The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond

The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond
Subject:	The history of Doctor Who, 1963-1995
Release date:	September 1995 (UK VHS) January 1996 (US & AUS VHS) May 2002 (1st UK DVD) May 2002 (UK VHS re-issue) September 2002 (US DVD) December 2002 (2nd UK DVD) April 2012 (3rd UK DVD)
Runtime:	65 minutes
Key crew
Interviewees:	Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy
Writer:	Adrian Rigelsford
Director:	Bill Baggs
Producer:	Bill Baggs
Official trailer
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The Doctors (sometimes known by its subtitle, 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond) was a 1995 documentary produced by BBV Productions.

It was a sixty-five-minute retrospective on the entire history of Doctor Who from 1963 to 1995. Although not produced by the BBC, it included interviews with many famous Doctor Who personalities still alive by 1995. It was mostly compiled from previous interviews conducted by Bill Baggs and his associates.

It featured home videos of the filming of several Doctor Who serials. It contained the first public showing of some colour footage of the filming of a few missing episodes from the 1960s. It also contained interviews with some people who have not generally appeared on official BBC DVD documentaries or commentaries.

Synopsis

(this synopsis is taken from the 1995 and 1996 editions)

More than 30 years have now passed since a certain time travelling police box first materialised on our television screens, and the exploits of its various crews have enthralled audiences ever since.

Here is the story of Britain’s Number 1 Science Fiction programme told in order of the various actors who have played the Doctor. This includes specially shot interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Jon Pertwee, all of whom share their memories of bringing the scripts to life before the cameras. There is, for the first time, previously unseen behind the scenes home movie footage taken from such adventures as “The Smugglers ^[+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"]”, “The Abominable Snowmen ^[+]Loading...["The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)"]”, “The Daemons ^[+]Loading...["The Daemons (TV story)"]” and the unfinished Tom Baker story “Shada ^[+]Loading...["Shada (TV story)"]”. There is a unique collection of unpublished photographs spanning all of the 7 Doctors. The programme also includes a look at the newly designed Ice Warrior and Cyberman models which are to be used in a forthcoming production.

Apart from the various actors who have played the Doctor, the programme also includes past production personnel such as director David Maloney, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and former BBC Head of Serials and Drama, Shaun Sutton. There are also a host of Actors and Actresses who have played the Doctor’s various assistants down the years, each giving us an insight into what made the series so special.

“THE DOCTORS, THIRTY YEARS OF TIME TRAVEL AND BEYOND” is based on the best selling book by Adrian Rigelsford and offers a comprehensive and candid look at a series that continues to grow in popularity, even though the series came to an end in 1989, and proves that the Doctor will certainly never be forgotten.

(this synopsis is taken from the May-September 2002 editions)

‘The Doctors, 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond’ offers a comprehensive and candid look at a stable of programmes that continues to grow in popularity with each new generation, even though the series came to an end in 1989, proving that the Doctor and the police box will certainly never be forgotten.

It is more more than 35 years since a most unusual form of time travel machine in the guise of an ordinary police box first hesitantly materialised on our black and white television screens. Millions of viewers have been enthralled ever since watching the exploits and adventures of the Doctor and the colourful multi-various[sic] crews of the time machine.

This is the story of Britain’s favourite home grown science fiction programme told by the different actors who have played the role of the Doctor. Included are specially filmed interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and the late Jon Pertwee, all of whom share their memories of bringing the scripts and famous terrifying adversaries such as the Daleks, Cybermen and the Ice Warrior[sic] to life that ensured a generation would spend at least half an hour a week watching television from behind a cushion or settee.

We show rare behind the scenes home movie footage taken from adventures ‘The Smugglers’, ‘The Abominable Snowmen’, ‘The Demons’[sic] and the unfinished Tom Baker story ‘Shada’. There is a unique collection of unpublished photographs spanning all of the 7 Doctors. This special programme also includes an insight into the methods used in the design of the Ice Warrior[sic] and Cybermen models, all featured in the last series.

In addition to the many and varied stars who have played the Doctor, the programme also includes interviews with senior production personnel such as director David Maloney, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and former BBC Head of Serials and Drama Shaun Sutton. There are also a host of actors and actresses who have played the Doctor’s various assistants down the years, each giving us a different angle into what made the series so special.

(this synopsis is taken from the December 2002 and 2012 editions)

“THE DOCTORS: THIRTY YEARS OF TIME TRAVEL AND BEYOND” is a hallmark documentary about the world famous BBC TV series “Doctor Who”, packed with personal insights and views from the very people who made the programme.

Arranged in order of the various actors to have played the Doctor, this documentary features a host of specially recorded interviews with the programme’s cast and crew. Doctors, companions, and production personnel all share their unique experiences on the programme and their opinions as to what makes “Doctor Who” so special to so many.

The programme also features rare, behind the scenes home movie footage of “The Smugglers”, “The Abominable Snowmen”, and the unfinished Tom Baker Story “Shada”, as well as a unique collection of unpublished photographs spanning all the Doctors from the TV series.

In addition to the main feature, this special DVD release comes packed with previously unseen material that could not be included in the original VHS release.

Based on the best-selling book by Adrian Rigelsford, this documentary offers a comprehensive, candid and at times controversial look at a series that continues to grow in popularity.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Previously unreleased material included on this DVD:

• Interview with series producer Philip Hinchcliffe
• Interview with Ian Hogg who played Josiah Samuel Smith in “Ghostlight ^[+]Loading...["Ghost Light (TV story)","Ghostlight"]”[sic]
• Sylvester McCoy returns to the location of “Remembrance of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)"]”

Overview

The Doctors interviewed people important to the first thirty-two years of the franchise's history. It was arranged mostly in chronological order and took its viewers through a brief overview of each Doctor's era on the programme. In its concluding chapter, it discussed things that had happened to the franchise since its cancellation — such as the continuing life of Doctor Who Magazine and the Virgin New Adventures series. It ended by discussing the early 1990s history of the franchise.

Home videos

Aside from the interviews themselves, the only moving pictures in the documentary were home videos of location filming of Doctor Who. As these were not made by the BBC, it cannot exercise any control over their dissemination. The videos on this volume are some of the few published glimpses of the filming of Doctor Who in the 1960s and 1970s.

What is believed to be the full, unexpurgated versions of some of the videos were presented as the DVD's only special feature. These videos were also remarkable for being entirely in colour — all the more unusual since some of the filming was of the traditionally monochromatic First and Second Doctors. Serials represented by the home videos included: The Smugglers ^[+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"], The Abominable Snowmen ^[+]Loading...["The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)"], The Demons ^[+]Loading...["The Demons (TV story)"], City of Death ^[+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"] and Shada ^[+]Loading...["Shada (TV story)"]. None of the Fourth Doctor's home videos were included in the special features.

Since the DVD was published, however, these jeg gradually made their way onto official BBC DVD releases — most notably as a part of the Lost in Time box set.

Interviews

Many of the interviewees were people who would contribute to BBC DVD releases. However, this documentary was one of the few homes to interviews with John Nathan-Turner and Shaun Sutton.

The Nathan-Turner portions came from what was likely his longest filmed interview about Doctor Who. It offered rare interviews with two members of the production team of The Dark Dimension ^[+]Loading...["The Dark Dimension (TV story)"] — a 1993 project that came close to reviving Doctor Who before the TV movie in 1996.

Unofficial status

Because the producers had no relationship to the British Broadcasting Corporation, they were unable to use any footage from Doctor Who. Still photography was limited to production and advertising stills. Thus, the original interviews which form the basis of the documentary are interspliced with home videos made of the filming of certain episodes of the TV series. As a result, the documentary was, at the time of its release, famous for being the first home of some never-before-seen footage, particularly involving the filming of The Smugglers ^[+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"] and The Abominable Snowmen ^[+]Loading...["The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)"], two serials with missing episodes.

As something of an amateur production, the documentary continued numerous production errors, such as microphone booms clearly in shot in many interviews. At one point, Peter Davison and Mark Strickson, walking at the location of Mawdryn Undead ^[+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"], are seen having to alert the cameraman that he was about to back into a park bench. There was no attempt at grading the raw footage, or at fixing technical flaws in the recording.

Anachronistic release

The length of time between the completion of the documentary and its DVD release set up an interesting phenomenon. Consumers would have bought a "new" DVD, purporting to be a history of "the Doctors", lacking coverage of the Eighth Doctor. They might well have been even more confused by the DVD menu. While the cover had images of only the first seven Doctors, the menu contained a picture of Paul McGann. His name was never even mentioned in the documentary, as all interviews were completed before he had been cast. Nevertheless, the interview with Doctor Who Magazine staff touched briefly on the possibility of a project for Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States.

Crew

Some members of the crew had significance to the Doctor Who franchise beyond this single production. As with most BBV projects, the principal creative force behind The Doctors was Bill Baggs himself.

Adrian Rigelsford was involved as well, though it is unclear exactly what he did. The DVD cover claims he was the writer, but the on-screen credits list him as "consultant". This would seem closer the mark; the piece consisted entirely of interviews. As such it had no narrator, and no obvious opportunity for the employment of a writer in the conventional sense. Nevertheless his influence was fairly obvious. The documentary's coverage of The Dark Dimension was almost certainly because Rigelsford had written Dimension.

Nicholas Briggs, more famous for voicing Daleks and being the showrunner at Big Finish Productions, provided the electronic score.

Notable features

• Previously unreleased material was included on the December 2002 DVD:
  • Interview with series producer Philip Hinchcliffe.
  • Interview with Ian Hogg who played Josiah Samuel Smith in Ghost Light ^[+]Loading...["Ghost Light (TV story)"].
  • Sylvester McCoy returns to the location of Remembrance of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)"].

Notes

• The 1995 and US and AUS 1996 VHS editions have the same synopsis and cover.
• The 2002 May UK and US DVD editions are both unauthorised and loaded with typographical errors, such as missepelling Bill Baggs's name as "Bill Braggs".
• The December 2002 and 2012 editions are Region 0 and contains extras not seen in the unauthorised earlier editions.
• On the 2012 edition, the front cover, spine and disc all display the title simply as “The Doctors”, the full title is only mentioned in the back cover synopsis.
• The 1995 VHS edition was published by MasterVision.
• The 1996 US VHS edition was published by S & J Video.
• The 1996 AUS VHS edition was published by BMG Castle Video.
• The 2002 1st UK DVD and VHS re-issue editions were published by Waterfall.
• The 2002 US DVD was published by Music Video Distributors.
• The 2002 2nd UK DVD was published by BBV Productions.
• The 2012 UK DVD was published by Firefly.
• The 1995, AUS 1996, UK 2002 re-issue VHS editions were PAL.
• The US 1996 VHS edition was NTSC.