It's been almost seven years since the last Doctor Who Unbound story was released by Big Finish, but a one-off revival of the "what if...?" series will be released later in the year. Previous Unbound stories have seen actors including Derek Jacobi, David Warner, Michael Jayston and even Arabella Weir in the role of the Doctor, and in this new story Andrew Scott will be playing an alternate version of the Time Lord.
Scott will also be voicing his companion, the role of the Master and the cameo appearance of Moriarty. His Sherlock co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch, recently lost a game of Nine Men's Morris against Scott, and so agreed to provide the voice of the Doctor's other companion, Frobisher the shape-changing Whifferdill.
Entitled Unbound: The Musical, it is written by Steven Moffat, who makes his long awaited Big Finish debut. Based on a story he dreamed of one Tuesday night last Autumn after watching his favourite cooking show and consuming an entire Edam cheese. It's been widely reported that Moffat often eats excessive amounts of cheese when looking for inspiration, most famously he admitted that The Time Of The Doctor was written after consuming an entire wheel of Camembert. Moffat revealed that he had never managed to eat a whole sphere of Edam before so knew that he was on to something special when Sue Vertue tucked him in that night. The next day, after his Frosties, he set about putting the script together and soon realised that it would be impossible to bring the story to the screen due to budgetary restrictions, Moffat himself approached Big Finish with the idea.
The official synopsis follows:
"In an alternate universe, The Doctor (Andrew Scott) and his faithful companions, the actor Andrew Scott (Andrew Scott) and a shape-changing Whifferdill named Frobisher (Benedict Cumberbatch), have all made it through to the final of 'The Great Gallifreyan Bake-Off'. In the midst of preparing their cake show-stoppers a giant shark unexpectedly falls from the sky and hinders The Doctor's access to his oven.
Meanwhile, The Doctor's greatest foe, The Master (Andrew Scott), has joined forces with the evil Professor Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) and together they have re-written time itself and set it to music. Now, stuck in a timeline where everything is in 4/4 meter and faced with his greatest challenge, can The Doctor sing and dance his way out, save the universe, jump a shark and bake a cake in the shape of his (Andrew Scott's) head?"
We spoke with a representative from Big Finish about the project:
"There's a scene we're just recording today for 'Doctor Who Unbound: The Musical' where Frobisher (Benedict Cumberbatch) is struggling to prepare a ganache. He's realising that taking the form of a penguin is proving problematic in the kitchen and hurting his chances of winning 'The Great Gallifreyan Bake-Off'. The Doctor (Andrew Scott) goes over to assist him but just as the cream is coming to the boil, to everyone's surprise, Paul Hollywood literally implodes.
Mel get's a chair for Mary Berry whilst Sue comforts everyone with her razor sharp wit. At that moment a NEFF combination oven starts to appear where Paul Hollywood previously stood, it is The Master's (Andrew Scott) TARDIS materialising.
Almost the entire cast (Andrew Scott) launch into the original composition 'That's the Bake-Off!'."
I'm sure you agree that it sounds amazing, and will definitely be one I add to my collection.
You can find out more about the project HERE.
You can find out more about the project HERE.
