Sean The Sheep ..? Nope Sean The Sontaran!

Christopher Ryan, Josette Simon and Sean Connolly, cast members on 'Doctor Who: Classic Doctors - New Monsters - The Sontaran Ordeal' from Big Finish Productions. 

I had the great thrill to be back in the Big Finish Productions studios recently to record a terrific new audio adventure called 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL'. It's one story from a brand new box-set of four adventures, featuring Classic Doctors (PAUL MCGANN on this occasion) with monsters from the new series of Doctor Who! The casting news of 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL' was broken a few days ago on the BIG FINISH website.

It is with much delight that I can announce that I will be playing a SONTARAN called Ensign Stipe (more character details to come!).

Cover for the 4 adventure box-set release of 'DOCTOR WHO: CLASSIC DOCTORS - NEW MONSTERS'

Great fun in studio as always and director BARNABY EDWARDS had assembled an excellent cast, including CHRISTOPHER RYAN, the first actor to portray a Sontaran in the new 'DOCTOR WHO' era.

Of course for many he will also be known as MIKE (The Cool Person) from the BBC comedy series 'THE YOUNG ONES'. He has also appeared in 'ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS', 'BOTTOM' and 'ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES'.  

We shared many positive stories about being a short actor. He is five foot nothing and I tower above him at five foot three! I joked that he was probably the reason I had never been cast as a Sontaran 'on the telly'! Once the BBC had cast Chris as GENERAL STAAL back in 2008, it was never going to be. With the Sontarans being a clone race, once they had settled on Chris as their Sontaran template, even I was always going to be TOO TALL FOR A SONTARAN!! Thankfully on audio, actual height doesn't matter in the slightest. I remember once playing a six foot burly builder in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of AMANDA WHITTINGTON'S stage play 'BOLLYWOOD JANE'. So in the same spirit of playing 'up' height-wise, I can also play 'down', hurrah for audio!!

Sean Connolly and Christopher Ryan relax on a break in the recording of 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL'

Then there was The Doctor played on this occasion by PAUL MCGANN, in his element with JOSETTE SIMON and DAN STARKEY completing the cast. It was great to be in studio with such experienced actors with so many credits between them. Paul is probably best known for being the 8TH DOCTOR as well as playing Marwood in the iconic film 'WITHNAIL AND I' opposite Richard E. Grant and the BBC series 'THE MONOCLED MUTINEER'. More recently he has been seen in 'LUTHER', 'WAKING THE DEAD' and 'RIPPER STREET'. It was great to finally work with him in a 'DOCTOR WHO' context after last working with him on a Non-Who related play for BBC Radio 4, almost 20 years ago!

After working with 'BLAKE'S 7' actor GARETH THOMAS last month with SPITEFUL PUPPET (see 15th JUNE Blog Post), it was another big thrill for me to work with yet another cast member, the ageless Josette Simon. Josette played Dayna Mellanby in the classic 1980's BBC Sci-Fi series, as well as appearing in 'CRY FREEDOM' with Denzel Washington.

Completing the SONTARAN ROYALTY was DAN STARKEY who in recent years has taken over CHRISTOPHER RYAN'S mantle as chief 'DOCTOR WHO' Sontaran actor, playing 'STRAX' and 'COMMANDER SKORR'. Dan has also appeared in 3 seasons of the CBBC Sci-Fi series 'WIZARD'S AND ALIENS', as well as 'THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES' and a recent episode of 'INSIDE NO.9'.

'Doctor Who: Classic Doctors - New Monsters - The Sontaran Ordeal' is to be released in 2016 ... can I wait that long! Check back for further news on an exact RELEASE DATE.