uncover who or what could have caused this overwhelming degeneration.
The next chapter – titled Time Lord Immemorial – is written by Lisa McMullin and has the following synopsis:
“Slipping between bodies, the Ninth Doctor finds his TARDIS caught between universes as the cosmos starts to break down. A Doctor from another reality arrives and they join forces with Liv Chenka and the Lumiat to find the cause.
“Someone has desecrated the mythical Hall of the Time Lord Immemorial, where the sands of time from the multiverse are held. And those sands are running out…”
Legendary actor David Warner, who passed away in July 2022, gives his final Big Finish performance as the Unbound Doctor in this episode, with co-star Eccleston hailing his incredible talent.
“It was quite emotional for me to work with David Warner, an actor I grew up as a child watching and admiring,” he said. “To share the Doctor with him was special. If ever there was an actor who should have played the Doctor, it was David Warner.”
Producer David Richardson added: “Bringing the Ninth Doctor and the Unbound Doctor together was inspired by the friendship between Chris and David.
“They have known each other well for some years and it was a treat to bring them together in the studio. To benefit from these two greats acting opposite each other was irresistible.”
Robert Powell, who features as the eponymous Time Lord Immemorial, also paid tribute to Warner.
He said: “David Warner and I first met in 1978 when we did The 39 Steps, when I was playing Richard Hannay and he was playing the villain. It was great fun.
“A few years later, I played Frankenstein [for Showtime in the USA] and he played the creature. We haven’t worked together since. It was really nice to catch up with him.”
Eccleston‘s former Our Friends in the North co-star Gina McKee also features in Time Lord Immemorial as The Lumiat; an exciting new addition to the Doctor Who universe.
Script editor Matt Fitton explained: “The Lumiat is writer Lisa McMullin’s creation who is, in a way, the Master’s version of the Valeyard – in that she’s the opposite of everything the Master stands for. The Lumiat is an insufferably good version of the Master or Missy!”
Doctor Who: Once and Future – Time Lord Immemorial is available to pre-order now from the Big Finish website.
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