This title from the highly-enjoyable range of Reeltime Pictures’ interviews with the talent behind ‘Doctor Who’ is one that I had been very excited about seeing. Peter Davison was my Doctor. Almost from the moment I emerged into the world I was a ‘Doctor Who’ fan. In fact, Tom Baker and Mary Tamm were filming the TARDIS interior sequences for ‘The Stones of Blood’ at the time I made my debut. Five years later, tuning in to see the Doctor’s adventures formed some of my earliest memories (specific scenes from ‘The Five Doctors’ being the very earliest, for those who enjoy personal insights). For purely nostalgic reasons, the era of the cricket-loving Fifth Doctor, so memorably played by Peter Davison, has been a three-year period in British television that has, it’s fair to say, occasionally obsessed me.
Growing up disseminating every available fact about ‘Doctor Who’ is terrific groundwork for getting the most out of these fabulous interviews. I often throw in the caveat when reviewing this range that they’re for hardcore fans only, and the minutiae will leave casual viewers baffled, bewildered and reaching for Netflix. However, if you’re still reading this review and you haven’t wandered off to check Twitter instead, then you must be one of the true believers, and the names featured in these interviews will be well-known to you. Mostly, at least…
The first up is Stephen Gallagher, who wrote the Fourth Doctor story ‘Warrior’s Gate’, and the Fifth Doctor story ‘Terminus’. The thoughtful, articulate, no-nonsense Salford-born Gallagher gives his recollections of working on the show in an interview from 2007 that lasts for almost an hour. His anecdote about meeting Tom Baker for the first time, who was dressed in a Rupert the Bear-style checkered yellow suit and improvising terror with a cheese sandwich, is a joy to hear. I had no idea that the movies of Jean Cocteau had influenced his ‘Doctor Who’ work so profoundly. He also explains why he used the pseudonym ‘John Lydecker’ when writing novelisations of his television scripts, but you’ll have to catch the interview to find out more.
Next up is another writer, Barbara Clegg, who contributed the finale of the Black Guardian trilogy, ‘Enlightenment’, for the Fifth Doctor in 1983. Sadly, Clegg would only provide one script to ‘Doctor Who’, though she submitted other ideas. She was one of only a handful of female writers for the classic series. As the 46-minute interview explains, her synopsis for a Sixth Doctor story called ‘Point of Entry’ was adapted by Marc Platt for audio and saw Colin Baker’s Doctor meet playwright and spy Christopher Marlowe. At the time of the interview in 2009, Clegg was recovering from a period of ill-health, but her recollections are assisted by friends and family who help her go through her archive of photographs, letters (such as from script editor Eric Saward) and newspaper clippings. This proves unusually moving for interviews in this series, which is made even more so when Clegg explains how members of her own family were the inspiration for the Eternals.
The third and final interview on the first disc is with writer and director Peter Grimwade. He has always remained something of an enigma, because of his early death in 1990. This instalment was filmed at his house in 1987, a few years before his decease. Interviewer Nicholas Briggs has an excellent technique for putting subjects at their ease and asking interesting questions, but ones that they will be comfortable to answer. So it proves with Grimwade, who warms up after some talk about his pet cat. Having spoken to actors who worked with him, I have heard that he was talented and lovely off-set, but not really an actor’s director, and sometimes abrasive. He was also undoubtedly a better director (‘Logopolis’, ‘Earthshock’) than writer (‘Time-Flight’, ‘Planet of Fire’, though ‘Mawdryn Undead’ is his best story). After nearly an hour in his company, this interview humanises Grimwade, whose influence on the show cannot be underestimated, even down to an on-screen name check in the Tom Baker classic ‘Robots of Death’. Fifth Doctor companion Sarah Sutton provides narration of Grimwade’s Target novelisations.
As is often the way with these releases, they are front-loaded, so the most compelling interviews appear on the first disc. Oddly perhaps, it was the one name that I wasn’t remotely familiar with who proved the highlight on disc two for me. Margot Hayhoe, who appears in a brand new hour-long interview, was the assistant floor manager for the Hartnell story ‘The War Machines’ and, with a knack for only working on the all-time greats, returned for ‘Fury From the Deep’ and ‘Ambassadors of Death’. After going on to work on prestigious and expensive BBC shows such as 1972’s adaptation of ‘War and Peace’, which landed Anthony Hopkins with one of his breakout roles (and gave Sixth Doctor Colin Baker a solid supporting part), Hayhoe returned to ‘Doctor Who’ to work on the Davison stories ‘Castrovalva’ and ‘Snakedance’. Hayhoe is very personable, and is encouraged to spill the beans by amiable interviewer Robert Dick. She gives her views on working with Peter Grimwade and John Nathan-Turner, both of whom are not without their share of supporters and detractors. And she also gives the story of how she came to provide a famous scream for Deborah Watling when the actress was unwell – a story I had no idea about! I’ll never watch ‘The Ice Warriors’ in quite the same way again. Hayhoe recalled being reunited with some of the team for ‘Fury from the Deep’ at the Margate filming location for an extra feature on the animated release. Those interested in the technicalities of how television is recorded will get to know what floor managers and production managers actually do – and the difference between the two!
You can also find a segment with Graeme Harper, the celebrated director of the Fifth Doctor’s best story, ‘The Caves of Androzani’. Interviewed in 2000, he explains his progression in the ranks of the BBC from floor assistant on ‘Colony in Space’ to the more prestigious role of director. Harper brings half-baked political theories into what ‘The Caves of Androzani’ was about that derail the interview somewhat. Finally, there’s nearly an hour of Dick Mills, maestro of the acclaimed Radiophonic Workshop, who speaks to Nicholas Briggs in a 2006 interview. Mills is on very good form talking about how the electronic sound of the ‘Doctor Who’ theme tune helped to put his department on the map, and how he would go on to provide sound effects for many years. Ultimately, it’s the rise and eventual fall of the wonderful Radiophonic Workshop that provides the narrative for the interview.
From unsung heroes to influential enigmas who died too young via innovative writers, ‘The Doctors – The Peter Davison Years Behind the Scenes’ covers many aspects of production of the show from the early 1980s. If you love finding out stories about the making of ‘Doctor Who’ from the people who actually worked on it, then these interviews will provide hours of entertainment to those fans insatiable for trivia and anecdotes. Thank goodness we have these labours of love to shed light on the unique contributions this talented half-dozen made to ‘Doctor Who’.
Cast: Stephen Gallagher, Barbara Clegg, Peter Grimwade, Graeme Harper, Margot Hayhoe, Dick Mills Director: Keith Barnfather Certificate: E Released by: Reeltime Pictures Running time: 316 mins Release date: July 2022 Buy ‘The Doctors – The Peter Davison Years Behind the Scenes’
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