The Lost Stories
- Not to be confused with missing episodes, televised Doctor Who that was made, transmitted, and subsequently lost by the BBC.
The Lost Stories was a range of Doctor Who audios released by Big Finish Productions, beginning in 2010. It took scripts and/or story treatments that had been officially proposed to the BBC from 1963 to 1990, converted them into audio-appropriate scripts, and recorded them with as many of the original cast members as was possible at the time of recording. The line was wholly separate from their monthly Doctor Who and Companion Chronicles ranges. During the production of this series, the Doctors and companions involved continued to be as active as they normally were in other ranges.
Concept
Initially, the range was to have produced the stories that had been intended for production during season 23. When that season was delayed, these stories were abandoned in favor of what became The Trial of a Time Lord.
However, Big Finish expanded the ambition of the range fairly quickly after announcing it. As the range developed, it migrated from being about "the season 23 that never was", to more generally producing a whole range of never-made television stories. As of 2010, Big Finish had announced stories from the First, Second, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors' eras. Stories involving the Sixth and Seventh Doctors were full cast audios, while stories from the First and Second Doctors' eras had a format more akin to the "enhanced audiobooks" of the Companion Chronicles range.
The key factor for the producers was that the stories in this range must have at some point been officially proposed to the BBC. In some instances, the scripts produced by Big Finish were essentially those that had been delivered to the BBC; in others, they were wholly written for Big Finish based upon story ideas that had been proposed to the script editor of the era. In a few cases, wholly finished scripts, like The Song of Megaptera (originally titled The Song of the Space Whale), were tweaked for the audio medium. In others, as with Leviathan, they were more substantially altered.
Sixth Doctor stories
As the original impetus for the range, the Sixth Doctor stories deserve special explanation. Originally, the idea was that all known season 23 scripts and story ideas would be produced. However, due to rights issues and writer availability, this proved impossible. Additionally, Big Finish research into "the season that never was" revealed additional scripts and story ideas that were actually meant for season 22. The producer of the range thus decided to take a more liberal approach to the concept. He put together a "new" season, comprised of most of the stories known to have been destined for season 23 along with some stories meant for season 22. Then he knit all the stories together with some continuing narrative elements that were not present in the original television scripts and story treatments. The result was thus an enhancement to the original goal of simply adapting the known stories for audio. The very fact that there were eight stories in the first run of Sixth Doctor stories immediately suggests a different season length than would have been possible on television during the Colin Baker era.
Nevertheless, as produced, the Sixth Doctor stories do possess a different tonality than is present in the standard Big Finish Doctor Who range. For instance, they employed a style of electronic music evocative of the one that would likely have obtained had the stories been produced for television in 1985. Moreover, the characterizations of Peri and the Sixth Doctor are closer to the Season 22 versions of the characters than what was typical in the main Big Finish Doctor Who range.
Big Finish announced in a special Lost Stories podcast that further Sixth Doctor stories beyond the initial eight were possible, depending upon sales. A second series of Sixth Doctor stories could include those meant-for-season-23 stories that were not produced during the first run.
Seventh Doctor stories
In addition to the full-cast Sixth Doctor stories, the Lost Stories range will also include a Seventh Doctor series. By contrast to the first Sixth Doctor series, the first Seventh Doctor series will hew more closely to the intention of the unmade Season 27. Perhaps due to the personal involvement of then-script editor, Andrew Cartmel, this branch of the Lost Stories will hit the main beats planned for that season. Thus, Ace will be written out and replaced by the new companion, Raine Creevy. Also, Brigadier Winifred Bambera and UNIT will return, as had been planned. The effect of these rather major character developments on the Seventh Doctor's general usage in the main Doctor Who range has not been revealed as of June 2010. Of particular interest is whether Raine Creevy, having been established in The Lost Stories, will cross over into the main, monthly line.
