Rebecca Root Joins The Doctor Again in Big Finish’s ‘Doctor Who: Stranded 2’

In Doctor Who: Stranded 2, The Eighth Doctor is stuck on Earth with a TARDIS only able to travel in time. Root plays Tania Bell, one of The Doctor’s new housemates.

Leading up to the release of Stranded 2, Root gave an interview to Big Finish’s magazine, Vortex, and talked about recording the first volume of the series and how she hadn’t realized she would be joining the TARDIS team again:

“It was about a year ago that we recorded Stranded 1, a week or two before Christmas. I thought it was just a single box set but am delighted to be in a storyline that spans an entire series – a great gift to any actor.  “I found out during one of the lunch breaks. Producer David Richardson did his Q&A for the CD extras and one of his early questions was, ‘How do you feel about becoming a companion?’ I knew I was a part of this adventure but I didn’t realise it was going on further so I asked what he meant. And he said, ‘Oh, yes, you’ll be coming back in the next three box sets.’ My jaw hit the floor – I just couldn’t believe it! He said, ‘Didn’t your agent tell you?’ and later that week I spoke to my agent who said, ‘Oh, yeah, there was something else about you doing more! Didn’t I tell you?’ It was such a delightful surprise!” 

Rebecca admitted she was surprised by the outpouring of love for her character:

“I am delighted by the great comments about her – I feel so embraced by devotees of the show.  “It was most unexpected when Stranded 1 was released last June. There was coverage in the mainstream press and larger entertainment sites. A lot of the Twitterati were going on about her and I had to point out that she’s not in the telly version – not yet! “I hope Tania carries on with the Doctor for a while. Her relationship with Liv Chenka (played by Nicola Walker) is lovely too. It’s just about two people, and whatever their backgrounds are it doesn’t matter. Two people connecting – that’s all we want, isn’t it? “What we find in the second box set are pretty difficult things to take. When we think about the future, we don’t only think about our mortality as individuals, but the life of the planet too. Not to be too ‘Extinction Rebellion’ about it, we live on a fragile planet and the Doctor Who storyline really taps into that. The future can be a bit scary, and with what we’ve seen recently with COVID, it is a bit scary.” 

Paul McGann is back as The Eighth Doctor. Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair), Tom Price (Sergeant Andy Davidson), Clive Wood (Mr Bird), Tom Baker (the Curator), and Jon Culshaw (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) are also part of the cast

Doctor Who: Stranded 2 is now available to pre-order as a CD box set, or download from the Big Finish website.