The Ascent of Fan
SFX subjects Russell T Davies and showrunner elect Steven Moffat to the merciless memory probe
Russell T Davies
What's your first memory of Doctor Who?
>>My first memory, honestly, is the regeneration of William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton. I don't really remember him changing on the floor, though what I absolutely remember is them walking into the TARDIS, and all the controls of the console moving on their own. That was the most terrifying thing to me. I didn't know what was happening. I was three! Then I remember the end of "Power of the Daleks", which must have been six weeks later. As the TARDIS faded away there was a Dalek head and the eyestalk went up and down. I absolutely remember that, crystal clear.
When did you realise you were a fan?
»Oh, that's hard... The first time I came across fandom was in the lower sixth. There was someone else in school who had all the fanzines, which I'd never seen before in my life. He lent me a whole stack of them. Marvellous!
What made you a fan?
»I remember really getting into it, and drawing it all the time, when Jon Pertwee became Tom Baker. I loved that. I didn't just love the new Doctor, I just loved what was going on. I think that's when I really started consciously thinking 'I must watch this'... When regeneration comes along, that's when you start becoming a fan... it's not just the story that does it; you get into the process, seeing actors instead of characters, appreciating the production of it, because that's what fans do. That big production decision cemented it for me.
What in Doctor Who still makes you cry?
>>I never cried at the old series. Not even the much touted farewell of Jo Grant in "The Green Death"... it's not exactly Love Story, is it? Fans invest it with a lot more than it's actually got, though it's very nicely played. What always gets me is that bit in the book of Doctor Who and the Zarbi, where that little Optera shoves its head into the wall to stop the lava coming through, and kills itself. And it doesn't really get mourned, that little creature. It doesn't even have a name. But I felt really sad. Of course when you see it on telly it's terrible - it's just a grey blur and someone screams!
What in Doctor Who still makes you laugh?
>> Still those early Tom Bakers with Harry and Sarah Jane. Just the dialogue between the three of them. 'Harry only works on sailors...' - I was laughing out loud! The first episode of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is really funny. Yes, there are racist jokes flying about, but they're beautifully done, really clever. They're not racist at all, they're accurate. But I don't laugh at it - I don't do that postmodern viewing thing of "Oh, it's so terrible, let's put on 'The Mutants'". I still find bits to really enjoy in those stories.
What's your most shameful Who-related confession?
>>I remember HTV used to show UFO at the same time as Doctor Who, which was a really hard choice. I used to alternate between UFO and Doctor Who, which was criminal.
What's the one Doctor Who story you wish you'd written?
>>"The Ark in Space". I just think it's perfect; brilliantly done and such an exciting climax. If you made it into a
$150 million movie today it would be wonderful. The first episode doesn't have more than three people in it, and it's so claustrophobic. And there's the huge idea of the human race having all been put into cold storage. Everything works in that one.
Caption: Russell T Davies and, inset, Tom Baker in 1975's "The Ark in Space".
Steven Moffat
"I was too frightened to watch after 'Tomb of the Cybermen"
What's your first memory of Doctor Who?
>>Asking my Dad where Doctor Who had gone, and my Dad explaining that the dark haired man (Patrick Troughton) was him. So I must have already been watching quite keenly, but that's my first proper memory.
When did you realise you'd become a fan?
>> I was too frightened to watch after "Tomb of the Cybermen", and only rejoined with early Pertwee. "Inferno" part one was the first Doctor Who episode I ever watched on my own! Terrified, I was. I was so proud of my courage, I became a fan on the spot. It made me feel brave.
What in Doctor Who still makes you cry?
>> Deadlines.
What in Doctor Who still makes you laugh?
>> Deadlines.
What's your most shameful Who-related confession?
» Available 50 years after my death.
Which story do you wish you'd written?
>>There's a two-parter I really wish I'd written, but I'm not sure of the title.
...and why?
>> Cos it's due in in two weeks.
What's your vision for the future of Doctor Who?
>> Coming soon.
Caption: Nice scarf, Tom.
Caption: Steven Moffat's Hugo Award-winning "The Girl in the Fireplace".
Stephen Fry
"A magical and unimaginably wonderful time machine..." The Greatest Living Englishman remembers the birth of a TV legend
Where it all began for Stephen Fry, but as for the second episode...
When I was seven my parents moved house. Well, we all moved as a family, I don't mean my parents left me behind, though who would blame them if they had? We owned, in those days, a television that disguised itself as a mahogany drinks cabinet, in the way they did - and they were never called just televisions, by the way, they were television sets. This one's screen was, of course, black and white, it boasted one channel, the BBC (what we'd now call BBC1) and had a knurled volume knob in dark brown Bakelite. The set smelled the way dust always did when it was cooked on Mullard valves as they warmed up. It slid about on castors and had doors that closed with a satisfactory snick as a ball bearing rolled into its slots. The
week before we moved, the BBC started a new drama, starring William Hartnell. An old man, whose name appeared to be Grandfather or the Doctor, had a police phone box of the kind we saw in the street all the time in those days. It turned out to be a magical and unimaginably wonderful time machine. My brother and I watched this drama in complete amazement. The first ever episode of Doctor Who. I had never been so excited in all my life. A whole week to wait to watch the next instalment. Never have seven days crawled so slowly by, for all that they involved a complicated house move from Buckinghamshire to Norfolk. A week later, in that new house, my brother and I turned on the good old television set in its new sitting room, ready to watch episode two. The TV had been damaged and was never to work again. We missed that episode and nothing that has transpired in my life since has ever, or could ever, make up for that terrible, terrible disappointment. There is an empty space inside me that can never be filled. It is amazing neither of us were turned into psychopathic serial killers from that moment.
Caption: Tom Baker in 1977's "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".
28 Dec 1981 >>Who gets its first spin-off as K-9 and Company teams Sarah Jane Smith with the tin dog. Viewers fall to be captivated, despite the pulse-pounding title sequence featuring Lis Sladen jogging, quaffing white wine, and reading The Guardian.
4 Jan 1982: >> After a year's worth of ratings tonkings by Buck Rogers, the series moves from its traditional Saturday: afternoon home to a twice-weekly weekday slot. Oct 1983 >> Who hits home video with the release of the nonsensically-titled "Revenge of the Cybermen". Fans are justifiably narked: the wrong type of Cyberman is on the cover. Tut.
25 Nov 1983 >> The BBC follow April's 20th anniversary Longleat gathering with "The Five Doctors" (though "Three Doctors, A Stand-In, And Some Old Clips" would have been more accurate).
16 Mar 1984 >> Peter Davison's Doctor carks it in "The Caves of Androzani" episode four, shortly after squeezing some milk out of a giant bat. That's not the cause of the regeneration, but it amuses us.
22 Mar 1984 >> In his debut proper, "The Twin Dilemma", Colin Baker's temporarily unhinged Sixth Doctor attempts to strangle companion Peri. To be fair, she was annoying.
28 Feb 1985 >> Cancellation! "Dr Who Axed in Plot by the BBC!" screams The Sun's front page, prompting furious back-pedalling by BBC One controller Michael Grade, who assures viewers it's just being given "a good rest", and will come back even better.
24 Jan 1986 >> Bonnie Langford is unveiled as new companion Melanie Bush, a computer programmer from Pease Pottage. A nation weeps.
6 Sep 1986 >> Who returns from the so-called "hiatus", putting Colin Baker in the dock for 14-week saga "The Trial of a Time Lord". It's not better.
7 Sep 1987 >> After Colin Baker's unceremonious sacking in December 1986, Sylvester McCoy is forced to don a curly blonde joke-shop wig for his regeneration in all-time-low "Time and the Rani".
12 Jun 1988 >> The Timelords (aka The KLF) hit number one with "Doctorin' the TARDIS", a mash-up of the Who theme with "Rock and Roll Part One" by Gary Glitter - who's as popular now as Who was then.
6 Dec 1989 >> The original series quietly fizzles out with episode three of "Survival". The Beeb fobs off f... sorry, reassures fans that it hasn't been cancelled honest! They just have no firm plans to make any more. Ever.
Jun 1991 >> Timewyrm: Genesys by John Peel (sadly, not/ that John Peel) launches Virgin Books' series of New Adventures, "stories too broad and deep for the small screen" (translation: there's shagging and potty talk).
26 Nov 1993 >> Proof that charity isn't always good comes in the shape of "Dimensions in Time", a mind-boggling Who/ EastEnders crossover for Children in Need. Frankly, we'd have preferred to let the kids go without.
12 May 1996 >> He's back, and it's about fucking time. For one night only, Paul McGann is the Doctor. Canada gets the US TV movie first; the UK waits 15 days. Fans are outraged when the Doc kisses his companion, little realising that one day it'll be happening weekly...
12 Mar 1999 >> Rowan Atkinson is The Doctor (and so is Richard E Grant. And Jim Broadbent. And Hugh Grant. And Joanna Lumley) in Red Nose Day spoof "The Curse of the Fatal Death". Writer: some bloke called Steven Moffat. Whatever happened to him?
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