Doctor who Spin-offs

Depends what your into

If you like action thriller gritty the 4 Series of Dalek Empire and 1st series of Unit fit the bill.

If you like mystery humour and some scares try CC Mahogany Murders and Series 1 of Jago & Litghtfoot.

Regards

mark687

Jago & Litefoot is excellent, a fantastic core cast having audacious adventures in Victorian London, which offers a wealth of woes for the intrepid investigators. The CC The Mahogany Murderers is a great pilot, and the duo guest star in a number of stories with the Fourth and Sixth Doctors. They appear with the Fourth Doctor and Romana I in The Justice of Jalxar (yes, Romana wonders if the translation circuits have malfunctioned), and the Sixth Doctor in Voyage to Venus, Voyage to the New World (both Voyages stand-alone and are good jumping on points) and Stage Fright from The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure.

There's a great Sarah Jane audio spin-off, Sarah Jane Smith. It's a relatively old range (2002-2006) and doesn't feature the Doctor, but rather Sarah and a new circle of friends solving mysteries and dealing with conspiracies centered around her. Series one is a bit uneven (only the first, third and fifth stories tie into the season arc), but series two is amazing. Series one features a return character from a TV story Sarah was in, and series two shows the consequences of another TV story with Sarah (it's best not to go in spoiled). Guest stars include Jacqueline Pearce and Tom Chadbon. The range as a whole is more adult than the Sarah Jane Adventures TV show.

Graceless (first released 2010) is another good one. It follows the characters of Amy and Zara from the Key 2 Time trilogy (Amy is renamed Abbey for Graceless, presumably to avoid confusion with TV companion Amy Pond), and is a fascinating exploration of identity and morality. Three box sets and a half hour episode in The Worlds of Big Finish so far, with another box set on the way soon. The Key 2 Time trilogy is handy background, but not essential.

The big one is Bernice Summerfield, and I can understand if you feel daunted about approaching it. Two ideal starting points are the Epoch box set (wipes the continuity slate clean and you're gently introduced to old elements as the box sets continue) and The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield (Benny, the Seventh Doctor and Ace with a New Adventures tone). Both require no previous knowledge and the stories give you all the backstory you need. There are plenty of stories in the Doctor Who range with Benny that you can approach without fear, such as The Dark Flame, Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code, Novel Adaptations Love and War (Benny's introduction), The Highest Science, Theatre of War and All-Consuming Fire. There's a Benny 20th anniversary release Many Happy Returns, which touches upon the areas of Benny's audio life, allowing you to glimpse the range as a whole without being bogged down in continuity (there will be spoilers for big developments, but the biggest was back in 2008).

Counter-Measures is another great one. It features the prototype-UNIT team from Remembrance of the Daleks, with a distinctly 60's tone. The first box set is a bit uneven, but really hits its stride series two onward. They cross over with the Seventh Doctor and Ace in the Main Range title 1963: The Assassination Games, but that doesn't require background from their own range.

I was iffy about the spin-offs at first, but I have really enjoyed the Bernice Summerfield ones, Dalek Empire, and the Gallifrey series.

I've listened to several Jago and Litefoot stories and enjoyed them, but haven't gotten to the full box sets yet, except for the recent Jago and Litefoot and Strax.

In the same way, I've listened to several individual Iris Wildthyme stories and enjoyed them, but haven't gotten into the full series yet. I probably will, at some point. Katy Manning is a hot riot.

I've listened to the older UNIT stories and enjoyed them, but they're not my favorites. I did like UNIT Dominion.

The only spin-off I have little to no interest in ever buying is Vienna. I'm just not that interested in the character.

Jago and Litefoot - generally brilliant, mysterious, and funny.

Counter Measures - 1960's vibe, cloak and dagger intrigue, odd occurances. Highly recommended.

I'd say you cant go wrong with either of these!

As ljwilson and whiskeybrewer said:
Jago & Litefoot, Countermeasures and I, Davros. I'll also add Cyberman and Gallifrey (series I-III) to this list - simply superb.

Cheers

Tony

Jago & Litefoot is fantastic. It took me a while to get into it and it is a bit costly to keep up with, but it's one of the most consistently high quality series I've listened to.

I've only really listened to the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield box sets, but so far I LOVE the New Adventures feel of the boxsets. I'm a little put off from diving into the standalone CD releases, since I prefer downloads, but with each passing day I'm getting closer and closer to putting some money into getting started on them.

Torchwood has been surprisingly fantastic. In fact, I'd say every release so far has been nothing short of amazing. I'm not too sure if I'll continue with this series, since I have to draw a line somewhere for how much money I'm spending, but I have high expectations for this series.

And the last spinoff range I've started on is one of the most recent ones, The Diary of River Song. It's not as good as the other items on this list, I have to admit, but we've only had one boxset so far and it wasn't BAD - just not as good as the above ranges. Alex Kingston is great, though.

Thank you everyone for the amazing advice, i Will definatly see about Counter-measures and Gallifrey and I am enjoying already The First Season of The Cd Bernice summerfield adventures and am going to Listen to Jago and Litefoot.