Claudia Grant has been confirmed as playing Carole Ann Ford in Mark Gatiss' Doctor Who biodrama 'An Adventure In Space And Time'.
The confirmation comes on Grant's agency website, which happens to be run by Jessica Carney (William Hartnell's granddaughter):
"Congratulations to CLAUDIA GRANT (see actresses) who is shooting An Adventure in Space and Time, her first TV job since graduating in the summer. The 90 minuter written by Mark Gatiss for the BBC tells the story of the genesis of Doctor Who. Claudia is filming the role of actress Carol Ann Ford who played the first Doctor’s granddaughter."
DWO are expecting more casting confirmations shortly, including Jamie Glover as William Russell.
[Sources: Jessica Carney Associates]
Manufacturer: Big Finish Productions
Written By: Marc Platt
RRP: £8.99 (CD) / £7.99 (Download)
Release Date: January 2013
Reviewed by: Matthew Davis for Doctor Who Online
Review Posted: 19th January 2013
The TARDIS materializes in Spain in the late sixteenth century. The country is at war with England – and the travellers find themselves on the wrong side of the battle lines.
When Ian and his new friend Esteban are captured by the Inquisition, the Doctor, Susan and Barbara plan to rescue them.
But these are dark days in human history. And heretics face certain death...
* * *
It makes sense that the first release from Big Finish for the Fiftieth anniversary year would be a First Doctor story. What makes The Flames of Cadiz an extra special release is that it is a four part adventure which is magnificently performed by two of the original TARDIS crew.
The Flames of Cadiz deals with the perils of time travel and interference in the course of history. It is also a study of opposing sides. In the story we have Catholics against Protestants and the warring factions of Spain and England. Both of the opposing sides are not shown to be positive as one is just as ruthless and fanatical as the other. Platt uses our heroes to examine this in relation to time travel when The Doctor accuses Ian and Barbara of sabotaging the timeline to provide a positive outcome for their country in the upcoming battle with the Spanish Armada.
Marc Platt has crafted a story which very much echoes the historical stories of Doctor Who’s early years whilst being both entertaining and thought provoking. Platt knows The First Doctor well, having written many incarnations of the character in different media. He gets the grumpiness and the distrust between him and his companions spot on. The Doctor is flawed, making mistakes and getting things wrong, setting off a catastrophic set of events into motion out of anger. It harks back to those early years when we didn’t know just who The Doctor was and what he wanted.
William Russell and Carole Ann Ford deliver excellent performances as Ian and Susan, both picking up the narrative parts of their story with ease but for me it is Russell who is the star of the show. I have said in past reviews that we are lucky to have William Russell continuing to play Ian Chesterton and as we head into this Anniversary year I stand by this even more so.
The story is a little long and it could quite easily have been edited down into two parts but the thoughtful pace and the comic and reflective moments would have been a casualty.
The Flames of Cadiz is well worth your time and a lovely example of that era fifty years ago.
The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine reports that AudioGO and Big Finish are teaming up for a series of 11 Doctor Who Audio Specials spanning all 11 Doctors for the 50th Anniversary year in 2013.
The series will feature one Doctor per month, and will be overseen by John Ainsworth, with AudioGO’s Michael Stevens and Big Finish’s Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery executive producing.
The first story, Hunters from Earth by Nigel Robinson is read by Carole Ann Ford and Tam Williams, and is set in that little-charted period after The First Doctor and Susan have arrived on Earth in 1963, but before they depart with Ian and Barbara at the end of An Unearthly Child.
The second story, Simon Guerrier’s Shadow of Death, features The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, and is read by Frazer Hines and Eve Dawnay.
As well as marking the first time that Big Finish have tackled stories for Doctors from the current version of the show, it will also be the first time that an original story for The Ninth Doctor will be released on audio.
[Source: SciFi Bulletin]
