We're Scared Of Bob

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, issue 526, out today, contains a couple of things by me in it. Firstly, there’s a 5-page article on how script editor Robert Holmes put together the stories of the 1975 series, and how it influenced the show today. It’s called The Holmes Master Plan. Researching it required checking every relevant interview/piece of correspondence I could find with Holmes, Terrance Dicks, Philip Hinchcliffe and Barry Letts, and working out a timeline of when things were commissioned and by whom. Important to get this stuff right, even when there are conflicting accounts, although it’s more of a thesis than a run-through of facts.

There’s also another Blog of Doom on the last page. I think it’s my funniest one yet, it has jokes and everything. Whether you think that is damning with faint praise is up to you. Anyway, this time it’s about everyone’s favourite Muto, Sevrin.

And in other news, here’s the cover for the River Song box set which contains my story, The Bekdel Test. I can’t wait to hear the finished thing; every now and then I re-read the script to make myself laugh.

And my Doctor Who novel Touched by an Angel has just been released in German. It's already been released in Italian and something approximating English. I'm hoping for French next.

River Song

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, out today, contains an announcement about a forthcoming thing I’ve written. It’s one of four stories contained in the box set of the fifth series of The Diary of River Song and relates the meeting of River Song and Missy. Yes, Missy, as played by Michelle Gomez. The first character from the Peter Capaldi era of Doctor Who to appear in a Big Finish release. I can’t tell you what the story is about, but it’s title, The Bekdel Test, may give you some clue. I still can’t quite believe they let me get away with that. Hahaha. You can pre-order it here.

The issue also contains the latest instalment of The Blogs of Doom. Reading one of the forums, I was recently surprised and delighted to see someone saying that it is now not as good as it used to be. I wish someone had told me at the time. But hey ho. It makes me laugh, and I think next month’s is even funnier.

In other Big Finish news, they’ve put up the cover of another box set, Doctor Who: The Time War 2, which includes another story by me, Lords of Terror. I am sworn to secrecy but can confirm that it doesn’t star Julia McKenzie, she is in a different one. You can pre-order it here.

And in other Doctor Who Magazine news, I also have an article in the latest Special Edition, called In The Studio. My article, hilariously entitled Doctor Who and the Space War, chronicles the struggle for a better studio in the series’ early days. This was a fun and interesting piece to research; some of the information is already out there but I don’t think it has been organised to this extent before. In writing the article I also found out all sorts of interesting things about BBC studios and cameras and lenses which, in the end, there wasn’t room to include. But I am now an expert on Mole Richardson Crane Cameras, so if you have any questions, let me know.