Category: Doctor Who

Story: Attempting to track down anything that might bear the slightest resemblance to “definitive dates” on which Doctor Who, as a concept, was born, the book follows the careers of many key and ancillary players in the show’s gestation, combing through BBC paperwork, interviews both new and vintage, and focuses on the convergence of these talents as a vague push for more science fiction on the BBC becomes the more focused creation of one of the genre’s longest-lasting series.

Review: Well, this is a book whose subject matter is not only already fascinating, but it’s all gotten a bit more complicated since the book was released. This doesn’t mean that the book is outdated in anyway – it’s actually incredibly complete. But, as always where the TARDIS is involved, it keeps evolving. … Read more

Story: From the immediate aftermath of the American/Canadian-made 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann through the announcement in 2003 of the show’s imminent return under the creative guidance of Russell T. Davies, including a lengthy period of time during which no one at the BBC seemed to know the scope of what rights had been assigned, or for how long, in order to get the 1996 movie made, this book tracks the bizarrely meandering path from one Doctor Who comeback to another, more enduring one.

Review: The “wilderness years” of Doctor Who are a peculiar thing to track – because which “wilderness years” are we talking about? The seven years from the concluding chapters of the original BBC series in 1989 through the one-off 1996 revival movie, or the period from 1996 to 2003? This book covers the latter, which, in hindsight, is truly an underexamined epoch in Doctor Who history. There’s already an excellent book about how Big Finish Productions came to be, more or less, the de facto makers of Doctor Who in 1999 (and in fact, we’ve already reviewed it here). But what was going on at the BBC? That’s what Paul Hayes covers here. … Read more

Story: In the wake of the making of a troubled 1986 season that saw the show’s script editor quit abruptly, Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner hires a new script editor, Andrew Cartmel, after a job interview in which Cartmel states that his aim with Doctor Who’s future storytellign is “to topple the government.” Cartmel recounts that tale, as well as the dozen multi-part stories he helped usher to the screen – some admittedly better than others – in great detail, drawing from diaries he kept at the time of production, describing the events and personalities behind late ’80s Doctor Who in great detail.

Review: It’s become so accepted in Doctor Who fandom to praise the last season of Sylvester McCoy’s tenure in Doctor Who while simultaneously complaining about nearly everything in his first two seasons that it’s a bit tiring. (There is, of course, a subset of fandom that complains about this whole era, as well.) One thing that most everyone does seem to agree on is that there was an uptick in the quality of the scripts (if not necessarily the production itself) thanks to incoming script editor Andrew Cartmel, who had the thankless job of filling the void that had been left rather suddenly by the acrimonious departure of his predecessor. There was no handoff period, no pep talk, no wisdom imparted from Cartmel’s predecessor. … Read more

Story: In the first major published retrospective work on the BBC’s science fiction series Doctor Who, writer and editor Peter Haining assembles a history of the show and a variety of essays from its stars and makers, past and (as of the 20th anniversary of the show’s 1963 premiere) present. Fan archivist Jeremy Bentham turns in a large portion of the book almost uncredited, giving a critical and historical rundown of every adventure to date.

Review: The first of Peter Haining’s many books about Doctor Who, “A Celebration” has the benefit, even in hindsight, of being the first such tome, and to someone who had, in 1983, just a working knowledge of the show, this book was a revelation, unearthing a vast wealth of knowledge and photographic material to my young eyes. I grumble about how Haining made a career out of these books, reorganizing the same information over and over again until the later books became a case study of diminishing returns, but “A Celebration” is a fine piece of work on its own. … Read more

Story: Author Peter Haining once again toils away in the Who mines, trying to provide a chronological history of the development, production, and critical and public reaction to the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.

Review: The second of his sextet of Doctor Who books, “The Key To Time” is also probably Peter Haining’s second best, and it was downhill from there; later books like “The Doctor Who File” and “The Time Travellers’ Guide” were dismal recyclings of what appeared here and in “Doctor Who – A Celebration”. But the beginning of that decline can be seen in “The Key To Time” as well: the emphasis shifts from text to pictures here, and to avoid incurring a huge photo usage fee from the BBC and Equity (the British actors’ union), illustrations from fan artists were sought. … Read more

Story: This book takes a risk that it might be treading on well-traveled ground, but it succeeds in its unprecedented level of detail. The early 1980s era of Doctor Who has already been analyzed in much detail, though recent revelations – such as the claim that Tom Baker’s voluntary resignation was motivated by disagreements with new producer John Nathan-Turner – have made it possible to conduct newer studies of the show’s final decade as a continuing series.

Review: One thing this book covered which I had not previously read much about was the period from Colin Baker’s exodus through Sylvester McCoy’s era and the end of the BBC’s production of the show. Many of the details of this winding-down portion of Doctor Who’s history are vague, though this book helped to set the record straight, including the very, very intriguing pre-production information for the next season or two which would have carried Doctor Who into the 1990s and toward 30 continuous years on the air. … Read more

Story: British pop culture journalist Peter Haining – he who has managed to wrangle the compilation of other people’s writings into a career, if not necessarily an art form – interviews the star and producer of Doctor Who during its 1988 silver anniversary year. Profiles of other actors who have played the Doctor (and his companions) are included, as well as brief bios of actors who have played the Doctor in other venues. Haining also glances over the history of science fiction on British television and assesses the Time Lord’s place in the pantheon of SF literary heroes.

Review: After the death of controversial Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner, I reacquainted myself with this book since I recalled it had one of the better interviews with him. And 25 Glorious Years is an interesting volume in other ways as well. … Read more

Story: In 1999, after over two years of petitioning the BBC for the rights, Jason Haigh-Ellery and his cohorts at the largely fan-run audio production outfit Big Finish Productions launched a new series of official and original Doctor Who audio plays. The author chronicles the making of the first fifty Doctor Who audio stories, plus several spinoff releases such as the Dalek Empire and Sarah Jane Smith series, going behind the scenes of the writing process, production, post-production and even fan reaction to individual titles.

Review: It almost seems anticlimactic to think about it now that Doctor Who has made an impressive return to the top of the British television ratings, but a mere six years ago, Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio productions were almost more than the fans ever could have hoped for. And with the recent broadcast of some of the eighth Doctor audio plays starring Paul McGann on BBC Radio 7, things appear to have come full circle: the BBC has more or less branded these plays-on-CD as bona fide Who. … Read more