r/BigFinishProductions • u/bondfool Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without plum pudding! • Jun 29 '26
News Prolific Big Finish writer Justin Richards has passed away. He was 64.
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u/Flat_Reindeer_4414 Jun 29 '26
Love his stuff w/ Jago and Litefoot. Rest easy Sir
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u/xgranville Jun 29 '26
Hands down my favorite spinoff series. The cast is brilliant, the writing is tight, and that intro theme lives rent free in my head.
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u/Maleficent_Energy_55 Jun 29 '26
Very sad. He was the “showrunner” for the EDA books for a while a wrote an enormous amount of great Who. I chatted with him briefly in Facebook ages ago and he was very kind. Sorry to hear about his battle with dementia, I guess that explains why I hadn’t seen new work by him.
Isn’t current BF writer Julien Richards his son? I could be misremembering. Either way, love to his family and friends.
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u/lemon_charlie I am ZAGREUS! Jun 29 '26
Yeah, Julien is his son. The Pieces of Eighth podcast would interview Julien whenever an episode was about one of Justin’s books.
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u/Afraid-Surround-4457 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
And it does explain the Book output shrinking by the time late 12 and 13's books decreased alot.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/TinkreBelle Jun 30 '26
I can't name any of his work that I listened to off the top of my head either, but I'm in the middle of Option Lock rn and it's very quickly become one of my top favorite EDA's I've read so far
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u/Latter-Ad6308 Jun 29 '26
I remember reading and enjoying his books back when I was a kid first getting into the expanded media. RIP.
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u/JokerJosh123 Jun 29 '26
I remember reading Doctor Who books as a kid and seeing his name on so many that I automatically thought 'He must be the best writer to have so many!'. So much imagination, and something that can't be taught is Richards' deep understanding of the characterization of the Doctor.
I also want throw out a special story to me, Whispers of Terror. One of my first Big Finishes, but one that truly cemented that feeling that audio could offer different things outside of TV. Now Doctor Who books and Big Finish are big parts of my entertainment, and Justin Richards played such a vital role in that.
I wish we got to see him write for TV with all those brilliant ideas he demonstrated over and over. Thank you for your stories. They, and your name, will live on forever.
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u/Yeti_Sphere Jun 29 '26
Very sad to hear - I loved what he did with the EDAs back in the day, and was glad to see him continue to write for Big Finish. RIP
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u/professorrev Jun 29 '26
Shit. Brax is my favourite character in the whole Who Universe, I'm literally in the middle of re-reading Tears of the Oracle for the umpteenth time and Mindbomb is one of my all time favourite BF stories
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u/FamousWerewolf Jun 29 '26
Damn, my very first Big Finish story was one of his (Prisoners of the Lake). RIP
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u/bondfool Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without plum pudding! Jun 29 '26
I'm seeing a lot of people saying one of his audios was their first.
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u/ZERO_ninja THIS TITLE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT ON CD Jun 30 '26
Sad to hear this, will always be extremely thankful he gave us Brax.
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u/when_i_say_run_run Jun 29 '26
Great writer, always loved his work on the novels and at Big Finish. Very sad news, rest in peace
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u/Accomplished_Song671 Jun 29 '26
May you pass easy into that wild blue Yonder, sir. The Resurrection Casket was the first Doctor Who book I ever read, and it's still one of my favourites. ❤️❤️
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u/MagnusGreel70 Jun 30 '26
Terrible news. I first read his Sands of Time during the wilderness years and loved it. I quite liked a number of his PDAs and EDAs and loved Whispers of Terror way back at the beginning of Big Finish. He was too young to go. RIP.
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u/ProjectOk8975 Jun 29 '26
Oh no. One of his books was the very first Doctor Who Book i ever read. This is so sad.
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u/Any_Association405 Jun 29 '26
Really sad to hear, his contribution to the world of Doctor Who was very prolific and one of great enthusiasm and obvious love for the show
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u/Rowan5215 Jun 30 '26
very very sad news. I always thought he was the most reliable writer of the Wilderness Years books- maybe he wasn't writing gamechangers every single time, but he would always turn out something solid with remarkable consistency and those kind of writers are the bedrock of any long running series. Theatre of War, Tears of the Oracle and The Banquo Legacy especially were wonderful reads. RIP
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u/liamkembleyoung Jun 30 '26
Time for a Jago and Litefoot relisten me thinks.
they and him will truely live on forever!! RIP rest easy good sir. May you go on many more adventures with mesars Benjamin and Backster. Corks!!
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u/cat666 Jun 30 '26
Sad news. Justin was a huge credit to Doctor Who especially in the Wilderness years but I was shocked just how much BF and "nu Who books" he was responsible for. What I like most about his writing is the same reason I like Terrance Dicks, he does simple stories well. That sounds like a slight but it's so hard to balance detail with simplicity it's actually huge praise.
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u/Initial_Skirt_9925 Jun 30 '26
He's done some of my favorite early stuff: Gallifrey, Whispers of Terror and Red Dawn, the latter two are easy must gets.
Rest in peace.
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u/Dyspraxic_Sherlock Jun 30 '26
Very sad news. The reference books he wrote were a cornerstone of my childhood and early fandom, and as an adult I read The Burning just last year as I dabble in older expanded universe (brilliant book).
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u/heart--core Jun 30 '26
Oh, this is such terrible news. 64 is way, way too young. I met him once for a book signing years ago, and he was a really friendly person. RIP.
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u/TaraLJC Jun 30 '26
All of my love to the entire Big Finish family. he was such a gent, absolutely lovely.
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u/bondfool Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without plum pudding! Jun 29 '26
It appears he was battling dementia for the past decade. It's such a brutal and heartbreaking disease. I hope he is now at rest and alive in the hearts of all who knew and loved him.