Transmat:Doctor Who
The Ark in Space was the second story of Season 12 of Doctor Who. It was the Fourth Doctor's first full, post-regenerative story. It proceeded from a mild-cliffhanger at the end of Robot, showing what happened after Harry Sullivan climbed into the police box in UNIT's laboratory. It importantly established the location of Nerva Beacon, which would be the narrative lynchpin of the season.
Ark had a somewhat tortuous scripting process, having slipped past two writers before its scripts were finally accepted. Both Christopher Langley and John Lucarotti tried and failed to write a script about a space station for season 12. Of the two, Lucarotti came closest. However, because he then lived on a boat anchored in the Mediterranean — and there was a postal strike afflicting Corsica — Lucarotti was essentially incommunicado to script editor Robert Holmes. It was impossible for Holmes to conduct timely consultation with the Doctor Who veteran. Lucarotti was paid fully for his work, and Holmes undertook a page one rewrite, retaining only the central conceit of Lucarotti's tale.
Despite its difficult birth, the story won kudos from the BBC Wales production staff. Russell T Davies once called Ark his favourite storyline of the 1963 version of Doctor Who. Steven Moffat considered it the best Fourth Doctor story, while Barnaby Edwards confessed to being "petrified of the Wirrn" as a child. Tom Baker himself has also stated that, of all the stories he'd filmed, The Ark in Space was his favourite.
Think Doctor Who is just for boys? Don't you believe it. Not only was the show's very first producer a woman, but it would never have come back without the fierce advocacy of Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Considering her importance to Doctor Who it's somewhat ironic that Tranter's only on-screen credits are for Torchwood: Miracle Day. But Gardner, her "partner in crime", is tied only with Russell T Davies as the most prolific producer in Doctor Who history.
The careers of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors are significantly longer in audio than on television. Check out their latest works at category:2024 audio stories
Officially, only The Lodger has been explicitly adapted from a comic strip — also called The Lodger.
However, several stories have clearly taken material from comic strips — often those in Doctor Who Magazine. The Shakespeare Code contains a good amount of material from A Groatsworth of Wit, and the notion of the Doctor absorbing the time vortex in order to spare a companion was explored in both The Parting of the Ways and The Flood.
Donald Baverstock was the BBC executive who set the the wheels in motion that eventually led to the creation of Doctor Who. Essentially the original commissioner of the programme, he hired Sydney Newman and later imposed a sense of financial responsibility upon producer Verity Lambert.
But Baverstock wasn't the only BBC executive to have a profound impact on the development of Doctor Who. Make sure you read about Lorraine Heggessey, Mark Thompson, Danny Cohen, George Entwistle, Tony Hall, Shaun Sutton, Sydney Newman and others.- 1973 - Part four of the TV Comic story Nova was published.
- 1979 - Part two of The Creature from the Pit premiered on BBC1.
- 1981 - "The Cave of Skulls" was repeated on BBC2.
- 1986 - Revenge of the Cybermen was released on VHS.
- 1994 - The Seventies was published by Doctor Who Books.
- 1997
- Ghost Devices was published by Virgin Books.
- The VHS box set The E-Space Trilogy was released.
- 2003
- Exile was released by Big Finish Productions.[1]
- Deadly Reunion was published by BBC Books.
- Marco Polo was released by BBC Audio.
- 2008
- Part one of The Mark of the Berserker premiered on CBBC.
- Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series was released on Region 2 DVD.
- 2010 - DWDVDF 48 was published by GE Fabbri Ltd.
- 2011
- Aladdin Time was released by AudioGO.
- DWA 242 was published by BBC Magazines.
- DWI 8 was published by Panini UK.
- 2015 - The Doctor Who Level Pack for LEGO Dimensions was released.
- 2016
- The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume 2 was released by Big Finish.
- The CD re-release of Tales from the TARDIS: Volume One was released by BBC Audio.
- DWFC 84 was published by Eaglemoss Collections.
- 2021 - Timejacked! was released by Big Finish.
- 2022
- Tenth Doctor Novels Volume 5 and the audiobook of The Power of the Daleks were released by BBC Audio.
- A special illustrated hardback edition of Doctor Who and the Daleks was published by BBC Books.
- ... that costumer June Hudson — although closely associated with the clothing for Lalla Ward's Romana and the season 18 costume for the Fourth Doctor — also designed the iconic white outfit for Mary Tamm's Romana in The Ribos Operation?
- ... that Frank Sinatra was one of the Brigadier's favourite musical acts? (PROSE: Smash Hit)
- ... that perigosto sticks were used by students at the Time Lord Academy to play games of four-dimensional juggling? (PROSE: Seeing I)
- ... that the Second Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie were almost fed to sharks as a sacrifice to Amdo? (TV: The Underwater Menace)
- ... that Halohawks were capable of flight despite having no wings? (COMIC: Danger Flight)
- 1969 - Location filming for Spearhead from Space took place. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Third Doctor)
- 1976 - Pre-filming for The Robots of Death took place at Ealing Studios. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor)
- 1979 - Studio filming for Shada took place at BBC Television Centre studio 3. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor)
- 2005
- The Children in Need Special was filmed at Upper Boat Studios. (DWMSE 14)
- Big Finish's Sarah Jane Smith audio story Buried Secrets was recorded at the Moat Studios.
- 2006 - Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield audio story The Tub Full of Cats was recorded.
- 2009 - Big Finish's audio adaptation of the unproduced TV story The Macro Men was recorded at the Moat Studios.
- 2018 - Big Finish's Rose Tyler audio drama anthology The Dimension Cannon was recorded.
- 2020 - Big Finish's audiobook version of Fellowship of Ink was recorded remotely.
