Fever Pitch
The Power of the Doctor features no fewer than eight actors playing the Doctor1 in new material. Even for a twenty first century series now rather keen on...
QUARK RIGHTS!
Shortly after The Dominators completed recording on the 7th June 1968, its co-authors, Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln completed a deal with Walter Tuckwell...
“Remember, remember the fifth of November…”
On Bonfire Night 1966, against a background of Guy Fawkes parties and fireworks, the Troughton era of Doctor Who began. The road to this “renewal”, as the...
Timelash
Seen: 9th and 16th March 1985 On the 9th March 1985, HTV’s Robin of Sherwood returned to the ITV network for a second series. While the 1984 series had...
The Two Doctors
Doctor in Distress. Seen: 16th / 23rd February and 2 March 1985. The Long Way Round In his introduction to the novelisation of The Two Doctors, its producer...
The Second Time Around
The brave new era of streaming is suffering some teething troubles. Recently several people on the late, unlamented Twitter were very exercised about the...
"I should like a hat like that!"
I’ve alluded to the tall, felt hat worn by Patrick Troughton’s Doctor in a handful of Doctor Who episodes a couple of times in this newsletter already. I’m...
The Mark of the Rani
“My troubles are coming by threes and by twos, We’ll lay off tomorrow with the coal miner’s blues.” Seen: 2nd and 9th February 1985 The Doctor Who stories...
Vengeance on Varos
“She said ‘Viva Las Vengeance’…” Seen: 19th and 26th January 1985 The Long Way Round Writer Philip Martin approached the Doctor Who production office because...
The Celestial Toymaker Redocs
This is an amended, edited and shortened version of a much longer essay sent to paid subscribers early this year. One which I’ve produced in response to some...
The Clone Wars
The Sontarans are a clone species. Every fan knows that. But when did we find it out? When did the idea become textual?1 Well, on meeting Sarah Jane Smith in...
18 and Life
Logopolis was the first of three 1980s Doctor Who serials written by Christopher H Bidmead, but writing it was also the last thing he did as Doctor Who’s...
“And if you go chasing robots..."
This is a full length and free to read version of a post written and sent to paid subscribers a while back. You may have read the first third back then,...
Eighth Wonder
Season by Season Doctor Who got out of the 1960s more or less by accident. Once a top ten series watched by more than 10m people every week, by the spring of...
"Better Living Through Chemistry"
For the best part of a couple of decades many Doctor Who fans regarded The Krotons (1969) as little more a punchline, and that was true for both the four...
Season 14
“Fourteen's all about being free.” Season by Season Back in the 1990s there was a running joke among Doctor Who fans that if asked in a social situation what...
Lost and Found
The first time The Tomb of the Cybermen whizzed past on Twitch, a staggering five years ago now, it did so as one of around one hundred and twenty five...
Earthshock
“You once said that you liked happy endings, and no-one can ever know.” Earthshock Part Two Seen: 16th August 1982 The Long Way Round If anyone acquainted...
“Exile on Main Street”
On the 21st June 1969 Patrick Troughton made his final regular appearance as Doctor Who. For the first (and arguably only) time in the twentieth century...
Attack of the Cybermen
Seen: 5 & 12 January 1985 The Long Way Round Attack of the Cybermen is the first story of the 1985 series of Doctor Who, and the first story I can be certain...
