Timeless Adventures: How Doctor Who Conquered TV

Book review
Written by Brian J. Robb
Kamera Books paperback
Release date Out now

A journey through Doctor Who's cultural history…

The 2005 rebirth of former BBC stalwart Doctor Who as Saturday night event television proved to be one of the most surprising TV success stories of recent years, not least for the BBC itself. As this critical history of the show’s 45 years so far illustrates, however, Doctor Who has always confounded expectations.

Meticulously researched, Timeless Adventures reveals that from its very inception the series has triumphed against the odds. Author Brian J. Robb is particularly good at conjuring up the show’s beginnings, when it appeared to have everything against it – BBC top brass who were not at first willing to commit to the show beyond the first four stories, a young and untested female producer (far from the norm in those days of course) and a reticence to go down the sci-fi route of ‘bug-eyed monsters.’

As Robb points out, Doctor Who’s first producer Verity Lambert and BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman both spent formative periods working in the more dynamic world of US television before Doctor Who. The US influence would also come into play in 2005 for its highly successful rebirth.

As opposed to some critical histories, the aim of Timeless Adventures is not in looking at each story and giving a blow-by-blow account of what went right and wrong with it. The real interest is in demonstrating how the show has reflected the world around it, from the fear of the effects of technological progress in the 60s, through the budding environmental concerns of the 70s, and the rampant consumerism and globalisation of today. As the book demonstrates, Doctor Who has been at its weakest when it has strayed from this goal of reflecting the world around us in favour of cheap thrills or fan service.

Some eras of the show are necessarily given more focus than others – some of the less eventful seasons of Tom Baker’s long run as the Doctor are passed through fairly briefly, for instance. The rationale for the chapter divisions in the book, however, highlights where the real meat of the show’s story lies. More, even, than by the different incarnations of the Doctor himself, Doctor Who’s history has been defined by the change in producers at its helm. It has moved from the adventurous, educational style of Verity Lambert through the “gothic thrills” of Philip Hinchcliffe, right up to the populist, bombastic Russell T. Davies and beyond.

The book rightly takes into account too the 16-year period the show spent in hiatus before its noughties rebirth when fans (including many creative staff who later became involved in the show) were effectively keeping Doctor Who alive themselves, whether through spin-off fiction, audio dramas or conventions.

Reading about publicity-hungry John Nathan-Turner’s (rather too) lengthy run in charge of the show during its most unsatisfying period in the 80s in particular provides a salutary lesson that Davies seems to have done the right thing by stepping down after the recent series of specials. As always, Doctor Who can continue to regenerate itself just as the Doctor does. Chad Ross