Fan Scene - CT82 #1

The world of Doctor Who as seen by the DWAS newsletter Celestial Toyroom (aka CT)

While accounts often cite the Seventies as the original programme’s most successful period, ratings in the early Eighties were high driven partly by the popularity of Peter Davison. 1982 seems as if it will be a busy Doctor Who year and the January issue is testament to that activity with a variety of snippets relating to the programme. Though much of it resides in a column called Trivia it provides an interesting snapshot of just how much attention the series was receiving at this time. So there’s a piece about the uncovering of a sixteen year old poster for the Doctor Who and the Daleks film during the redecoration of Southgate Underground station (it’s a shame the photo looks rather like a flash of white light). There’s something about Madame Tussauds advertising their Doctor Who Experience with a `Guess Who’s at Madame Tussauds` campaign. The Five Faces of Doctor Who repeats on BBC2 are getting good ratings with the first episode `An Unearthly Child` placing tenth in the channel’s ratings that week. `Carnival of Monsters` is also reported as faring well beating Grange Hill. Even the Society’s own event DWASocial 2 held in Edinburgh in November 1981 was reported in `The Scotsman` newspaper. Target have published a quiz book which Gary Russell reports is more accurate than their Programme Guide though not entirely correct. It is selling for £1.25. Also the 70s play Doctor Who and the Seven Keys to Doomsday has been staged for the first time since 1974 by the Buxton Drama League.

 

Inside there is an account of the involvement of DWAS in the 1981 Lord Mayor’s Show which included a Doctor Who float containing a number of monster costumes.  The piece mentions those who donned these including Toby Chamberlain, Robert Allsopp, Melinda Webster, Andre Wiley and Mr Russell himself!  An ad elsewhere promotes a display of the costumes to be held at Sutton Coldfield Library. We also see a clipping from a paper profiling `Tardis` editor Richard Walter. Back then the idea of organised Doctor Who fandom seemed to intrigue journalists and this is a typical example of the coverage being fair enough with only the merest hint of eccentricity in a feature that opens with the line “He says there are no Cybermen at the bottom of his garden…” and mentions fans discussions on “how things will be under the reign of the Sensorites in the twenty-eight century.”

Apart from all this activity there is a new season – and a new Doctor!- about to start on 4 January to be transmitted Mondays and Tuesdays at 6.55pm during which we are teased that we will see more of the inside of the Tardis and there will be a smaller crew by the end of the season. What can that mean?

 

We find out in the February issue which leads with `Waterhouse Quits!` telling us about the departure of Adric though not the circumstances. It is fair to say that Adric wasn’t very popular with fans back then but as the actor himself later suggested the manner of his departure would ensure the character remained in the minds of viewers longer than the normal departing companion might. The story mentions that Matthew was a member of the DWAS and that at conventions he’d “entertained us wittily, charmingly and full of vitality.” A few years later I actually spent an evening with Mathew amongst others and can confirm this to be true.  If you want a great insider’s view of life in Doctor Who at this time you’d be well advised to check out Matthew’s `Blue Box Boy` book which doesn’t pull many punches especially when talking about Tom Baker. News-wise we also find out the last story will be called `Time Flight`. “Reports do suggest it will end the season in as climactic a way as `Logopolis` wrapped up season 18” says Gaz. Mmm.

Trivia wise you can now buy the official BBC postcards of the main cast. There’s another shout out from the BBC for missing episodes if anyone has them. We’re assured that “everything will be a no questions asked deal, no probing as to how, why you got them..”  situation. More on the Five Faces repeats with the average ratings being between 6.5 and 7 million. When you think this is probably about the average now for new episodes that is quite impressive even more so when `The Krotons` was amongst the stories shown! There’s a list of some of the record merchandise around in early 1982 which includes a new release for the theme music now with Peter Davison’s face on  the cover, the K9 signature tune (you know the one “K9…..K9…”), a new BBC sound effects record which includes some “18^th season noises” and a US release of Ron Grainer’s themes . Meanwhile apparent problems with the Viewmaster for `Full Circle` have been solved. I used to have this and it’s hard to convey now in our plasma screen 3D age just how vivid those pictures were. They were almost like holograms and this was such a good story to use thanks to the location where it was filmed.

Remember the Doctor Who Quiz Book from last month? Well David Howe who heads up the Society’s Reference Department has provided a list of the cardinal mistakes it makes some of which seem rather basic if the Quiz book is to be of any use. “The Collector was a Usurian”, “Wirrn has only two R’s” and `The Green Death was chemical pollution`. Talking of errors it seems Doctor Who Monthly recently declared that the fifth Doctor is played by `Peter Davidson`. The extra letter is something of a tradition for DWM who once tagged the Master as being played by Roger Delgardo. 

As ever with CT oodles of fanzine adverts are dotted about the pages. This issue includes `Skaro` volume 2 no 3 which had already got a review of `Castrovalva` in it (50p plus p&p), `Views, News & Reviews` issue 8 looking at Doctor Who in America and the Five Faces repeats (50p plus A4 sae), `The Time Meddler` no 3 which looks a good one including a Robert Holmes interview and a chat with Matthew Waterhouse. This is a Canadian zine which costs $3 from Meddling Monk Productions.  There’s `The Inferno Magazine` from Inferno Productions. Zine editors used to often make themselves look more professional by inventing a Productions moniker when it was just them at home.  Anyhow this issue includes something about the Shrivenzale. What is there to say about them I wonder? There’s some zine called `Shada` which Gary doesn’t advertise as prominently as he might.

Oh and there’s a rather badly reproduced ad for issue 6 of `Meglos` in which it is very difficult to make out what’s in it at all. However the editor is one Andrew Harrison who would go on to become a professional writer and journalist and for a while was the editor of Q magazine. See, everyone starts somewhere. Incidentally this issue invites members to vote in the Fanzine Awards which shows just how prominent the medium was at this time. Gary had always an enthusiastic supporter of fanzines in CT which probably further helped their sales.