As the 2022 Scribe Audio Awards edges closer, Big Finish has found that six of their latest releases have been nominated. Over the last few years, a number of Big Finish audios have been nominated and won awards, so it’s expected that at least one of these six audios will win something.

But this year, three of The Ninth Doctor Adventures have been nominated, taking the lion’s share of nominations. The three audios in question — Girl, Deconstructed, The Curse of Lady Macbeth, and Monsters in Metropolis, written by Lisa McMullin, Lizzie Hopley, and John Dorney respectively — certainly proved popular with listeners.

Girl, Deconstructed saw the Ninth Doctor investigating a missing persons case like no other. I wasn’t a huge fan of his first boxset, Ravagers, so I was really pleased that his second boxset, Respond To All Calls, started off really strong with McMullin’s story. It was the first Ninth Doctor story that really felt like something Russell T Davies would have done, with a mixture of tragedy, fun, and heart-warming moments. Give it a listen; it’s no wonder this story has been nominated.

The second Ninth Doctor story, The Curse of Lady Macbeth, I’ve not heard, but I know it challenges the look that Shakespeare took with the titlur Lady Macbeth. Was she was really as bad as he made her out to be? I’ve never really experienced the play, though I do act and know not to mention the play’s name in a theatre; it’s nice that the play acknowledges our misconceptions and the idea of a ‘curse’ too. Throw in some scary and creepy moments and it seems you’ve got a recipe for a great audio adventure.

Monsters of Metropolis saw the return of the Cybermen, and the villains seems to be popping up a lot in recent Ninth Doctor stories, giving them a time to shine with this Doctor like he did with the Daleks on television. Another semi-historical story, this tale sees the Ninth Doctor arriving on the film set for the iconic film, Metropolis. But the machine men turn out to be even more deadly than the science fiction film had in mind as the Cybermen have turned up. John Dorney is a dependable writer and I’m not sure how he manages to get out so much of a workload! There has been many of his stories in the past I’ve thought deserved an award and more recognition so it’s great to see his name on the list of writers whose stories have been nominated.

But it isn’t just the Ninth Doctor on the list: the Fifth Doctor story, The Last Resort, which finally dealt with the grief of losing Adric and gave him a much more dignified ending, was a cracking good story, and is in the running for an award. Also up for awards are: The Truth of Peladon, the dark final story from the recent Peladon boxset; and the epic outing for the Third and Second Doctors, The Annihilators, which was a lot of fun to listen to from start to finish, and saw Michael Troughton stepping into the role of the Second Doctor, following in the footsteps of his father (as he has done for Beyond War Games).

All of these stories deserve to win awards, and so it’ll be interesting to see which ones come out on top. But for now, all the stories can be enjoyed at a discounted price over at the Big Finish website. It’s nice to see that with this calibre of writers and their imagination, plus the move to boxsets, allows for more diverse storytelling. I’m looking forward to seeing what is coming over the year and what will be nominated next year.

For now though, the Scribe Audio Awards will be held on Friday 22nd June between 2 and 3pm. Best of luck to all those nominated!