'Doctor Who - The Television Companion'

'Doctor Who - The Television Companion'

You can always tell how much we like a book by how bad a condition the spine is in. Obviously, the tattier it is, the more times we've returned to it and it would be fair to say that our copy of 'Doctor Who : The Television Companion' is in a bit of a state. In fact, only 'The Complete Yes Minister' / 'Prime Minister' ones come to mind as being much worse...

Written by David J Howe and Stephen James Walker and published by BBC Worldwide in 1998, it runs to over 550 pages and covers a lot of ground. Although no book can ever really be a one-stop shop for Everything You Need To Look Up About 'Doctor Who', this makes one of the best attempts at documenting the post-'TV Movie' / pre 'Rose' landscape of facts and figures.

Transmission dates and times, Hartnell episode titles, whether the lead actor is playing 'Dr Who' or 'Doctor Who' (the Pertwee era can be a little tricksy in that department), cast & crew, whether the story is made up of Parts or Episodes, all the nitty-gritty is here.

And the Analysis section draws together opinions from BBC Audience Research Reports as well as fanzines, giving you an idea of how stories were received at the time as well as later fan opinion.
There's also a section called 'Episode endings' which, as the name implies, gives you a description of each cliffhanger. Many of the most dramatic ones are, of course, burned into my brain ('The Masque Of Mandragora' Part Three, 'City Of Death' Part One, ' Earthshock' Part One...) but 'The Television Companion' certainly comes in handy when one needs to look up if it's 'The Monster Of Peladon' Part Three or Part Four which ends with the sonic lance exploding.

One criticism of 'The Trial Of A Time Lord' is that virtually every cliffhanger consists of a zoom into Colin's face and no matter how much end-of-episode acting he does, they're a little difficult to tell apart in a hurry. Faced with this task I have to applaud the authors of 'The Television Companion' who manage to come up with sufficient adjectives so that we need never be confused.

If I may, I'd like to quote their descriptions and compare them to the final shots, so that we can lay this matter to rest once and for all.

OK, here we go...

Part One: The Doctor looks shocked.

Part Two: The Doctor looks concerned.

Part Three: N/A  - "He [Merdeen] raises a crossbow weapon and fires."

Part Four : The Doctor looks defiant.

OK, so far? Then let us continue...

Part Five: The Doctor convulses in agony.

Part Six: The Doctor looks horrified.

Part Seven: The Doctor looks perturbed.

Part Eight: The Doctor looks resolute.

Still with us? Good!

Part Nine: N/A - "Mel screams as electric sparks fly around the pods, causing one of them to break open and a strange growth to protrude."

Part Ten: The Doctor looks grim.

Part Eleven: The Doctor looks accusingly at the Commodore.

Part Twelve : The Doctor looks shocked.
[Note from Andrew : But not the same sort of shocked as Part One though!]

Nearly done, everyone. Stay strong!

Part Thirteen: The Doctor shouts 'No!'

Part Fourteen: (Status debatable) - "The Keeper replies 'Yes, my lady.' When he turns, however, his face is that of the Valeyard."

Phew!

So there you have it. 'Doctor Who' fans have always liked their lists, whether they detail Missing Episodes or Stories Featuring Cyril Shaps. Now you won't need a list of episode endings for 'The Trial Of A Time Lord', I know, but aren't you glad that such a thing exists?

'The Television Companion' is available in a new edition from Telos Publishing.

(By Andrew Trowbridge)
(With sincere thanks to David J Howe and Stephen James Walker for such a wonderful book)