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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 15h

Three days to go till #TargetBookClub. V excited, if a little trepidatious about giving my presentation on the more surprising reference sources used by cover artists. (More so now I know I have to follow the erudite @0tralala.bsky.social 😬)

Title card for my presentation at Target Book Club 2026: "Drawing Inspiration"

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 18/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1963: 63 years ago today. Not sure how accurate Peter’s explanation of videotape editing is, but the actors were used to recording out of sequence, surely? Hartnell especially had a long career in making films…

October 18 1963
Once again the episode ‘An Unearthly Child’ is recorded in Studio D at Lime Grove, taking just forty-five minutes from the moment director Waris Hussein cues the rolling of the title credits to the last notes of the theme music. Direction of this episode, which is destined to be the version finally shown on television, is very much as though it is a live theatre show – scene following scene in their natural order – and this is to lead to later rumours that the first Doctor Who stories went out ‘live’.
Two inserts are pre-filmed for the episode: the title effects (later re-used in full for the flight-through-time sequence); and the scene of the caveman’s shadow falling over the ground before the TARDIS on the Neolithic landscape. (This later scene had been shot at the BBC’s Ealing film studios as the set was too large to be mounted in Lime Grove.) The inserts are played onto a screen being ‘seen’ by one of the electronic cameras transferring the image onto 2-inch master video-tape. This is done for two reasons. Firstly, most shows both at the BBC and ITV are still done as live productions even though there is a crude but effective system in existence to record them. Used to this style of performance, most actors and actresses then prefer the medium to out-of-sequence filming as it enables them to follow the mood of the plot more easily. Second, and more logistically, so difficult is it to edit 2-inch master tape on these machines (all editing has to be done by hand, using scissors and sticky tape) that the less edits, stop/starts occurring in an episode the better. ‘An Unearthly Child’ is recorded with just one post-production edit – the interface as the two teachers step through the police-box doors and are instantly inside the vast arena of the TARDIS.

Doctor Who - The Key to Time: A Year-by-Year Record, by Peter Haining

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 17/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1977: The Sun article may have been dated today but the visit must have been earlier as Tom was in studio recording ‘Underworld’ this week…

October 17 1977
Tom Baker tours hospitals in Blackpool, Blackburn, Liverpool and Preston, visiting sick and injured children. Dressed as the Doctor, his appearance delights the tiny patients and leads to him giving an emotional interview to Liz Prosser of the Sun. ‘I saw dozens of kids, most of them terribly maimed in road accidents, often by drunken drivers. And also children dumped by cruel or inadequate parents. How can it happen that these children are victims? When so many men and woman with love locked away in their hearts, who yearn for children of their own, can’t have them and can’t adopt. Doctor Who has brought me so much, the least I can do is make this romantic hero useful where it really matters. With the less fortunate kids.’

Tom Baker visiting a children’s ward around late 1977

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 16/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1973: DWM’s 1973 Chronicles says the Special didn’t hit newsstands until 11 December. Highbury Grove school pupils built a test Dalek to measurements from Bernard Wilkie, then these blueprints were based on their results…

October 16 1973
Adding further to the events marking the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who, a Radio Times Special is published, retailing in the shops for 30p. All pages in full colour, the magazine comprises a photo-illustrated guide to the ten seasons, interviews with some of the companions and all three Doctors, a specially written story by Terry Nation, and plans for how to build a Dalek. The plans illustrated, however, are not those used by the BBC nor by Shawcraft but are, instead, the design of two fans, Deirdre MacDonald and Nigel Holmes, and only approximate, not duplicate, the plans drawn up in 1963 by Raymond Cusick.

Opening spread of blueprints for building your own Dalek, with illustration by Frank Hampson

Final spread of blueprints for building your own Dalek

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 13/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1979: Baker was on a brief tour to promote the launch of Doctor Who Weekly during his days off between final studio recording of ‘The Horns of Nimon’ and starting location filming for ‘Shada’…

October 13 1979
Tom Baker makes a nostalgic return visit to his home-town of Liverpool which he left ‘as a skinny fifteen-year-old with bulging eyes’ and now comes back to a huge welcome as ‘the idol of millions of kids’. Jenny Knight of the Daily Star, who accompanies him, headlines her report ‘Traveller Tom Returns To Find His Roots’ and notes: ‘The fans weren’t all children in Liverpool’s new city-centre shopping precinct. He was mobbed by housewives and workmen as well. Ironically, one of the few places he wasn’t bothered by cries of ‘Exterminate’ and ‘Look out there’s a Dalek’ was in the once notorious Scotland Road area, where he lived. For the street where he was born no longer exists – another victim of time and social upheaval.’ Tom makes no secret of how much he is enjoying his fame. ‘With a TV programme like Doctor Who, which has entered the national consciousness,’ he says, ‘you become a part of everybody’s life. Even the Prime Minister, Mr Callaghan, recognises me.’

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Liverpool Echo, 10 October 1979
Dr. Who journeyed back in time over 30 years to-day to visit his old school—St. Matthew’s R.C. Secondary School, Clubmoor—and chat to the 231 pupils including Amanda Barry (above) — 13 to-day. Liverpool-born actor Tom Baker and his scarf are in town to launch the new “Dr. Who weekly” comic.

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Advert from The Sun, 6 October 1979
SEE DR. WHO IN PERSON
TOM BAKER will visit the following newsagents signing copies of the NEW Dr WHO WEEKLY from MARVEL COMICS.
MENZIES Arndale Centre Stretford Manchester 4.00 Wed Oct 10th.
BUCKLES Main Store, Merrion Centre Leeds (car park entrance) 6.30 Wed Oct 10th.
PREEDY’S Acocks Green Birmingham 4.00 Thur Oct 11th.
STARS NEWS Queens Street Wolverhampton 6.30 Thur Oct 11th.
FORBOUYS Snakes Lane Woodford Grn London 4.00 Fri Oct 12th.
MARTINS Arndale Centre Wandsworth London 6.30 Fri Oct 12th.
Dr WHO Weekly on sale from October 11th 12p – features, comic strips, competitions.
THE FIRST EVER REGULAR Dr WHO WEEKLY
Published by Marvel Comics Distributed by Comag
Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7QE Telephone: West Drayton 44055

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 11/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1975: The monster, setting and Jekyll-and-Hyde theme were all presented to the writer as elements to include. Not sure how “unique” this was, certainly during the Hinchcliffe era but even before and definitely since…

October 11 1975
‘Planet of Evil’ becomes unique among Doctor Who stories as the adventure in which the monster was invented before the story. Philip Hinchcliffe explains: ‘We wanted to get away from the usual monster which is an actor inside a monster suit. So I asked our special effects department what we could do, and they came up with this shapeless creature idea which is all done by electronic wizardry. It was when we knew we could do this sort of creature that we asked Louis Marks to write a story incorporating it.’ The story also provides a remarkable performance from actor Frederick Jaeger as a scientist who becomes an ‘outer-space version of Jekyll and Hyde’ to quote one report. Jaeger himself says later: ‘It is eleven years since I was in Doctor Who, and it will probably be as long again before viewers get over what happened to me. It took eight hours in the make-up chair to transform me into that mixture of Piltdown man and Guy the gorilla!’

The anti-matter monster on Zeta Minor – strong vibes of the id creature from Forbidden Planet

Frederick Jaeger devolves into a brute from prolonged proximity to anti-matter

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 10/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1979: Actually published on the 11th (the cover date was to tell newsagents when to take it off the shelf ahead of a new issue), now-Doctor Who Magazine, and its comic strip, are still going…

October 10 1979
The Doctor gets a magazine wholly devoted to his adventures after years of being just the star of comic strips. Doctor Who Weekly, the brain-child of Dez Skinn, one of the most innovative comic men in Britain, is launched by Marvel Comics and offers a mixture of feature articles and comic strips. The publication is to run for 43 issues as a weekly and then become the Doctor Who Monthly in September 1980. The magazine has appeared in a constantly developing format to this day, and the continuation of the Doctor Who comic strip gives it the world record for being the longest-running strip adaptation of a film/TV concept.

Cover of the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly featuring Fourth Doctor Tom Baker with a Dalek

Doctor Who Magazine's latest issue, 634, features an interview Anneke Wills who played 60s companion Polly

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 09/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1965: The absence of the regular cast was not due to their unavailability but to avoid extending their contracts for a week. The extra episode is because ‘Planet of Giants’ was edited down from four to three…

October 9 1965
The most curious of all Doctor Who stories is screened – a complete-in-one adventure, ‘Mission to the Unknown’, written by Terry Nation, in which neither the Doctor nor the companions appear! It is not, though, some fiendish plot by Nation to get rid of the Doctor, but rather a prelude to what will be (and still remains) the longest Doctor Who story ever, ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’, which is to bridge Christmas and the New Year in twelve episodes.
This prelude, which is known by the BBC title, ‘Dalek Cut-away’, has come about as a direct result of instructions from Sir Huw Weldon, Director General of the BBC, to Verity Lambert’s team to produce a ‘monster length’ Dalek story, because – said later newspaper stories – his mother was a great fan of the Daleks! As well as this unprecedented move, the programme is granted an extra episode for the season, and Verity Lambert decides on using it as a trailer for the Dalek special. The only trouble is that the regular cast are on holiday during the only recording dates – the first week of August! The situation is resolved with the story of Dalek activity on the planet Kembel, where they are planning an invasion of Earth.

The assembled delegates of the Dalek alliance. No, I can’t remember which is which, and nor can you

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 08/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1980: Three years to the day after K9’s first appearance in episode two of ‘The Invisible Enemy’. His last scenes had already been recorded the previous Saturday. K9 Mark III would get his day, though…

October 8 1980
K9 is definitely to leave the series next year, John Nathan-Turner announces.’ He is restricting our writers because he never gets anything wrong.’ The Daily Mirror headlines its report ‘K9 Gets The Boot’ and says the time-travelling dog is to go because he is too bright ‘and makes it too easy for the Doctor to get out of trouble’. In a major feature in the Daily Express, Douglas Orgill reports that ‘not since the death of Dickens’s Little Nell has the nation faced such a trauma’, and talks about the horrified reaction to the news among children. To prevent K9’s disappearance, one child suggests, ‘Couldn’t they make him a bit less clever?’, while another recommends giving him some companions: ‘I’d like a lot of them, a pack of them – they could hunt Daleks!’ Out of a class of 23 children at Wimbledon Chase Middle School in London, Orgill finds that 18 of the youngsters would rather see the Doctor and his companions leave the series than K9! He does, though, extract a promise from John Nathan-Turner: ‘There could, one day, be a Mark III K9 . . .’

K9 head off into the void in his last story, ‘Warriors’ Gate’, broadcast 3-24 January 1981

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Daily Express, 8 October 1980
K9 Gets the boot!
Dr. who’s mechanical mongrel K9 is getting the boot from TV chiefs because he is too bright.
The time-travelling dog with a built-in computer will disappear from the BBC’s long-running series in the New Year.
K9 has been KO’d by producer John Nathan-Turner who said yesterday that the dog made it too easy for Dr. Who—played by Tom Baker—to get out of trouble.
“He is restricting our writers because he never gets anything wrong,” said Mr. Nathan-Turner.
But the Outer Space superdog won’t be going on the scrapyard. He already has a down-to-earth future lined up in a museum at either Blackpool or Longleat.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 05/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1983: Peter’s dating for this entry, about a long-running conjecture, appears to be publication of the Doctor Who Magazine 1983 Winter Special, from which Nathan-Turner’s quotes are paraphrased…

October 5 1983
The making of a full-length Doctor Who film is raised again. The project, known as Doctor Who – the Motion Picture, has been several times discussed, John Nathan-Turner reveals. ‘The possibility of a film has come up on a number of occasions in the past four years,’ he says, ‘but each time the idea has fallen through. The BBC were never very happy with the Doctor Who films made in the Sixties and would want to be very closely involved with any such new project. They would also want whoever was playing the Doctor on television to star in the film. I myself wouldn’t want Robert Redford or someone like that as the Doctor! I am determined that it will happen sooner rather than later.’

Extract from the Special’s interview with John Nathan-Turner: “The possibility of a film has several times over the last four years reared its head but has so far fallen through. I think one of the problems is that because the BBC got its fingers burned with the Doctor Who films in the Sixties, which the corporation was not, as I understand it, artistically happy with, my head of department is very keen that if there is ever a movie I am to be very closely involved, to the point where I would be an Associate Producer. As well, before parting with the option of a film one of my main reservations is they would have to have whoever is playing the current Doctor on television – even if it is American money that is financing it or not. I don’t want Robert Redford as the Doctor, it must be the current actor. Inevitably this has put some people off, but it is a thing I am determined will happen sooner rather than later.”

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 04/10/2026

Three weeks till Target Book Club 26 and an intriguing line-up of talks. If you feel the need to gen up before the day, there'still time to get hold of Screen Printed, the definitive guide to the Target novelisations www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/screenprinted/

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 04/10/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1963: Thanks to subsequent access to production documentation, we now know Newman viewed the ‘pilot’ on 1 October, with changes made by story editor David Whitaker, not Webber…

October 4 1963
The pilot for Doctor Who is screened for Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson – but both have immediate reservations. There are several flaws in the actual production, and the two men are agreed that the character of the Doctor must be ‘softened’. Because Anthony Coburn is not available to amend his script, David Whitaker brings in a BBC staff writer, C. E. Webber, to revise certain scenes and change some of the dialogue. Satisfied that these changes will make Doctor Who a workable series, Newman and Wilson approve the almost unparalleled action of remounting the production for ‘another go’. As Verity Lambert is later to recall of this time, ‘We were all very nervous because we were doing things that had rarely been done before, and certainly not by the BBC.’

The countdown clock for the first recording of ‘An Unearthly Child’ on 27 September 1963

The Doctor and Susan in the first go at recording ‘An Unearthly Child’. Their characters would be adjusted slightly for the remount on 18 October 1963

David Brunt’s Production Diary is the definitive history of the series’ production. Buy volumes 1 and 2 now at https://telos.co.uk/product-category/doctor-who/

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 04/10/2026

2026 is the 21st anniversary of Doctor Who’s revival. When the Classic Series was 21, WH Allen published The Key To Time: A Year-by-Year Record by Peter Haining, in which he “explored the history of the series through key dates in its many life-cycles”. Let’s revisit what OCTOBER dates he picked…

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 03/10/2026

Coming very soon, latest issue of Canadian fanzine Whotopia. Includes location filming report from 1996's TV Movie and contemporary interview with the legend that is Sylvester McCoy. whotopiamagazine2.wordpress.com

Whotopia issue 47 cover: flame-throwing Daleks in the jungle of Kembel (art by William Holmes, https://www.deviantart.com/presidentholmes), headline "Saved From the Flames: The nightmare begins again with the recovery of two more episodes from The Daleks' Master Plan"

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 30/09/2026

Rodders must be regenerating then!

Stien (Rodney Bewes) throws himself onto the self-destruct controls, with the same visual effect used as for the Fifth Doctor's later regeneration

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 30/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1978: Read @jamiehailstone’s look at Douglas Adams’ time on Who in Doctor Who 70-79, available from www.dwasonline.co.uk/dw7079

September 30 1978
‘The Pirate Planet’ marks the writing debut in the series of an author destined for world-wide fame, Douglas Adams, who was offered the commission after completing his radio series The Hitch‑Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, later to become an enormously successful television series and best-selling book. Once again, though, it is Mary Tamm’s playing of the redoubtable Romana that catches the critics’ eyes, Keith Baker of the Belfast Telegraph calling her the Doctor’s equal, ‘with a deferential bow towards the Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman and Women’s Lib all at once’.

Doctor Who 70-79: ‘An infinitely improbable man of ideas’ by Jamie Hailstone

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 29/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1979: This scene was recorded on 21 May…

September 29 1979
Start of the Paris-filmed story ‘City of Death’, which confirms Tom Baker’s claim that famous actors like to appear in the series – when John Cleese and Eleanor Bron make unheralded appearances as a couple of art-lovers. Because the close encounter of Doctor Who with Basil Fawlty in the final scenes of the story comes as such a surprise to viewers, it is repeated the following August with, as Patrick Stoddart describes, ‘the BBC trumpeting their coup’. On this re-showing, the new producer, John Nathan-Turner says: ‘I don’t think John took much persuading to do the show. Doctor Who is a bit like The Muppets – everybody likes the idea of popping up in it, if only to impress their children.’

Eleanor Bron (and John Cleese) discuss the TARDIS’s Police Box appearance from an artistic perspective in episode four of ‘City of Death’

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 28/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1968: More special effects, this time a well-worn but time-consuming technique. It was more extensively used for the Skarasen in ‘Terror of the Zygons’ (1975)…

September 28 1968
Stop motion animation is used for the Medusa scenes in part three of ‘The Mind Robber.’ Although this is not the first time animation has been used in the series – hand animation being used for the map sequences in ‘Marco Polo’, and rostrum camera animation for ‘The Moonbase’ – this marks the first utilisation of the technique more commonly employed by Ray Harryhausen in films such as Jason and the Argonauts.
The short sequence of animation in ‘The Mind Robber’ – short due to the time and expense involved in using such a technique – focuses on the Medusa’s hair, a nest of snakes which gradually come to life to menace Zoe and the Doctor. The frame‑by‑frame shooting of the Medusa’s hair was, for reasons of controllability, shot on film at the BBC’s film studios in Ealing. To match this film footage of the Medusa to the studio-recorded scenes involving the Doctor and his companion requires the skills of the inlay operator, whose desk, up in the control gallery, has a bank of switches and buttons that can mix two separate pictures to achieve a composite third.

The snakes of the Medusa are brought to life through stop-motion animation

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 27/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1980: The full story of Scene Sync can be seen in John Kelly’s short documentary on the ‘Meglos’ DVD/Season 18 Blu-ray Collection…

September 27 1980
Another new special effects process is tried out on Doctor Who, this time the scene-sync equipment which will later be used to even grander effect in the major BBC production of The Borgias. Developed by an outside company, Scene-Sync is a control system allowing a slave camera to follow exactly the movements of a master camera. In the case of ‘Meglos,’ the master camera is a studio camera trained on a group of actors walking about on a totally blue set. The slave camera is set up to shoot a much smaller model stage where the set of the Zolpha-Thura screens has been built. Up in the gallery the two scenes are merged together using CSO. The scene-sync process is thus employed to match the movements of the actors on the big set that have been captured by the master camera, with corresponding camera angles on the model stage shot by the slave camera. Due to the expense of hiring the scene-sync equipment, ‘Meglos’ is the only Doctor Who story to date to make use of this technique.

Setting up the model of the Zolfa-Thuran screens

General Grugger (Bill Fraser) and Lieutenant Brotodac (Frederick Treves) on a blue-screen background and combined with a model shot of the screens, in episode one of ‘Meglos’

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 26/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1967: This edition of Talkback only survives as an audio clip, included on the CD release ‘Doctor Who at the BBC volume 2’ (transcript at tinyurl.com/2knc57xa). The Daily Express had a follow-up the next day…

September 26 1967
The BBC screens the first Talkback programme, hosted by David Coleman. The show goes out live and features a debate with the audience on Doctor Who. Talkback is designed to be a programme wherein the public can come into the studio and give their views, on air, about BBC Television, so Doctor Who is almost a mandatory topic for inclusion in the opening show insofar that it is currently attracting a lot of criticism over the horror elements in the series. This has happened especially following the Visual Effects Department’s discovery of foam‑generating equipment. By mixing the foamable chemicals with various other ingredients – cocoa powder, wood chippings, paint, etc – different textures of the foam can be achieved. This has, so far, resulted in the slime of the Macra crabs, the fizzing brains of the Dalek creatures and, most recently, the disembowelled innards of a Cyberman. All three of these effects have, apparently, been exceptionally disturbing to younger minds and, for the Talkback prosecution, several mothers are invited by Coleman to give their views on Doctor Who’s content and to suggest solutions to the problem. Acting for the defence is the series’ unofficial scientific adviser Kit Pedler – co-creator of the Cybermen, and a medical doctor in his own right. However, the programme is not at all well handled by its presenters, with many of Pedler’s comments either being shouted down or chopped in mid-sentence by Coleman.
One suggestion put forward for further debate, though, is that Doctor Who, and other programmes of similar ilk, should carry certificates similar to those awarded to cinema films. This is later to be objected to by the Corporation Directors who feel that to impose such classifications would lessen the public’s own right to discern what makes good and bad television.

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Daily Express, 27 September 1967
Reviewing the programme where viewers get a voice
My grouse? It’s Mr. Coleman
B.B.C.1: Talkback
By James Thomas
Was James Mossman rude to the Prime Minister on Monday’s Panorama? NO, said nine viewers out of 10 in a snap studio opinion poll last night.
Is Simon Dee a symptom of the decline of B.B.C. standards? NO, said another 90 per cent of the 100-strong panel.
Does “Dr. Who” have a harmful effect on children? This split the panel 50—50.
I do not doubt that the B.B.C. has a splendid idea in this forum where viewers air their grouses—it is about time the licensed payers were allowed some voice.
But on this first showing, this somewhat complicated programme revealed (a) it had a long way to go to achieve real impact, and (b) that the voice which is going to be heard most is that of Mr. David Coleman, who as chairman talked “Talkback” off its feet.
The viewers lashed out in a big way at Mr. Mossman (“The country is not yet governed by TV interviewers”) and Mr. Dee (“You are guilty of moral hooliganism”), and “Dr. Who” (“Disgusting, revolting and unsuitable for children.”)
Mossman, Dee, and the “Dr. Who” scriptwriter seemed to be less wary of the viewers than of Mr. Coleman, who reduced the most erudite protagonist to the lowest common denominator by condensing each reasoned argument thus: “What you are really saying is this.…” Half the time, they weren’t at all.
A more irritating performance I cannot remember, one which at once lowered the stature of the whole idea to the level of “Juke Box Jury.”
As it stands, altogether the show is too slow and involved, and the viewers are not getting as much value from this elaborate 40-minute show as they did from the slick five minutes of “Points of View.”
It needs time to shakedown, forget a lot of its gimmicks and realise its basic value will be in immediate confrontation of the public with producers and performers.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 22/09/2026

I *think* it's one from this shoot, maybe without the Box, but Billie in her pink hoodie.

Doctor Who Series 1 promo image, the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) in front of the TARDIS, against a white background

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 22/09/2026

This graphic was on @channel4news.bsky.social tonight, and that silhouette... I can't find the photo I'm thinking of now but... that's Chris and Billie isn't it?

Graphic from Channel 4 News about young people in care

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 19/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1968: Peter is alluding to the broadcast of ‘The Invasion’ in November 1968, but Cybermen *had* been filmed in London for this in early September. He may have found a clipping like this one from Radio Times in February…

September 19 1968
A Cyberman in the heart of London draws looks of amazement from passers-by. It is not another invasion from space this time (although the Cyberman invasion of London story is only a month or two in the future), but a serious attempt by Kit Pedler to raise money for the blind as part of his campaign Fight for Sight. When not involved in creating horrors for Doctor Who, or frightening adults with Doomwatch, Kit Pedler is a continual campaigner for more funds to aid research into the nature of eye diseases and their cure. A year ago the BBC loaned Pedler one of their Cybermen costumes which has since become a prime weapon in his fund-raising arsenal – frequently seen on the Euston Road holding a tin to attract passers-by. In these instances it is only the sometimes unsympathetic attitudes of policemen, worried about disturbances of the peace, which defeat the warrior from Telos!

Fight For Sight continues to help people with eye problems: https://www.fightforsight.org.uk

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Radio Times, 2309, 10-16 February 1968
Round and About
When you bump into a Cyberman
If you were in the Euston Road area of London a few weeks ago and saw a Cyberman walking through the street, chances are you took not the slightest notice.
Very few people did—with the exception of one very distinguished military-looking gentleman who stuck his tongue out at it and hurried on.
The thing from Dr. Who was lending a helping hand to Kit Pedler, the writer who dreamed up the Cybermen and Cybermats. In what he calls his respectable life, he is Doctor Pedler, heading a team researching into the causes of blindness and he had borrowed a Cyberman for a ball to raise funds for ‘Fight for Sight,’ his research campaign.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 18/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1970: Again Peter’s dates are a little out – the Autons handing out plastic daffodils in Chalfont St Peter was filmed the previous day. The circus filming today was at Robert Brothers’ in Leyton…

September 18 1970
Shooting begins on the eighth season of Doctor Who at Chipperfield’s Circus, where the first location filmed inserts for Robert Holmes’s ‘Terror of the Autons’ are taken. Although no one knows it at the time the new serial is to prove a trend-setter for the series, with many of its production values still in operation today. To begin with, producer Barry Letts is able to modify the season-length of 26 weeks to include a balance between four-part and six-part stories. The four-part stories have dramatic appeal in the eyes of script editor Terrance Dicks, while six-parters are favoured by Barry Letts for the larger budgets they give to a serial. More significantly ‘Terror of the Autons’ inaugurates the practice of recording two episodes per fortnight, rather than one episode per week. This allows more, and sometimes larger, sets to be built, since all the sets for one episode do not have to be present as in the former continuous recording environment, where all the scenes for one episode are shot on one day. Under Letts’s new format the UNIT laboratory set, for instance, only needs to be erected once over the fortnight. Thus all the scenes in episodes three and four can be shot in one evening, thereby freeing studio space for the following day to concentrate on a larger more elaborate set, the footage from which will be edited into the two episodes during post‑production. The advantages are considerable. Set designers and builders have ten days instead of five to prepare, artists have longer to read and rehearse scripts, and directors are given more flexibility to plan and arrange exterior filming.

Autons in carnival masks hand out free plastic daffodils in ‘Terror of the Autons’ episode 3

Robert Brothers Circus (note the initials around the ring) was filmed for episodes 1, 2 and 3 of ‘Terror of the Autons’

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 17/09/2026

www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/screenprinted/ Seems like orders are finally coming through (Lulu can be a little slow). Hope you find it useful (and have strong shelves 😆)

Screen Printed: The Definitive Guide To The Exciting Adventure Based On The Popular BBC Television Serial

Screen Printed: opening spread for Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World

Screen Printed: opening spread for Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 17/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1984: This was the day ‘The Key to Time’ was published at £12.50, or £40 for a limited leather-bound edition. Jacket painting by Andrew Skilleter, Who artist du jour…

Andrew Skilleter’s wraparound painting for the dust-jacket

The leather-bound limited edition with art by Mark Bentham (which appeared as a frontispiece in the regular edition)

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 15/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1969: Filming actually began on the 13th, with studio recording expected to be in TV Centre at this point. It wasn’t until the 25th that the decision was made to do the entire serial on film. Jon got his shower, though…

September 15 1969
The colour cameras start rolling on the first episode of Jon Pertwee’s story, ‘Spearhead From Space’, though not in the way the new producer, Derrick Sherwin, would have liked. ‘We knew four weeks before we were due to start shooting that we’d lost our studios, so I had to make the decision there and then to do it all on film with the restraint of not being able to get any more money. All our props had to be rebuilt from scratch. We needed to film an episode a week and I had just five days to re-plan and re-script the whole set-up.’
The problem has arisen because of a strike by scenery builders at the BBC’s Television Centre where the serial is due to be recorded using the new colour video cameras. Losing that facility means the whole thing has to be done on location and on film – calling for some of the tightest restructuring of a serial ever done for Doctor Who. There is, however, room within the production for the odd light‑hearted moment, as Jon Pertwee recalls: ‘Where we filmed that one was a magnificent seventeenth-century house in the middle of the countryside, used by the BBC as a training centre. While I was looking around one morning I came across this incredible shower unit that a previous owner had had installed. It was a tubular metal frame that enclosed you completely and had a royal crest at the top of it. The water passed through the tubes and so sprayed you from all angles. As soon as I saw this I sought out our director Derek Martinus, and suggested we use this in the story as a kind of visual ad-lib.’

Ransome (Derek Smee) peruses a conveyor or dolls at the Auto Plastics factory, in episode two of ‘Spearhead from Space’, filmed at the Favourite Dolls Factory in Holloway, London, on 13 September 1969

The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) takes a shower at the Ashbridge hospital in episode two of ‘Spearhead from Space’, filmed at the BBC Engineering and Training Centre, Wood Norton, Evesham, on 12 October 1969 — and you can too as it’s now a hotel and spa: https://thewoodnorton.com

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 14/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1968: Sherwin’s Part 1 was written before director and designer were assigned, so it’s not that sets weren’t available, he was just keeping costs down. He did add the robots, though, costumes from Out of the Unknown…

September 14 1968
Part one of ‘The Mind Robber’ by Peter Ling is screened on television, marking the culmination of much hard work for Derrick Sherwin. Like one of his predecessors, David Whitaker, Sherwin has found himself on the receiving end when problems with a storyline require the script editor to step into the breach, lock himself away in a room with a typewriter and emerge, a day later, complete with a workable script that uses no extra sets, no locations, no new monsters and no guest cast.
The problem arises when ‘The Dominators’ proves to be unworkable as a six-part script. As money had already been spent on the show designing and building the Quarks, ‘The Dominators’ cannot be cancelled and so, in a bid to tighten up the action, an episode is hived off it. Thus left with an embarrassing one-week hole in the schedule before the start of ‘The Mind Robber’, Sherwin elects to graft an extra episode onto the front of Ling’s storyline. However, with no sets from ‘The Mind Robber’ yet available, all Bryant, Sherwin and Director David Maloney have between them is an empty studio, a few stock sets (e.g. the TARDIS) and a couple of old robot costumes from an earlier BBC 2 production. That the finished episode – which bears no credit for a writer – succeeds in becoming one of Doctor Who’s most powerful narrative performances says a lot for the skills of Derrick Sherwin, the technical expertise of David Maloney and the acting talents of Patrick Troughton, who recalls later: ‘It certainly was a wonderful story. I remember the awful white of the place and those strange robots. Yes, it was marvellous.’

Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) are captured by ‘White’ Robots (clearly more grey and cream in this original-colour photo)

The robot costumes were made by Daphne Dare for the Out of the Unknown series 2 episode ‘The Prophet’ shown 1 January 1967. One was repurposed for Thirty Minute Theatre instalment ‘The Metal Martyr’ (adapted by Derrick Sherwin) broadcast the following December. Their first requirement for ‘The Mind Robber’ was in prefilming at Ealing in June 1968

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 13/09/2026

@worldsofdrwho.bsky.social Once tried to collect as many of these as I could find. Probably been more since.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 12/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1983: Filming for ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ took places yesterday and today in Shad Thames, although the Daleks themselves were only present for publicity purposes (plus one dummy to be exploded)…

September 12 1983
The Daleks are on the rampage again – and as ever attract newspaper coverage. The evil machines are photographed on location at Tower Bridge, where Peter Davison is filming an encounter with them for next season’s story ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ written by script editor Eric Saward. Peter says: ‘Every actor who plays the Doctor has to face his most deadly enemy sooner or later and they’ve got to me just before I leave.’ This marks the Daleks’ thirteenth appearance – they starred with William Hartnell in five stories, two with Patrick Troughton, three with Jon Pertwee and two with Tom Baker – and this fact causes the London Evening Standard to speculate: ‘Will it be an unlucky number for Peter Davison?’

Peter Davison pushes a Dalek out of a third-floor loading bay of an old warehouse in Shad Thames, London

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

The Standard, 12 September 1983
Guess who’s after The Doctor again
Just In Time … The Daleks Return To Challenge Davison
Dr Who Peter Davison has to face the space traveller’s greatest adversary before he leaves the Tardis—the Daleks.
Davison, who steps down next year to be replaced as the Doctor by actor Colin Baker, was at work on his last series today near Tower Bridge along with a collection of the most famous monsters created by the veteran BBC science-fiction series.
The Daleks have tried to defeat no fewer than four Dr Whos since they first rolled into the series in 1963.
They starred in five adventures opposite the original Doctor, the late William Hartnell, two with Patrick Troughton, three with Jon Pertwee and two with Tom Baker.
“Every actor who plays the Doctor has to face his most deadly enemy sooner or later,” said the BBC today.
“Now the Daleks are making their 13th appearance in Peter Davison’s last season. Will it be an unlucky number for him?”
Davison, 31, the youngest Dr Who, will leave half - way through the next series which will begin on BBC - 1 next January.
Colin Baker, who takes over the role, made his name as the villainous Paul Merroney in the BBC series The Brothers.
Facing the Daleks with Davison today was his assistant Janet Fielding.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 11/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1965: Daleks were big business in 1965. The Amicus movie had been playing to large audiences across the UK since the end of June. It didn’t debut in the US until 1967 but did suffer from poor distribution and promotion…

September 11 1965
Although there is not even a hint of the Daleks in the opening story of the third season, ‘Galaxy Four’ by William Emms, it is they who are making the news before the final episode on 2 October. The popular magazine Showtime, in praising Sean Connery for his role as James Bond, observes: ‘Your Bond has to be the best possible star, in order to hold his own amid all the gimmickery. Otherwise he suffers the fate of Doctor Who – forgotten in the wake of the Daleks.’
The observation is not, in fact, true, and indeed in America the Daleks have suffered two setbacks. The feature film Doctor Who and the Daleks has done badly at the box office (the television series has not, as yet, been shown in America, so both the Doctor and the Daleks are unknown to audiences), and a trip across the Atlantic by Terry Nation to launch his creations also comes to nothing. ‘I went to the United States and said I wanted to make a series called ‘’The Daleks’’,’ he says later. ‘I went there to hustle and got very close to doing it. There would have been no Doctor Who, of course, because I had no copyright in the character. But I could take the Daleks away and do it. Indeed, at one point the BBC were going to go with me on this series – but the whole thing sort of crumbled to dust, and I moved on to other things.’ (Terry did have the compensation, however, of reportedly earning £50,000 from Dalek merchandising during 1965.)

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Ariel, October 1965
The Daleks Are Shooting into Big Business!
In this interview with Dennis Scuse, General Manager, Television Enterprises, Ariel finds out something about the activities of the Merchandising Section
The Daleks look like becoming an even greater commercial success than Davy Crockett and that terrible hat. This is the view of Dennis Scuse, General Manager, Television Enterprises, when he looked up the royalty returns on Dalek toys for Ariel a few days ago.
Daleks are now in the shops in a variety of forms: there are large mobile Daleks which a child can get inside; stand up inflatable Daleks; battery-operated Daleks; clockwork Daleks; and numerous miniature Daleks. These last sell in very large quantities: an engaging little chap known as a Dalek Rolykin has just sold over one million. Also topping the million mark are Dalek badges.
Successful subsidiary invasions
The Daleks have also carried out a number of successful subsidiary invasions. There are Dalek slippers, playsuits, comics, jig-saws, box games, writing pads, and kits, to mention only a few. If your household has already been invaded by these creatures you can buy an Anti-Dalek Fluid Neutralizer or water-pistol. But it would seem that their march is wellnigh irresistible and nothing can now be done about the 500 tons of Dalek Jelly Babies that have already disappeared down goodness-knows-how-many earthmen’s throats.
Issue of licences
Licences to exploit the many manifestations of Daleks are issued by the Merchandising Section of Television Enterprises, who approve samples and maintain a strict check on quality and presentation. So far thirty-four firms remains hold between them sixty-three Dalek licences.
Other activities
But exploiting the Daleks is not the only activity of the Merchandising Section. Over fifty licences have been issued for records (TW3’s tribute to President Kennedy); games (The Third Man); toys (Z cars); and jigsaws (Steptoe and Son).

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Bucks Examiner, 22 September 1965
Stargazer’s Cinema Roundup
Stargazer’s Pick of the Week showing at Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead
From small screen to large ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’
Rex, Berkhamsted and Odeon, Hemel Hempstead: Dr. Who and the Daleks (U) is the film stemmed from the highly popular television series. The only chance between the two is the different stars playing the main roles.
Tardis is the latest invention of Dr. Who. A Time and Relative Dimension in Space machine, it can transport passengers to another world, at another time.
With his grand-daughters Barbara and Susan, Dr. Who demonstrates the machine to Barbara’s boy friend, Ian. Ian trips and stumbles against the controls and the four humans are instantly ejected away from earth.
They land on another world only to find the place infested with things called Daleks and Thals, they soon find that the Thals are friendly towards them, the Daleks positively hostile.
The humans soon realise that they have landed at a bad time for the Thais and the Daleks are at war. Inevitably Dr. Who and his friends are drawn into the struggle for survival. The story weaves its way through seemingly impossible escapes and disasters all of which enable the directors of the film to get the best possible use of frightening monsters and inhuman beings.
Dr. Who and the Daleks will obviously draw a great response from the child addicts of the TV series and I’m told that many adults have also enjoyed the film, although I can’t see myself falling in the aisles or gripping my seat with the suspense of it.
Starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey. An obvious choice of both story and stars for she half-term holidays.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 10/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1966: The location filming for ‘The Smugglers’, which began transmission today, had been done in June at Nanjizal Bay just south of Land’s End (not near the Lizard)…

September 10 1966
A special feel of authenticity is given to ‘The Smugglers’ the new season’s first story by director Julia Smith, who has a wide knowledge of the Cornish coast where the story is set. Considerable location shooting is done between Land’s End and the Lizard at a time when the weather should have been at its best – instead it is wet and windy, and the sea very rough, which gives several members of the cast seasickness during scenes on a fishing boat! Problems with transporting the TARDIS into a cave in Church Cove are only matched by the difficulty of avoiding contemporary artefacts at the rear of shots. A triumph of the story is the fight between revenue men and pirates, staged in the studios and completed in one take. This marks the debut of stuntman Terry Walsh, who over the years since has played more incidental characters in Doctor Who than any other actor or actress, including doubling for the Doctors in many stunt scenes. Terry particularly recalls his debut in ‘The Smugglers’. ‘The Doctor was involved with pirates,’ he says, ‘and six of us had to stunt a fight between the pirates and the revenue men. The trouble was there weren’t enough of us to go round, so as soon as one went down with a sword thrust, he’d crawl away behind a gravestone, put on a different wig and hat, and come storming back into the fight again!’

Tele-snap from ‘The Smugglers’ episode four: the pirate crew approaches the bay

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 06/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1975: The switch-on was actually the 5th, the three actors having finished work on ‘The Android Invasion’ the previous week, just before the start of Season 13 on TV. Tom wrote about the day in his column in Reveille…

September 6 1975
The Doctor and his companions Sarah Jane and Harry switch on the Blackpool Illuminations at a ceremony attended by huge crowds. Several Daleks and Cybermen also attend the big switch-on in Talbot Square, along with the ‘Queen of Blackpool Lights’, the Fylde Coast Jazzmen, the Dolly Set dancers, and a singing group, The Loving Couple. The only hitch is the delayed arrival of the Mayor of Blackpool, Councillor Harold Hoyle, who tells the delighted crowds: ‘Someone locked me in one of the telephone boxes. It was a blue one – with another fellow in it . . .’

Elisabeth Sladen, Tom Baker (in costume) and Ian Marter turn on the Blackpool Illuminations on Friday 5th September 1975

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Reveille, 26 September 1975
Click—I Light Up Blackpool!
by TV’s Tom Baker
At last the day came to go to Blackpool for the great annual switch-on of the illuminations. They told me I was only the 43rd person to be invited to do the switch on, so I felt part of a very select group. Knees shaking, and with nervous jokes Ian Marter, Les [sic] Sladen and I arrived in Talbot Square for the event!
There was a crowd—20,000 strong! I’ve sometimes played to full houses, but 20,000!
The Mayor came out to address the people—and suddenly he was surrounded by Daleks. They told him to sit down or be exterminated. They went on about only Daleks being allowed to switch on illuminations and threatened to destroy the Blackpool Tower and blow up Woolworths.
Just then two Cybermen arrived. By a stroke of good fortune, I had my sonic screwdriver with me and we managed to put the Cybermen out of action. This caused great uproar among the children, screams of happy terror. Then the Daleks attacked. Luckily there were some very large “Kiss Me Quick” hats on the dais and Les [sic] and Ian popped them over the Daleks.
As you know, if there’s one thing Daleks can’t stand, it’s being covered up. They spun around, and screamed and finally retired in sulky silence to the wings.
Then the switch-on. The crowd was hushed, I pressed the handle — and six miles of lights went on. We then toured the lights in Bessie. It was a wonderful evening.
The Mayor on behalf of the town council presented me with the Dictionary of National Biography in 22 volumes plus the supplements.
There was a supper party afterwards and then to bed.
It wits one of the most exciting days of my life. I’m grateful to the people and corporation of Blackpool.
Now, whenever I want to know anything about Colonel Blood who stole the Crown Jewels, or Guy Fawkes or Charlemagne, I just take down my Dictionary, and there it is.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 04/09/2026

Out now: SCREEN PRINTED, the definitive guide to the exciting adventures based on the popular BBC television serial. 199 titles, 1,100 editions, 800 cover images. Fully revised listings and details of the Doctor Who novelisations from Target and beyond. More at www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/screenprinted

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 04/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1965: Although filming the The Myth Makers had taken place at nearby Frensham Ponds in the preceding week, Hartnell was not required for this so presumably this public appearance was organised separately…

September 4 1965
A spectacular appearance by the Doctor at the Farnborough Air Show. Huge crowds gather for a much publicised ‘appearance of Doctor Who’ and midway through the events, a specially built TARDIS made of lightweight plastic suspended by a parachute drops into the arena from an aircraft. From this emerges William Hartnell in the complete Doctor’s outfit and he is driven around the air base to a tremendous reception. Despite the fact that Hartnell is smuggled into the police box after it lands, many hundreds of children go home convinced they have seen the Doctor actually flying his TARDIS!

Footage from the 1965 Farnborough Airshow can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LfsOCRhgiI (sadly no Hartnell)

Two weeks later Hartnell made a second airshow appearance at RAF Finningley near Doncaster. See footage (not that from 30 Years in the TARDIS) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLxaCcHDI_M

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 03/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1966: A year later and Troughton is well established as the Doctor. We now know his reasons for being reticent about revealing the details of his private life, but really whose business was it anyway? …

September 3 1967
A feature story by Kenneth Bailey in The People describes Patrick Troughton as ‘the great unknown of outer space – as soon as you want to talk to him he goes invisible, unget-atable, unspeakable-to. ‘Yet,’ says Bailey, ‘as soon as his name is mentioned he materialises in the enthusiastic talk which immediately erupts among fellow television workers.’ ‘You never forget working with Pat,’ one TV producer tells him, ‘he etches himself on your brain.’ Troughton’s reticence makes his period as the Doctor the least publicised, as Bailey explains: ‘When he leaves the studio after a day’s work, he’s often roaring his head off over some salty crack he’s made at the cast – which nevertheless adores him. Yet where he goes is his iron-fast secret. He’s never let escape facts about his private life. He thinks actors should be known only by their parts. At the moment he is Doctor Who. That, he thinks, should be sufficient.’

From http://cuttingsarchive.org
(And that’s quite the crosshead!)

The People, 3 September 1967
Kenneth Baily’s TV insight
So eerie–my search for the silent ‘Dr Who’
Landing on a deserted planet last night, “Dr. Who” opened a new series of TV’s very odd trips into the great unknown of outer space.
But there are odder things. One is the great unknown Patrick Troughton, the actor who plays “Dr. Who.” Justifiably, one of TV’s most in-demand serious actors, I wanted to ask him why he stays inside this mumbo-jumbo character every Saturday teatime.
Straight-away, things took a very odd turn. Mr. Troughton went invisible, ungettable, unspeakable-to.
It seems that in 20 years of TV limelight, he’s never given an interview. Then an eerie thing happened.
Though Mr. Troughton was not there, in a sense he was. He materialised. Vividly he was there—in the enthusiastic talk which erupted immediately I mentioned his name to his TV producers.
As one said, “You never forget working with Pat. He etches himself on your brain.”
And, uncannily, as they talked, he etched himself on to mine. So I find myself writing this…
Crumpled Jeans
At 47, short, heavy-shouldered, strong-jowled with deep-set eyes, Patrick Troughton, ex-Mill Hill public schoolboy stalks lithely up and down the TV studio.
He wean his habitual garb. The crumpled jeans, the roomy sweater, the old suede shoes.
From this humble appearance you’d never suspect the roll of honour of his acting parts—as Hitler; as Dickens’s Quilp and Uriah Heep; as the Disciple Paul; and modern roles In “Maigret,” “Dr. Finlay’s Casebook,” “This Man Craig,” with a host of others.
In the studio he electrifies his fellow actors. In the early days of TV, playing the first-ever “Robin Hood,” be really became to his fellow actors the leader of a gang.
In the small pioneer studio, with one cork tree to do for Sherwood Forest, he had them rampaging with blood-racing fervour under his outlaw leadership.
He completely loses his personality in a part. […]

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 02/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1966: Hartnell was in bed with bronchitis for the last week of September so the script for The Tenth Planet part 3 was reworked to take the Doctor out of action. Troughton had first been approached in July…

September 2 1966
Before the fourth season of Doctor Who begins, the BBC announce the surprising news that William Hartnell is to leave the role of the Doctor and is to be replaced by the well-known character-actor Patrick Troughton. This now familiar change for the series is greeted with surprise and speculation as to whether such an unprecedented action with a central character can succeed. Although William Hartnell had not intended to leave the programme, his declining health has made it imperative, and a stand-in, Gordon Craig, has to double for him in a number of scenes shot for what is to be his last appearance in ‘The Tenth Planet’. He actually records his final appearance on 8 October.

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Daily Telegraph, 2 September 1966
‘Tougher’ Dr. Who is chosen
Norman Hare
Daily Telegraph Television Staff
The BBC has chosen Patrick Troughton to play the part of Dr. Who in its children’s television serial, in place of William Hartnell.
When “Dr. Who” returns on Sunday week Mr. Hartnell will still be playing the name part. The switch in actors, which will be one of the surprises of the serial story, will not take place until November.
Mr. Troughton, 46, is already well known to viewers and listeners. He played the Pawnbroker in the recent “David Copperfield” serial and Quilp in “The Old Curiosity Shop.” Earlier this year he appeared in “This Man Craig,” “Dr. Finley’s Casebook” and “Softly Softly.”
Played Paul and Hitler
In 1960 he appeared as Paul of Tarsus in the television serial of that name. In the theatre he has played a variety of parts since joining the Bristol Old Vic after war service in the Royal Navy. He was Hitler in the Gateway Theatre production of “Eva Braun” in 1950.
Mr. Sydney Newman, head of BBC TV Drama, said last night: “Our problem in choosing the new Dr. Who was very difficult because we have decided to make considerable changes in the personality of the character. We believe we have found exactly the man we wanted.”
Although the BBC refuses to say how the character is being changed, new stories in the serial will be tougher, with greater emphasis on science fiction and fewer comedy episodes. The Daleks will reappear in the early episodes.

In the opening moments of episode three of ‘The Tenth Planet’ the Doctor collapses into Ben and Polly’s arms. This is not William Hartnell. Gordon Craig had already stood in for him for prefilming at Ealing as well as location filming the ‘The Smugglers’ over the summer, so was the obvious go-to when Hartnell was taken ill

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 01/09/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1979: In spite of how the entry is written, Cusick’s comments are not from the Telegraph piece. As the designer was famously reticent to give interviews, does anyone know where his quotes originate? …

September 1 1979
‘Daleks Herald Attack On New Season’, the Daily Telegraph’s Robin Stringer writes as the seventeenth season of Doctor Who sees the return of the Time Lord’s most indestructible enemies after an absence of more than four years in ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ written by Terry Nation. Press attention this time focuses on Ray Cusick, the BBC designer who was given the task of making Terry Nation’s basic idea a reality. ‘The first thing was how to afford them,’ says Ray. ‘Money is always a big problem. I decided I wasn’t going to do anything cheap – originally they had discussed building them with cardboard – and I was allocated £750. I worked out the original drawings in three hours, did a couple of sketches in the office on Friday afternoon, and took them home to finish on Sunday afternoon. I realised they would have to have a human operator, so the basic design was shaped round a man sitting on a tricycle. I wanted midgets inside at first, because I thought it would be good to make the Daleks smaller than humans. I was making mechanical actors really.’
Reviewers are delighted at the return of the Daleks and the arrival of the Doctor’s new companion. Robin Stringer writes: ‘Poor Romana, newly incarnated by Lalla Ward, now also equipped with a long scarf that’s always getting in the way, was not at all taken by some of her experiences. By the end, she found herself in a time-honoured role, horror-struck and backed against the wall by who else but the Daleks. It bodes well.’

Raymond Cusick’s early concept for Dalek movement involved a small tricycle inside the casing. Although this was abandoned in favour of the cheaper option of the operator pushing it along with their feet, the shape of the Dalek outline it dictated remained

From http://cuttingsarchive.org

Daily Telegraph, 3 September 1979
Daleks herald attack on new season
By Robin Stringer
Autumn, fruitful season of new television, is supposedly with us. An announcement on the front of this week’s Radio Times says so.
The weekend, however, except for music-lovers, seemed very much hung over from the past … but not all apparitions from the past are unwelcome.
Dr Who (BBC-1), who is, of course, of the past, present and future, returned on Saturday to lift the spirits in a new series. For an old, old, old man, he does wear well and in his case familiarity tends to breed affection.
Still in the title role, Tom Baker seems the possessor of an even longer scarf, if that is possible, and an even more nonchalant outlook on life in the face of galaxy-shattering events.
Confronted on an unknown and inhospitable planet with the arrival of an alien spacecraft of inter-galactic range and time-warp capability which drills itself into the ground and which is staffed by a stronge [sic] race of beings (looking pretty sharp in figure-hugging white quilting) can one really be that nonchalant? If you are Dr Who, you can.
Others are more easily impressed. Poor Romana, newly incarnated by Lalla Ward now also equipped with a long scarf that’s always getting in the way, was not at all taken by some of her experiences.
By the end, she found herself in a time honoured role, horror-struck and backed against the wall by who else but the Daleks. It bodes well.

The cliffhanger to episode one of ‘Destiny of the Daleks’. Romana (Lalla Ward) is backed up against a wall in the background while framing her in foreground left and right are two dark-grey Daleks

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 01/09/2026

2026 is the 21st anniversary of Doctor Who’s revival. When the Classic Series was 21, WH Allen published The Key To Time by Peter Haining, in which he “explored the history of the series through key dates in its many life-cycles”. Let’s revisit what SEPTEMBER dates he picked…

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 01/09/2026

Coming this month from Wonderful Books - Screen Printed: The Definitive Guide to the Exciting Adventures Based On the Popular BBC Television Serial www.wonderfulbook.co.uk

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 30/08/2026

Doctor Who 70-79 finally live on the DWAS site: www.dwasonline.co.uk/dw7079. Includes a fascinating article by Matt Hills on the ecological arguments that inspired The Green Death, and why they didn't comfortably fit into the series format.

Cover of DWAS's summer special Doctor Who 70-79, artwork by Andy Lambert of Third and Fourth Doctors with Sea Devil, Davros and Sontaran, against a glowing purple and blue diamond background

Opening spread from Doctor Who 70-79 of Matt Hills article on the ecological debate that fed into The Green Death. Illustration by Andy Lambert of a giant fly and maggots on a coal mound, behind them industrial chimneys fill the sky with smoke

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 30/08/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1975: Not convinced by Peter’s explanation. The characters were on CSO so no need for cutting out masks, and the rippling is just the image electronically polarised and coloured as it’s defocused. Still, a great effect…

August 30 1975
‘Terror of the Zygons’ uses an electronic effect generator for the intermediate stage in the spectacular transformations of Zygons into humans, and vice versa. The effects generator is used to create a series of rippling patterns which are switched through to a flat TV screen being seen by a camera. On another screen is a live picture of an actor waiting to be transformed. The electronic effects operator traces the outline of the actor from this second screen and makes from the tracing a man-shaped hole in a piece of card. This card is then placed over the effects screen such that the only image visible to the camera is a man-shaped swirl of rippling colour. These two camera shots are then recorded with the operator on the mixing desk fading from the live actor to the swirling image. The same technique is then used for the Zygon standing in the same spot as the human actor – a matte mask similarly being made for the Zygon’s shape against the colour swirl. When these four shots are mixed and later blended together in the editing suite, the resulting effect is of an actor gradually changing into an amorphous riot of human-shaped colours, then into a riot of Zygon-shaped colour, and finally into the Zygon itself. Used several times in ‘Terror of the Zygons’ similar variations on this process will be the key to many of Doctor Who’s electronic effects over the next five years.

‘Terror of the Zygons’ Part Four: Broton changes from his Zygon form into the Duke of Forgill (both played by John Woodnutt)

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 29/08/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1980: The tableau at Tussauds featured just the Fourth Doctor and K9 initially, with the other monsters joining them in October…

August 29 1980
The status of Doctor Who as a public favourite and Tom Baker as a cult figure is underlined when ‘The Doctor Who Experience’ is unveiled in the Hall of Fame at Madame Tussauds in London. In the ensuing months and years, millions of visitors are to file past the lifelike waxwork of Tom Baker dressed as the Doctor. Keeping him company are a Dalek, Davros, Foamasi, Meglos, Nimon and a Sontaran. For a time, too, K9 is also present . . .

Tom Baker at the opening of the Madame Tussauds Doctor Who Experience with waxworks of the Fourth Doctor and Meglos impersonating him

The Fourth Doctor, K9 and TARDIS tableau at Tussauds

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 24/08/2026

Arguably both are, though Lis clearly massaged to avoid a payment

Tom Baker and Lis Sladen at the press call for his casting in 1974

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 21/08/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1964: The Express was hardly breaking the news as there’d been a photocall at the London Planetarium and around Westminster Bridge the previous day. Anyway, the Mirror had revealed the Daleks’ return back on the 8th…

August 21 1964
The Daily Express breaks the news first that the Daleks are to return in the second season of Doctor Who. Television reporter Martin Jackson writes: ‘The Daleks, the tin robot monsters of BBC TV, are returning to the Saturday science-fiction serial, Doctor Who in November, after pleas by hundreds of young viewers.’ This announcement is to herald an autumn of unprecedented Dalek promotion.

8-year-old Andrew Turner poses with Daleks on the Embankment on 20 August 1964 as publicity for the upcoming Dalek invasion of Earth

Daily Mirror, 8 August 1964
Stand by for a Dalek invasion
By Jack Bell
Stand by for the invasion of London by the Daleks—those robot monsters making a comeback by popular demand.
When the creatures from outer Space were dropped from the BBC’s Saturday science fiction television serial “Dr. Who,” hundreds of young viewers sent in protest letters.
Now they are coming back…to examine London later this month before a full-scale invasion in November.

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 20/08/2026

Hang on, they've missed one! www.wonderfulbook.co.uk/special.html

Wonderful Book's 2012 Not-RT 8th Anniversary Special

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 20/08/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1970: Not clear why Peter has this in August – Delgado was contracted on 23 March. The quote from Barry Letts is taken from an interview in DWM #52 (May 1981)…

August 20 1970
During Doctor Who’s break from transmission, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks devise the character of a man who is destined – rather like the Daleks – to threaten even the Doctor’s popularity as the most outstanding figure in the series: the Master. Letts and Dicks want a regular villian to play opposite the Doctor – a renegade Time Lord as hellbent on evil and destruction as the Doctor is on peace and justice. They find the perfect actor to play the role in Roger Delgado, a man of Satanic dark looks with a long history of playing villains. He is also blessed with a laconic sense of humour and an ability to mix charm with absolute ruthlessness when playing a role – in marked contrast to his gentle and charming nature off screen. Barry Letts is never in any doubt they have the right man. ‘As soon as we thought of the character I knew who I wanted to play it. I’d known Roger for many years. I remember having a great sword fight with him in the surf near Hastings in a costume drama we appeared in together. He had the enormous capacity for villainy – and charm – that the part of the Master demanded.’ Delgado is equally enthusiastic about the part. ‘I like playing villains,’ he says. ‘I am often chosen by directors to play wicked men because I have a beard, a menacing chin and piercing eyes. I know from the letters I get that I’m the man people love to hate.’ As one newspaper puts it, the man who has been a blackguard almost all his professional life is about to embark on probably his most successful role . . .

Roger Delgado in September 1970 while recording his first serial ‘Terror of the Autons’

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Paul MC Smith @wonderfulbooks.co.uk · 19/08/2026

The year according to Peter Haining’s ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ — Today in 1983: OK stop guessing now everyone. It’s Colin Baker from ‘The Brothers’…

August 19 1983
An actor who once had a small part in a Doctor Who story and actually tried to kill the Doctor, emerges as the man to fill the role of the sixth Time Lord, forty-year-old Colin Baker. Following the announcement on BBC Television, the press is quick to headline the transformation of villain into a goodie. The Daily Record reports: ‘Actor Colin Baker, once a J.R.-type television-screen villain, is to take on the role of one of the small screen’s most loved heroes, Doctor Who. Colin was a forerunner of J.R. Ewing as the man viewers loved to hate when he played Paul Merroney, the ‘’nasty’’ in the BBC series The Brothers. ‘The paper also cites two other villainous appearances as Babon the Berserker in Blake’s 7 and as the Gallifreyan guard Maxil in the Doctor’s adventure ‘Arc of Infinity’, of which he tells journalists: ‘At the end of one episode I actually shot the Doctor – but not to get his job, though!’
Colin, who first started training to be a solicitor before going into acting, and thereafter enjoyed a number of hits on the stage and in television, has earned himself the role after a performance he was scarcely conscious of having given. John Nathan-Turner explains: ‘I’d got to know Colin when he played a captain of the guard for us, and we met up again this summer when one of the production team got married. The Who crowd were sitting together on the grass, having a good time, and for the whole afternoon, Colin kept us all thoroughly entertained. Even though I wasn’t actively looking for a new Doctor then, I thought, ‘’Aha! if he can hold the attention of fifteen hard-bitten showbiz professionals for hours, then he can do the same with an audience.’’ ’

Colin and Nicola at the press announcement of his casting at Television Centre (arranged hurriedly to get ahead of a potential leak of the news)

Daily Mirror, 20 August 1983
Baddie Colin in the new you-know-Who
Colin Baker, the TV actor viewers once loved to hate, has landed the part of Dr Who.
Colin, who will start filming in December, played the villainous banker Paul Merroney in the BBC series The Brothers. This won’t be his first brush with the Doctor. He shot the Doctor Peter Davison in a DrWho episode earlier this year.
But Colin, 40, had clearly reformed yesterday when he met Nicola Bryant, who is to become the doctor’s first American assistant Peri. “I think she’s stunning,” he said.
Colin, the former husband of TV star Liza Goddard, is now married to actress Marion Wyatt. He will be the sixth Dr Who in the show’s 20-year run.

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