Big Finish has revealed new information about the second volume of The Robots featuring Liv Chenka (played by Nicola Walker) and her sister Tula (played by Claire Rushbrook). Liv Chenka is well known as one of the Eighth Doctor’s companions in the Big Finish universe. In this spin-off of Doctor Who, the two sisters adapt to life on the planet Kaldor, a world in which artificial intelligence is quickly progressing.
The second volume of The Robots will be available in July 2020 and features three new stories:
Robots of War by Roland Moore
A visit to an old flame goes badly wrong for Liv and Tula and soon they find themselves locked down in a military training base, surrounded by traitors and robots designed and built for war. As they attempt to get everyone out alive, is there a chance they’ve missed something important?
Toos and Poul by Andrew Smith
When a murder takes place in an isolated outpost, there’s only one man who can look into the crime. Investigator Poul, newly reunited with his Sandminer colleague Toos. But can he over-come his fears and prejudices and solve the case?
Do No Harm by Sarah Grochala
After an incident in a laboratory leads to a tragedy, someone needs to be found accountable. And who better to be prosecuted than a robot? But when complicated ethical questions arise, the outcome of the trial becomes bigger than a single case. What if somebody else is working behind the scenes?
The audio drama is directed by Ken Bentley and produced by David Richardson. Two actors from the Fourth Doctor’s story, The Robots of Death, Pamela Salem and David Collings, reprise their roles of Lish Toos and Ander Poul.
Producer, David Richardson said:
Actors and their performances can stay with us all of our lives – David Collings was one of those performers. Even as a 14-year-old, I knew I was watching great acting when he played Poul in ‘The Robots of Death’ for Doctor Who. I loved his portrayal of Silver in ‘Sapphire and Steel,’ and all those character roles in so many classic TV dramas from Elizabeth R to Prince Regent to the BBC’s ‘Julius Caesar.’ So many, many characters. I was delighted to invite him to join The Robots to reprise the part of Poul, and how lucky we were to secure time to record his great contributions for volumes 2, 3, and 4. He was a lovely man to work with, and of course still such a brilliant actor. It’s been said before but I’ll say it again: he was the best Doctor Who we never had.
Director, Ken Bentley added:
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Pamela quite a few times now and she’s utterly delightful – one of the most kind-hearted people you could ever hope to meet. The producer had arranged for one of the original Robots to visit the studio during recording and it was very entertaining to reunite it with Pamela. She was so excited. One of the uniquely rewarding things about working for Big Finish is bringing actors together again. I’m not entirely sure when Pamela and David Collings last worked with each other, it may well have been on ‘Doctor Who.’ I hadn’t worked with David before but familiar faces and shared experiences always help to make the day more enjoyable for everybody.
The Robots Volume 3 and The Robots Volume 4 will be released in December 2020 and June 2021, respectively.
The Robots Volume 2 is already available to pre-order as a CD box set and a download on the Big Finish website. It also can be ordered as a bundle with the other three volumes to save money.
