'SONTAR-HA!' : Sean Connolly is Sontaran Ensign Stipe in new BIG FINISH Box-set ...

The cover of one the adventures included in 'DOCTOR WHO: CLASSIC DOCTORS, NEW MONSTERS VOLUME 1' - 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL'

OUT TODAY! Almost 10 years to the day that I first worked with BIG FINISH, comes the much anticipated release of 'DOCTOR WHO: CLASSIC DOCTORS, NEW MONSTERS VOLUME 1'...

Sontaran brethren; 'THE YOUNG ONES' actor Christopher Ryan and Sean Connolly ...

I play ambitious Sontaran ENSIGN STIPE alongside 'THE YOUNG ONE'S' star CHRISTOPHER RYAN playing Sontaran GENERAL STENK (see above) in the FOURTH ADVENTURE of the Box-Set called 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL'.

The wonderful cast includes 'BLAKES 7's actress JOSETTE SIMON as SARANA TEEL and new era #DoctorWho Sontaran, DAN STARKEY as JASK with PAUL McGANN as the 8th DOCTOR ...

Director is BARNABY EDWARDS across all FOUR ADVENTURES in the BOX-SET and writer for 'THE SONTARAN ORDEAL' is ANDREW SMITH ...

For other posts about my work with BIG FINISH including that VERY FIRST ADVENTURE I recorded back on the 31st JULY 2006, called 'I, DAVROS', where I ended up playing the BIOLOGICAL FATHER of DAVROS, hence laying my claim to the title of 'GRANDFATHER OF THE DALEKS' ... please CLICK HERE ... It's been a great decade of mostly 'DOCTOR WHO' related work ... SONTAR-HA!

Sean joins Glorious Ninth Sontaran Battle Fleet in new Big Finish audio adventure - 'SONTAR-HA!'

Great news! 'DOCTOR WHO: CLASSIC DOCTORS, NEW MONSTERS VOLUME 1' from BIG FINISH is COMING VERY SOON ... in fact THIS MONTH ...

The trailer has just been released for this FOUR ADVENTURE BOX SET featuring Classic Doctors; Peter Davison (5th Doctor), Colin Baker (6th Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor) and Paul McGann (8th Doctor) meeting New Era Monsters such as The Weeping Angels, The Judoon, The Sycorax and The Sontarans ...

I play a rather fiery (is there any other kind!), ambitious SONTARAN called ENSIGN STIPE in the FOURTH ADVENTURE of the Box-Set called 'Doctor Who: Classic Doctors - New Monsters - The Sontaran Ordeal'.

Director BARNABY EDWARDS has assembled an impressive cast to support PAUL McGANN'S 8th DOCTOR with 'THE YOUNG ONE'S' star CHRISTOPHER RYAN playing Sontaran GENERAL STENK, 'BLAKES 7's JOSETTE SIMON as SARANA TEEL and television's 'GO TO' 'DOCTOR WHO' Sontaran, DAN STARKEY as JASK ...

Click here to go to my previous post about 'The Sontaran Ordeal' ...

It has been written by 'THE FIRST SONTARANS' writer ANDREW SMITH, who remarkably, as a 19 year old also wrote the TOM BAKER (4th Doctor) 4-part television story 'FULL CIRCLE' back in 1980.

'FULL CIRCLE' featured LALLA WARD as ROMANA (above) and the very first appearance of MATTHEW WATERHOUSE as ADRIC (above) as well as THE MARSHMEN (below) ... 

So clearly 'The Sontaran Ordeal' has a very good pedigree with Andrew on writing duties. I can't wait to hear the outcome when it's released in a matter of weeks. "SONTAR-HA!"

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.