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‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Paul Ferry

It’s widely acknowledged these days that the larger proportion of the readership for crime thrillers is female, but it’s often overlooked that this has long been the case. The Victorian equivalent of the crime thrillers was the Sensation Novel; brooding pot-boilers full of crime, blackmail, murder and bigamy that were frequently targeted specifically at women. Though she is largely forgotten today, the queen of the Sensation Novel (and a best-selling author of her time) was Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and Lady Audley’s Secret was her magnum opus. Robert Audley, the rakish young nephew of Sir Michael Audley, goes to visit his uncle at the … Continue reading ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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Adult Situations: Is New Who More Grown-Up than the Classic Series?

Paul Ferry

It’s often stated that one of the areas in which the modern version of Doctor Who succeeds over the classic series is that it is more grown up. But is it really? Could it be that two eras of Doctor Who simply wear their maturity in different ways and approach the issue of what it means to be an adult from completely different angles, informed by the society in which they were shaped? The aspects of the modern series that people label as more sophisticated are mostly emotional. The classic series rarely dwelt on open displays of emotion – unless, of course, that … Continue reading Adult Situations: Is New Who More Grown-Up than the Classic Series?

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The Doctor: He’s Always Been My Hero and She Always Will Be!

Paul Ferry

I’ve always wanted to be the Doctor, ever since I was a small child and Tom Baker’s fascinating Fourth Doctor dominated my Saturday teatimes. I mean, who wouldn’t? The Doctor is the ultimate hero – brave, caring, resourceful and although there are sometimes difficult decisions to be made, the end result is always to make the universe a better place to live. When I was 11 years old, I dressed as the Doctor for a school costume party in a Fourth Doctor outfit that my mother made for me. She made the coat from scratch and knitted the scarf. Sure, … Continue reading The Doctor: He’s Always Been My Hero and She Always Will Be!

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Look Back in Ginger: Fandom’s Harsh Judgement of Amy Pond

Paul Ferry

In this classic article from Strange Skins 2013, controversial columnist Bob Sheppard takes a look at fandom’s initially judgemental reaction to the now well-loved Eleventh Doctor companion. The popular shared opinion of fandom is like one of those shoals of shining silver fish that you see on natural history documentaries from time to time. It glides along nicely for a while in one particular direction, and then it suddenly shoots off skittishly at a tangent for no immediately definable reason. This pattern can be seen time after time throughout Doctor Who’s long history; whether it be the sudden change of JN-T … Continue reading Look Back in Ginger: Fandom’s Harsh Judgement of Amy Pond

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Not a Review: Doctor Who Season 12

Paul Ferry

This is not a review of Doctor Who: The Collection Season 12. I set out to write a review, only to find that I was too close to the material to be truly impartial. You see, Tom Baker’s debut season was my introduction to Doctor Who. Looking back, I had probably seen some of Jon Pertwee’s last season; I have vague memories of the giant spiders and was aware of the Daleks prior to Genesis of the Daleks, but my memories of Tom Baker’s first season are vivid. Although I was only 5 at the time, I know I watched the whole thing … Continue reading Not a Review: Doctor Who Season 12

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‘Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen’ by James Goss and Douglas Adams

Paul Ferry

There’s a certain familiarity that accompanies Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen, adapted by James Goss from script material written by the late, great Douglas Adams. Ah, you say; that’ll be the opening sequence which Adams recycled for his third Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book Life, the Universe and Everything that he’s talking about. Well yes, there’s that, but the familiarity doesn’t end there. The similarity to Life, the Universe and Everything is certainly a problem; the essential premise of a quest to find the constituent elements of the Wicket Gate, a key to unlock the prison in which the deadly Krikket robots are incarcerated is exactly the same … Continue reading ‘Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen’ by James Goss and Douglas Adams

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Most Exciting: Doctor Who & the Daleks on the Big Screen… IN COLOUR!

Paul Ferry

When I first got into Doctor Who fandom in a big way in the late 1980s, the received wisdom amongst fans was that the two Peter Cushing films from the 60s, Dr Who and the Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150ad, were worthless rubbish. Which is strange, because almost everyone that I spoke to would say ‘Actually, I rather like them’ with a sort of guilty pleasure look on their face. Everyone had an incredible fondness for them from watching endless reruns during on a Saturday morning or during the school holidays in the 70s, wedged between episodes of Champion the Wonder Horse, Boss Cat (as the BBC … Continue reading Most Exciting: Doctor Who & the Daleks on the Big Screen… IN COLOUR!

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Film-Making for Pyromaniacs: The Making of Blake’s 3½

Paul Ferry

Whilst rummaging through a bunch of old files, I came across this article written in 2002 about a fan video made over a decade before that. The video was called Blake’s 3½ and it was made by FMtv, one of the North East film-making groups that eventually merged to form Timebase. I thought it might give an interesting insight into our early days as film-makers and the fun we had back in our youthful days!   Paul Ferry (2018) Attack of the Autons* had left everyone at FMtv feeling a little low. We had worked for years on the project, and the finished … Continue reading Film-Making for Pyromaniacs: The Making of Blake’s 3½

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Paul Ferry’s 10 Favourite Doctor Who Fan Films

Paul Ferry

Listed below are the 10 Doctor Who fan videos that I have found most entertaining, inspiring and impressive over the many years that I’ve been interested in such things. I use the words ‘fan video’ in the traditional sense, meaning dramatic or comic presentations, rather than clips edited to music (which we called ‘scratch videos’ in my day). They’re listed in chronological order, rather than order of merit, because they’re all equally special to me. If you’re lucky, you might find some of them online. DAY OF THE DUSTBINS / ALISTAIR ANORAK INVESTIGATES The West Midlands Whonatics (1987) I’m cheating … Continue reading Paul Ferry’s 10 Favourite Doctor Who Fan Films

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‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies

Paul Ferry

For anyone who grew up in Britain in the 1970s, the Target novelisations were as much a part of Doctor Who as the television series itself. Along with Doctor Who Weekly in the latter part of the decade, they provided a vital link with the series when it wasn’t on the air. I remember walking home from the local library with a huge pile of the colourful hardbacks; I didn’t necessarily read them all at once, but I was attracted to the exciting, vibrant colours and – when I did eventually read them – by the exciting, vibrant prose. Now BBC Books, under the … Continue reading ‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies