Listen: First Clip From Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor Who Return

Christopher Eccleston is returning to Doctor Who. Though the Ninth Doctor actor has traditionally distanced himself from the sci-fi show since he vacated the TARDIS after one season in 2005, he’s now back to voice the role in an ongoing audio drama series for Big Finish Productions, who also work with the likes of Tom Baker, Paul McGann and David Tennant. And ahead of the release of the first volume of The Ninth Doctor Adventures this month, a new clip from the boxset has been revealed.

Subtitled Ravagers, the first set contains three stories written by Big Finish’s Creative Director Nicholas Briggs, who likewise voices the Daleks on the TV series. The minute-long clip comes from the opening episode, “Sphere of Freedom,” and takes the form of a very classic Doctor Who set-up: the Doctor approaches his TARDIS accompanied by an unsuspecting human, who’s confused by its outer shell.

Here's a little treat for your Friday! Sound on 🔊 for a snippet from #DoctorWho: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – Ravagers: Sphere of Freedom https://t.co/Du8stUnsnL pic.twitter.com/F906EOvPQF

— Big Finish Insider (@bigfinish) April 30, 2021

The Ninth Doctor Adventures won’t reunite Eccleston with his on-screen co-star Billie Piper, as these stories take place prior to the Time Lord meeting Rose Tyler in season 1. Instead, the set will introduce some new companions for the Doctor – Nova (Camilla Beeput) and Audrey (Jayne McKenna). But obviously, the major draw for fans is the return of Eccleston. And, as we can tell from the above clip, he’s slipped back into the role like he never left, perfectly recreating Nine’s personality and switching from laidback attitude to fierce protector of the Earth on a dime.

Don’t expect his audio comeback to lead to a proper return to Doctor Who, however, as Eccleston has pointedly said he’ll go back to the series on TV “when hell freezes over.” The good news is that he’s got a lot of Big Finish content coming instead. Four volumes of The Ninth Doctor Adventures are on the way and you can pre-order the first, which releases later in May, here.