Talkback: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Doctor Who Interview Book - Volume One: The Sixties

Talkback #1

by Stephen James Walker

An incredible collection of interviews with the people behind the early years of the BBC's classic science fiction adventure series Doctor Who. From directors to designers, producers, story editors, writers and cast, all are featured in this latest addition to Telos's acclaimed range of factual books about Doctor Who.

Genres: Doctor Who

204 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Stephen James Walker was a Consultant for Doctor Who Classic Comics and the co-editor for the Doctor Who anthologies Decalog and Decalog 2: Lost Property.

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this is a collection of interviews with cast and crew, focussing on behind-the-scenes. One interesting tack is that they specifically chose to spotlight the crew and very few of the cast in the double aim of (a) getting more a sense of the creation and development of the series (which the actors - in general - have less to do with), and (b) to avoid cast members most frequently heard from in pieces of this nature (ie, no William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, etc. etc.). As a result, although there are still bits and pieces touched upon that I am already aware of or anecdotes I've already heard, there's a LOT of background & biographical info that's new to me as well.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/924232.html[return][return]150 pages of interviews with people who had been involved with the making of Doctor Who in the 1960s. Some are more enlightening than others - the most interesting (slightly to my surprise) are the reflections of designers Barry Newbery, Raymond Cusick and John Wood. I wished others had been a bit more probing, especially since, sadly, many of the interviewees are no longer available. Only two actors are included - Anneke Wills and Peter Purves. Most of Dennis Spooner's anecdotes are disproved by the footnotes. A useful resource for fans of this period of Doctor Who, but not really a casual read for people not already familiar with the subject matter.

[Reuben Herfindahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant!

One of the best things to come out of the 1990's drought of Dr. Who was the idea of in depth analysis of the old series. And Mr. Walker was part of that movement putting out some great work as part of a collaboration. This is just a collection of interviews and such, but you can tell it's put together with a great deal of care. It's actually much better than Dr. Who Magazine's attempt at the same thing.

Must have for any serious fan of classic Who.