Why the Doctor Who team made Tales of the TARDIS
Writer Pete McTighe and producer Scott Handcock on how and why they brought back classic Doctors and companions for the new 60th anniversary miniseries.
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for Tales of the TARDIS.
On 1st November, over 800 episodes of classic Doctor Who launched on BBC iPlayer – but that’s not the only treat for UK Whovians.
Alongside the old episodes, specially recut versions of six episodes have been released, bookended with new scenes starring the original cast. And fans, rest easy, because it’s all canon – "100% canon", according to one of the writers.
That’s Tales of the TARDIS, starring (deep breath) Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning and Daniel Anthony, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant and Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.
It’s a slightly odd concept – at least until you hear the team who made the series explain it.
"Tales of the TARDIS is a beautiful six-part miniseries designed to help new fans access the whole archive of Doctor Who, right from the original '60s era to 1989," producer Scott Handcock tells Radio Times magazine.
"And it's a format where we get to reunite beloved cast members and characters in a very special version of the TARDIS that celebrates every year of the show."
"It's so daunting for people going in [to the classic series], who aren't fans to know what to watch," adds regular Who scribe Pete McTighe, who wrote new scenes for two of the episodes.
"I think it's a really clever way in for people who haven't seen the show before, to kind of get to understand classic stories."
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It was returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies who came up with the idea for the series – in a Doctor Who Magazine column, he recently noted that he was concerned they weren’t honouring the history of the show enough for the 60th anniversary – and chose the stories covered, with Davies also penning the episode revisiting classic Peter Davison adventure Earthshock.
Other episodes revisited are The Three Doctors, The Time Meddler, Vengeance on Varos, The Curse of Fenric and The Mind Robber.
"Obviously, this is Russell’s master plan," McTighe says. "And it was Russell who decided what the stories were."
"I think the selection of stories, the stories are kind of fan favourites. And by fans, I mean, Russell T Davies, and [producer] Phil Collinson," agrees Handcock.
"Russell's written this amazing piece for Earthshock, which is dealing with Adric's death, which never happened in the show," McTighe says.
"And so you get 10 minutes of Peter Davison and Janet Fielding really immersed in that event and what it meant to them and how it changed them. We've never had this stuff before."
However, while the series might be Davies's brainchild, fans might notice a certain similarity with scenes MicTighe wrote and filmed for Blu-ray releases of the classic series, which brought back classic series actors first – and that’s no coincidence.
"Russell told me it was inspired by the short films for the Blu-rays, which is amazing," McTighe admits.
"It's just been an amazing opportunity to get these actors back, get them on an amazing set, and be able to write scenes for them that add a bit of a new spin on the adventures that we're so familiar with.
And who knows? With the BBC officially crowning this as only the first original from their newly-established 'Whoniverse', this might not be the last time old favourites visit the Remembered TARDIS.
"You know, we've got an entire archive to exploit and there are so many brilliant characters – because it wouldn't have to be necessarily Doctors and companions," Handcock says.
"You could have, oh, I don't know, Simon Williams pop out to help recall Remembrance of the Daleks.
"Even before we started prep on this, we were going, 'This is a format that can run and run and run.'"
Radio Times magazine will also be back in the Remembered TARDIS in an upcoming issue, with more behind-the-scenes details and a guide to the new set – so keep an eye out for your copy…
Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS is streaming now on BBC iPlayer.
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Classic episodes are available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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