Nothing At The End Of The Lane

Nothing At The End Of The Lane

We may be cursed with a silly sense of humour at 'Round The Archives', but we like to think we take the whole area of research pretty seriously. A lifetime lurking on the edges of 'Doctor Who' fandom teaches you that so much of what was once accepted as The True Facts actually turns out to be mangled accounts of Stuff That People Have Remembered Slightly Wrong.

But there are publications that consistently manage to achieve the Gold Standard of research, and this always involves going back to the original paperwork and documentation. A fine example of how to do it right is 'Nothing At The End Of The Lane' and today's video is devoted to the wonder that is Issue Two, from June 2005.

Edited by Richard Bignell and Robert Franks, it's an absolutely fascinating read. This one is a Archive Special and with pages from people such as Andrew Pixley detailing the wiping of the 405- and 625-line videotapes of the 1960s, you know you're in for a real treat.

As an aside, that picture of some members of what would become The Restoration Team circa 1993 should have been made available as a pull-out pin-up!

One of my favourite pieces is the section about John Cura, who preserved so much missing television in the form of his telesnaps. We have a collection of BBC memos about his activities (including an amusing reference to "negligee scenes") and we get to see a few 'Softly Softly' pictures (one set with William Hartnell and the other with Nick Courtney), plus a 'Z Cars' one with Roger Delgado.

There's stuff about 8mm film taken during the shooting of various stories and a complete listing of all that remains from Seasons Four, Five and Six. With 13 years having passed since this (then definitive) list was published, it's amazing how much more material has since come to light, which gives us some hope for the future...

For more information, take a look at the 'Nothing At The End Of The Lane' website which can be found here...

(By Andrew Trowbridge).