Leekley Bible

Leekley Bible
Written by:	John Leekley
Release date:	March 1994
Publisher:	Amblin Television, Universal Television, BBC Enterprises
Format:	Leather-bound, 46 pages

The "Leekley Bible" was a leather-bound book printed in March 1994 to be circulated among Amblin Television executives, as part of the pitch for a Doctor Who reboot developed by Leekley.

The Bible was also based on the vision of executive producer Philip Segal. The depiction of Spider Daleks was derived from Segal's document Skaro - The Dead Planet: A brief history of the Daleks.

Contents

The primary feature of the Bible was The Chronicles of Doctor Who?, a short story written by Leekley himself and constituting a biography of the rebooted Doctor as written by his grandfather and companion, Barusa. The narrative served as an overview of Leekley's rebooted universe — including such departures from classic lore as the Doctor and the Master being brothers, and the Doctor only stealing the TARDIS and leaving Gallifrey in his eighth incarnation — as well as the arc that would form the spine of the prospective TV series. A collection of highly-condensed "Adventures on Strange Worlds" were inserted by Barusa into the narrative: these doubled as elevator pitches for possible episodes of the series if it was picked up. These included:

• The Pirates
• The Talons of Weng-Chiang
• Earthshock
• The Horror of Fang Rock
• The Celestial Toymaker
• Don't Shoot, I'm the Doctor!
• Tomb of the Cybs
• The Yeti
• Ark in Space

A number of other story ideas were written by Leekley but not included in the final draft of the Bible. (REF: Doctor Who: Regeneration)

• The Cybs
• The Sea Devils
• The Outcasts
• The Land of Fear
• The Claws of Axos
• The Daemons
• Shada

The Bible was rounded off by a series of full-colour illustrations of visuals from the prospective TV series, in addition to the black-and-white illustrations interspersed with the text. These were provided by Matthew Codd and Trevor Goring based on production design by Richard B. Lewis.

Fate

After the Bible was written, Leekly began scripting episodes based on the "Adventures on Strange Worlds" in earnest, including Don't Shoot, I'm the Doctor! as well as the intended pilot, Fathers and Brothers. However, after his ideas were met with a poor reception due to being considered too serious, Leekley was removed from the project in September 1994. (REF: The Nth Doctor)

However, copies of the Leekley Bible continued to be circulated, and ideas originating in The Chronicles of Doctor Who? would go on to influence developments of the classic Doctor Who universe's mythos, including the revelation in the 1996 TV Movie that the Doctor was half-human, as well as the depiction of his father, Ulysses, in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures. The DWM comic story Fire and Brimstone, in 1997, featured the Leekley Bible's distinctive Daleks entering the Eighth Doctor's universe through a rift in the Magellan Cluster, confirming the rebooted world of Leekley's imaginings as a valid parallel universe. Finally, in 2000, the full text of The Chronicles of Doctor Who? (albeit with fewer illustrations) was officially released to the public in the one-off book Doctor Who: Regeneration.