Next DWM Special

Not much notice given - the next DWM Special may already be with some subscribers. Release date is tomorrow, Thursday 16th March, and the theme is that of the "Showrunner". 

Since 2005 that role, imported from US TV, has always been clear - RTD, Moffat, some other bloke, then back to RTD.

In the good old days, two individuals ran the show together, often with some incredible working relationships. These were the Producer and the Script Editor (initially known as the Story Editor).

Verity Lambert had three Story Editors - David Whitaker, Dennis Spooner and Donald Tosh. The latter worked best with the next Producer, John Wiles, but neither stuck around long. The next strong partnership was Innes Lloyd's with Gerry Davis, if you like your Base Under Seige scenarios. Peter Bryant had Derrick Sherwin, who in turn had Terrance Dicks. The Barry Letts / Terrance Dicks partnership went well beyond Doctor Who and provided the benchmark until Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes. 

Graham Williams started with Holmes, then worked well with Anthony Read, and ended up with Douglas Adams - which is all reflected on screen.

JNT's tenure saw three Script Editors - Christopher Bidmead, Eric Saward and finally Andrew Cartmel. Of these the Saward partnership was the longest, but ended in great acrimony with a very public falling out. Cartmel was helping reinvigorate the show but was already planning his departure to a soap when the show suddenly found itself no longer running.

You'll probably have noticed that of all the Classic Era names mentioned above, all but JNT's editors are no longer with us. None of the three are mentioned in the list of interviewees on the cover above, but they are sure to feature within. Shirley Cooklin was wife to both a Producer and a Script Editor - Peter Bryant.