Space Helmet for a Cow 2: The Mad, True Story of Doctor Who

Space Helmet for a Cow #2

by Paul Kirkley, Lars Pearson (Editor)

In Space Helmet for a Cow 2, Paul Kirkley (Doctor Who Magazine, Radio Times, SFX) continues his witty and irreverent history of Doctor Who, from the wilderness years of the 1990s – when the 30th anniversary special was so bad, it didn’t even go straight to video – to its triumphant 50th birthday celebrations, when every single person in the world sat down to watch Doctor Who together (except Christopher Eccleston, who was busy).

It’s the book that answers such burning questions as: Did Benny and Björn from Abba really plan a Torchwood musical called Weevil Rock You? Which Doctors shared a bed? Did Blue Peter and Sad Tony eventually find love? How did David Tennant become his own father-in-law? And was there really a sequel to Carnival of Monsters at Wembley Arena, or did we dream it?

Genres: Doctor Who, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2016

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly brilliant on so many levels. Another mad witty dive into the Who world that you don't want to end. A MUST READ but read 1 first (which I would give 6 stars if I could)

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of Space Helmet for a Cow takes up the story from where the first volume leaves off: Doctor Who has been cancelled and that looks like that. Talking us through the Wilderness Years, to its triumphant return and beyond, Kirkley retains the informal, chatty style from the first book that makes this as easy to read as that volume.

There is, however, a major issue with this volume, which Kirkley acknowledges in the introduction, is that this is all still comparatively recently. Doctor Who returned in 2005, that's just twelve years ago, at the time of this review. There hasn't been time for things to come out in the wash yet, so we still don't have the full story behind Christopher Eccleston's short time in the Tardis, or why Freema Agyeman left after just one year. And that just gets worse, the closer to the present day that we get. By the time we're up to Eleven's last series (and the afterword, that discusses Twelve's first couple of seasons), it's become just a glorified episode guide, with a ratings count. That's not to take anything away from the work that Kirkley has put in, but I'd be much more interested in the second edition of Space Helmet Vol 2, that emerges in another couple of decades.

There's still some good stories behind the scenes, and some running gags at the expense of former BBC director general Michael Grade (and Adric. I would say poor Adric, but, well, it's Adric). But it's not as essential a volume as its predecessor. And it could still do with an index.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2904890.html

I really enjoyed the first volume of this, which concentrated very much on the production history of Old Who. The second volume is a bit less surefooted. The first chapter, about the various attempts to revive the franchise (including The Movie), did tell me things I didn't already know. But from 2003 on, as Kirkley himself notes, he is in contemporary territory and therefore less able to give salacious details; he rather unhelpfully suggests that interested readers consult back issues of Private Eye to get the gossip.

Kirkley's approach to chronology is to tackle aspects of the production (largely based on newspaper reports) as they were happening, and then to talk about reaction to the series as it was broadcast, which means that some individual episodes are covered twice or more depending on whether he's talking about the making or the showing. This is a bit confusing, and also rather crowds out discussion of parts of the Whoniverse other than the main TV series; books and audios are touched on sporadically, the K9 spinoff gets a paragraph (OK, it's not worth much more), and even the Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood are somewhat skimmed.

I did enjoy his assessments of the success or otherwise of individual episodes, which I mostly agreed with (most notable point of divergence: Torchwood Season 2, which I rather liked). The book actually goes up to the end of 2015 rather than 2013 as the title suggests. It's as entertainingly written as its predecessor. But I didn't get as much out of it.

(And Brian Minchin was not actually born in Aberystwyth, but that's a minor detail.)

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Space Helmet for a Cow' is Paul Kirkley's irreverent look back at the relaunch of 'Doctor Who'. There's a lot of ground covered (including a look at 'Torchwood' and 'The Sarah Jane Adventures') and keeps the sense of flair and enjoyment from the first volume. This is the history of a television series for people who don't usually like history.

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and interesting look behind the scenes.
Quite good actually.