Cumberbatch Cast in Audio Prequel

Cast announced for Jenna audio prequel…

LONDON, September 28, 2009: UK-based independent production company, B7 Productions, has announced that BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH will guest star in the forthcoming EARLY YEARS audio drama JENNA. CARRIE DOBRO and STEPHEN LORD also star.

The latest prequel story centres on the pilot and smuggler, Jenna Stannis, played in the audio remake by CARRIE DOBRO (Babylon 5). We meet Jenna long before she’s met Roj Blake aboard the prison ship London. This is a teenage, care-free Jenna, her whole life ahead of her. And everything she’s ever held dear about to be stripped away. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, (perhaps best known for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama, Hawking), plays a brash, but dangerously charismatic and ambitious pilot, Townsend – who Jenna doesn’t fancy at all.

The two thirty-minute adventures ‘The Dust Run’ and ‘The Trial’ are written by Simon Guerrier, a writer closely associated with the audio drama and book ranges of Doctor Who for Big Finish.

Simon Guerrier says of his debut BLAKE’S 7 audio dramas: “When I was first approached about the re-imagined audio series, I immediately wanted to write something fast-paced, epic and sexy, and where Jenna doesn’t keep getting left behind to operate the teleport. Because in my mind the biggest failing of the classic series was to create a series of feisty, no-nonsense, competent women and then give them nothing to do.”

Guerrier adds: “My Jenna plays seek to do two things – think big and don’t ignore the girls. Which is sort of my motto anyhow.”

Previous audio prequels have explored the early lives of Avon, Cally, Travis, Vila and Gan with future releases to reveal the origins of Zen, Servalan and Blake.

Story 1.5 JENNA: THE DUST RUN/THE TRIAL

Written by Simon Guerrier | Directed by Alistair Lock

Release: 30 November 2009 | RRP: 10.99 | ISBN: 978-1-906577-08-7

Featuring Carrie Dobro, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Lord