Rush out now and buy the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, it has an article by me in it. My record so far is managing to get my name or something I’ve written onto about 16 pages of the same issue; clearly I’m not in the same league as Benjamin Cook or Jason Arnopp, but plugging away in the second division. This time the article is a mere 9 pages (9!). It’s about regeneration. It was Tom’s idea.
I researched it quite meticulously. I re-read the script for The Power Of The Daleks. I re-read the synopses of Spearhead From Space and Robot. I’d only watched – and sworn profusely throughout – Castrovalva quite recently so that was still fresh in my mind. I enjoyed The Christmas Invasion for what must now be the dozenth time. I re-read the script for Journey’s End. And – should my dedication be in doubt – I even re-watched The Twin Dilemma. I’d always said I wouldn’t watch it again unless somebody paid me – well, this time somebody was paying me. And may my bones rot for obeying them!
I was discussing this with a fellow contributor the other day, and how we both always guiltily read our own bits first before reading the rest of the magazine. I say ‘guiltilty’, because it seems a bit self-congratulatory, doesn’t it? Though, on a few occasions whilst reading the 200 Special, I found myself agreeing with the wit and wisdom of a particularly excellent review only to find, when I got to the end, that I’d written it.
The other reason I read it first is to find out what’s been edited out. For instance, in my last article I included several paragraphs bemoaning the fact that my novel The Tomorrow Windows is now out of print...
