View source for Who's who (Insight)

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| publication = Insight
| file = 1991-09 Insight.jpg
| px = 450
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| date = 1991-09-01
| display date = September 1991
| author = Andy Darling 
| pages = 19
| language = English 
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Cult series come and go, but DOCTOR WHO continues to thrill young and old. Producer JOHN NATHAN-TURNER tells Andy Darling the secret of its phenomenal success.

THE HIGHLY-RESPECTED American science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison, delivering a conference speech to fellow authors, filmmakers and fans, once proclaimed "Star Wars is adolescent nonsense! Close Encounters is obscurantist drivel! The greatest sci-fi series of all time is Dr Who, and I'll take you all on, one by one or in a bunch, to back it up!"

The 900-year-old Time Lord, originally from the planet Gallifrey, with two hearts, a body temperature of 60°F and the ability to regenerate and change his appearance, has picked up hordes of die-hard fans during his 27 years of being buffeted around planetary systems and time zones in a somewhat temperamental police-box lookalike craft — Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, aka The TARDIS.

"Everyone has an opinion on who the best Doctor of the seven to date has been. It tics in with their own formative years," reckons John Nathan-Turner, who began work on the show in 1969 as floor assistant and went on to become producer for 11 years. Once described as "promoter, salesman, publicist and ambassador" for the Doctor, he's currently involved in compiling videos featuring the best of the adventures. Two are to be released every other month, the first fruits being The Hartnell Years and The Troughton Years, said gentlemen being the earliest Whos.

SOFA SO GOOD

"I used to watch the show at home when Bill Hartnell was in it, and I remember [[broadwcast:An Unearthly Child|the first episode]] in 1963, the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. It went out late, and they repeated it the next week at tea-time after Grandstand." A month later the show truly hit paydirt and a nation of seven-year-olds suddenly refused to come out from behind the sofa: enter the Daleks.

"They were up there with The Beatles," recalls Nathan-Turner, "Dalek-mania was declared and you had playgrounds full of kids going round with one hand over one eye and the other arm sticking out, going 'Exterminate!' in nasal voices."

The use of special effects, both visual and sound, courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, soon became integral to the show, from the swirling titles sequence onwards. "We always appreciated what could be done with dubs," says Nathan-Turner. "The most difficult part for the actors is that they often have to deal with invisible monsters that are 'inlaid' afterwards, and they're sometimes given guns that silently fire two millilitres of flour and water."

Each of the seven doctors brought something new to the role during their tenure, be it an absurdly long multicoloured scarf (Tom Baker 1974-81), a love of comedy and gadgetry (Jon Pertwee 1970-74), or a rubber face (Sylvester McCoy, the current Dr). As the first Time Lord, William Hartnell regarded the role as "a cross between the Wizard of Oz and Father Christmas", part-crabby, part-generous. His female assistant, 'DoDo' Chaplet, was one of the first women on TV to wear a mini-skirt, thus rooting the show in the Swinging 60s. When Patrick Troughton appeared in 1966, he gave the doctor a more whimsical feel, believing him to share traits with Charlie Chaplin. His female assistant, being the daughter of a Victorian scientist, knew nothing of mini-skirts.

Unlike many other cult series (Lost In Space, The Time Tunnel, Blake's 7, Land Of The Giants and the like), several episodes of Dr Who no longer exist, having been destroyed during storage clear-outs at the BBC. Aware of the tremendous fan-base, an appeal was put out in 1981, requesting anyone with any information about these 'lost' episodes to get in touch. Much of the original footage was recovered, some of it being found in a dustbin in the basement of a Norman church in Clapham.

YAHOO SERIOUS

John Nathan-Turner has never ceased to be impressed by the followers of the Doctor. "It's not only in the UK that he's popular. In America, in many states, the show's on five nights a week late evening and then there's a movie-length show of four episodes at the weekend. At the conventions out there they yahoo a lot and really celebrate it. There's an extraordinary devotion."

So just what is it that makes otherwise sane people like Harlan Ellison eager to take on the world in defence of a lovable, eccentric alien with an English accent who remains something of a mystery to all but himself?

A character in the show once described him as "a man who solved the insoluble by the strangest means. He seemed to see the threads that bind the Universe together and have the ability to mend them when they break". Add that to the combination of the Wizard of Oz, Father Christmas, Charlie Chaplin and even "James Bond with a touch of the Renaissance Man", which is how Jon Pertwee saw him, and we might perhaps be some way towards getting a handle on the appeal. For John Nathan-Turner it remains a glorious enigma. "Ah yes, the Whovian quality. Indefinable really. Oh, but if only we could bottle it ... "

The Hartnell Years, 88 mins, U; The Troughton Years, 84 mms, U, are available on BBC Video.


Caption: L to R: WILLIAM HARTNELL, PATRICK TROUGHTON, JON PERTWEE, TOM BAKER, SYLVESTER McCOY. 

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