Short Film Review: 'Circles' by Division Pictures

The power of so many short films is in their ability to get us thinking. Within a short space of time, they can introduce us to entirely new worlds where we meet new and mysterious characters - and done properly, we can be left thinking about those worlds and characters for some time afterwards. It's a balance which is by no means easy to achieve, but Circles (the latest production by Hampshire-based filmmaking team Division Pictures) pulls it off perfectly.

Released on YouTube in October, Circles presents us with a dark and thought-provoking landscape. What we see is a world where nothing seems particularly bright or upbeat, but yet it is a world that is utterly beautiful. Something persistent across all of Division's work is their ability to get the most out of a filming location; to find all the right angles and shots. The result is something far greater than simply a video in a box on a website - it feels as though this is a real and tangible world, which could extend for three-hundred-and-sixty degrees around the viewer. In this case, we are plunged into a seemingly never-ending mass of forest and vegetation, which contributes a huge amount to the dramatic effect that this film has. Despite being a vast outdoor space (or so it would appear on-screen - all credit to the filmmakers if they have managed to produce this effect from what is really a somewhat smaller location, which is entirely possible), this is a place that feels claustrophobic, dangerous and unnerving.

Circles is a work which retains almost as much of its ambiguity after its closing credits as it does before pressing play - it is a film which makes very little information explicit but gives us enough detail to make up our own minds. We are introduced to a soldier known only as #00461, played by Elliot Burns with an intriguing air of darkness and mystery. This is a man who seems as deadly as he is vulnerable, as determined as he is lost. We learn precious little about 461, but (without giving anything away for those who may not have already seen the film), he has only so much history to be learnt in the first place...

Co-starring alongside Burns is Charlotte Culley, playing 'Young Girl'. Culley doesn't have as much dialogue as Burns, but to a certain extent this doesn't harm the drama too much, because these two characters' stories are very much intertwined. In the film's initial scenes we are treated to a sequence which hosts surprisingly little dialogue whatsoever, but the film still manages to pack a punch in its opening minutes with an intense race through the forest that feels like it is quite literally a matter of life and death. The cinematography and editing (by Division Pictures' Joe Goodall) is perfectly in tune with the nature of the storyline. In a strange way, we see something which (in the best way possible) feels frantic and rough - it almost makes the viewer feel that it is they who are scrambling through the undergrowth. Circles must be commended for pushing the envelope of filmmaking conventions, in order to make the film as immersive as possible for its audience.

Circles certainly has a dark edge to it - there is only one instance of strong language, and virtually no graphic detail (beyond one moment which, while shot in a way which treads carefully, might make the more squeamish of viewers wince), but this is a film that carries delicate and mature themes. As well as the evocative visuals, equal praise must also go to the music and sound design, which makes full use of the film's mysterious concept to make the audio captivating and enigmatic in equal measure - and yes, there are more than a couple of 'jump moments' in there too, so hold onto your seats.

With a storyline as intriguing and as unpredictable as this, it's difficult to go into too much detail without spoiling the surreal journey that Circles takes us on. In particular, the later scenes are almost impossible to review in any major detail without giving away their fascinating premise. But at over 22 minutes, Circles doesn't feel like it wastes a single moment of its running time, and is a highly recommended watch. With effective performances from its cast, stunning use of both indoor and outdoor locations, and all expertly tied together in the film's direction and editing, Circles tells a gritty and compelling story which very much enters the realm of science fiction while always remaining firmly grounded and totally plausible. It makes excellent use of its own format to convey a compelling narrative, while empowering its audience to ultimately decide what it all means.

Doctor Who on Horror Channel: Tom Baker Interview

Monday 14 April 2014 was one of the most surreal days of my life. It all started with a train journey to London Waterloo, and in all honesty, I was anxious.

The reason I was anxious was because I had been invited to my first press launch – and it was a big one! Horror Channel was holding an event in West London to promote its repeat season of classic Doctor Who, airing thirty stories featuring the first seven Doctors from between 1963 and 1989. There was to be a very special guest: Tom Baker.

The venue was The Ivy, a restaurant and private members’ club in Leicester Square, and I arrived early enough to spend some time talking with fellow journalists and bloggers outside. Some of their work I was familiar with, some of it was new to me. But we were all fans, and we were all somewhat overwhelmed by what the day was about to bring.

I was considerably more at ease by the time we actually walked in through the doors of The Ivy. It’s almost like a TARDIS in itself, feeling somewhat bigger on the inside than you might expect. Before we knew it, we were four floors up, in what they refer to as ‘The Loft’. It looked incredible, because it had been dressed with an impressive range of costumes and props from the show.

We mingled for a while – until we noticed something. Something which occurred to the entire room at pretty much the same instant. A man had walked in, a man with white hair and a walking stick...

What follows is Doctor Who, in Tom Baker’s own words. The questions were posed by a variety of people, but the answers are those of one man. The best place to start is at the beginning…

Tom, now that Doctor Who has found a home on Horror Channel, which of your stories do you think is the most horror-filled and why?

Ah, I never thought of it. I thought they were all great comedy when I was doing it! But I suppose they’re very obvious, aren’t they? You know, you expect it to be Talons of Weng-Chiang and things like that, all the spooky stories. But they’ve taken their time to show them, haven’t they? I mean, it’s only thirty-two years since I finished it! It seems like only yesterday.

Do you think Doctor Who should be horrific? Is that a key part of it?

I think it should be whatever people want it to be. I mean, I’m very interested in horror. Not so much now, because horror is an actuality with me now! But we like to be frightened don’t we, we like to suspend ourselves, and imagine. That’s what reading crime is about, for example. I had a woman the other day in Waitrose- no, not Waitrose… it began with a W, it was a book shop. Er, Waterstones. ‘Have you got anything… murder? Gruesome? Have you got anything like that?’ She said, ‘Yeah, I think we have,’ and when you look, that’s the biggest selling thing, isn’t it. We all want to get away from sanity and chastity and virtue… and be frightened. To enter another world. When in reality of course, we want nice neighbours and no crime, don’t we! It’s that lovely area of our imagination that says ‘Let’s get out of here.’

What’s it like to see the fans show enthusiasm towards Doctor Who to this day?

I dare say you’re alluding to ExCeL, aren’t you [last year's anniversary celebration event]? Seeing the fans’ enthusiasm donkey’s years after I’ve left is really quite extraordinary, you know, and also the intensity of their emotion, and I get lots of mail, still… I mean, when I say lots, probably ten a day or something like that, and they’re all emotional. People are thanking me, being reminded of when they were children and how happy they were. In those days, television was so… it allowed us to cohere more, didn’t it. Without video, you had to watch in real time and talk about it the next day, otherwise you were out of the loop. So people stop me… a man stopped me in Oxford Street. He said ‘Tom Baker… I can’t believe it!’ I caught a glimpse of myself in a shop window and I thought, ‘I can’t believe it either.’

But he kept saying ‘unbelievable’. He said ‘Look, when I was a boy, I was in care’… in Wales or somewhere, in a home. He said, ‘Nobody wanted us, nobody wanted me.’ Then his eyes filled with tears, and he said ‘…and you made a difference.’ I was terribly touched by that, I’d made a difference, and I went to speak to him but he couldn’t speak. He just gave that little eloquent punch that sometimes people do. You know, a little bang like that… and he was gone. I couldn’t pursue it. And so those little encounters… the other day, a man wrote to me. He was getting married, because he’d met his girlfriend in a queue where I was signing books. The queue was so long, he was introduced to this girl and by the time he got to me, he was engaged. In America of course, in the long queues, some people met in the queue and by the time they got to me, they were married! That does happen in America. So this fellow now, wants me – he doesn’t understand the law – he wants me to actually conduct the wedding service. I had to write and tell him, listen… you know, I checked the laws up on the internet – I Googled it up. I thought it might be a fun photo-shoot. But it’s not allowed, I have to do a course. I’m not in the mood for becoming a registrar.

This season on Horror Channel won’t just feature your Doctor, it will be the other Doctors as well. Is it something you’re reconciled about, that there are other actors who also played the role, or is that always an uncomfortable truth for you?

Well, it’s only recently that it dawned on me that there were other Doctors! I don’t know them, you know, and I’ve got no desire to know them! Of course, I’d never watched them. I thought it was only fair never to watch them because I didn’t watch myself. All I wanted to do was… do it. You see, the thing is, saying that – because it doesn’t really matter what I say – I was playing Doctor Who before I got the part. And that’s why it made me so happy when I did get it. I didn’t watch myself because a little bit of me… I didn’t watch it because I was so opinionated about which shots they used. I thought, ‘we did a better take’… and so, I just celebrated being, you know… coming out of obscurity into being a children’s hero. And not to be soppy about it, it really gave me an enormous pleasure, and I did a lot to promote the programme. And still do!

When you came back and appeared with Matt last year, was that funny? Did you feel proprietorial then?

Well I mean, going to Cardiff on a winter’s morning at four o’clock… couldn’t possibly be fun. But he was nice, and I didn’t understand the cameras anymore because of the HD, I didn’t understand that. So I was with unease, you know? But Matt Smith was a charming young man, and we did this little scene, which people liked a lot. There was thousands of people there! Absolutely thousands and thousands of people. I have to tell you also, I have a very poor background in Liverpool, so I wanted to be… everybody wants to be loved. Admired, and everything. And I always wanted to be adored. And then, like lots of people… you would like to be adored, wouldn’t you? Don’t be smug! So when it happened, suddenly I was adored… and I was ready for it. I really was ready for it. I thought I’d never recover from it! Also, of course, I’m still playing the part for Big Finish Productions. I think I’ve got sixteen or eighteen adventures, so it’s still going on. It doesn’t matter that I can’t walk very well now, because that’s the lovely thing about audio. It was a happy time. It was odd being happy. But listen… are you interested in happiness? I mean, if you want misery, I can change.

How does it feel when you’re approached by young fans, who probably weren’t born when the classic series of Doctor Who aired?

I’m not approached now by young fans, I’m approached by early-middle age fans. Sometimes they have their children with them, and then something charming happens. I usually pass over a jelly baby and I have lots of small coins, because children adore money nearly as much as adults do! They like a little scene, so I give them… I say ‘Are you all right for money?’ I’ll give him a pound and a 20p, and then I say, ‘Look, if you meet a beggar, give them the 20p. Keep the pound.’ He looks at his father and thinks I’m mad, you know, but fortunately my wife is not very poor, so I will pocket all the change! I remember those days of being poor. It’s a bit like earache, in the sense that you can’t stop thinking about it. When you’re poor, you go to bed thinking ‘Christ…’ and then you wake up in the night for a pee and you think, I’m still poor! And of course, when it comes to passion and love-making, being poor kind of gets in the way! ‘Darling, this was marvellous, absolutely marvellous…’ ‘What did you say? What do you mean, you’re still poor?’

Speaking about the other Doctors, do you have any advice for Peter Capaldi?

No. No, I don’t have any advice for anybody. Not for anybody, and certainly not someone taking over Doctor Who. He’s a very accomplished actor. I’ve seen him do those mean things, you know… swearing into his mobile. But nobody has ever failed in it. Nobody has ever failed, so there you are. Going to be all right. I mean, we nod to each other, you know, at conventions. We nod, but we don’t really… no, we don’t.

Going back to the fiftieth anniversary special, do you have a clear idea or an opinion as to who your character was? Was he an older Fourth Doctor? He was a bit of an enigmatic character.

Well, typical of the BBC, nobody knows! It could be anything… could have been the next Director-General for all we know! I mean, in the BBC you’ve really got to be able to suspend your disbelief. Anything can happen in the BBC. I mean, the monsters on Doctor Who were never as amazing as the monsters on the Sixth Floor. There were some very improbable looking people up there!

Which were the scariest Doctor Who villains and monsters?

Well, I liked them all. I liked the villains. I think somehow or other, I have always wanted to be more friendly towards them. You know, but… I liked them all, I think. The Daleks, of course, were always shouting, and always being beaten. They never learned anything! It was such fun to do. I used to like the ones, actually, which were grizzly. You know, and sticky. I like stickiness.

If you could play any villain, who would you like to play?

I was in Frankenstein, and I was going to be the monster. But Christopher Isherwood, who wrote it, didn’t think I was pretty enough. It’s true! It was a big Universal production, and they gave it to a very good looking actor, and then they gave me the part of the ship’s captain. But I’ve never really had the chance to play monsters, I don’t think. Except, of course, in my private life!

How does it feel to still be the longest running Doctor?

Well it’s a bit daunting, actually. I am now 29,200 days old. It’s a pretty daunting thing, that. I can’t believe it that all that time has passed. Isn’t it amazing that it almost makes me immortal. People are still stopping me in the street and saying ‘You were really influential in my life’. I like that a lot, and if they say it nicely I offer them money. Not advice but money! People are more interested in money.

In your last year of playing the Doctor in the original series, there was much made of the alleged conflict between you and John Nathan-Turner [producer of Doctor Who from 1980-89], how you wanted to play the role and where he wanted to take the series…

Yes, there certainly was. I didn’t like his taste in anything at all! He knew that, and he didn’t like what I was doing because he wanted to make his mark on the programme, quite understandably. When I offered my resignation, he absolutely… he was very demonstrative. He embraced me with tears in his eyes, saying ‘Thank you very much’. I was shocked at that! I thought he might have said ‘Are you sure?’ He was so relieved! After that, I think he sent me some flowers or something, and we became quite good friends when all the tensions had gone and it didn’t matter anymore. But yes, there was… there were arguments about how things should be done, because it’s often a matter of opinion about what’s funny, isn’t it. Or what’s dramatic, and no two or three people agree all the time about that. But that’s all in the past now. And then he died, you see. I think one of the reasons my career kind of stalled a bit after Doctor Who, except for the audio ones, is that the word got around that after working with me, quite a lot of directors, you know… died unexpectedly. Some of them, I believe, in terrible agony. The word got around, and so naturally… I noticed that once I saw Trevor Nunn near Bow Street, and he crossed the road to avoid me, and I said ‘Trevor!’ I thought, why’s he cutting me like that? But people are nervous of actors who make them die. Which I thought was a bit wimpy.

Can you remember how you felt the first time you got a fan letter?

It was a good feeling, yeah. But now it wears me out, because fans often are very demanding, and when I open the letters, there are lots of instructions. Where to sign, what to do. Also, I can tell when people are anxious writing the letters, because I can’t get the letters open. You know those people who put lots of sellotape… Fortunately I have a man who helps me in the garden, so he opens the bad ones! But there are lots of instructions about where it should be, and they ask the same questions… You know, which girl did I love the most? Brings back memories…

You wore a fair amount of costumes during your tenure. Were there any that you didn’t like wearing, or were you simply not fussed?

No, no I wasn’t fussed, because the costume designers I got on very well with. Especially June Hudson. Now, the more flamboyant… The last one I had, it was almost operatic wasn’t it, you know, the purple coat. The big hat and scarf, and everything. I’d like to have worn it in real life, but I can’t at my age be walking around with a big scarf and a walking stick! It just wouldn’t look sexy.

One of your most popular stories is Genesis of the Daleks, which deals a lot with politics and warfare. How important is that kind of subject matter to you?

Well, any character that I’ve played… You know, the Doctor is actually rather priggish, I think. He was terribly politically correct, and I noticed that in the scripts, he’s always a bit soppy really. So I tried to hide that. All that stuff about whether I was going to blow up the Daleks, and then I had to say that lovely line, ‘Have I the right?’ Which was a queue for a song really, but… The reason why I didn’t have the right was [Dalek creator] Terry Nation would have absolutely had me murdered! It was his living, wasn’t it.

Should he have blown up the Daleks, then?

I just tried to play the way I was. I’ve always felt myself to be a kind of benevolent alien, really. Ha ha!

The Doctor Who world still mourns Elisabeth Sladen, who died a few years ago. Of course, she was in the show when you joined. What particular memories do you have of working with Elisabeth?

Well, Elisabeth Sladen… It was a terrible blow to me when she left, because she mistakenly thought a new producer would, at the end of her first year of contract, want to choose his own girl. Apparently that’s very common. She anticipated that by resigning, and it was a terrible shock to me because we got on so well, and she admired me so much. People who admire me really can be quite influential with me. I can be quite persuaded if I get enough admiration! And then she was replaced by Louise [Jameson]. We’re good friends now, we’re often working together. But I was very cold towards her, because I was shocked that Elisabeth had gone. It also, of course, changed our physical relationship a lot, because with Elisabeth, I used to be able to throw her into the tunnel and scramble after her. It was absolutely great! But when Louise arrived playing the character of Leela, wearing very few clothes, I couldn’t throw her into a pipe and then scramble in afterwards, without raising at least eyebrows! But eventually, we became friendly.

Talking of Elisabeth Sladen, there were rumours that you were going to be appearing in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Was that something that you were going to do?

I think that it was being mooted, at the time when Elisabeth began to be ill. I’d never seen it, you see, but she was so thrilled… But I never got round to doing that. I don’t accept many jobs now, because the thing is… I can’t be bothered! What’s the point in having a rich wife and chasing cheap jobs in the BBC?

Do you know what it was that they were going to ask you to do? Were you going to be playing the Doctor?

Well, I mean, of course I would have been playing the Doctor! [Following the end of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who Magazine published details of an unused storyline for the show, featuring Tom as a ghostly, enigmatic figure] After I left Doctor Who… When I played Macbeth after that, of course I did it in the style of Doctor Who. I felt that I had to do it, because the audience were all Doctor Who fans. The other actors didn’t like that! Afterwards some of the people said, ‘I had no idea that Macbeth was such a nice fellow!’ And exactly the same when I played An Inspector Called, you know, a rather dreary old servant. Some American fans used to come. They’d walk for a fortnight! They sat in the front row and in two days, they got to know the play, and so they used to hang around in the corner. When I came on, they used to rush in, [panting] like that. The other actors, again, had no sense of humour at all! They said, look, what’s going on? I said, I’m being adored, that’s what’s going on! What do you want me to do, tell them to go away? They’ve bought the tickets! They didn’t buy the tickets to see you! And it’s true… they didn’t buy the tickets to see him. He was big in Coronation Street, but in the Doctor Who world he was nobody.

How did you actually land the part of the Doctor?

Only because I was in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Ray Harryhausen, and it was on next door to the BBC. The Odeon there, only about fifty yards from the BBC. When my name came up, they said ‘Tom’s in a film next door’. So they all piled into a taxi, because that’s what they do at the BBC, and when they saw it, they liked my… I was playing a wizard or something, and that got me doing interviews, and one thing led to another. Then I was Doctor Who. In the BBC, the cruelty… when I got it they said ‘Right, you’re on’. And I said, well, that’s marvellous. I was working on a building site, making tea – that’s all I was good for – and the guy said, ‘However Tom…’ There’s always a chilling ‘but’ when you get good news, isn’t there! He said, ‘You can’t tell anyone for a fortnight’. I thought, Christ! I hadn’t worked for twenty weeks! You know, I’m working on a building site, and I had to keep my mouth shut for two whole weeks. When I was going to play a big part, you know. It was very painful. But I was happy to do it, that’s why I stayed so long. Why would I walk away from that?

Your last line in Doctor Who is very celebrated. Are you happy with it? ‘It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for…’

Well, the fans like lines like that. They like those lines, yeah. I wanted to put in more lines, you know, I wanted to say things like ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ Or things like that, but the BBC didn’t find that funny at all. They didn’t find my ideas… I might have met Shakespeare, you know. I’d go off and get lost somewhere, and then discover that I was a famous Elizabethan actor, or whatever. But they didn’t like my ideas at all, and I can’t say I blame them! I do have some terrible ideas.

Throughout the 1970s, there were numerous occasions when Doctor Who came under fire from some quarters for supposedly being too scary. What were your thoughts on that, both at the time and now, and do you perhaps think it was something that the adults were worried about more than the younger viewers?

Well, I don’t know about now, because I don’t watch much television and things have changed. But I used to like the idea of children being scared. I used to live with an actor, he had three children and a big house in Muswell Hill. And sometimes we used to play games… it really was a big house, and we put the lights out all over the place, and I’d count to fifty. Then I’d creep about. It was marvellous, the way these children… sometimes I could hear them squeaking with terror! When I was creeping into cloakrooms and wherever. That idea of being frightened, children like being frightened, don’t they. The other thing is that in television they can go much further than the cinema, because in television you’re watching in a domestic context – that’s why it’s so powerful, I suppose – and when they look away from what’s frightening them, they can see fish fingers, or whatever it is their mother’s giving them, or muesli nowadays… So I never heard anyone complain that I frightened them. I mean, just look at me, and try to imagine me forty years ago if you can… No, I wasn’t at all frightening. Even now, as an old man, I can’t do fright. Ha ha ha! Is there anyone else that wants to know something?

Did you find K9 a blessing or a nuisance?

Well, I found K9… Curiously enough, you know, I’ve got rather bad arthritis now, I’m on some very powerful anti-inflammatories. The doctor said there might be some side-effects, and two side-effects I’ve had recently, are… I’ve started calling my dog, Poppy, K9. And the other thing, I’ve been calling my wife Dorothy. Her real name’s Sue! So I’ve knocked off those pills and I’m just on patches now, so my memory’s coming back a bit. I didn’t like K9 at all, because it meant that every time we had a two-shot, I had to get on my knees, to remind me of the days when I was a Catholic. It was pretty bloody boring being reminded of those days! So that was kind of boring, and the dog couldn’t move quickly in the old days. It was retrieved in rehearsal by John Leeson actually playing the dog. He actually moved around. I said, why don’t we give him another costume, looking like a dog, and why can’t he answer the phone and play chess or something? But by that time, of course, the BBC had calculated that they were marketing K9, and they didn’t want any discussion about that. But finally I got used to it.

Of all the other things you’ve done, stage, TV, film, what are the things you’re particularly proud of?

Well, nothing has approached Doctor Who. Nothing at all. Just… no, that’s right. That’s why I’m so delighted to be still playing it! In Waitrose and places like that, I’m still called the Doctor. Lots of old ladies – who weren’t always old ladies – recognise me and say charming things. An old lady said to me recently, after she’d crashed into my trolley three times… I knew something was afoot! She said, ‘It’s so lovely to see you again, Mr Baker. You know, I’ve been a widow for many years and I live quite close by…’ [laughter] Yes, that’s what I thought! And I thought, well, that’s good, you know. Come on now, let’s get to it!

Do you regret never making the Doctor Who film that you planned on making?

There was talk of a… I wrote a film called Scratchman with Ian Marter, but nothing came of it. It’s still in existence, circulating. People look at it and think they can make it into an audio or something like that. But I was out of my depth when it came to how we could market a film of Doctor Who, because the BBC, you know… it would be difficult. Too difficult.

You were initially going to be in The Five Doctors, which you eventually turned down. Years later, you regretted that decision. Did this have something to do with your disagreements with John Nathan-Turner, as mentioned earlier?

Yeah, I turned down The Five Doctors because it wasn’t long since I’d left, and also I’d left Doctor Who because I thought I had run my course, but also I wasn’t getting on very well with John. Later we became friends. So when I realised he was going to produce something, I thought… no. Anyway, I didn’t want to play twenty percent of the film, you know… No, I didn’t fancy being just a kind of feed for other Doctors. In fact, it filled me with horror. Now of course, if somebody asked me to do a scene with some old Doctors, I think… if they let me tamper with the script…

Have you still got any Doctor Who mementos?

No! I have no mementos left at all, because it was all begged off me. I had lots and lots of things, but when you’re a sex symbol- I mean, er, when you’re a hero, all the charities… You know, the thing about charities, and I used to explain that… Do you remember on the street when people used to stop you to sign a banking thing? I used to try to explain to them how terrifying it was. I said, listen, I’m not going to give you any address- I said, well, I’ll give you some money now. But they said, ‘Well, we can’t have money, we want your particulars.’ I said, listen… The minute you give anything to charity, your whole life changes, doesn’t it? Bang goes piece of mind, you’re terrified of the phone going, a knock on the door… That’s what charities do, you know, they’re not interested in your piece of mind. They want a piece of your money! And that’s understandable, I understand that perfectly… and avoid them like the plague! That’s the strategy, isn’t it. I mean, I help out at the local hospice, you know, I often go down there because people who are dying are always glad to see me. I remember one old lady. They take me round, you know, and they take the photographers. But one darling old lady who already had about, I suppose thirty minutes to live, she held my hand so hard, and looked at me with such ecstasy and she said, ‘Oh, fancy seeing you here,’ she said, ‘Oh! Oh!’ Eventually she stopped saying ‘Oh’, just before she died, and I realised that she thought she’d died, and gone to heaven… and I was there! So, I don’t mind doing it down there because who could resist the hospice?

When you were approached to appear in the fiftieth anniversary episode, did you ever contemplate not doing it?

Yeah, I did contemplate not doing it. I was persuaded by a girl called Caroline Skinner, who was the executive producer, and she came to meet me in Rye, at the Mermaid Hotel – the antique place – and she begged me to do it, you see. She’s a very assertive girl, and she was very charming about it, and said I could tamper with the script or whatever. So I said yes to her. Anyway, then the script arrived three months later, and I didn’t much care for the script-

At this point, Tom suddenly notices the glass full of jelly babies that has been sitting on the table in front of him.

Are they jelly babies?

Then, for a few brief seconds, he slips completely back into character, offering one of the sweets to the member of staff sat next to him.

Would you like a jelly baby?

Now, where were we…?

I didn’t much care for the script, you see, so I rang the BBC and said listen, get me Caroline Skinner. They said, ‘Who?’ I said, is that the Doctor Who production office? They said ‘Yes’. I said, and you’re asking me who Caroline Skinner is? The producer! ‘Oh, er…’ Tom imitates a kerfuffle on the other end of the phone line. ‘Hello? Er, I’m so sorry, she’s not with us anymore.’ It was only later I found out she’d been murdered by someone else at the BBC, who I suppose was after her job. [Tom is joking!] I never heard of her again, but by that time, you see, I’d agreed to do it! And I tell you, I’m not sorry now. I miss meeting Caroline, she was very sweet.

Are you aware that your appearance upset some of the other Doctors?

Oh I hope so, yes! Thank you very much for reminding me of that. Yes, that really pleased me! Were any of you at ExCeL? Do you remember… Nick Briggs, who’s a charming man who does those lovely, friendly interviews… Well, there were about three thousand people in there. What he really should have done, was the curtain should have gone up… Well, it wasn’t a curtain. He should have called us all on stage, and then introduced us, but he didn’t. He quite reasonably thought ‘I’ll start with the old man’, which means he’s dead by the time I get to him, and he said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Baker.’ I walked on into the light… which was ecstasy. The applause was tumultuous! Absolutely amazing. ‘I hope this never stops!’ Anyway, it went on and on and on, and I was messing around to extend it, and that was a terrible mistake. Because I know as an old actor that in a room, there’s only so much laughter. There’s only so much energy… and I’d taken up about thirty percent of it! I kept thinking, if this goes on, the other boys are going to come on in silence! So naturally, I went on. And they came on to less energy in the room. There you are, that’s show business!

As such an iconic star, how much does Doctor Who affect your everyday life?

Well, it informs my life almost entirely, you know, outside of my home. Because people… I am a famous fiction… and everybody in the shops, they all call me Doctor. And I respond as the Doctor, and they present babies to me, and say lovely things. So once I’m out in public, especially locally – in Tunbridge Wells, or Rye, or wherever – it impinges on me all the time. It’s, in a very benevolent way, as though someone’s saying darling- I mean, Doctor. Sometimes they say darling!

At this point, with beautiful timing, a phone was heard. Whoever’s phone it was, it meant that Tom’s answer had to remain incomplete, as our time had run out. But for around half an hour, Tom had enchanted his audience, making us laugh, gasp and cheer. What a fantastic ambassador for the show he is, and I must congratulate the Horror Channel team for organising such an unforgettable launch event for the world’s longest-running science fiction TV series. How appropriate, though, that our Q&A session ended on a cliffhanger all of its own.

“Who knows, eh?”

Catch Doctor Who on Horror Channel (Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138).

#WhoOnHorror

#WhoOnHorror

BMW launches 'Ultimate Driver' competition on cinime mobile app

cinime is a new app which allows iPhone and Android users to interact with adverts before the film in a cinema. The app, which uses 'audio signatures' to recognise which advert is being played, allows the user to participate in quizzes and enter competitions.

This sounds like a very innovative platform, with a lot of potential. But right now, a particularly exciting competition is under way, in a collaboration between cinime and BMW - offering you the chance to become BMW's Ultimate Driver, test driving all new BMW models launched in 2014!

Here are the official details...

Download cinime, the new cinema companion mobile app that helps you get more from your cinema visits, and you could steer your way to become BMW’s Ultimate Driver. BMW is offering you the chance to pick the perfect line in an interactive big screen challenge. Have cinime ready on your mobile phone during the ads next time you visit an ODEON, Cineworld or Vue cinema to complete a virtual lap in a new BMW 2 Series Coupé. The fastest to choose the best driving line, breaking or acceleration points using the app will be invited to battle it out on a 2 Series track day. One person will be named BMW’s Ultimate Driver, winning the chance to test drive all new BMW models launched in 2014. And all participants will get a video of their own performance on the big screen lap, just for taking part. There are loads of other reasons to download cinime, with plenty of rewards and treats on offer including content, vouchers and prizes which can be won and unlocked every time you visit participating cinemas.

Download the cinime app from Google Play and iTunes now. 

You can also use cinime to play along with the big screen in our film quiz before the movie for a chance to scoop free cinema treats for your next visit. Or get bonus content and more from new films by scanning posters in the cinema foyer. 

Whenever you see the cinime logo, grab your phone and start looking out for rewards. Offers are available before and after the movie, so always keep your eyes open for cinime as there will be lots of benefits for downloading. 

Once you’ve found your seat, switch your phone to silent and leave your cinime app open. It’ll respond and interact with the screen while you sit back and enjoy the ads, delivering content, offers and discounts directly to your phone. 

The interactive cinime section ends when the movie starts, so please switch off and put your phone away when the film begins, then sit back and enjoy the cinema experience. Cinime is currently testing in selected ODEON, Cineworld and Vue cinemas. Offers are subject to availability and Terms & Conditions apply. 

The BMW Ultimate Driver challenge is open to cinime users aged 25 years and over holding a current driving licence for at least 12 months.

The BMW Ultimate Driver competition closes on 10 March 2014.

BBC Worldwide DVD & Blu-ray releases - March 2014

BBC Worldwide has sent Telly Tech the details for its DVD and Blu-ray releases in March 2014. These are reproduced below, along with links to the titles on Amazon and BBC Shop. Please note that non-BBC programming is released under the 2ǀentertain label.

Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond [DVD]
Release Date: 3 March
RRP: £15.31
Amazon
BBC Shop

London, 1939: Ian Fleming, played by Dominic Cooper, is an irresponsible playboy living in the shadow of his dead war hero father, his successful author brother and his domineering mother. When the Second World War breaks out, Ian suddenly finds himself with a chance to shine – to prove his worth – with a job in Naval Intelligence. Packed with lust, romance, humour, jeopardy and explosive action – and set in Britain, France, Germany and Jamaica – this is the fascinating story of the man whose own life and adventures were the inspiration for one of the most iconic spies in modern literature – James Bond.

Death in Paradise Series Three [DVD]
Release Date: 10 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

After the success of Series One and Two, Death in Paradise returns for a third run of murder and mystery on the fictional island of Saint-Marie, but with a shocking twist of events – DI Richard Poole, played by Ben Miller (Primeval, Armstrong & Miller) is murdered! DI Poole’s tragic death ushers in the arrival of new detective, DI Humphrey Goodman, played by Kris Marshall (My Family, Love Actually). Battling their grief and determined to catch the killer of their friend, Camille (Sara Martins), Fidel (Gary Carr) and Dwayne (Danny John-Jules) are joined by DI Humphrey Goodman to help them get to the bottom of Poole’s death. Unfortunately, Humphrey’s naturally bumbling and accident-prone ways mean he doesn’t make a great first impression...

Outnumbered Series Five [DVD]
Release Date: 17 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

Starring Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, Outnumbered enters its fifth and final series! Those cute little kids from the hit family sitcom are now teenagers, causing even more havoc for their beleaguered parents Pete and Sue, who continue to battle through life both within and outside of their hectic household. Sue has a brand new office job and, predictably, struggles to maintain an aura of composure with her three growing offspring to contend with back home, while Pete is besieged by unreliable technologies. Their eldest son Jake is sporting a new tattoo – of sorts – and is getting behind the wheel to learn to drive. Tone-deaf Ben is set to take the lead in his school play – a musical version of Spartacus. While Karen, once the baby of the family starts secondary school and, unsurprisingly, soon finds herself arguing with just about everyone, including her new head teacher. The Outnumbered Series 1-5 DVD box set will also be released on 17 March, priced £51.05.

Series 1-5: Amazon
Series 1-5: BBC Shop

Call the Midwife (Series Three & Christmas Special) [DVD]
Release Date: 17 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife follows Nurse Jenny Lee and the midwives from Nonnatus House convent as they provide the best possible care to the expectant mothers of Poplar. Series Three sees Chummy, PC Noakes and baby Freddy back in the East End; Sister Bernadette – now known as Shelagh since leaving the convent – preparing for her wedding to Dr Turner; and Jenny facing some tough personal and professional challenges. At Christmas, when an unexploded World War II bomb is found under a warehouse close to Nonnatus House, the nuns and dozens of local families find themselves homeless. Later, Dr Turner finds himself in a race against time to immunise children against polio, and when a Royal visitor comes to the East End, Chummy persuades them to open the new Community Centre.

Series 1-3: Amazon
Series 1-3: BBC Shop

Inside No 9 [DVD]
Release Date: 17 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

Following their BAFTA and British Comedy Award-winning horror comedy series Psychoville and the phenomenally successful League of Gentlemen, writer/creators/performers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith return with Inside No 9, a sinister six-part anthology comedy series for BBC Two. Half a dozen truly spooky tales starring Reece and Steve themselves, but also featuring a great array of British comedy talent, such as Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) and Tim Key (Mid Morning Matters, Alpha Papa). Each story is set in its own world with stories that will be as entertaining as they are scary.

David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities Series 1&2 Box Set [DVD]
Release Date: 24 March
RRP: £25.52

In David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities, Sir David Attenborough shares the stories of some of the most extraordinary creatures that have bewildered and continued to intrigue him – from the peculiar patterns of a zebra’s stripes to the evolutionary quirk of the egg-laying platypus. Each episode explores the stories behind two natural curiosities, linked together by a common theme. Sir David’s gift for storytelling combined with wonderful images of the animal subjects seen in a distinctive way creates a compelling natural history series with a difference.

The Musketeers [DVD/Blu-ray]
Release Date: 24 March
RRP: £25.52 DVD / £30.63 Blu-ray
DVD: Amazon
DVD: BBC Shop
Blu-ray: Amazon
Blu-ray: BBC Shop

BBC One’s swashbuckling new drama The Musketeers will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on 10 March 2014 and is a must-have for fans of the hit series or those who missed it. This ten-part adaptation of Dumas’ masterpiece tells the story of an elite group of soldiers who protect their Royal Masters at any cost. As they are propelled across seas and battlefields from masquerade balls to a remote convent, the Musketeers defend the honour of the Queen and the life of Constance Bonacieux, d'Artagnan's true love.

Da Vinci’s Demons Series One [DVD/Blu-ray]
Release Date: 31 March
RRP:  £25.52 DVD / £30.63 Blu-ray
DVD: Amazon
DVD: BBC Shop
Blu-ray: Amazon
Blu-ray: BBC Shop

The secret history of Leonardo da Vinci’s tantalising life is a portrait of a young man tortured by a gift of superhuman genius. He is a heretic intent on exposing the lies of religion. An insurgent seeking to subvert an elitist society. A bastard son who yearns for legitimacy with his father. He finds himself in the midst of a storm that has been brewing for centuries. A conflict between truth and lies, religion and reason, past and future. His aspirations are used against him by the opposing forces of the time – luring him into a game of seduction where those who despise his intellect need him most. Leonardo must take up the fight against foes who use history to suppress the truth. A hero armed only with genius, Da Vinci stands alone against the darkness within, and the darkness without. Facing an uncertain future, his quest for knowledge nearly becomes his undoing as he explores the fringes of his own sanity.

Moone Boy Series Two [DVD]
Release Date: 31 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

Returning for a second series, critically acclaimed Moone Boy is written by and stars Chris O'Dowd (The IT Crowd, Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids) as Sean Murphy, the imaginary friend to hapless 12-year-old, Martin Moone. Moone Boy is a hilariously funny and warm comedy based on Chris O'Dowd's life growing up in 1980s Ireland, laced with contemporary music and beautiful animation. A Series 1&2 box set will also be released on 24 March, priced £30.63.

Series 1&2: Amazon
Series 1&2: BBC Shop

Stella Series Three [DVD]
Release Date: 31 March
RRP: £20.42
Amazon
BBC Shop

After her love life rollercoaster ride of Series Two, Stella (played by Ruth Jones) has renounced men and embarked on a new nursing career. With all her children and grandchildren plus a dog now living at home, Stella’s house is bursting at the seams – just as she likes it! But an encounter with a new neighbour rocks the already chaotic boat… in more ways than one. Stella Series 1-3 comes out on 31 March as well and will cost £38.80.

Series 1-3: Amazon
Series 1-3: BBC Shop

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on the BBC

Today sees the Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the BBC is gearing up to provide the most comprehensive digital coverage ever for the Winter Games.

As well as 200 hours of network TV coverage, the BBC will also be broadcasting over 650 hours of live sporting action through six high definition streams. All of Team GB's medal moments will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 5 live, with a wealth of content available online and on tablets, smartphones, connected TVs, the BBC Sport app and the Red Button.

For a detailed day-by-day breakdown of the schedule, visit the BBC Sport website.

The Opening Ceremony is live on BBC Two now! Watch live via the BBC iPlayer in the UK.

DVD Preview: 'Not Another Happy Ending' clips and info

Ahead of its DVD release on Monday 10 February, four clips from Not Another Happy Ending are available to watch online via the Telly Tech YouTube channel.

The cast of the romantic comedy includes Karen Gillan, Stanley Weber and Iain De Caestecker. More information can be seen below.

Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy) stars in the Glasgow-set romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending, set for release on DVD from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment on 10 February 2014. It will come with a whole host of extras including interviews with producer Claire Mundell, co-producer Wendy Griffin and director John McKay (We'll Take Manhattan).

Written by David Solomons (Five Children and It), the film had its World Premiere at last year's Edinburgh International Film Festival before hitting the big screen in October.

Starring alongside Karen Gillan is Stanley Weber (Thérèse, Borgia), Iain de Caestecker (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Filth), Freya Mavor (Sunshine on Leith, Skins), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, Prometheus), Gary Lewis (Gangs of New York, Billy Elliot), Amy Manson (Being Human) and Henry Ian Cusick (Lost).

When struggling, maverick publisher Tom Duval (Weber) discovers his only successful author, Jane Lockhart (Gillan), has writer's block, he knows he has to unblock her or he's finished. But with her newfound success, she's become too damn happy to write. The only trouble is, the worse he tries to make her feel, the more he realises he is in love with her...

Certificate: 12

Running Time: 98 minutes approx.

RRP: £15.99

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Film News: 'The Sea' - release date changed

Independent Distribution has announced a change to the release date of The Sea, a film directed by Stephen Brown and written by John Banville, which will now be released in UK cinemas on 18 April.

A touching story of memory, love, loss and regret, The Sea, based on the Man Booker prize-winning novel by John Banville, is set for release on 18 April 2014 through Independent Distribution.

Grieving after the death of his wife, art historian Max Morden (Ciarán Hinds – Munich, Rome) returns to the sleepy seaside resort where he spent summers as a child. Max lodges at a boarding house he once frequented, where frosty proprietor Miss Vavasour (Charlotte Rampling – The Verdict, The Duchess), and eccentric resident Blunden (Karl Johnson – The Illusionist, Rome) now reside. Before long – and despite protestations from his daughter Clare (Ruth Bradley – Grabbers, Primeval) – Max revisits the ghosts of his past.

Max's mind returns to an idyllic summer in 1955 when, as a child, he encountered the Grace family. Carlo (Rufus Sewell – Dark City, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Connie (Natascha McElhone – The Truman Show, Californication) were unlike any adults he had met before: nonchalant, bohemian and filled with worldly grace and candour.

Young Max (Matthew Dillon) befriends the young Grace twins, Chloe (Missy Keating) and Myles (Padhraig Parkinson), and his fascination for this unconventional clan transforms into intimacy and love. Meanwhile, the children's young nanny Rose (Bonnie Wright), an outsider like Max, regards the Grace's new surrogate with quiet suspicion.

While Max attempts to deal with the loss of his wife, and recalls moments with his departed partner Anna (Sinéad Cusack), he also confronts a distant trauma from the past.

The Sea was nominated for the Michael Powell Award at the 2013 Edinburgh International Film Festival and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival 2013.

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 87 minutes approx.

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Film News: 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' - green band trailer and Super Bowl spot featuring Ted

Following the release of the restricted red band trailer last Thursday, a family-friendly green band trailer has been made available for A Million Ways to Die in the West, a western comedy film from Seth MacFarlane which hits UK cinemas on 6 June:


Additionally, a special TV spot aired during the Super Bowl last night... featuring none other than Ted!


Read more about the film and view the character one-sheets here.

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DVD Review: Doctor Who – The Web of Fear

This story used to be five-sixths missing... but now it's five-sixths complete. The Yeti are back.

DOCTOR WHO

THE WEB OF FEAR

DVD

BBFC: PG

Released by: BBC Worldwide

Release date: 24 February 2014

"Prepare for a great darkness to cloud your mind..."

This time last year, could anyone have predicted this? “Doctor Who: The Web of Fear. To select audio navigation, press enter now.” What strange parallel universe have we slipped into? But this is not a parallel universe. Nor is it a dream. This is real. The Web of Fear is back.

It’s a tragic fact that a significant amount of the 253 episodes of Doctor Who that were broadcast in the 1960s, starring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, no longer exist in the archives. Prior to October 2013, 106 of them were officially missing, thought to be lost forever. But miraculously, in October it was announced that Philip Morris (director of Television International Enterprises Archives) had located nine ‘missing’ episodes in a television relay station in the city of Jos, Nigeria. These comprised all five missing episodes of The Enemy of the World, and four of the five lost instalments of the story which immediately followed it: The Web of Fear. (For a more detailed explanation of why so many episodes of Doctor Who are missing, read my review of the DVD of Enemy.)

So, this is a six-part story which we were previously only able to watch the first episode of – and now we can watch almost all of it, apart from the third episode, which remains missing. But what made this discovery so thrilling (and nerve-wracking) was its precedent. I’m not talking purely in terms of recovered episodes, but in terms of recovered episodes that fandom really wanted to see. I would argue that the most direct precedent for the recovery of this story is The Tomb of the Cybermen, which was returned to the BBC from Hong Kong in 1992. Popular fan lore tells us that prior to that discovery, Tomb was a holy grail for many, but proved to be something of a let-down once the episodes finally resurfaced. (For the record, I don’t subscribe to this opinion, although in any case, the recovery happened before I was born!) Coming back to The Web of Fear, and we have another ‘holy grail’ – but would the tide of opinion turn against it?

Not really, no. The Web of Fear, while flawed, is brilliant.

Though to be honest, we already had a good idea that this would be the case, solely on the basis of the long-existing first episode – an episode which exhibits qualities that shine throughout the rest of the serial. The Web of Fear is a dark, eerie, claustrophobic story, doing what Doctor Who does best – taking a familiar, ordinary setting and making it absolutely terrifying.

The Web of Fear stars Patrick Troughton along with Frazer Hines as Jamie and Deborah Watling as Victoria, and is a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen just three stories previously. That serial introduced the Great Intelligence and its robotic servants, the Yeti, but sadly it is in exactly the same situation as Web was not too long ago: of its six episodes, only one (the second) survives. In Web, the Intelligence is back – and via the Yeti, it has invaded London and overtaken the Underground. It’s little wonder that this story proved to be iconic for a generation, and the sets (designed by David Myerscough-Jones) were apparently so realistic that the London Underground authorities complained to the BBC, believing that they had filmed on their property without permission. The Web of Fear also left a very strong impression on a young Mark Gatiss, who used the story as a source of inspiration for his recent Sherlock episode, The Empty Hearse.

This is a threat which has grave implications indeed, and it all plays out from the London Underground. The thing is… the story itself is fundamentally quite basic – perhaps, dare I say it, even run-of-the-mill. But it is made so great by the performances, music and direction. Funnily enough, one of the standout sequences actually occurs in Episode 1, in which Professor Travers (Jack Watling) unsuccessfully attempts to retrieve a 'dormant' Yeti from the private collection of Julius Silverstein (Frederick Schrecker). It almost feels as though we are watching a horror film for a few minutes, with an unbearable amount of tension generated almost purely through the actors, lighting and music. Also, watch out for a clever moment which actually weaves the redesign of the Yeti from their previous appearance into the narrative.

The story gets its title from the mysterious ‘web’ substance which is working its way through the network of underground tube tunnels, and closing in on the army’s headquarters at Goodge Street station. Director Douglas Camfield makes excellent use of the web visually. This is where being able to properly watch The Web of Fear reveals so much. Whereas the story itself works reasonably well on audio, there’s a whole new psychological element to seeing the story. We can see the physical reactions of characters. We can see the web pulsating, as it is framed (slightly out-of-focus) in the foreground with characters in the background, the web oppressing them both figuratively and visually. It’s commendable how this story actually makes foam scary – the cliffhanger ending to Episode 2 is quite unnerving on first viewing, with the sound design undoubtedly contributing to the atmosphere.

But here’s what really makes this adventure so interesting to watch: the characters. Admittedly, the characters aren’t anywhere near as multi-layered as in the previous story, The Enemy of the World, but what works well here is that they all have suspicion cast upon them at some point or another, and they all react to the crisis in a distinct way. There’s one thing which will particularly intrigue first-time viewers – a traitor is amongst them. In a story which has such a tight-knit, co-operative team, it’s fascinating to watch the mystery of who is in league with the Intelligence unfold. I won’t spoil the surprise here, and I would urge you not to look up who it is if you have never seen the story. The revelation in Episode 6 is a superb piece of television.

Of course, there’s one man (besides our regular characters) who – although he might have been one of the prime suspects back in 1968 – we now know isn’t a bad guy. The Web of Fear is hugely notable for introducing the legendary character of Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicholas Courtney. Whereas we would later recognise him as the Brigadier, Lethbridge-Stewart is a colonel here, and somewhat regrettably he makes his first appearance in Episode 3 – the only episode which remains lost. This Lethbridge-Stewart is a distinctly different character to the man we would later become familiar with – in later years, he very much became a stiff-upper-lip authority figure, but here the Colonel is simply a soldier who, frankly, is scared out of his wits. In hindsight, you can tell that the story is actively trying to pin suspicion onto Lethbridge-Stewart as being the Great Intelligence’s puppet – he arrives in somewhat mysterious circumstances, and it’s clear that the other characters don’t entirely trust him. But from today’s perspective, it goes without saying that Lethbridge-Stewart is serving as a decoy for the audience – the real traitor is somebody else entirely…

A defining moment for the Colonel comes as he leads a group of men above ground into Covent Garden, in an attempt to regain the TARDIS (which is inaccessibly stuck under the Covent Garden tube station). This scene alone is a reason why, if an episode had to remain missing, I’m so glad it wasn’t Episode 4. The ensuing battle between the soldiers and the Yeti is something which I never thought I would ever see (save for one or two tiny snatches of footage which survived). It’s gloriously directed by Camfield, and it’s up there among Doctor Who’s most gritty and intense action sequences. All the soldiers involved lose their lives apart from the Colonel, and Lethbridge-Stewart has a breakdown of sorts in the wake of the fight, with a perfect performance by Courtney.

Professor Travers is notable for entirely different reasons. He is portrayed by Jack Watling, the real-life father of Deborah Watling. Reprising his role as Travers from The Abominable Snowmen (albeit as a significantly older version of the character), Watling lights up every scene he is in. A hugely likeable character, Travers is clearly a brilliant intellect despite being a bit forgetful. Along with his daughter Anne (Tina Packer), Travers plays an important role in the fight against the Intelligence and the Yeti. There’s an ever-so-slightly comedic streak in places, particularly in some of the Professor’s early exchanges with the loathsome journalist Harold Chorley (Jon Rollason).

Away from the story itself, you may be wondering how the missing Episode 3 is handled. As with all missing episodes of Doctor Who, an audio recording exists (recorded off-air by extraordinarily dedicated fans), so it’s a question of what to do about the missing video. Well, this DVD doesn’t follow the recent convention of using animation to fill the gap. Instead, a more traditional approach is used. Although the video is lost, numerous photos (known as ‘telesnaps’) were taken directly off-screen during the original transmission by John Cura, a man who made something of a career out of this, being officially engaged by the production team to take the photos as records of the episodes. So, this DVD uses the same ‘reconstruction’ that has been available on iTunes since October 2013 (produced by John Kelly with assistance from Paul Vanezis and Peter Crocker), marrying the soundtrack against not only these telesnaps, but also publicity photographs and screenshots from the five surviving episodes to tell the story. (It also ports a few seconds of moving footage across from the end of Episode 2, but not from the cliffhanger reprise at the start of Episode 4; perhaps because the footage didn’t directly correspond.)

While reconstructions of this nature have been produced unofficially by fans as far back as the 1980s, this is only the second time that an official release has used a full-length reconstruction of this kind, the other being the VHS release of The Tenth Planet in 2000 (although edited, cut-down photo reconstructions have occasionally featured on VHS and DVD). Is it disappointing that animation wasn’t used? To be honest, no. I am a fan of both animation and photographic reconstructions, and to me the presentation of Episode 3 is perfectly satisfactory in conveying the missing sixth of the story. Animation would have been great, but I’m not particularly bothered that it hasn't been used this time around. There are also some composited images, which take genuine photographic sources and modify them to suit the moment at hand – except for the shot of a Yeti carrying the Intelligence’s glass pyramid (which isn’t realised as well as it might have been), these are pretty well done, and sometimes barely even noticeable as being ‘fakes’. With zooms and pans to bring as much dynamic life to the still images as possible, this is a very enjoyable presentation of the missing episode (which, amazingly, only uses one text caption to describe visual action – testament to how well it tells the story) – and look out for a cheeky nod to director Douglas Camfield…

TRAILER: The Enemy of the World

This DVD has no extras, apart from an ‘Also Available’ trailer for the other recovered story, The Enemy of the World. This is a condensed version of the trailer that was released online in October 2013 to promote the iTunes release of the story. It’s a very nice trailer, although the cuts made to it mean that it doesn't work quite as well as the online version. Unfortunately, the technical quality of sections of the trailer is compromised, with video quality issues. This can be seen on the online version, but it is made more obvious here, as the shots in question are surrounded by pristine DVD-quality footage. I can only assume that a low-quality source was used for certain shots, for some reason…

A/V QUALITY

To put it concisely, the technical quality of these episodes (and the restoration work carried out on them) is superlative.

Although a copy of Episode 1 has been held in the archives for many years, Philip Morris found another film print of that episode alongside the four missing episodes in Nigeria. Upon examination, it turned out that although the Nigerian print was in far worse physical condition, the underlying quality of the recording was actually better than the archived copy, with slightly superior definition and black detail. So, following intensive physical and digital clean-up, the opening episode on this DVD is sourced from the newly discovered film, resulting in a quality upgrade compared to the version of Episode 1 on 2004’s Lost in Time DVD collection.

Watching the recovered Episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6, it’s almost hard to believe that these film cans had been sitting untouched in less-than-ideal conditions for the past four decades. Restoration has been undertaken by the usual team, and the results are hugely impressive. The studio scenes (especially following VidFIRE processing to restore the original interlaced ‘video look’ to the film recordings) are rock solid and look amazing, with great definition. They aren’t without their flaws – the contrast doesn't seem quite as strong in the later episodes as the earlier ones, and there are a couple of spots of aliasing, which is probably inherent in the source material – but this is an overwhelmingly strong presentation of the VT studio scenes. The film sequences are more of a mixed bag, but only because of the old problem of ‘out of phase’ inserts, unfixable with current technology and resulting in double-imaging in places.

Sometimes, distracting noise flickers at the very top-left of the frame (only noticeable if you are watching without overscan, ie with no picture cut off by your television), but this is only a very minor nuisance. In some respects, this DVD actually looks better than the original transmission must have done; in places, the film recording of at least one episode was afflicted with diffuse white lines flickering across the image. This was a burnt-in fault from the (long since wiped) videotape that the film recording was made from, and would have been seen on television originally. But now they're gone.

As with the video, the mono audio has been restored to a very high standard. Interestingly, for some of the later episodes, off-air audio recordings were used as the primary sound source rather than the optical soundtracks of the film recordings, because the former had advantages over the latter. To briefly mention the reconstructed Episode 3 – the audio is excellent quality, although the quality and resolution of the images varies significantly. The images sourced from high-resolution photographs tend to be more or less pin-sharp, and the screengrabs from other episodes are also high quality. Unfortunately, this does show up the lack of resolution in the authentic telesnaps, and it’s important to remember that these were originally photographed from a television screen (albeit with specially-adapted equipment) back in the sixties. This isn’t helped by the fact that digitally zooming and panning the telesnaps will inevitably diminish the resolution further. But the reconstruction is still very watchable – it is just necessary to make allowances for the varying image sources.

Of course, these episodes have previously been released on iTunes last autumn – but quality-wise, this DVD blows that previous online release out of the water. While the iTunes episodes are at a resolution of approximately 640x480, this DVD is at full PAL 720x576 resolution, with a bitrate several times higher than its iTunes counterpart. This results in the video being sharper, with far fewer blocky compression artefacts, and the DVD has been encoded from larger source files than the iTunes version. But the most significant difference between the iTunes and DVD release is that the latter has (as mentioned above) been VidFIREd, which doesn’t work on iTunes due to its incompatibility with interlaced video. As such, the iTunes version last year was mastered prior to VidFIRE being applied to the episodes, and so the DVD has a major advantage in this regard. I asked the Restoration Team’s Steve Roberts if any other work was done for the DVD (besides VidFIRE) that was absent from iTunes, and he informed me that a small amount of additional work may have been undertaken, but nothing that would make a major difference compared to iTunes. So overall, the DVD makes for a far better viewing experience than the iTunes downloads.

Presented below are a selection of comparison images between iTunes and the DVD (and, in the case of Episode 1, the 2004 Lost in Time DVD). These offer some idea of the superior resolution and compression that the DVD offers (notice that areas of film grain on the DVD were turned into nasty digital noise on iTunes, and the DVD has a little more picture area), but you can only fully appreciate the improvements after seeing the DVD in motion. The iTunes screenshots have been upscaled so that the vertical resolution matches that of the DVD, in order to provide an easier direct comparison between the two.

It is recommended that you open each image in its own tab and then flick between them to compare.

Lost in Time

iTunes

2014 DVD

Lost in Time

iTunes

2014 DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

SUMMARY

For my final thoughts on The Web of Fear, I’ll go back to what I was saying earlier about The Tomb of the Cybermen. That story was recovered before I was born, so while I’m fully aware of its context, and the fact that it used to be missing, for me it’s always been like any other existing story. Following Philip Morris’ fantastic Nigerian discovery, The Web of Fear (setting aside the missing Episode 3) and The Enemy of the World will be looked upon in exactly the same way by future generations. Let’s take a moment to think about how crazy that sounds: the Doctor Who fans of tomorrow will be able to pull these stories off the shelf without batting an eyelid. That shouldn’t even be possible, but it is. Hopefully, this isn't the last we’ve seen of missing Who being resurrected from the grave. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it’s a question of when, not if, another lost story will suddenly turn up on our shelves, thanks to the extraordinary determination of one man who has pretty much travelled the entire globe looking for these old film cans. It’s a shame that this DVD lacks any real bonus content (and this does have an effect on the score below), but let’s not forget that this is a DVD release of a story which we didn’t know existed this time last year.

It's nothing less than a miracle. The Web of Fear is back, ready to scare a whole new generation of commuters.

Main Feature – 7 out of 10
A/V Quality – 8 out of 10
Extras – 1 out of 10
Overall – 5 out of 10

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