Who, What, When...?

"One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. But until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties..."

I can't let today's big news pass without comment, so here goes...

To those of you who were there with me in 1989 / 90, you'll be feeling a sense of deja vu. 

The series is very important to the BBC... It will be back bigger and better than ever... We're looking for an independent producer to take it on, and we'll let you now when the right partner is identified... 

All that sort of talk is what we got in the months (then years) following the end of Survival when, for the first time ever, there was no announcement about a new series returning in the Autumn.

At least this time we have actually been given a definitive statement to say that the programme is suspended, whereas back then the BBC simply strung the fans along hoping that they would eventually get the message that the show wasn't coming back and go away. Some hope!

There's some contradictory comments today. RTD2 claims that the 2026 Christmas Special never existed. We were simply told there was one as a placeholder statement until they worked out what they were going to do next. However, Murray Gold, in a recent interview, said that there was more than one version of the script already written...

The one thing we all knew was that Billie Piper would not be playing the new Doctor, though she might be used purely as a bridge to whoever the new one was. Piper was only brought in as RTD2 had to cobble something together when Gatwa quit early.

In recent weeks we had someone claiming that the Special had already been filmed, all in studio in secret, whilst "an insider" claimed that they could not get anyone to play the next Doctor as the role had become a "poisoned chalice" for actors...

We now know that, following criticism from fans and apathy from the general public, accompanied by an unhappy co-producer for whom the promised benefits failed to materialise, Doctor Who has ended for the time being.

When it comes back - and it is 'when' (we just don't know how long) - Bad Wolf and Davies won't have anything to do with it. Looking back at the last two series, most will be glad about that. 

Things started off promisingly enough with the 60th Anniversary Specials, bringing back David Tennant and Catherine Tate; adapting a popular DWW comic strip, and resurrecting a villain from the classic era in the shape of the Toymaker.

Disney pumped quite a few $$$ into the show, and it looked great. And we had also managed to rid ourselves of Chris Chibnall who, let's not forget, was responsible for the show needing rescuing in the first place.

But things went wrong rather quickly, and we could debate for ages what the problems were - and it's interesting to compare them with the things that the independent fan publications like DWB were saying about JNT back in the late 1980's. (Maybe the programme needs to steer clear of producers / showrunners who tend to be known by their initials...).

My criticisms of the series of late are all there in my reviews, and I'll be talking about them again soon as my look at each story in turn is about to finally come to its conclusion in a couple of weeks.

Rather than look back, let's see what the future might hold...

Whoever takes on the series will have a number of options:

1. Carry on from where RTD2 left off.

2. Start with a new Doctor already in place, as with Rose, but have them clearly a new incarnation of the character first portrayed by William Hartnell in 1963, with all the continuity available.

3. Ditto, but simply ignore what has gone before. It's the same character, but keep continuity to the absolute minimum to avoid alienating new viewers (and the fans know it all anyway).

4. Have the Twelfth Doctor wake up in the TARDIS and tell his companion about the horrible nightmare he's just had...

5. Reboot - as in start again from scratch. How many origins stories have Spider-Man and Superman had in the last few years?

6. Prequel series, but certainly not any "Time Lord Academy" YA nonsense - just look at how well Starfleet Academy did, or Class for that matter.

7. Ignore a new TV series all together and look to films. A series could always follow later if successful.

Option 1 would be the least popular, I'm sure. The series has ended in a complete mess and I don't think it's salvageable.

Option 2 is probably most likely, as any new producers would want to access all the old monsters / characters.

Option 3 would be my own favoured choice. I like sitting on fences.

Option 4 - if only...

Option 5 might not be as drastic as one might think. As I've said, everything gets remade these days. It would provide a clean slate for whoever takes the series on, and you could remake some of those classic stories with the technology we now have available. We could simply draw a line under the series which began in 1963, and go right back to basics.

Option 6 - probably too limiting. 

Option 7 is possible, as the partnership with Disney is going to complicate matters when looking for the next partner. Other streamers will have seen how they failed with the series, so may not want to touch the property. There's also the added complication of the BBC. Most companies such as Netflix would want some sort of exclusivity, but the Beeb would want to show it on the telly if licence payer monies are involved.

Going down the movie route might also make the total reboot option more likely.

As of today, I think there are only two things we can take as certainties. We are going to have a long wait before any new Doctor Who is shown, in whatever form it takes - and a bit of a gap would probably do the series some good to be honest; and whoever takes the series on really has to get back to the fundamentals of the series if they want to make it a success. (Look at what Chibnall and RTD2 did - then run in the opposite direction, as fast as you can...).

Michael Keating 1947 - 2026

Very sorry to hear today of the death of actor Michael Keating, at the age of 79. 

He may only have ever appeared in one Doctor Who story - The Sun Makers, playing the rebel Goudry - but he then became famous in sci-fi circles for playing the cowardly but loveable thief Vila in Blake's 7 - a series whose fandom very much overlaps with that of Doctor Who. 

In Blake's 7, he formed a popular sparring act with Paul Darrow's Avon, the two often being paired up for sub-plots. One episode in which he got to feature prominently was the one which guest starred Colin Baker - Season 3's City at the Edge of the World.

Vila was the only character to appear in every episode, across all four seasons.

If you've been buying the B7 Blu-ray box-sets over the last couple of years, like me, you'll have seen that he is one of the main contributors to the documentaries and archive convention spots.

Later roles included an appearance in Casualty, in which he guested opposite his old leader Gareth Thomas, and he had a recurring role as a church minister in EastEnders.

RIP.

In Memoriam

Sadly, we lost three actors with classic era Doctor Who connections in as many days recently.

Tina Packer, who played Ann Travers in The Web of Fear (which I'm about to start covering in my weekly "Episodes" posts), died on 9th January, aged 87, at her home in Massachusetts. She had lived in the US for many years, establishing a noted Shakespeare company there.

The following day saw news that Derek Martin had passed away at the age of 92. He first appeared as an extra in The Highlanders before going on to become part of the HAVOC stunt team. He features in the battle of Covent Garden in The Web of Fear, chases Liz Shaw across a weir in The Ambassadors of Death, and gets zapped by an Axon outside Dungeness power station, amongst his many appearances.

He would later get the speaking role of Mitchell, the security guard, in Image of the Fendahl.

He is best known to the general public for the role of taxi driver Charlie Slater in EastEnders. 

I had the pleasure of meeting him at Riverside Studios last year when he attended the Recall UNIT event.

11th January then saw the news that Battlefield's Marcus Gilbert had died, aged only 67. He played the knight Ancelyn in the 1989 story - a role he only recently returned to on audio.

RIP

Doctor Who Xmas Special... in 2026

The BBC have announced today that the next Doctor Who we get to see, other than the CBeebies animated series which is described as "in development", will be a Christmas Special - but not until 2026.

As we have all suspected for months now, it has also been confirmed that the production partnership with Disney+ is not going to be renewed.

The same statement confirms that The War Between The Land And The Sea will be screened later this year, though there's no mention of the possible delay by Disney broadcasting it.

The 2026 Special is to be written by RTD2, and I think we can hazard a guess that it will resolve the Billie Piper appearance which most fans think might be in the form of a one-off, potentially co-starring with 14th Doctor David Tennant, to bridge the gap until the next full-time actor is in place.

The BBC said the usual stuff about the programme remaining important to them and that it will be back etc, etc. - though we heard all that in 1989 and well into the 1990's (and got the TV Movie at the end of it all) so for older fans it's hardly reassurance. A separate announcement on the future of the series is said to be coming later (my guess being on 23rd November).

Presumably another production partner is being sought, as well as the search for a new Doctor.

There will be many hoping that a new showrunner is also being looked for...

It's less than a month to the next anniversary, and there's no word on any new colourised 1960's episodes, or Tales From The TARDIS, and the animation of lost stories has seemingly dried up, apparently being reserved now for filling gaps in the Blu-ray box sets, which are released only twice per year these days. 

It's hardly the Wilderness Years back again, though it might feel like it at times...

Lost & Found?

You may have seen some on-line traffic recently regarding the potential return of missing episodes. It's now 12 years since the nine Season 5 Troughton episodes were found, coinciding with the 50th Anniversary. A lot of people hoped that a similar announcement might be made in 2023, but the 60th passed without any news.

In the early 1980's a more concerted effort was made to locate missing episodes and have them returned to the archives, fronted by Sue Malden of the BBC's film and video library. This year she confirmed what everyone knew / suspected - that some episodes existed in the hands of film collectors. Sadly, a minority of fans went on-line threatening to hunt these people down to do them harm - antagonising them rather than making them more likely to co-operate. Indeed, there was story doing the rounds that one collector would rather burn his collection than see it handed over to such people.

Malden stated that she was aware of "one or two" episodes in private hands. Not wishing to get too deeply into semantics, but that phrase always refers to more than one - so let's say at least two.

An outfit called 'Film Is Fabulous' have been beavering away behind the scenes for some time building positive relationships with collectors, primarily to have their collections catalogued but also to agree on their preservation for the future. The group have organised events at which newly rediscovered shows are shown to the public, and at one of these the other week they intimated that they were also aware of missing Doctor Who amongst the collections they were working on. Semantics again, but they seemed to imply that this was more than what Malden had suggested. They said that they hoped to have an announcement soon.

Even if they only meant one more than Malden, that might make three potential rediscoveries.

Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that these are Hartnell / Troughton episodes. Technically there are missing Pertwee episodes as well, as you'll know from the colourisation process which has had to be employed to release them on DVD or Blu-ray.

If this turns out to be more than rumour - and that is all it should be treated as for now - then we obviously want to see episodes from Seasons 3 and 4, which suffered the most from the mass junkings. I'm sure most of us would like to see Dalek or Cyberman episodes, or key episodes such as the currently AWOL The Web of Fear (3) or The Tenth Planet (4).

Personally, if it was Galaxy Four (2) or The Space Pirates (3), I'd be just as happy.

Prentis Hancock 1942 - 2025

Sad to report that the family of Prentis Hancock have announced his death. He passed away on 30th May, two weeks after his 83rd birthday.

The Glasgow born actor first appeared in Doctor Who in Jon Pertwee's debut, Spearhead From Space, in which he played one of the reporters at the cottage hospital.

He returned a couple of years later for a more substantial role - that of the hot-headed Thal Vaber in Planet of the Daleks.

That story's director, David Maloney, recalled him when looking for a similarly temperamental  character in Season 13's Planet of Evil, and Hancock portrayed the increasingly out-of-his-depth Commander Salamar.

His final role in the series was as the Shrieve Captain in The Ribos Operation.

He features in several DVD extras of his stories, talking about his time on the series with great affection.

Beyond Doctor Who, for many he will be best remembered for his role as Paul Morrow in the superior first season of Gerry Anderson's Space:1999.

RIP

Jean Marsh (1934 - 2025)

Sadly it has been reported today that Jean Marsh has passed away at the age of 90. She made three memorable appearances in Doctor Who, one of her characters being regarded as a companion.

Her first role was as Princess Joanna, sister of King Richard the Lionheart in The Crusade.

This was followed the next year with her best known role in the series - Space Special Security agent Sara Kingdom. 

Despite being confined to a single story - The Daleks' Masterplan - Sara is regarded by most fans as a companion, as well as being classed as such in official publications.

She would go on to gain a reputation for portraying witch-like characters (in films like Return to Oz and Willow) and Doctor Who offered a similar role for her last appearance in the show - Queen Morgaine in 1989's Battlefield.

Marsh was also at one point married to Third Doctor Jon Pertwee.

Beyond Doctor Who, she is best remembered for co-creating the popular Edwardian drama Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she also featured as maid Rose.

RIP.

The Seeds of Gloom...

You have probably been reading in the newspapers or on-line that Doctor Who is facing one of its periodic "Cancellation Crises". This originated with tabloid The Sun, which is hardly the most reliable of sources. It was picked up today by other sections of the press - reported simply as rumour in the quality ones, whilst the Daily Mail went further and gave all its perceived reasons for the potential resting of the series (woke casting / woke storylines / woke agenda).

Such is the buzz that the BBC has released a statement that the series is "not being shelved". They point out that Disney commissioned 26 episodes, with nearly half still to air. 

RTD2 himself claims that he was tasked with making the programme "younger and simpler" - no arguments from me on that one, I'm afraid, if Space Babies is anything to go by. He admits that the ratings are disappointing, but then says that the under 16 and 16 - 34 demographics are good.

(For me, any increase in younger viewers shouldn't mean losing older ones. I'm pretty sure the BBC did intend RTD2 to increase some demographics - but never at the expense of the rest).

These statements haven't soothed matters as the BBC also reiterate that any sixteenth series is wholly dependent on how well Series 15 does, and Disney won't be committing any monies until then (meaning certainly no new series in 2025, and no guarantee of another festive special either).

Those 26 episodes are already accounted for - 3x 60th Anniversary Specials, 2x Christmas Specials, 8x Series 14 episodes, 8x Series 15 episodes, plus the War Between Land & Sea spin-off. A lot of people think the latter might be run across a single week, like TW: Children of Earth, so that would account for the final 5 of the 26 episodes.

Muddying the water is talk of Gatwa wanting to leave because he (a) had to turn down a lucrative fragrance contract and / or (b) wants to move to LA to pursue a Hollywood career. No doubt the move is true, but there's no reason why you can't balance both a British TV show, which now only runs 8 weeks, and the odd movie.

Disney are notoriously bad at letting people know the viewing figures for their productions. We know that they have been suffering badly with the various Star Wars series, which ought to have been guaranteed winners. The Acolyte isn't being renewed and, whilst it has been critically acclaimed, Skeleton Crew has failed to make a dent in the Nielsen ratings. Both Andor and Ahsoka are getting one further season each, but these are supposed to be their final outings. The Marvel movies are also showing diminishing returns, so there's a definite superhero-fatigue setting in. Basically, Disney are getting hit financially, and if they're pulling the plug on big names which they pretty much own outright, then what hope for co-productions - especially one that isn't getting high viewing figures?

Apparently there was zero representation from Disney at the recent big Gallifrey One convention, and they didn't mention Doctor Who at all in their "Coming in 2025" trailers at New Year. Hardly confidence inspiring.

As I've said before, for Disney+ the bottom line is subscribers to their streaming service. If Doctor Who isn't adding new subscribers, or retaining existing ones after a series has ended, then they are unlikely to invest further.

Even if a sixteenth series is greenlit come May or thereabouts, we're probably going to have to get used to this on-going uncertainty year by year.

David Graham 1925 - 2024

It was reported today that the actor David Graham has died, a couple of months on from his 99th birthday.

He made two appearances in Doctor Who: playing Charlie the Barman in The Gunfighters, and Professor Kerensky in City of Death. However, it will be as one of the original voices of the Daleks that he will be best remembered by fans. 

Beyond Doctor Who, it will be his other voice work on Thunderbirds that will feature prominently in the obituaries. He provided the voices for Parker and Brains amongst others.

Graham joined the cast of The Daleks to provide their distinctive vocals alongside Peter Hawkins. They collaborated throughout the Hartnell era, as well as on the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies, before Graham moved on to other projects. He also provided vocals for the Mechonoids in The Chase.

His final association with the programme came with some new vocals on the recent colourised version of that first Daleks story.

Another popular venture of recent times was the hugely popular children's TV show Peppa Pig in which he voiced Grandpa Pig.

Left very much housebound following a stroke in late 2020, he was able to continue working due to his specialism in voice work, which he could record at home.

RIP.

Ysanne Churchman (1925 - 2024)

It has been reported today that actress Ysanne Churchman has passed away at the age of 99. 

She was well known to Doctor Who fans as the voice of the hermaphrodite hexapod Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon (1972), Monster of Peladon (1974), and reprised for a cameo in Empress of Mars (2017).

The costume was operated by Stuart Fell, and the pair collaborated to bring the popular character to life.

Churchman also provided the voice of Lupton's power hungry Eight-Leg in 1974's Planet of the Spiders. 

Primarily a radio performer, the actress came to national fame as Grace Archer in the long-running rural drama The Archers. In 1955, her character was killed off in a fire on the evening that ITV launched in the UK - a deliberate move to sabotage the new channel's ratings.

Other voice work included the puppet show Space Patrol (currently being repeated on Talking Pictures), and TV appearances included cult sci-fi show The Flipside of Dominick Hide and its sequel, and Nigel Kneale's Beasts.

RIP.

William Russell (1924 - 2024)

Tragic news this evening - William Russell has passed away at the age of 99. 

Real name William Russell Enoch, he was one of the original regular cast of Doctor Who, portraying the heroic school teacher Ian Chesterton. He appeared in the series from the opening episode, An Unearthly Child, through to the final instalment of The Chase in 1965. 

His last appearance in the programme was a cameo as one of the companion 'support group' in The Power of the Doctor in 2022, earning him a world record.

An earlier cameo saw him portraying a BBC commissionaire in the 50th anniversary drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

Until relatively recently he was still voicing Ian on Big Finish audios.

Born in Sunderland on 19th November 1924, he developed an interest in acting whilst still at school and later at Oxford University. He was in the Royal Air Force for a time - as discussed in his Matthew Sweet interview on the Season 2 Blu-ray collection.

Early successes came in the adventure series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-7) and the 1957 Dickens adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, in both of which he played the title character. 

He was a regular on Coronation Street for much of 1992.

His movie career began in 1952, with his last role in 2020. Films included Superman (as a member of the Krypton court in the opening section), Above Us The Waves, and The Great Escape.

His first love was the stage, and he was a member of the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and appeared in the opening season at the Globe on London's Bankside.

However, it will be as Ian that he will be best remembered. He was the first of the regulars cast by Verity Lambert, long before she even had her Doctor.

Truly a Doctor Who legend,

RIP

Series 14 Titles & New Trailer

The BBC Twitter account has been releasing the titles of the stories for Series 14 today, one at a time over the space of a few hours. We were previously promised a new trailer today as well.

So RTD has written six of the eight episodes, with Rogue being the only story to come from an entirely new source.

The new trailer is about a minute longer than the previous one. Covers a lot of the same ground but we get some extras such as the Space Babies actually being a lot of humanoid babies, and we see more of the musical content for the second story.

Cy Town (1931 - 2024)

It has been reported that the actor Cy Town has passed away. Not a familiar name to most people, but we Doctor Who fans know him as one of the principal Daleks operators, appearing in all of their stories from Frontier in Space in 1973 to Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988.

As well as this, he featured as a prominent extra in a number of other stories, beginning with the role of a reporter in Spearhead From Space. For instance, he was the hapless man smothered by fondant at the Forum auditions in The Happiness Patrol. Other monster roles included a Vogan in Revenge of the Cybermen and a Haemovore in The Curse of Fenric.

RIP.

Moffat Returns

It has been confirmed that former showrunner Steven Moffat is to return to Doctor Who as guest writer on a forthcoming story. This has been rumoured for a while, especially once RTD came back.

Last week it was being said that he had actually written the 2024 Christmas Special, but today he's quoted as currently writing an episode, whilst the next Christmas one is not only written but filmed already - unless he's lined up to contribute more than one story.

Let's just hope that, whatever it is, it's more Heaven Sent than Hell Bent...

Doctor Who returns on 11th May, but with a difference...

Series 14 arrives on Saturday May 11th, with not one but two episodes - and they're making their debut on BBC i-player first, in the early hours of that morning.

If streaming isn't your thing, the episodes will be broadcast on BBC One immediately before the Eurovision Song Contest.

Subsequent episodes will be shown in the same way - i-player first, then TV later that evening.

For those outside the UK, episodes will stream on Disney+ simultaneously with the i-player.

The first episode is untitled so far (though rumours have claimed it's "The Space Babies") but the second instalment is - appropriately enough for Eurovision night - the musical themed episode The Devil's Chord, which features the Beatles / Abbey Road and guest stars Jinkx Monsoon.

With two episodes on the 11th, the new shorter run will last only seven weeks, unless there are any breaks for sporting events.

NB:As far as this Blog goes, I won't be posting any reviews in the middle of the night (and may just be waiting for the TV broadcast episodes anyway), so won't be putting anything up until the Saturday night or Sunday lunchtime.

Pamela Salem (1944 - 2024)

It has been reported that the actor Pamela Salem has died, just a few weeks after her 80th birthday.

She featured prominently in two highly regarded Doctor Who stories, as well as providing vocals for a third.

The latter was as the female voice of the crazed computer Xoanon in The Face of Evil. A week or two later we saw her as Toos in The Robots of Death.

Lis Sladen having only just left the series, Salem's agent actually publicised his client as the new Doctor Who companion, which made the tabloid press.

Salem returned to the series in 1988 to play Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Beyond the series, her best known role was a regular run on EastEnders, back when it was actually quite good.

She had a brush with the world of 007, but in the non-Eon reimagining of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again. She played Miss Moneypenny opposite Sean Connery. She had previously worked with him on The First Great Train Robbery.

RIP.

The Celestial Toymaker in March

There's a screening at the BFI of the animated The Celestial Toymaker at the beginning of March, which is always a sign that the DVD / Blu-ray release is imminent.

As Amazon US had previously published 26th March as a release date (quickly deleted), I think we can safely assume that the UK release will be Monday 25th March.

I can't say that I'm a fan of this style of animation - The Web of Fear Ep 3 was atrocious - but if there's one story where it might work it's this one, having some surreal moments. The test will be in the motion, as we already know that the resemblances are poor.

I know for a fact that many fans are extremely angry about the animations. 

Of course we're grateful that they are being brought to us, but we would like some consistency in animation style (ideally of the quality we saw with The Moonbase and The Tenth Planet 4), and we'd like to see the animations do more to honour the original episodes in terms of character and setting.

It's very jarring to switch between the animated episodes of something like The Underwater Menace and its two surviving instalments.

I've read recently that An Unearthly Child has now been removed from Britbox, thanks to the copyright holder. It's one of the dangers of relying on streaming services, and why you really ought to try and invest in physical media, the current schedule for which, in the UK, is:

12th February: The Church on Ruby Road

26th February: The Daleks (In Colour)

18th March: The Collection - Season 15

25th March: The Celestial Toymaker

With regards the Collection box-sets, Pete McTighe has stated that they will be resting the specially filmed trailers, such as the fantastic Leela / Time War one for Season 15. The next couple have already been prepared, but thereafter they will simply be clip compilations.

Michael Jayston (1935 - 2024)

It was reported today that the actor Michael Jayston has passed away. He was 88.

Jayston will forever be known to Doctor Who fans as the Valeyard throughout Season 23 of the series - a future interim incarnation of the Doctor himself, who was an amalgam of the darker sides to his nature.

He returned to the role on audio, including an alternate version of the character in the "Unbound" series.

He was also a radio Radio James Bond.

In 1971 he portrayed the last Tsar of Russia, opposite Tom Baker's Rasputin, in Nicholas and Alexandra.

A significant TV role saw him work with Alec Guinness as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for the BBC. 

More recently he had an important role to play in Only Fools and Horses - initiating the Trotters' eventual wealth by identifying an antique timepiece they owned.

He participated in the extras for the Season 23 Collection box set - including a round-table lunch discussion with the series' stars.

RIP.

Richard Franklin (1936 - 2023)

Hate to put a damper on Christmas Day, but we've just had the sad news that Richard Franklin - UNIT's Captain Yates - has passed away at the age of 87.

When Barry Letts was looking for a new regular, to work alongside the Brigadier, he went to the theatre and saw a play in which Franklin was appearing. At the interval he mentioned his quest to the person sitting next to him, stating that Franklin was the sort of actor he was after. His neighbour turned out to be Franklin's agent.

He featured as Yates from The Terror of the Autons onwards, but theatre work sometimes led to him sitting some stories out (such as The Three Doctors).

Very rare for its time, Franklin was given a story arc for his character, which got underway in The Green Death, in which he was hypnotised into trying to kill his friends. The affect this had on him led to him actually turning traitor, as he joined Operation Golden Age in Invasion of the Dinosaurs.

His treachery uncovered, he was quietly retired from UNIT, but found redemption in Planet of the Spiders - his last full-time story.

Franklin appeared in the CiN adventure Dimensions in Time, and his final appearance as Yates was as a phantom version of him in The Five Doctors.

More recently he appeared on the sofa with Katy Manning and John Levene to review Season 10 episodes.

He attempted to enter Parliament many times, including standing for the Lib Dems, the Referendum Party, UKIP, and his own "Silent Majority" party - obtaining votes ranging from 78 to 5273.

One of his last screen roles was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Richard Franklin, RIP.

The Celestial Toymaker - animated

The Celestial Toymaker is the next missing story to be animated. Only the fourth and final episode remains in the archives. Naturally, the return of the character in The Giggle will have helped determine this choice. As usual, there will be both colour and B&W versions, with The Final Test included, remastered. The only "Making of..." extra mentioned is for the animation.

Amazon have a placeholder date of 31st December 2024 - so we have no idea when it will actually be released.

I have to say that I don't like the look of the animation - the likenesses are terrible for a start - but really need to see what the movement looks like. 

I have still PTSD over The Web of Fear Part 3...