Philip Newman

Philip (Phil) Newman is a designer and writer who contributed interviews and features to Doctor Who Magazine for a ten-year period spanning 1987-97, and has returned with four archive interviews and a feature on Design in the 1970's in the DWM Production Design Special in 2020 and a tribute to designer Spencer Chapman on his passing in 2022.

He had previously been News Editor for the DWAS' Celestial Toyroom newsletter under Editor Neil Hutchings, contributing additional features to their TARDIS magazine, as well as other fan publications such as Richard Bignell's Private Who, J.Jeremy Bentham's seminal Space & Time/In-Vision part-work and Howe/Stammers/Walker's The Frame. Douglas Camfield - A Tribute — a magazine Philip compiled and edited — was published as the first Special Edition of The Frame in 1990.

His first DWM article (on the then-proposed Green Light Dr Who Movie) was commissioned by outgoing editor Sheila Cranna in 1987; interviews and a series of annual reports from the Dr Who Exhibitions at Longleat, MoMI and others followed during her successor John Freeman's editorship.

Between 1994 and 1996, he contributed over a dozen features; his (often first-time) interview subjects included director Michael Hayes (The Androids of Tara, The Armageddon Factor and City of Death), assistant script editor and actor Trevor Ray, Radio Times art editor David Driver, K-9 voice actor John Leeson, a 3-part presentation of a hitherto unknown interview with former producer the late Graham Williams, and a number of designers including Michael Young (The Massacre), John Bloomfield (costume designer on The Face of Evil and The Talons of Weng-Chiang) and Roger Cheveley (The War Games) — thus uncovering an extensive selection of very rare and previously unseen colour slides from Patrick Troughton's final adventure.

In 1993, he appeared as Kiv in the BBC's Children-in-Need 30th Anniversary Doctor Who story, Dimensions in Time.

As part of the 21st birthday celebrations at Longleat's Doctor Who Exhibition in 1994, Philip designed a special logo and artwork which appeared on badges, T-shirts, pencils — and a special birthday cake cut by Doctors Pertwee, Davison, C. Baker and McCoy (with support from Brigadier Nick Courtney).

The following year, director Michael Hayes asked him to appear as a supporting artist in The Mentors, a supernatural drama pilot he was co-directing for producer (and one-time fellow DWM contributor) Austen Atkinson, partly recorded at the Rollright Stones. In 1996, he took part in the BBC's popular Telly Addicts quiz, reaching the quarter-finals with his Double Deckers team-mates.

In 2009, Philip was invited to participate in the BBC DVD "fan commentary" on Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon ep.4 alongside moderator Toby Hadoke, Kate du Rose and writers Robert Shearman and Mark Aldridge. A year later, he fronted a report for BBC News Online on a major auction of Doctor Who costumes, props and memorabilia at Bonham's (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8530881.stm ).

In 2012, he was approached by producer Ed Stradling to act as a consultant on, and conduct the interviews for, some special features for the BBC Doctor Who DVD release of Terror of the Zygons the following year. Also in 2013, he contributed two major features to Richard Bignell's Nothing at the End of the Lane magazine, including the first ever published feature about Doctor Who's original designer, Peter Brachacki - responsible for devising and creating the TARDIS iconic interior - based on an interview with Peter's Widow, Gaby Brachacka.

In 2018, he was approached by producers John Kelly and Matthew Doe to present an exclusive interview with The Evil of the Daleks designer Chris Thompson. This would eventually be included as An Assignment with Grim Evil amongst the special features on the BBC's animated release of the story on bluray/DVD in 2021.

In early 2019, Reeltime Pictures' producer/director Keith Barnfather recruited Phil as Production, Set and Costume Designer on Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor, a new spin-off drama featuring the return of actor Nabil Shaban to his acclaimed role as the slimy Thoros-Betan slug Sil. Written by Sil's creator, writer Philip Martin, the 100-minute, 4-part drama also featured the return of Christopher Ryan to the role of Sil's superior, Lord KIV, as well as Ace actor Sophie Aldred in her first alien role as the seductress, Mistress Na. To date, the production has accrued an incredible total of over 100 awards at various film and sci-fi festivals around the world, making it the most successful Doctor Who spin-off drama in history!

Later that year, Phil was commissioned to create a variety of TARDIS blue gift boxes for use in the Doctor Who Radio Times Christmas cover issue (7-13 December 2019) featuring Jodie Whittaker and her companions.

In 2022, he designed the set for Reeltime's first Myth Makers Live event at the Colour House Theatre in South London where Phil is has a residency as Creative, Set & Costume Designer for their long-running Children's Theatre. He also designed the studio setting for director Steve Broster's "Doctor Who and the Collectors" series of documentaries, the first of which (the 60's) appeared on the Doctor Who Collection Season 2 bluray set, released that December.