Transmat:Doctor Who

The women who gave Doctor Who back to us

Click for video

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.

Industrial action

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Click for a video of a 21st century geek as he takes delivery of one of the two Paintboxes used by the BBC in the 1980s

The Quantel Paintbox was a graphics workstation that allowed Doctor Who to have a primitive form of colour grading in the 1980s. To find out more about the "business of show", go to category:production information, where you can read about colour separation overlay, low loaders, telerecordings, vidFIRE, rostrum cameras, 2" quad tape, Ealing Studios and tons more.

Surprising guest star

Beryl Reid was a big deal when she was cast — or maybe miscast — as a freighter captain in Earthshock. As things turned out, she was the last piece of "stunt casting" to be seen in a highly-rated episode of Doctor Who until the 1996 television movie. From Earthshock until the end of the original series, audiences were mostly in a state of decline. Find out more about the thousands of actors who have been on Doctor Who by exploring Doctor Who guest actors.

Ex-Doctors never die, they just make audios

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

The relevance of comics

Officially, only The Lodger has been explicitly adapted from a comic strip — also called The Lodger.

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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.

The first of the "money men"

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.

Things released on 10 9月

10 9月 (releases)

Did you know…

... AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen was the first appearance of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines together in performed Doctor Who since The Five Doctors?

... that Elvis Presley signed a 1957 stratocaster that ended up in the hands of the Eighth Doctor? (PROSE: The Taint)

... that Silurian airships were dirigibles used during the height of the Silurians' prehistoric reign on Earth that enhanced the destructive power of their third eyes? (PROSE: Blood Heat)

... that both Jackie Tyler and Clyde Langer could make shepherd's pie? (TV: World War Three, TV: The Gift)

... that Mirrorlings use mirrors to trap their victims in other dimensions? (COMIC: Mirror Image)

10 9月 births and deaths

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