Ten Acre Books

The essential book to read about 80s Dr Who.

Cover of Totally Tasteless: The Life of John Nathan-Turner.

"Stay tuned!" Read about the life and controversies of Doctor Who's powerhouse 1980s producer John Nathan-Turner in Totally Tasteless, Richard Marson's definitive biography. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk

Just putting the finishing touches to a new book cover we'll be unveiling soon. It's a lovely shade of orange. 🧡

We're not shipping to the US at this time but the Who Shop carries most of our titles on release: thewhoshop.com

The wording lays out the book's focus as a historical chronology and the messaging is not intended as a judgement of any other works. You can choose to interpret it differently, but that does not reflect our intent.

That's a book of essays; this book is the first dedicated gay history of Doctor Who.

We don't produce ebooks.

Pssst. Remember to order this.

More angles on the history of Doctor Who from Ten Acre Books. Patrick Mulkern's writing on his own fan journey for Radio Times was revealing and sensitive and promises much from this.

August reading stack with the stand out being Panda’s Fen: Scene by Scene. I deliberately slowed down my reading pace to absorb the incredible level of research undertaken by the author. The definitive deep dive companion text to the BFI Blu-ray. Such a rich text. Fabulous. @greavesian.bsky.social

Preordered this today. I have enjoyed many of @tenacrebooks.bsky.social publications over the past year. If you love archive British TV and meticulously researched texts then they are worth a visit!

be gay buy books

Thank you!

Thank you!

Cover design of You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who.

You Are Not Alone includes interviews with directors Waris Hussein and John Gorrie; Radiophonic Workshop pioneer Brian Hodgson; actors Sophie Aldred, Mandip Gill, Matt Lucas, Katy Manning, Matthew Waterhouse and Anneke Wills; plus showrunners Russell T Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall.

Part social history, part biographical anthology, You Are Not Alone charts Doctor Who’s gay subculture – on and off-screen – alongside the evolving landscape of the British TV and theatre industry over the past seven decades, shining light on the life stories of its many gay cast and creatives.

Cover design of You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who.

We’re pleased to announce the publication of a new history of Doctor Who, examining the programme from a queer perspective for the first time. You Are Not Alone: A Gay History of Doctor Who is written by @patrickmulkern.bsky.social and will be released on 25 May. Order now from tenacrebooks.co.uk/

Journeying back to the North East after visiting Sir Roy Clarke and members of his wonderful family. Writing this book has taken longer than either of us anticipated – partly because even I had underestimated the scope of his output – but we're on the home stretch now!

Cover of David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television.

Learn about the life and creative influences of Doctor Who's first script editor in David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television, an in-depth biography by @0tralala.bsky.social. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk.

Cover of Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene.

‘Astonishing. I enjoyed a deeper working involvement in the making of the film than most authors are granted — but even so, there was so much going on that I didn’t know. Thank you for teaching me’ David Rudkin ‘Indispensable. It left me longing to see the film again and wishing that television today had room for works of such outstanding individual imagination’ Michael Billington

‘A comprehensive, immersive deep dive into the creation of David Rudkin and Alan Clarke’s massively influential and hallucinatory coming-of-age story. Highly recommended!’ Grant Morrison ‘Play for Today was, for many years, the most exciting strand in British television and Penda’s Fen is one of its most remarkable highpoints: visionary, original and under perfect control’ David Hare

‘A welcome revelation of insight, background and new resonances to Clarke’s masterwork’ Jim O'Rourke ***** ‘Surely the definitive statement on Penda’s Fen’ SFX Magazine ‘A first-class read. It is like witnessing a first-class documentary in written form’ Spencer Banks

Praise for our book Penda's Fen: Scene by Scene, @greavesian.bsky.social's definitive exploration of the classic Play for Today from script to screen. Available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk

Drama and Delight: The Life and Legacy of Verity Lambert For five decades, the name Verity Lambert appeared on the end credits of many of Britain’s most celebrated and talked about television dramas,...

Just devoured Drama and Delight: The Life and Legacy of Verity lambert by Richard Marson from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social. Really, really enjoyed it. Highly recommended. Now I have a list of old Cinema Verity shows to track down and watch...

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Hidden Treasures, A Criminal Practice by Terrance Dicks Idealistic Matthew Larrabie joins his uncle's firm of solicitors.

A Criminal Practice, a comic play by Terrance Dicks first broadcast on 5 July 1967, is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra today at 3pm and 9pm; afterwards, it’ll be available on BBC Sounds - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Box of Delights by Richard Marson review Box Of Delights examines the BBC at a time when the kids TV department was more or less left to its own ingenious devices.

Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children's Television reviewed by The Big Issue. Check it out…

Good thread.

Our hardbacks are always limited to a single printing – one and done.

An update for Box of Delights: The Story of BBC Children's Television… We're down to our last copies of the current printing. The book will be reprinted next month, but if you don't want to wait, get them while they last from tenacrebooks.co.uk.

The talented and all round lovely guy, Simon Guerrier joins me to talk about getting a break writing Doctor Who books, his time editing Bernice books, and gives huge insight into his David Whittaker and upcoming Terrance Dicks books... @0tralala.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

I've just finished reading The Box of Delights by Richard Marson. What an absolutely incredible book. An honest history of the peak of children's TV on the BBC. So many stories and interviews. I learnt so much.
I can't recommend it highly enough. A huge success from @tenacrebooks.bsky.social

Cover of Pull to Open: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who.

Read about Doctor Who's conception, from first ideas to its troubled early months of production, in Pull to Open, an immersive history by @paul-hayes.bsky.social, available now from tenacrebooks.co.uk.