Audio Visuals


The Audio Visuals were an unlicensed series of Doctor Who audio dramas made by British fans in the 1980s.
Featuring Nicholas Briggs as the Doctor, twenty-eight audio plays were recorded and distributed on audio cassette between 1985 and 1991.
The first three seasons were produced by Bill Baggs, and the fourth and final season by Gary Russell.
Although the Audio Visuals audios were a violation of copyright, the BBC chose to look the other way. Gary Russell later told an interviewer,
Many of those involved in the Audio Visuals went on to work in more professional, licensed science fiction audio drama, either through BBV or through Big Finish Productions. Nicholas Briggs has worked for both BBV and Big Finish as an actor and as a writer; he also worked on additional Doctor Who-related/inspired productions for Reeltime Pictures and, beginning in 2005, provided vocal work for the new Doctor Who series.
Several Audio Visuals scripts have been remade professionally, either by BBV or Big Finish. The Big Finish audios which were adapted from Audio Visuals plays are The Mutant Phase, Sword of Orion, Minuet in Hell and the Doctor Who Magazine special releases Last of the Titans and Cuddlesome.
Elements from various Audio Visuals plays also appear in Gary Russell's contributions to the licensed Doctor Who novel ranges published by Virgin and the BBC, most notably in Deadfall. The Nicholas Briggs incarnation of the Doctor has also appeared in the DWM comic strip both as an unspecified future version, and the form taken by Shayde when posing as the Ninth Doctor.