Who & Me: The Memoir of Doctor Who Producer Barry Letts

by Barry Lets

This is the first volume of memoirs from Barry Letts, producer of Doctor Who from 1970 to 1974, and executive producer in 1980. Barry started his career as an actor, and he switched to directing in the 1960s. Who and Me recounts the journey he took from struggling actor to successful producer, and the ups and downs of working on Doctor Who during the Jon Pertwee years. Along the way, he describes the personalities he worked with during that time, from his script editor Terrance Dicks and the stars of the series to the senior management, of the BBC, with whom he had encounters. The story is of primary interest to fans of classic Doctor Who, who know Barry as a key figure in the development of the series.

Genres: Doctor Who, Nonfiction, Biography, Tv

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2008

Reviews

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barry Letts was an actor and writer before he took on the role of director (and later producer) of 'Doctor Who'. In this book, he writes self deprecatingly about his career. With a gentle humour and easy tone, his writing is light and fascinating.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2175900.html[return][return]Letts needs no introduction to Who fans; he was producer of the show for the entire Pertwee era, plus a story or two either side. Apart from the usual set of anecdotes of personalities (including quite a shrewd dissection of Jon Pertwee), He includes detailed accounts of how making a TV programme at the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s actually worked, linked with his own career progressions from actor to director to producer. His heart was clearly in directing, and it's there that we get the most vivid descriptions of what he was doing; in particular, it's surprising to read his low opinion of The Enemy of the World, the first Who story that he worked on - I have always found it interesting enough, and Philip Sandifer calls it "an absolute triumph". (I'll note that another story Letts feels particularly unhappy about was The Ambassadors of Death, also a David Whitaker script.) He also writes about his attachment to Zen Buddhism, managing to convey his deep personal commitment to it though not quite so much what it is all about.[return][return]Very sadly, this book is only half the story, taking us up to the end of Letts' second of five seasons as producer of Doctor Who. It looks rather as if there were no notes, and Letts reconstructed it from memories cross-referenced with other sources, so presumably there is little or no primary material for the second half of the story to be told. But it's good that he got the first half done.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This brisk, highly readable memoir is unavoidably coloured by the author’s death, which prevented planned further volumes from materialising. He covers his early career in good detail however and sprinkles his first two years as producer of Doctor Who with enough creative and industry insight to make it worthwhile, even if you know the anecdotes. The book ends on a successful high for Barry which seems a good place to bow out, and there are still some interesting nuggets about the show’s later years. It’s a case of being glad he decided to do this in instalments, as at least we ended up with a completed book.

[Paul Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Fantom Publishing] (2021). HB/DJ. 212 Pages. Purchased from Amazon.co.uk.

Letts was a key player in DW’s heyday, long before the likes of Stephen Davies destroyed the series. This is an interesting but tainted memoir. The style, for me, is over-conversational. There’s a smug air. I wasn’t taken with the condescending, flimsy forays into science and philosophy or Pertwee bashing. Still, he was instrumental in “The Daemons” (1971), so hats off.

[Kaoru · Rating 3 out of 5]

The saddest bit about this book contains a rather long section in which Letts is being really hard on himself about his directing work for "The Enemy of the World", barely having any positive to say about the Patrick Troughton serial. This was a few years before the entirety of the story was recovered from a TV station in Africa, meeting many glowing reviews from press and fans alike, not just proving the tepid status the serial held for so many decades wrong, but also citing the direction of one of its key strengths. A great pity that Letts didn't get to see it happen in his lifetime, since he clearly seemed to be embarressed by the whole experience.

Also, his death cut his memoirs far short, making it only half a book, so to speak. While it was intended to be the first of two, he died before the second could ever happen, so all we have is this little bundle right here.

However, reading this, I'm not sure if a second book would have been that much more illuminating. The odd story aside, I have never been terribly fond of the Pertwee years. Too many dull, generic stories, too few that are memorable, let alone even exciting. And the very same can be said about the behind the scenes material. Just what is it about this period of this show that it can't even produce a single interesting anecdote? Or at least one that Letts could tell? There must be a reason after all why Nicholas Courtney's "...and they were all wearing eye patches!!" story was the biggest one he could tell on cons for so many years.

Well, it might be nicely written and [i]just about entertaining enough[/i] to read, but only for the die-hard Doctor Who fans, I'm afraid.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of Barry Letts’s unfinished Doctor Who memoir. There’s not much here that Letts didn’t offer up during assorted DVD commentaries, but his conversational style nonetheless makes this slim volume a pleasant read. The ‘new’ material is largely just repetition.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barry Letts offers a humorous and candid memoir on his life working on Doctor Who. I suspect that fans who are really obsessive about reading every interview, watching every documentary, and listening to every DVD commentary will have heard much of this material before. Being only moderately obsessive about that sort of thing, I found plenty that was new to me, and even the familiar stories gained a new perspective.

Anyone who is interested in how television was produced at the BBC during the 60s and 70s will find a lot of interest here as well.

Though the book is available as a PDF eBook, I'd recommend getting the audio version. Letts has written it in a very conversational style, and when you listen to him read it, you can almost imagine that you're sitting having a drink with him, listening to him tell these stories. Letts also gets to exercise his acting chops a bit - he does pretty passable vocal "impressions" of various actors and others that he worked with.

This book is part one of a planned two-part memoir, although the second part has yet to appear. This book covers roughly up to the end of Letts's second season as producer of Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee's second seasons as the Doctor), although Letts only loosely adheres to chronological ordering, often mentioning later or earlier incidents as necessary to illustrate the subject he is talking about. Here's hoping that Part 2 arrives soon!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The late Barry Letts had an engaging and humourous writing style that carries the reader along. Despite being a regular participent in DVD commentaries and documentaries about Doctor Who, Letts here presents his well worn anecdotes in a refreshing manner, skipping back and forth across his life and finding links between events and people that are not immediately apparent.

It is a great pity that death robbed us of a second volume of his memoirs but this is a worhty testimonial of a creative and worthy life.

[Eero · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the 50th anniversary episode almost here, this seems to be the time to read up on the history of Doctor Who. This is the memoir of a producer of the classic series. My biggest drawback is that unlike real Whovians I haven't seen any of the episodes he is talking about. Still, it is a fine and entertaining book for anyone interested in the history of TV production in the BBC and the personalities involved. It is unfortunate that the author didn't get to live long enough to write the promised second volume, but so it goes.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in an easy-going style yet peppered with nuggets of wisdom – some technical, some professional and some philosophical – this is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in television at all, let alone Doctor Who. Sometimes Letts will go on a tangent, but this is an idiosyncrasy that you come to expect. A beautiful memoir by one of the best producers and directors of the best television drama.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doctor Who's TV producer from 1969-74, Barry Letts recounts his early career through to his working life with Jon Pertwee

Broadcast on:
BBC Radio 7, 12:00am Monday 29th March 2010
Duration:
30 minutes
Available until:
12:32am Monday 5th April 2010
Categories:
Factual, Life Stories

[Ben Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to go for the audiobook reading of Letts' Who memories and it was a delightfully relaxing listen which made me wish for a TARDIS just to wander round Lime Grove and BBC Television Centre in their respective heydays.

[Thasc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into Barry Letts' early acting career and his time on Dr Who. I can highly recommend this

[Ksenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a shame that Volume 2 never happened.

[Alex Bennetts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, in a grandfather-passing-on-his-tales kind of way; and a look into the production of Who circa late '60s/early '70s is always interesting. A bittersweet ending.