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Elisabeth Sladen presents another time-travelling journey
through the history of Doctor Who on BBC radio and
television. Once again, all manner of vintage programmes yield
Who-themed features, from drama and comedy to interviews
and behind-the-scenes items, from Matthew Waterhouse to The
Mary Whitehouse Experience...
This
eclectic mixture offers something for every fan, as it features
archive material from as early as 1967, with the Cybermen's
creator Kit Pedlar defending the show's violent content on
BBC1's Talkback, to 2003, as John Lyttle and Clayton
Hickman discuss the new series of Doctor Who on Radio
4's Today programme.
There
are interviews with all of the television Doctors bar William
Hartnell and Christopher Eccleston. Probably the most enjoyable
interview is Siobhan Synnot's discussion with Paul McGann
on Movies and Shakers, a BBC Radio Scotland programme
from 1996. This actor is notorious for rarely giving interviews,
but he is extremely frank and witty here. Extracts featuring
Tom Baker demonstrate how moody he can be - and how much he
hates Kojak! He is very chatty with Sue MacGregor on
an edition of Woman's Hour from 1977, but is far less
communicative when he and Louise (Leela) Jameson are interviewed
by Bob Welling on Nationwide from a year earlier. Perhaps
some of his hostility towards the idea of the savage character
of Leela is showing through.
Lighter
moments are provided by comedy clips from the likes of I'm
Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Mary Whitehouse Experience
and Dead Ringers. The latter comprises the ultimate
telephonic encounter between Jon Culshaw's version of Tom
Baker and the real one. Baker provides some excellent repartee,
and proves that Culshaw's eccentric portrayal isn't that far
from the truth! The Mary Whitehouse clip, starring
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, goes beyond the usual old jokes
about cheap, wobbly sets - which is more than can be said
of Injury Time, featuring Jimmy Mulville.
The one annoying characteristic of this double CD release
is that it seems to be afraid that too long an item might
risk losing the listener's attention. I doubt that this would
actually have been the case had the amiable Terry Wogan's
interview with Liz Sladen and Sue MacGregor's chat with Tom
Baker not been chopped into more "manageable" size pieces.
However,
that is my only real criticism of this enjoyable compilation
of often extremely rare material.
Richard
McGinlay
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