Tag: Dylan Rees

Farewell, Great Macedon + The Queen of Time

I’m pleased to share with you that I am the guest on the latest episode of the podcast Doctor Who – Too Hot for TV, hosted by Dylan Rees. Together we are looking back at two unmade stories from the 1960’s – Farewell, Great Macedon and The Queen of Time. Both have been recreated as dramatised audiobooks by Big Finish. I’m particularly happy with the way this one has turned out. In fact I think it’s the best of my three guest spot so far because I sound more confident and fluid and there’s a lot of interesting Doctor Who behind the scenes details to talk about.. You can listen to the episode here https://www.buzzsprout.com/864883/episodes/17368333-s5-e33-just-a-bit-of-tea-with-a-wee-lassie and all the major podcast apps.

Farewell, Great Macedon was submitted by Moris Farhi to the show’s script editor David Whittaker during the first season in 1964. It features the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell. Unusually amongst the so called “lost stories” of Doctor Who, it exists as a fully written script rather than just an outline, which helps make this adaptation feel just a bit more legitimate. Nigel Robinson, a skilled adapter of early Doctor Who stories, wrote the audio version and Big Finish mainstay Lisa Bowerman directed William Russell and Carol Ann Ford, who played two of the Doctor’s first companions. John Dorney guested as Alexander.

The TARDIS lands in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, where the travellers meet Alexander the Great who welcomes them with hospitality. But history teacher Barbara realises that they have landed a few days before Alexander’s death and with the TARDIS needing to recharge before it can leave, the four friends find themselves caught up in court treachery. It’s a splendid story and for me one of the high points of Big Finish’s Doctor Who range.

The Queen of Time features the Second Doctor, as played by Patrick Troughton and was written by Brian Hayles. Hayles had written several stories for the series and this proposed adventure owed a large debt to one of them, The Celestial Toymaker. This time Catherine Harvey adapted the detailed plot outline and Lisa Bowerman once again directed. Former companion actors Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury performed it, with Caroline Faber as Hecuba.

The Doctor and his companions are mysteriously invited to meet Hecuba, the Queen of Time and sister of the Toymaker. Trapped in her realm, the Doctor must ward off Hecuba’s romantic overtures, whilst Jamie and Zoe face a series of deadly puzzles. This is something of a misfire for me and I enjoyed getting into why I don’t like it.

As well as recommending Too Hot for TV as a great podcast anytime, I’ll take a moment to remind you that Dylan’s second book Myths and Legends, a deep cut into independent filmmakers Reeltime Pictures, will be out soon. You can find out more here.

Before I go, my friend Rik Hoskin has had a new short story published in the premiere issue of Goblins and Galaxies Magazine called “Tournament in Frow” and you can find out more below:

Goblins & Galaxies #0 Summer 2025

Busy times for friends

Hope you are well. Apologies for it being a bit quiet around the blog this year, but I’ve been working on a few projects so that I can have a bit of a podcast event in the not too distant future. It’s a mini-season of Play for Tomorrow and I want all six episodes in the can, to guarantee I can release them weekly. In addition, I’ve recorded two further installments on Codename: Icarus and The Tomorrow People, which hopefully follow soon after. Meanwhile at work I’ve been working on my first authored VR projects, as opposed to just being a consumer of other people’s apps. And there’s some other activity that I can’t talk too much about yet. So there’s going to be more regular posting soon. I also thinking of releasing some old reviews which have never been in print before but which I think have some value. Speaking of reviews, I talk about Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster in the latest episode of the Official Talking Pictures TV podcast.

Rik Hoskin is as busy as ever. Amongst his output are two short stories, one for an anthology and another for a fiction magazine.

Behind the Revolving Door: An Anthology of Choices is a forthcoming book from Celestial Echo Press.

Each of us makes a multitude of choices daily, some minor and some with major consequences. Do you eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast? Skip it entirely? Do you or don’t you wear your lucky shirt to the sports event? What do you think the consequences would be if you didn’t wear your lucky shirt?

This anthology will be a collection of stories that will take you on a journey with the author’s protagonist as they make a decision. We will ask for stories that take them through a trial and force them to take an action, to make a choice. For example, the character comes to a fork in the road. Do they take the right path or do they take the left? Does the character find a wallet on the ground? Do they open it? Return it to the owner, or keep it? What are the consequences?  Do they encounter a second choice, going back through the revolving door? Do they find classified information, implicating a family member in a coup? What do they do with it?  What happens next? Is the character hiking through the woods, and finding a portal, not knowing where it will take them if they enter? What happens? Is it so bad that they try to return, hence going through the revolving door? There are many, many ways this theme can be interpreted.

They have invited five authors, some award-winning and some award-nominated, including Rik. The remainder of the stories will come via open submissions and they anticipate a September release.

Meanwhile the publishers of Cosmic Horror Magazine are launching a new title that promises to be a spiritual successor to Weird Tales – Goblins & Galaxies Magazine. Rik will have a story in the premiere issue which is currently launching on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crtyra/goblins-and-galaxies-magazine

We are passionate about turn-of-the-century pulp magazines like Weird Tales and have tried with each issue to pay homage while also amplifying modern story-telling techniques and diverse voices. We want to bring that same approach to a brand-new magazine emphasizing Sword & Sorcery, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction.

The marvellous Dylan Rees has guested on two episodes of Very British Futures and I’ve been a guest on three episodes of his Doctor Who Too Hot for TV podcast. A few years ago he published a book about the so-called “Wilderness Years” of Doctor Who called Downtime. Now he’s shortly to release a brand new book in a similar vein – Myths and Legends: The Reeltime Pictures Story.

This is the inside story of Reeltime Pictures, from the earliest days of its acclaimed Myth Makers VHS tapes, through the production of its ambitious dramas and documentaries. Boasting a wealth of quotes from many of those involved, the book tells the story of one man’s passion and dedication to develop a valuable archive of material chronicling the complete production history of classic Doctor Who.

You can pre-order the book now from Telos https://telos.co.uk/shop/doctor-who/myths-legends/

Chatri Art, the man behind the marvellous music for my podcast has been in a productive phase recently and releasing several new songs on bandcamp.com I can recommend the following:

THE VOLCANOS / SESSIONS 1972-3 by Chatri Ahpornsiri and Maybin Marwell and Tony Harris, check it out here.
“Unreleased and improved sound of the music from the early 70’s with added sound, until now. I hope you will enjoy the noise we make.”

SUMMER TO REMEMBER by Chatri Ahpornsiri, check it out here.

THE LIFE AND TIME OF WITCH DOCTOR GOY by Chatri Ahpornsiri, check it out here.

SO MANY TIMES / SINGLE by Chatri Ahpornsiri and Helen W Jackson, check it out here.
“2002 Single E.P. 2 songs 2 mixes each. Helen W Jackson : vocal”

Out of this World – Very British Futures

When I started the Very British Futures podcast I wanted to shine a light on programmes that didn’t have much of a following, that didn’t get talked about much online. Since then I’ve learnt that its good to mix up such programmes with well known titles because listeners like to hear discussions of shows they’ve seen as well as discover old series.

Listen to the Out of this World episode on Spotify

Out of this World is exactly the kind of series I designed this podcast for, and researching it myself I’ve come to be sorry that more it hasn’t survived. It was the first anthology of serious, adult orientated science fiction on UK television. Although both BBC and ITV companies had produced one-off adult dramas SF dramas, such as The Time Machine (1949) and The Ship That Couldn’t Stop (1961), a fully fledged evening series of upfront SF stories was a risky proposition. As it is, Out of this World was a well-received success and would have undoubtedly have had a second season if producer Sydney Newman and story editor Irene Shubik had not left ABC to work for the BBC. But the series was reborn on BBC2 as Out of the Unknown and you can find out more about that marvelous anthology in this podcast episode.

Most of the plots were based on existing stories from the golden age of science fiction, with a couple original scripts in the mix, including an early work about body snatching invaders from Terry Nation – “Botany Bay”. Each episode was introduced by cinema legend Boris Karloff, in the urbane uncle kind of role he often played in his later career. Tragically only one episode has survived – “Little Lost Robot” but that and the other surviving material suggests a very watchable series made with love and care.

See if you agree by listening to the latest episode, in which I am fortunate to be joined by Dylan Rees, host of the Doctor Who – Too Hot for TV podcast and writer Peter Grehen. They had the challenge of listening to me describing missing stories and then reacting to them, and they had some fun insights. You can get the episode on your favourite podcast app or on Youtube.

Whilst I’m here, I glad to tell you that my friend Chatri Art, who wrote the music for Very British Futures has a new album out – The Underdogs. To listen to it, try the player below or visit his Bandcamp page.

Very British Futures – Out of the Unknown

Since I started this blog, my Out of the Unknown articles have been the most popular posts, so this series was a natural to cover on the podcast. In fact, making this episode and watching these episodes alongside Stephen Hatcher and Dylan Rees has only deepened my appreciation of this remarkable adult SF drama, as well as my frustration that so many great episodes remain lost.

There have been other good adult SF dramas on television. In the last decade probably the best UK example of a serious anthology has been Black Mirror, but even that thoughtful series can be criticised for being narrowly focused on media matters and its formula summed up as “a new media technology brings out the worst in everyone”. A couple of years ago Channel 4 did a co-production with Amazon Prime, Electric Dreams, adapting stories by Philip K Dick. Some of them were excellent, but Out of the Unknown has such an impressive range of stories and authors, covering genres from comedy to chiller.

I felt the best way to cover this anthology was for myself and guests Dylan Rees and Stephen Hatcher to pick an episode each to concentrate on, as well as a general appreciation. It was a formula that worked particularly well and I’m going to apply it again on other long running series.

Out of the Unknown Essential Facts

Producers – Irene Shubik, George Spenton-Foster, Alan Bromley
Story Editors – Irene Shubik, Robin Parks
4 seasons (1965 – 1971)

For more information on Out of the Unknown, including my reviews of all the existing episodes, start here.

Very British Futures is available from Anchor.fm and most leading podcast platforms, now including Soundcloud. You can listen or download this episode from here.

Very British Futures – Out of the Unknown

Hope you enjoy this one as much as we enjoyed making it.

Downtime: The Lost Worlds of Doctor Who

Downtime book cover

Before I get into this review I ought to declare an interest. Many years ago I wrote or post-produced or acted in several of BBV’s productions, so consequently I am amongst the many contributors Dylan Rees has interviewed for this book about the intriguing parallel realities that Doctor Who passed into whilst the BBC was not making it. But I my experiences were just a small part of the story, and it has been fascinating to find out more about the bigger picture. Not to mention discovering certain repeating patterns of behaviour when it came to BBV’s driving force Bill Baggs – such as peculiar film editing choices.

As the author remarks in his Afterword, a book like this is long overdue. For quite a while fans believed that Doctor Who would never return to television. In the Nineties Star Trek may have seemed licensed to print spin-offs forever, but fans felt that our show was destined to remain unloved by the BBC and the Not-We. So we built our own little universe of Doctorish films and radio plays, and for a while it seemed fresh, vital, the future of the show. Then Doctor Who came back with a roar and the VHS era of The Stranger, PROBE and Mindgame seemed to be swept under fandom’s carpet. So “Downtime” feels very fresh, a decade or more of brand new script origins, behind the scenes information, funny anecdotes and let us the honest – gossip.

Credit to the author for pulling together so many threads into a narrative too. Bill Baggs’ filmmaking career becomes the spine of the book. Ambitious, energetic and with a knack for getting people to follow him and make his projects happen, the book produces a fair picture of the way he ultimately sabotages himself by taking too many shortcuts, and too much advantage of others’ goodwill.

There’s plenty of great material here, such as Nick Briggs recalling John Levine’s determination to take the leading man’s responsibilities seriously and entertaining the crew – whether they wanted to be or not. Mark Ayres working with Jon Pertwee on his last dramatic role in The Zero Imperative. Colin Baker’s early role as an unofficial agent and cheerleader for spin-off videos, persuading other name actors to take part. Lots of stories of small groups working long hours in uncomfortable locations, kept going by their love of the show and camaraderie. And always the constant hope that this video will be the one that gets them into the professional TV and Film industry. In fact some of the stories seem to echo the BBC anecdotes of Doctor Who itself. Dylan Rees mixes interviews of the time with brand new interviews. Those recorded at the time are keen to be positive and build up the image of whatever the current project is. By contrast the tone of the same contributors today is generally fond, but rueful.

My only disappointment is that I had hoped to learn some new facts or other people’s impressions of the productions I was involved with. Sadly, aside from the contemporary reviews which I had not read before, most of the information about the likes of The Pattern and Do You Have a License to Save This Planet? comes from my own interview. So I am my own unreliable narrator it seems.

Also welcome are the reviews of every production, which are fair and well argued. It certainly made me want to go back and watch some of them again. I’ve really enjoyed reading this book and I can fully recommend it to any Doctor Who fan.

Available as a large paperback or ebook from Obverse Books. Visit their website