Big Finish has announced the release of a new full-cast Doctor Who audio adventure for the War Doctor in The War Doctor Rises: Morbius the Mighty. This is the first box set in the new series, The War Doctor Rises. In Morbius the Mighty (written by Tim Foley) the Time War between the Daleks and Time Lords continues while a battle-hardened War Doctor is recovering from being poisoned, not knowing he has a deadly foe with a vendetta, Morbius, a tyrant whose ambition is to become ruler of a chaotic universe.
While recovering on the forest planet of Lull, the War Doctor is happy to be in the care of his nurse Cora and be far from the Time War, but in the depths of a twisted planet the Time Lord tyrant Morbius is nurturing a terrible grudge against the Doctor. When a chance opportunity for escape comes across, Morbius takes it and begins his quest for vengeance. The War Doctor may soon have no excuse to keep him from getting involved in the war.
Jonathon Carley reprises his role as the War Doctor with Samuel West (All Creatures Great and Small) playing Morbius. Joining them are Sheila Ruskin (I, Claudius) as the Doctor’s nurse Cora, Gareth Armstrong as Morbius’s lackey Judd, Pamela Nomvete as the mysterious 1-8-1, Theo Solomon as Herving and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks.
From L to R – Samuel West, Pamela Nomvete and Gareth Armstrong
Jonathon Carley said: “Morbius is a legendary character in Doctor Who. So, to throw that character – a big Time Lord tyrant – into the Time War, is a recipe for high-stakes action drama. The history between Morbius and the Doctor is huge, and to go up against him is a big deal – it’s a bit intimidating. He’s from a different time, before the Time Lords stepped back and said, ‘OK, we’re going to put some rules in here’. And he didn’t like it. He was the original rebel. And now he’s back at the worst possible time – the Time War – and could destabilise everything. He’s got no love for the Daleks, no love for the Time Lords, and he wants to take his rightful place as supreme power in the universe.”
Samuel West added: “You can’t keep a bad Time Lord down, can you? He has history, you understand how he became who he is, but he’s still totally sociopathic, and will calmly and enjoyably pull the wings off flies. Morbius has an obsession with the Doctor, and a complex about being unworthy, and what he really needs is a lie down on a nice couch and some care. But he doesn’t get that, he gets lots of people telling him he’s marvellous. And so his obsessions grow and take him over – the explosions have to be bigger, the conquering needs to be more total, and the victories need to be absolute.”
From L to R – Sheila Ruskin, Theo Solomon and Sam Stafford
The War Doctor Rises: Morbius the Mighty is available to purchase now from the Big Finish website for £22.99 for the Collector’s Edition CD Box Set and digital download, or £18.99 for the digital download only.
Listeners can also save by pre-ordering this in a multi-buy bundle with the second The War Doctor Rises box set (due for release in December) for £44 for the Box Sets and download or £36 for the download only.
