The First Doctor Handbook
The Second Doctor Handbook
The Third Doctor Handbook
The Fourth Doctor Handbook
The Fifth Doctor Handbook
The Sixth Doctor Handbook
The Seventh Doctor Handbook
The Handbook
A Factual Guide
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The First Doctor Handbook The Second Doctor Handbook The Third Doctor Handbook The Fourth Doctor Handbook The Fifth Doctor Handbook The Sixth Doctor Handbook The Seventh Doctor Handbook |
Telos Publishing The Handbook A Factual Guide |
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| Authors | David J Howe, Stephen James Walker and Mark Stammers |  |
| ISBN | 1 90388 959 6 | |
| Publisher | Telos | |
| Published | 2005 |
| Summary: The complete guide to the production of Doctor Who from 1963 to 1996 - in one bumper volume! |
A Review by Terrence Keenan 21/8/06
The Telos people have come up trumps again with their revised, expanded omnibus edition of the Doctor Who handbooks that came out in the early 90s.
The purpose is to give the fan a behind the scenes look at what goes into producing Who, from idea to script to screen, how the show was marketed both in the UK and overseas, touch on various areas in depth -- the script editor's role, visual effects, etc.
My only niggle about the book is the insistence of the authors to refer to the first Dalek story as The Mutants, just as they did in The Television Companion. The BBC markets the story as The Daleks. And if you really want to be pedantic, they should refer to this story as either Beyond the Sun, or The Survivors.
Besides that, The Handbook is a cool, interesting reference guide about how the people behind the camera managed to produce this series we love all in spite of the BBC bureaucracy, the skinflint budgets and numerous problems that would have torpedoed lesser shows after a single season.
Best Parts: The "Doctors in their own words" sections, the first Doctor Production diary, and the segment on Script editing in the Peter Davison section.