THE BLOOD OF DAWNWALKER - Over a million copies sold worldwide in first three days ... Volk is a (s)hit!!

 

Well it's just over two weeks ago since THE BLOOD OF DAWNWALKER was released and I've been bowled over by the reaction to the game overall but in particular my main NPC character, VOLK the blind, curmudgeonly northern-accented friend of the lead character COEN'S father. He's made quite an impact on the gaming world ... a very divisive character, some of the online quotes talking about him include:

"I love Volk. He was the GOAT!"

"Horrible person and great character."

"That's what his character is supposed to be, a complete asshole but funny. you can think a horrible person makes for a good character and you can even find them funny without excusing their actions."

Whatever you might think of Volk's crude, fantastical storytelling, his extremely questionable advice to Coen, I don't think there is any doubt that once you've met him you definitely won't forget him! 

He was a joy to voice, so grateful to developers REBEL WOLVES for trusting me with the legend that is Uncle Volk!! Massive shout out also to BIGMOUTH AUDIO for making the recording process sooooo. enjoyable and it was wonderful to work with mega voice director DONALD PIRIE over such an extended period!

Here's a small selection of my numerous other NPC's in the game ...

The game has enjoyed a lot of love out there, so proud to be small part of it!!

Voice agent Nordlings (Formerly Excellent Talent)

Profile www.nordlingstalent.com/artists/voiceover/sean-connolly

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

4th DOCTOR TOM BAKER makes me complete!! I've now worked with ALL FIVE REMAINING CLASSIC ERA DOCTORS!!

As the HEADLINE suggests, I am over the moon to announce that I've now worked with all of the remaining CLASSIC ERA DOCTORS!!

The final piece of the puzzle was to work on a BIG FINISH AUDIO DRAMA with my FAVOURITE - THE FOURTH DOCTOR - TOM BAKER ...

With the release this month of 15B. Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 15: Lethal Progress - a BOX SET of 3 adventures including my particular involvement in 'THE CONTINUUM' written by the prolific JOHN DORNEY and directed by the always fabulous HELEN GOLDWYN.

We recorded 'THE CONTINUUM' remotely back in 2021 (can't quite remember why!) and it's been wonderfully assembled into a really fantastic audio adventure. The cast was as follows:

What a thrill to hear my voice opposite the legendary 4th Doctor Tom Baker, it's definitely been worth the wait ... I play MR PHILLIPS, Engineering Officer onboard the legendary space-station The Daedalus. Here's how the adventure is described ...

"The Doctor and Sarah land on the space-station Daedalus on the day it makes history. The first journey through hyperspace has just been completed. But it hasn’t gone as smoothly as posterity suggests.

Something terrible is happening – and the clock is ticking down."

Order of Doctors I've worked with ...

Colin 'The Sixth Doctor' Baker (2007)

Sylvester 'The Seventh Doctor' McCoy (2007)

Peter 'The Fifth Doctor' Davison (2008)

Paul 'The Eighth Doctor' McGann (2015)

AND LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST ...

Tom 'The Fourth Doctor' Baker (2021)

and still sounding like The Doctor I grew up with at 87*!!! 

*Of course Tom has now just turned 92, still amazing!!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

SINS OF THE FLESH wins at the SCRIBE AWARDS 2024 + MAHABHARATA NOW gets a REPEAT OUTING on BBC R4 ...

 

Quite a nice little flurry of good news this week ... firstly the splendid announcement that 'SINS OF THE FLESH' (part of the 'EVERYWHERE AND ANYWHERE' audio box set compilation) from BIG FINISH has only gone and won the BEST AUDIO DRAMA AWARD at this years prestigious SCRIBE AWARDS!!! It's already garnered so many outstanding reviews from the audio world of Doctor Who, not least for it's no holds barred story telling - it seems only right that writer of 'SINS OF THE FLESH' and producer of the 3 part compilation ALFIE SHAW should come away with this years award. 

The Scribe Awards is a yearly event held by the IAMTW (The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers) which celebrates and honors excellence in the field of writing tie-in fiction for media franchises. These works include novels, short stories, audio dramas, and graphic novels tied to licenses of movies and TV shows, as well as video games, comics, songs, and even book series.

The winners were rather excitingly announced at this years SAN DIEGO COMIC CON last Friday, July 26. Congratulations should also go to all the nominees but in particular to the other two adventures featured in the box set; GEORGIA COOK'S 'SPIRIT OF THE SEASON' and ALL'S FAIR by MAX KASHEVSKY which were also nominated in the same category.

Lastly but not leastly, congratulations to our esteemed director on all three stories HELEN GOLDWYN, thank you for casting me in one of the best roles I've had in recent years in 'SINS OF THE FLESH' ... HUZZAH!!!

'MAHABHARATA NOW', a B7 MEDIA production for BBC RADIO 4 was first transmitted last year gets a welcome repeat outing over the next two Saturdays, the 3rd & 10th August at 3pm on BBC Radio 4. Written by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle, produced by Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell and the director was Jatinder Verma ... 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rgxs

I was delighted to be a small part within this RADIO ADAPTATION of 'THE MAHABHARATA', an epic that comprises one hundred thousand stanzas of verse divided into eighteen books, or parvas. It is the largest single literary work in existence. 

In Episodes 3 & 4 - Yash and Padma arrive in Manchester to begin their four year exile. I pop up as the WAREHOUSE SUPERVISOR in Episode 3 and in Episode 4, I can be heard playing a myriad of characters ... 

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

Doctor Who - The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles - Everywhere and Anywhere - SINS OF THE FLESH - OUT NOW!!

Well I've really been looking forward to listening to this terrific ELEVENTH DOCTOR box set since I recorded the final adventure 'SINS OF THE FLESH' last year and boy it doesn't disappoint!! It's been universally praised across the Doctor Who Audio world. Very proud to have played the guest lead role of the not terribly pleasant ROBERT MCINTOSH (no he's not Scottish!) in this brave and hard hitting story ... This is the blurb from the BIG FINISH website:

"Is your child exhibiting sinful behaviour? Have they set themselves on the road of eternal damnation? Has everything you tried failed? Feel like you’re out of options?

Don't worry. We can help. Bring them to the Rebirth Organisation today. Bring them to be converted."

What an amazing script! NO SPOILERS ... but McIntosh is the founder of the REBIRTH ORGANISATION where there just 'might' be some CONVERTING going on!!!!!!!!

It was extra special because amazingly I had never been involved in a CYBERMAN story for BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS until now, so it was fabulous to be in such a special one!! This particular adventure 'SINS OF THE FLESH' was written by THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR CHRONICLES producer ALFIE SHAW and directed by the lovely HELEN GOLDWYN ... 

(from left to right) Alexandra D'sa (Lilly), Sean Connolly (McIntosh), Maddison Bullevent (Carmen), Brad Shaw (Jason), Safiyya Ingar (Valarie), Jacob Dudman (The Doctor)

The full cast list is as follows:

The Doctor / Harry  JACOB DUDMAN

Valarie Lockwood  SAFIYYA INGAR

Carmen  MADDISON BULLEYMENT

Lilly  ALEXANDRA D'SA

McIntosh  SEAN CONNOLLY

Jason  BRAD SHAW

Cyberleader / Cybermen  NICHOLAS BRIGGS

In this penultimate ELEVENTH DOCTOR CHRONICLES box set there's a brilliantly talented cast involved, lead by the extraordinary JACOB DUDMAN sounding faultlessly like the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) ... Seek it out here 

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY DOCTOR WHO ... A small selection of memories.

With it being 'DOCTOR WHO'S' 60th BIRTHDAY today, I thought I'd put together a little montage of COVERS and PICS from my time working in the wonderful AUDIO WORLD of DOCTOR WHO with BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS over the last 18 YEARS!

You'll find above a COMPLETE SET of CLASSIC DOCTORS that I've worked with (including COMPANIONS!), minus William Hartnell as The First Doctor, Patrick Troughton as The Second Doctor and Jon Pertwee as The Third Doctor .. FOR OBVIOUS REASONS!

It was interesting that over the years I've worked on quite a lot of BIG FINISH adventures that haven't featured the DOCTOR HIMSELF ... 

I'd like to thank all the directors at Big Finish (past and present) who have given me the joyous opportunities of working alongside The Doctor! So proud to have been a little part of the incredible WORLD OF DOCTOR WHO, long may that continue!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOCTOR!!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

Celebrating World Audio Drama Day 2023 ...

It's that time of year again ... when we celebrate all things AUDIO DRAMA!

It's 33 years since my very first AUDIO DRAMA/RADIO DRAMA a radio play called 'THE PEOPLE'S WOMAN' directed by the much missed PHILIP MARTIN for BBC RADIO all the way back in 1990... It was an important moment in my fledgling career and I'm very grateful to have continued working in audio drama for over 30 years now - huzzah!

I'm also grateful to now LECTURE & DIRECT students in the DARK ARTS OF AUDIO DRAMA at some of the countries leading universities and drama schools, long may that continue too! I get so much from passing whatever knowledge I've acquired over the years to the next generation of radio/audio actors ... Oh and I'm glad to say that I haven't stopped working myself in this world and I'm still learning!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com

WARHAMMER DAY 2023 - marking it's 40th Anniversary with a TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE - my WARHAMMER JOURNEY!!

Following on from yesterday's WARHAMMER DAY, not only are they celebrating all things WARHAMMER - this year they are celebrating 40 YEARS of all things WARHAMMER! I thought it might be fun to look back at my own involvement over nearly 35 of those years!!

My very first recollection of what was then called GAMES WORKSHOP was playing some of their games and painting their fantasy figures in the early nineties, some of which I still have to this day (don't ask me where!). I had recently left drama school and I landed the job of voicing one of their very first VIDEO PAINTING GUIDES using their CITADEL PAINTS, if my memory is correct it was even produced on VHS!! That was the beginning of what was to become a long and pleasurable association over the next three decades.

This potted history continues when I met the stupendously talented TOM LAUTEN and his team at BRIGHT LIGHT STUDIOS based in Coventry. He was producing the most extraordinary creatures, costumes, and props for the cutscenes in Games Workshop video games, it was an extraordinary time! I had the opportunity not only to wander open-mouthed around his incredible workshop but also be part of that world ... I ended up playing WARHAMMER'S SHORTEST EVER ORK alongside Gavin Naylor ...

Then there was the time that I played a rather unfortunate MINER in a game, (who's name I completely forget) but here is the photographic proof, opposite a pretty scary looking TYRANID!!

More live action cutscenes came along. perhaps the most impressive and well-remembered being 'FINAL LIBERATION: WARHAMMER EPIC 40,000' where I played a TECH ADEPT opposite the enormously missed actor LARRY REW ...

There's a lot of love still out there for this game and for the standard of the live action sequences, remember this was 1997 ...

A few years previously, I had also started my VOICE OVER JOURNEY with WARHAMMER when I provided the voices for about a dozen characters including the MAIN GAME PLAY CHARACTER - COMMANDER MORGAN BERNHARDT (it's him on the front cover below on the white horse!) on 'WARHAMMER - SHADOW OF THE HORNED RAT' for PC and PLAYSTATION!!

I still remember to this day the feeling of being in the studio recording what would be my very first computer/video game voice over ... NEARLY 3O YEARS AGO! Here's a great video I've found on YouTube showing the game's look and actually some of the characters I voiced.

I played about a dozen or so characters, some of whom are featured below in a rogues gallery of sorts ...

Well just three short years after the 'FINAL LIBERATION: WARHAMMER EPIC 40,000' game in 2010, came the terrifically exciting 'ULTRAMARINES - A WARHAMMER 40,000 MOVIE', an all singing - all killing thing of beauty from Good Story Productions featuring a stellar voice cast including John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee ... Director was MARTYN PICK, alongside producer BOB THOMPSON and the writer was WARHAMMER LEGEND DAN ABNETT ...

Perhaps you're wondering why I'm mentioning this WARHAMMER MOVIE, well I had the great privilege to provide, alongside fellow voice actor MIKE HAYLEY, the GUIDE TRACK CHARACTER VOICES for the film's pre-production period, in other words the WHOLE FILM was voiced by Mike and I so the animators had something to work with before they had received the vocal performances of Messrs Hurt, Stamp and Pertwee et al ... I would've have loved to have been in the final film, unfortunately that wasn't to be! Nonetheless so chuffed to have been a part of it ... 

So now fast forward NINE YEARS to 2019 for my next involvement with WARHAMMER ... I was so delighted to be asked to audition for a character in a brand new BLACK LIBRARY AUDIO ADVENTURE called 'THE BEAST INSIDE'. I got the part (ROGUE TRADER Janus Draik) - more on him later! The rest is history I suppose, as I went on to be cast in FOUR further BLACK LIBRARY ADVENTURES in that year, ALL LEADING ROLES - great times! As well as Janus, I played Brezarrk (Northern Dwarf) in 'HEIRS OF GRIMNIR', Magnus The Red (The Crimson King) in 'MORNINGSTAR' (one of the BIGGEST characters - literally as he's over 20 feet tall - in the WARHAMMER UNIVERSE), Chamberlain Edmund Sark in 'BROKEN SAINTS - SISTER ADAMANTHEA' and Lord Oswal in 'DARKLY DREAMING' ...

Also a slight departure with a great WARHAMMER HORROR AUDIO DRAMA called 'DARKLY DREAMING' by JOSH REYNOLDS which was terrific fun to record ...

All of which culminated in me NARRATING MY FIRST FULL LENGTH WARHAMMER BOOK, 'BLACKSTONE FORTRESS' by DARIUS HINKS (Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins) playing over 30 characters, all based around Janus Draik's (there he is front and centre on the cover below!) exploits exploring the mysterious and dangerous Blackstone Fortress. It was a crazy year and a bit which ended as the 'thing that shall be named', reared its ugly head in early 2020!

Thanks for joining me on my trip down WARHAMMER 40,000 memory lane!

Linktree linktr.ee/SeanConnolly

 Acting website at www.seanconnolly.co.uk

Voice website at www.seanconnollyvoices.com