{"id":36100,"date":"2022-07-31T00:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-30T23:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/?p=36100"},"modified":"2022-07-30T17:19:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-30T16:19:17","slug":"reviewed-the-john-nathan-turner-doctor-who-production-diary-1979-1990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/2022\/07\/31\/reviewed-the-john-nathan-turner-doctor-who-production-diary-1979-1990\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviewed: The John Nathan-Turner Doctor Who Production Diary 1979-1990"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What do Doctor Who<\/em> fans do when their planet is in the grip of a pandemic and they have to isolate in lockdown, with less freedom of movement than Amy inside the Pandorica? Some, according to a report in the London Times, built a replica movie Dalek from scratch. Richard Molesworth wrote an excellent book, The John Nathan-Turner Doctor Who Production Diary, 1979-1990<\/em>, published in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nathan-Turner died tragically young, in his early 50s. His partner, Gary Downie, survived him for a few years before also passing away before his 60th birthday. As we all know, production on the original series of Doctor Who<\/em> ceased in 1989 and Nathan-Turner\u2019s last, thankless task, before being made redundant by the BBC, was to clear out the Doctor Who<\/em> production office. The BBC wanted the office space and everything \u2013 scripts from 1963 onwards, letters, videos, production diaries, photos, props \u2013 was going to be chucked in a skip if JNT didn\u2019t remove it. He and Gary Downie bundled everything in bin bags and left this huge archive in his garage, where much of it stayed until it was eventually offered to the Restoration Team, of which Richard Molesworth is a member. Molesworth discovered an old file of JNT\u2019s expenses receipts: not, he admits, \u201con first examination the most exciting pieces of Doctor Who<\/em> paperwork I\u2019d ever come across\u201d, but closer examination revealed interesting titbits: for example, working lunches with Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and Colin Baker, which, when cross referenced with production dates, made it possible to recreate JNT\u2019s production diaries, day by day, from his first planning of Season 18 to his exit from the BBC with the bin bags, 11 years later. And that was Richard Molesworth\u2019s lockdown project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Production Diary<\/em> is an impressive and fascinating piece of work. It\u2019s also an excellent read. Every day of JNT\u2019s 11-year stewardship of Doctor Who<\/em> is reproduced through: the first publication of original documents; letters; memos of phone conversations with directors, actors, writers, and other production teams; and judicious and extensive quotations from previously published interviews and writings by such people as JNT, Eric Saward, Colin Baker, and Peter Davison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I'm a big fan of @richardmarson2<\/a> & @andrewcartmel<\/a>'s detailed works on the 1980's era of #DoctorWho<\/a>.
Richard Molesworth's scholarly new book from @TelosPublishing<\/a>, builds on these & provides fascinating context to just how damn BUSY it all was.
High pressure miracle making! pic.twitter.com\/SSEBgU6CFM<\/a><\/p>— Stephen Candy (@StephenCandy) May 23, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>