A new audio drama podcast will launch on BBC Sounds this Easter, as Doctor Who: Redacted sees Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor meeting up with some familiar faces in Rani Chandra, Kate Stewart, Petronella Osgood, and Madame Vastra!
The 10-part series will begin alongside the television Easter special on 17th April, and will introduce Cleo Proctor (Charlie Craggs), Abby McPhail (Lois Chimimba), and Shawna Thompson (Holly Quin-Ankrah) – three broke university drop-outs from different cities across the UK who remain connected via their paranormal conspiracy podcast, The Blue Box Files. The trio speculate over Abby’s favourite conspiracy theory – intent on finding out the truth behind the mysterious Blue Box that keeps cropping up across history. What if this random police public call box was actually an alien ship?
They don’t know who the Doctor is, or if aliens are real, but soon find themselves caught in a supernatural conspiracy as they learn that everyone who’s ever met the Doctor is disappearing and being forgotten. Essentially, they’re being redacted from reality. The Blue Box Files is so unsuccessful that our heroes are the last ones to be affected by the redaction, making Cleo, Abby, and Shawna the world’s only hope. Now it’s a race against time to uncover the truth.
It’s like Love & Monsters if it all got a bit out of hand.
When Cleo’s brother Jordan, (played by comedian Jacob Hawley) gets redacted, they spend the rest of the series trying to find him. In the meantime, Cleo is dealing with a mother who kicked her out for being trans when she was 16, whilst trying to find out what happened to her Dad – who mysteriously ‘disappeared’ when she was a kid. As the series unfolds, Abby and Shawna grapple with their own tribulations on the edge of a will-they, won’t-they romance, despite Abby’s controlling boyfriend.
Juno Dawson, lead writer says:
“Doctor Who was my first love, and it’s an absolute thrill to add to the ever-expanding mythology in podcast form for the first time ever. What a total privilege to write for something so beloved, and put my own little flag on the landscape.”
Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver, and Anjli Mohindra all reprise their respective roles as UNIT’s Kate Stewart, Osgood, and Rani (from The Sarah Jane Adventures); however, Neve McIntosh, the original Vastra, has been replaced by Doon Mackichan.
Doctor Who: Redacted is available first on BBC Sounds weekly from 17th April 2022. Episode 1 will be available following Legend of the Sea Devils on Easter Sunday.
