I’ve heard a bunch of dwindling opinions on this topic, so I’m curious as of what people of the Tardis sphere thing of these. Personally I am a huge fan, especially when trying to tell a story from fe. The Third Doctor’s era would be rather difficult with other Doctors. Also helps that Tim Treloar is absolutely incredible in the role and even Katy Manning loves his performance dearly. But I’ve seen other sides of the argument saying that we should let the Doctors, whose actors have passed/don’t wanna do audio rest. What do you guys think?
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I’m in the weird situation where the only performed Third Doctor stories I’ve experienced have been the 3DA’s, which means Treloar’s version has become the standard to my brain at least a little bit. Of course I’ve seen clips of Pertwee, and so I know kinda what his voice sounds like, but never a full story, so y’know, it’s weird. Even more so with Frazer Hines as Two, which is absolutely ingrained into my brain, and I’ve never watched a Troughton episode…
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Higly reccomend watching The Web of Fear and Terror of The Autons if you want a 4 part taste of each of the aforementioned Doctors 
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I’ll definitely get to those someday, but for now I’m still having a jolly old time with Hartnell. But if I’m ever in the mood to skip ahead to those Doctors I’ll pick your recommendations!
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After hearing (only) the 2 most recent sets, I really love Jonathan Carley’s War Doctor. He’s a fantastic actor as well as an impressionist, and I think Big Finish are really lucky to have him. Unknown Soldiers especially was great.
I’ve heard a few 3DAs too, and I like Tim Treloar’s Three quite a bit. I wish Big Finish pushed the boat out a little more with the range—my favourite so far has 100% been The Gulf, which is not a typical Pertwee story by any means. I need to get around to buying The Quintessence!
As for the others, I haven’t heard any Noonan, and although Micheal Troughton is pretty good as Two I still prefer Frazer Hines (and for that matter Michael’s brother David, who played Two in the Nest Cottage Chronicles).
Oh, and Daisy Ashfield and Sadie Miller are fantastic!
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I’m down for them so long as the actor is no longer with us. I am willing to give an exception for 11/Dudman because he was pitch perfect and Matt clearly isn’t joining soon. But the 12th Doctor ones I have no interest in AT ALL.
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It took me a while but I’ve got used enough to Tim Treloar to enjoy him as the Third Doctor. I also recently enjoyed Michael Troughton as 2 in The Krillitane Feint. I think what I try to remember is that they are playing the Doctor not playing the original actor.
The absolute best is, as has already been mentioned, Jacob Dudman as a pitch perfect 11.
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I’ve said this before, but I love Tim, Michael, and Jonathon in their respective roles. All three of them do their own thing but manage to land close enough to fool me into thinking I’m listening to the original actors.
Noonan isn’t quite there for me yet. I don’t know if he ever will be.
Yes, ASAP! It’s a fantastic story!
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I’m not a fan. I’m also with past Gary Russell on this. From the super old Big Finish website FAQ:
Recasting incarnations of the Doctor
FAQ: I will not recast those three Doctors under any circumstances - to do so would I believe be the height of bad taste. On TV they got away with it in The Five Doctors, and that should remain a unique event. William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee were three great actors whose memory is better served by enjoying what we have rather than muddying it with sound-alikes. And to ask their family members to impersonate them would be insulting them and their fathers. It’s a definite no-no.
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As I say, I think it’s important that they are viewed as playing a character rather than impersonating a real person. And clearly Michael Troughton doesn’t find it insulting (and nor did David when he ‘sort of’ played the 2nd Doctor in the Nest Cottage audios). It’s also interesting to note that Sadie Miller and Daisy Ashford are both now playing the same characters as their mums so clearly no insult there (and Daisy clearly considers it a huge honour to play the same role as her mum).
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Absolutely well said!
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I’ve never liked family members taking on the roles of their parents tbh. It’s obviously completely up to them but I’m just not a fan. I don’t really care for recasts either, speaking generally. Hurndall should’ve been a one-off, but even then part of me would rather it’d never happened.
I’d much rather have creative workarounds, like the old Companion Chronicles.
Glad recasts work for others though. It just makes BF far too uncanny for me, and it won’t be long until every Doctor and companion sounds off because they’re all recasts.
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I’d rather thave that than no BF at all. Or only BF stories with original characters set in the Doctor Who universe.
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They still have Tom, Peter, Colin, Sylv, Paul, Chris, Jodie, Jo Martin, and the occasional visit from Tennant.
Oh yes, but half of those names aren’t exactly young and won’t be around for more than a couple of decades at most. And this goes for the companion actors as well, those who are still around. So that’s all of Classic out unless they do recasts.
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I rather hope they don’t continue 4-8das for a good 20 years at least if someone were to unfortunately pass (Which i seriously hope doesn’t happen any time soon), because unlike the first 3 Doctors they have a big catalogue already.
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I’m undecided on this. I didn’t think Daisy Ashford sounded anything like Caroline John when I listened to Primord and I don’t think Sadie Miller sounds much like Sladen. But then again, who am I to take away doing that from them if its something they feel honours their mums.
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Each to their own, I personally think they are both brilliant :), also Sadie is just the nicest person ever, and I feel like no one else than her would’ve gotten Sarah’s nuances as well
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This is the other thing ~ some of the recasts seem to be aiming for as much accuracy as possible, whereas others seem to be more like homage and “the spirit of the character” (eg. Noonan). It niggles me that some are deliberately trying to sound like the character, whereas some aren’t but are instead just trying to capture the ‘essence’, if that makes sense. It’s all a little arbitrary feeling.
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I really like the Liz and Sarah-Jane recasts. Quite honestly I’ve not disliked any of the recasts that I’ve heard (which is nearly all of them). I dislike the 12 recast but it’s not a permanent recast unlike the others. I think both Daisy Ashford and Sadie Miller have really come into their own in their most recent stuff, I really love Liz so getting more of her is great!
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