Telly Talk: Family Doctor
Scheduled for the day before the Golden Anniversary Shiny Gold Ring Whizzbang Doctor Who episode, at this point our toes will be fair sparkling with sonic fairydust and regeneration tinsel. This has become the year of The Doctor, culminating in this month, it seems, with last week’s programme looking into the science of Doctor Who with Brian Cox (still on iPlayer if you need more Gallifrey goodness), the aforementioned shiny special episode, and this Culture Show Special. As well as the numerous repeats that seem to pop up on Watch and BBC3. And I don’t mind one little bit.
The reason I don’t mind is that, just like Matthew Sweet, the host of You, Me And Doctor Who: A Culture Show Special I grew up quaking at daleks and diving onto any jumble sale video box sets with the iconic 3D typeface proclaiming the contents a definite adventure through time and space.
“The quiet trend of trailblazers’ involvement along every step…”
Like a lot of Culture Show specials, this is a biography of sorts. Not just of the Doctor in his various incarnations, sporting different faces, outfits and attitudes. But also of the programme as a whole. From the circumstances that saw it’s very arrival – who knew that ITV could steal 80 per cent of the BBC’s audience so quickly? To the remarkable yet quiet trend of trailblazers’ involvement along every step of the way.
Verity Lambert, Doctor Who’s very first producer, was the first woman producer in the BBC’s serials department, and quite possibly one of its youngest. With various political forces none too impressed with the overly ambitious ideas delivered up with a pittance of a budget, it’s fun to know that she kept it on air by breaking the rules she’d been given by the fifth episode.
The details behind the ‘70s soundtrack, how it was recorded, and what it heralded for TV atmospherics, are laid bare. How Mary Whitehouse’s shock and horror shaped the show too. This is a very fond education of an iconic show, even down to savvy emergence of the still popular Doctor Who Conventions.
It’s also thorough. Yes, there are interviews with a few Doctors and Assistants, but also included in the talking heads melee are musicians, producers and directors – amusingly skirting around the strong ‘character’ influence of Tom Baker as a remarkable and unique actor revelling in the role.
There are a couple of ommissions I was surprised by. No talk – even derisively – of the Paul McGann one-off TV movie. And no mention of much lauded producer of much of Tom Baker’s time, Philip Hinchcliffe. Although it was interesting to see a fresh perspective on what many have termed ‘the Wilderness Years’ when Doctor Who was off air, it being described as a fallow period when fanzines emerged, fan fiction prospered, and many of those behind these self-developed and published cut their teeth in readiness (it turned out) for future employment under Russell T Davis’ firm hand.
Suffice to say, if you’ve grown up with even the mildest fascination for weapons styled from sink plungers, satirical storylines set in a parallel universe, or simply the development of a pop culture phenomenon, the Culture Show has their eye on satisfying your needs. It’s a bit like being given Tom Baker’s scarf to sit in for an hour, and just the treat after a full week of this universe work too.
You, Me And Doctor Who: A Culture Show Special, BBC2, Friday 22 November 2013
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