26 Glorious Years

Close shot of Ronald Lewis as Dr Max Harris and John Gabriel as Smiffershon - a screencap from the 1965 Out of the Unknown episode ‘Some Lapse of Time’.

Cover of a 1963 issue of the British SF magazine ‘Science Fantasy’, with John Brunner’s ‘Some Lapse of Time’ featured as the main story. Cover image is unrelated to Brunner's story - it appears to feature a cloaked figure riding a unicorn type animal, with a smaller bear type creature in the background.

13. OTD 1965. One of the finest ‘Out of the Unknown’ episodes, a brilliant adaptation of John Brunner’s ’Some Lapse of Time’, published just a few years previously in a 1963 edition of ‘Science Fantasy’. Tightly directed, with a wonderful radiophonic soundtrack.
Thankfully this one still exists 🙂.

Yes, quite a legacy - lovely to hear of the lasting imptession he made.

Just old news I’m afraid Tim - back in 1993 the clips were unearthed during research for the documentary ‘Thirty Years in the Tardis’ (they stemmed from a 1967 ‘Late Night Line Up‘ interview - see two posts down for details). 👍

OTD 1993. An exceptionally rare interview with the legendary Pat Gorman in the mini-feature “I was that Monster”.
Five minutes of 30th anniversary goodness, with those recently discovered short clips from ’The Abominable Snowmen’ offering more cause for celebration 🎉

OTD 1993. Topping the 30th anniversary celebrations & enriching those ‘wilderness years’ was the documentary ‘Thirty Years in the Tardis’.
A fabulously realised production by Kevin Jon Davies - with those meticulous recreations of several iconic scenes still in a league of their own.

Four screenshots from a 1967 interview with Jack Kine of the BBC Visual Effects Department - close up of a ‘ Yeti Control Sphere’, prop, a close up of ‘Cybermat’ prop, Jack Kine being interviewed, and an image of several robot Yeti by a rocky mountainside from the 1967 story ‘The Abominable Snowmen’

OTD 1967: Roving Cybermats, Yeti Control Spheres (in glorious colour) & some tantalising clips from Episode 4 of ‘The Abominable Snowmen’. All captured in Joan Bakewell’s interview with Jack Kine for ’Late Night Line Up’.
A fabulous snapshot of the early years of the BBC’s Visual Effects Dept.

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VHS cover for the Dr Who story ‘An Unearthly Child’. Features a composite image of William Hartnell (Dr Who) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), with their faces merging seamlessly together in the middle. The artwork was by Alister Pearson.

Happy 62nd.
And I can think of no better image to mark the anniversary of this landmark piece of television than Alister Pearson’s striking 1990 VHS cover.

Photo of producer Verity Lambert, director Warris Hussein, and associate producer Mervin Pinfield, at the BBC television centre in late 1963.

Remembering Verity Lambert, who we lost OTD 2007. Seen here making television history with Waris Hussein & Mervyn Pinfield in 1963.
Having steered the show into becoming a phenomenal success, its heartening to know that 62 years on we are still celebrating her incredible legacy.

I could probably trace the development of my fondness for the show through the various iterations of this story - beginning with a memorable cinema matinee screening of the film as a youngster, then that wonderful novelisation, & then rediscovering this in later years via the VHS and DVD releases… 😀

One of the highlights of the ‘Daleks - The Early Years’ VHS release back in 1992 👍

Behind-the-scenes photo of the production crew and key actors aboard a boat during the making of the 1972 Doctor Who story ‘The Sea Devils’. Features actors Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning, along with members of the filming crew including director Michael E. Briant.

On to Ep 3 of The Sea Devils & I’m reminded as ever of the visual flair that Michael E. Briant brings to the production. His Blu-ray interviews are also a joy to listen to - always a lively energy & enthusiasm for the show.
A great production photo here from Piccolo’s ‘The Making of Doctor Who’:

I recall listening to the soundtracks (when this CD was released with the surviving episodes of The Crusade) and curiously noting that The Knight of Jaffa simply commenced with that musical bridge into the first scene!

Photos of actor Bernard Horsfall from his roles in 4 Doctor Who stories - The Mind Robber, The War Games, Planet of the Daleks and The Deadly Assassin.

Remembering actor Bernard Horsfall, born OTD 1930.
Such a reliable presence & so easy to see why David Maloney called on his talents so regularly.
From the enigmatic Gulliver through to the tragic figure of Chancellor Goth, Horsfall was never anything less than entirely convincing.

Screenshots of William Russell on set reprising his role as Ian Chesterton - recorded as linking material for the recovered episodes of the 1965 Doctor Who story ‘The Crusade’.

Remembering William Russell Enoch, born OTD 1924. Forever our beloved Knight of Jaffa.

A little late to the party here, but it was great to revisit your podcast again. Always enjoy your relaxed conversational style - & I do like the way you talk about simply putting on a story you haven’t watched in a while (in this case, The Deadly Assassin) & then rediscovering it’s many charms 🙂

Image of composer Malcolm Clarke and (onset) a close-up shot of one of the ‘Sea Devil’ monsters from the 1972 Dr Who story.

On to Ep 2 of ‘The Sea Devils‘, & I’m reminded again of the impact created by Malcolm Clarke’s wonderfully discordant soundscape. Easily one of his best known scores - & certainly now as iconic as the inspired design of the Sea Devils themselves by the combined talents of Briant, Snoaden & Fletcher.

32 years ago this week, ‘The Antique Doctor Who Show’ - my favourite of the mini-features that preceded the ‘Planet of the Daleks’ 30th Anniversary repeat run.
Featured some eye catching animation courtesy of the talented Tony Clark, whose credits range from Target book covers to costume design.

Noted that it’s 60 years to the day that ‘The Nightmare Begins’ was broadcast.
Viewing the surviving clips invariably takes me back to one of my strongest memories of buying DWB (‘Daleks Masterplan 1 - Film Footage Found!’) & their much anticipated inclusion on ‘The Early Years‘ VHS.
Happy days.

Cover of the Piccolo book ‘The Making of Dr Who’ - the image is a publicity still of Jon Pertwee as Dr Who, with a Sea Devil (a humanoid reptilian creature) looming behind him (posed as if ready to strike).

Now revisiting The Sea Devils, whose mythical status was fuelled when I was a youngster by the likes of this striking image (& others that would grace the books & magazines for years to come).
An archetypal image really - a resolute Dr with horror lurking in the shadows - no wonder we were hooked 🙂

Yes, 10 years almost to the day (seemed like a lot longer in those days :)). That last episode of Inferno was an absolute revelation - couldn’t believe my luck 🙂

Absolutely - they are ingrained in my memory - I caught Inferno Ep 7 and then Terror of the Autons (b/w at that point) in NZ. When I left Australia they were repeating Tom Bakers last season.

I recall going on a holiday in Australia and then NZ circa 1991 - and my word, the TV schedules were a treasure trove of Baker and early Pertwee 🙂

Wonderful memory there - thanks for sharing. Yes, they were fabulous times - repeats in the UK were few and far between (virtually non-existent bar the odd Christmas omibus showing!), so these episodes were absolute gold 🙂

OTD 1981. ‘The Five Faces of Dr Who’ season on BBC2 continues with ‘The Krotons’.
Apart from a few brief glimpses in the ‘Whose Dr Who?’ documentary, this was my first real exposure to Patrick Troughton’s Doctor.
Oh, how I made sure I was home in time to catch these episodes - just captivating. 🙂

This particular reunion is still a joy to revisit… 🙂

Collage of the various broadcast & media releases of the 1972 Dr Who story ‘The Curse of Peladon’: screenshot of the trailer for the BBC repeat showing in 1982, the cover of the nineties VHS cover, the later DVD release and finally the Season 9 blu-ray boxset.

On to episode 4 of ‘The Curse of Peladon’.
I can easily say that repeated viewings over the years - from ‘Dr Who and the Monsters’, then via VHS, DVD and finally Blu-ray - certainly hasn’t blunted my fondness for this story.
Though there was something inevitably magical about those 80s repeats 🙂

Ah yes, I recall pondering on the visual discrepancies here too. I ended up landing in the ‘it’s a design/plot point to let slide‘ camp, but part of me entertains the thought that all those materials sourced via Lesterson were utilised in further construction -
‘Grand Designs’ of a kind I guess 🙂

Another superb edition that hits that sweet spot of balancing fascinating production info & well-informed speculation, whilst always providing something new to consider (all of which prompted me to revisit the soundtrack straightaway!). Oh, & I’ll never view ‘Gladiator’ in quite the same way again…🙂