Paul Simpson braves the Antarctic cold and visits the recording of the new Big Finish audio drama Frozen Time…

There’s a certain magic about listening to audio drama. Close your eyes you can be transported far from your everyday life to the chilly wastes of the Antarctic. It’s bitterly cold, and three survivors of a helicopter crash are struggling for survival. One of them doesn’t think he’s going to make it and creates a major fuss when the other two don’t take any notice of him…

Opening your eyes reveals the high-tech surroundings of a modern recording studio, deep inside a warehouse in northwest London. In the control room, director Barnaby Edwards is concentrating as he listens to the three actors run through the scene; next to him, the engineer monitors the levels and makes adjustments as necessary. Big Finish producer Sharon Gosling wanders in and out, ensuring everything is running smoothly, while executive producer/writer/actor Nicholas Briggs seems to be everywhere at once, passing on advice where needed, recording his lines, and taping interviews with the guest cast for the eventual CD extras.

Frozen Time is the 98th regular Doctor Who story from Big Finish Productions, although probably nearer the 200th audio release the company has made over the past decade. Written by Briggs, best known now as the voice of assorted aliens for the BBC Wales incarnation of the series, it’s based on an old Audio Visual play from some 20 years ago, suitably redressed for the seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester McCoy.

In what’s going to become a more regular feature, the Doctor is travelling alone. “Sylvester talked to us about how he was very keen on exploring the loneliness of the Doctor, and his need for companionship,” Briggs explains, “and it gives the story an interesting vibe.”

“I want to explore that area where you’re right inside his head, you’re with his thought process most of the time,” McCoy says. “Hearing him reacting to what’s happening outside his head. On television you can’t get inside the head, because it’s a visual thing. He can tell you what he’s thinking – he can speak – but with the audios, you’re listening, and you could be right inside his head.”

That doesn’t mean that there’s no one fulfilling the function of the companion. For Frozen Time, it’s former Bond girl Maryam D’Abo, Timothy Dalton’s cellist friend from The Living Daylights, playing French scientist Genevieve. “She’s a gutsy character: strong, spirited, adventurous and a smart little cookie,” D’Abo explains. “She is the right hand assistant to Professor McIntyre, who’s like a father to her. She’s there to help him through the story. They’ve gone off to the Antarctic with this character Lord Barset, who’s the grandson of a great archaeologist who came across reptile monsters in 1929 according to his diaries…Then Doctor Who appears, and they’re totally baffled by him.”

In fact, the Doctor is totally baffled by himself for quite a bit of the story. “I love regeneration stories,” Briggs says. “Finding out when the Doctor is going to know who he is, and wondering when the real Doctor is going to kick in. In this story, the Doctor has been frozen in the ice for millions of years and he’s put himself in a self-induced coma to help survive being frozen, as any sensible person would, so for a long time he’s not quite certain who he is. Bit by bit the knowledge is coming out.”

Frozen Time marks the second time that guest star Anthony Calf has appeared on Doctor Who. He was originally seen at the start of Peter Davison’s first season story, The Visitation as one of the first victims of the Terileptils. Twenty five years later, after a successful career in film and television, he’s graduated to playing the villain of the piece, Lord Barset. “His motivation isn’t totally bad,” he notes. “I think he’s finding an excuse to be the most important person and an excuse for people to love him… but he’ll make a fast buck out of it.”

Ever since he was a boy, Calf has enjoyed working in audio drama. “Playing with the microphone, and playing with sound – intimacies and distance and all that is great,” he says. “I love fantastical drama and I thought it would be really good fun to do. The challenge about this particular story is that it’s high energy right from the start, and then you’ve got to give more towards the end. There’s quite an energy journey to make, and you’ve just got to go for it.”

Unlike most radio dramas, where the cast gather around a microphone, Big Finish record each artist’s lines in a separate booth. “It enables us to work faster,” Briggs explains. “So if you rustle paper and it’s not on your line, then it’s fine.”

On a practical level, it means that any voices that need treating in post production are already on a separate track so can be worked on more easily. “Having it in your head is quite wonderful,” Calf adds. “It’s quite tiring, having the headphones on your ears for the whole day, but nonetheless something like this sort of sci-fi does need to be in your head. It’s not emotional and more dramatic.”

In recent months, Big Finish has adopted a policy of returning to episodes of 25 minutes duration, mirroring the format of the classic series, for the majority of their releases. For director Barnaby Edwards it’s taken some of the pressure off. “It gives us a lot more time in the studio,” he explains. “We’re recording the same number of days as before, so we have a lot more time to retake a scene if we need to. We don’t have to rush, there’s much more catch-up time, so I think you get a better quality product. We can also invest more time in talking to the actors, and asking them how they’d like to do a scene. We’re not just doing it to our satisfaction, but also to theirs.”

It’s helped that former Big Finish producer Gary Russell is now working on the new show. “Gary moving to Cardiff as a script editor for BBC Wales puts him in the position of checking our scripts from a BBC point of view, and this has turned out to be massively useful, because he knows what I’m going through,” Nick Briggs admits. “He’s just honest and upfront. He makes it very clear what he’s saying as a BBC person and what he’s saying as an ex-Big Finisher. He gives great advice and has really saved my bacon on a number of occasions.”

The success of the BBC Wales series has had an effect on Big Finish. “There is now a lot more emotion injected into the stories,” Edwards notes. “As the new series has taught us, essentially a story is about emotions. It doesn’t have to be mawkish, cheesy or syrupy, but it’s not just about the plot. It is about the interaction of characters. That whole freedom, and getting actors in who are specifically known for doing dramas, has really helped inject realism into the stories. I think there are a lot of very exciting stories coming up, and to be able to do that after we’ve had so many already shows the genius of the original format.”

Frozen Time is out now. Click here to read the review.

Click here to read an interview with Sylvester McCoy.