30 Years of a Fan: 2008

[Andrew Curnow]

it's the nostalgia for early 80s weekdays hitting me I think

Indeed. Although, as I say, I disliked the starfield at first (sorry Andrew C) I quickly grew to love it, and that 'waves washing in' sound as it fades into the action is just brilliant. Almost all my old off-air audios have the Howell theme topping & tailing them. Heady stuff!

[Si Hunt]

Except of course in "The Five Doctors" when it's replaced by the tinkly do-do-do-d-doo-doo-doo-do....

My first ever memories of Doctor Who (I think) are the Doctor and Romana walking through some caves (which may be "Full Circle") and, oddly, Nyssa tending to K9 in the TARDIS! I wonder now if this was actually "The Visitation" when she builds her vibrator.

Thereafter I think it's "Kinda", which I vividly remembered. It's worth noting that I was still only 4 or 5 at this time, which shows how striking the series was.

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

Doctor & Romana walking through caves sounds more like State of Decay to me - late in part 2/early in part 3 where they're delving into the depths beneath the Tower?

[Jonno]

I forgot to mention the Targets because they were my main way of not only finding out about the really old stories, but also the couple of years that I'd missed and was oblivious about! The one I really remember getting was Stones of Blood in June 1980 - it was on my 11th birthday, my Grandad from the other side of the family had come to visit for the day and bought it for me. He signed it for me with birthday greetings on the inside front cover, and it is very much cherished in my collection given that he passed away 25 years ago.

The book itself really caught my imagination and I'm pleased to say that when I finally got to see it in the early 90s courtesy fo the DWS Local Group I belonged to at the time, it did not disappoint at all.

I probably picked up a few Targets on the market that year - there was a brilliant second hand comics and book stall that I adored.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Indeed. Although, as I say, I disliked the starfield at first (sorry Andrew C) I quickly grew to love it, and that 'waves washing in' sound as it fades into the action is just brilliant. Almost all my old off-air audios have the Howell theme topping & tailing them. Heady stuff!

My old audio recordings always had the theme too. I remember giving my Dad a Paddington Bear style 'hard stare' when he coughed loudly during the opening theme to episode 3 of Arc of infinity. I think he thought it better to cough during the title music than whist there was actual dialogue happening. He just didn't really get it did he, I would have preferred him to cough during the episode than during the theme music!!!

Andrew C (the other one that is) I like your description of 'waves washing in'. I also like that bit and it's the most nostalgic bit for me. It annoys me that whenever remixes etc are made of the Howell theme that sound is either turned down very low or removed completely. I think Peter Howell calls that sound the harmoniser or something similar (it's on one of the Leisure Hive DVD extras but I can't be bothered to look at it right now)!!! If I'm right then it seems an odd name for something that sounds to me more like a sound effect than music, which is what you would usually associate harmonics with.

[Jonno]

Nostalgia time - here's how Destiny part 1 slotted into the BBC1 schedule on 01/09/79.

After Grandstand, a cartoon and the News, there was Junior That's Life, followed by Who, Larry Grayson's Generation Game, Seaside Special, the film The Black Windmill and finally Match of the Day after some more news. Not the strongest of line ups, but I expect some of the hard hitters would follow in a few weeks.

Obviously there was nothing on ITV while BBC2 had Cricket (which was also directly opposite Who) followed by several hours of Vienna Opera. No wonder everyone was watching Who!

[Stephen Morgan]

Nostalgia time...
After Grandstand, a cartoon and the News, there was Junior That's Life, followed by Who, Larry Grayson's Generation Game, Seaside Special, the film The Black Windmill and finally Match of the Day after some more news. Not the strongest of line ups, but I expect some of the hard hitters would follow in a few weeks.

Obviously there was nothing on ITV while BBC2 had Cricket (which was also directly opposite Who) followed by several hours of Vienna Opera. No wonder everyone was watching Who!

Quite right Jonno. Larry Grayson's Gen Game though was a look back at the previous series, the series proper started the following week, followed by, (from the 22nd Sept) the third series of Secret Army, moved from its regular Thursday slot to Saturday nights gathering some massive ratings as a result, although when ITV returned after its three month hiatus these ratings were dented slightly when, in some regions, they ran The Incredible Hulk opposite it.

The first week of 1980's Autumn line up went something like this, at 5:10 The Dukes of Hazard followed by the six o clock news, 6:15 Doctor Who, 6:40 Larry Grayson's Gen Game (featured on the Radio Times cover for that week) 7:35 a new police series Juliet Bravo, 8:25 news and sport, 8:40 The Saturday Film Cheyenne Autumn, a western starring Richard Widmark, 11:05 Barry Manilow, a repeat of the popular singer's concerts from 1978. After this if you were still wide awake and turned over to BBC2 you'd get the midnight film The Beast Must Die starring Peter Cushing.
Not a bad lineup there, it certainly would have kept me entertained, I know I was glued to Juliet Bravo during its entire run, and later I probably would have stayed up for that midnight film if I could have got through the Manilow show.

[SiHart]

That line up is very familiar, though I suspect we probably watched a bit of Buck Rogers before we turned over for Doctor Who, as I have memories of sitting watching it impaitently waiting for Doctor Who to start. I know we used to watch The Generation Game before bedtime too- shut that door!

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

God I remember Buck Rogers and thinking it was brilliant. You can't rewatch now and not cringe.

[SiHart]

1981
Bath Library was a big and imposing building and it was here that one of my fondest childhood memories took place. My Mum and my Grandad had collected me from school and took me to the library. I remember it being a huge place full of thousands of books, but then I was much smaller back then.

Anyway, Grandad went to find a librarian and she came back with a pile of books, which she laid on the desk in front of me… a big pile of hardback Target books for me to choose from. My cousin had lent us a copy of the Destiny of the Daleks novelisation sometime before and obviously this had gone down well with me, leading them to find me some more books to be read. I can remember quite clearly being amazed at the colourful jackets, which looked ever so exciting. All those other Doctors I’d seen in the comic, monsters, Daleks… I was allowed to choose one. I wish I could remember which one I took; I think it was The Dalek Invasion of Earth, but it was so long ago…

Over the coming months we read them all. I remember Mum telling me as we walked along the canal back to my grandparents’ house at the top of the hill all about the yeti in the underground as we’d taken Web of Fear (with the brilliant Achilleos cover, its still my favourite!), I know we read The Deadly Assassin just before Keeper of Traken was on as I recognised the Master when he turned round and there’s a photo somewhere in my parents photo albums of a very sleepy Simon being read The Claws of Axos by my Mum. We used to do a chapter a night (two if I was very lucky!) and I have very happy memories of curling up on the settee next to Mum as she read to me each night.

1981 was the year I started my very own Target book collection. July that year was, as always, my birthday and I got the quite considerable sum of £10 birthday money! Dad took me into town after school on my birthday and we chose a big pile of Target books to start off my collection! Again I remember being really excited by the covers of among others, The Giant Robot with the wonderful head shot of the robot, The Three Doctors (Too Old, Too Bad and Too Welsh!), Brain of Morbius in glorious yellow, Masque of Mandragora with the strange mask around the Doctor’s head and several others possibly including Androids of Tara, Underworld and The Armageddon Factor (I wasn’t discerning!). I used to sit and gaze at the covers, especially as I was too young to actually read much of the books on my own, but that time would come.

That birthday’s main present from my parents had been my very own tape recorder, so the rest of the birthday money was spent on my first ever tape, Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks. I listened to that and the State of Decay talking book over and over again until I virtually knew them off by heart. To this day I can still recite bits and pieces of Tom’s wonderful Genesis narration, from stepping out of the TARDIS onto a bleak planet to Sarah and Sevrin climbing higher and higher… it was wonderful stuff. It was much the same with State of Decay and I know there are other fans of the same age as me who know the tape as I do… "The Doctor and his companions were lost…" through to "The menace of the Great Vampire was ended forever", it remains a big favourite to this day. Where are those tapes?

Of course it was on the telly too. I remember sitting, clutching my Talking K9 watching Warriors’ Gate probably not appreciating the Doctor walking into a black and white world as I was watching this on the B&W portable in Grandma and Grandad's dining room, gasping as the Master was revealed and being really upset when Tom fell to his "death" and changed in front of my eyes… the memory being mixed with us moving into our house in Bracknell, where my parents still live, reading Doctor Who Magazine in an empty house as the furniture was moved in (issue 51… Farewell to Tom Baker). By the summer we were settled, we had a colour TV for the first time, and we sat and watched the repeats of Full Circle and Keeper of Traken, with Dad suggesting we recorded Full Circle on tape with my new tape recorder. I wore the tape out eventually, but my favourite memory of it was of me quietly saying as the TARDIS took off with Adric and co on board in early episode 3 "They could be going to Gallifrey!" and Dad singing along with the theme music. Awww! I’m sure the tape was responsible for making the story one of my very favourites.

At the end of the year we were treated to The Five Faces of Doctor Who, and it was ever so exciting too. I remember being disappointed to miss part 4 of The Krotons as we had a power cut, and seeing The Three Doctors was particularly good as we’d read the book earlier in the year.

The year ended with a haul of Doctor Who stuff for Christmas. My Mum and Dad both remember having a quiet Christmas that year as I sat in my TARDIS Tent at one end of the living room and my sister in her Wendy House at the other end! Inspired Christmas present buying that year! K9 was back in K9 and Co which was ever so exciting too, and I remember all my friends the next day humming the theme as we played outside!

1981 was a great year and I have so many happy memories… just round the corner was a new Doctor, a new video recorder and a new little brother.

Si xx

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

1981
1981 was a great year and I have so many happy memories… just round the corner was a new Doctor, a new video recorder and a new little brother.

Si xx

They must have had a deal on new born babies that year as I got a little sister in 1981

[SiHart]

My little brother didn't arrive until march 1982... and you'll be hearing more about him next week!

It's probably best not to think about what our parents were up to in 1981 isn't it?

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

1981
At the end of the year we were treated to The Five Faces of Doctor Who, and it was ever so exciting too. I remember being disappointed to miss part 4 of The Krotons as we had a power cut, and seeing The Three Doctors was particularly good as we’d read the book earlier in the year.


Si xx

Shame it wasn't during The Three Doctors, it would have been more in keeping with the spirit of its original showing.

Anyway, in 1974 my parents had our first colour TV courtesy of Rediffusion, the old black and white Phillips 22" was seemingly on its way out and it was time for a change. That TV was repaired however, and was placed in our front room for use as a second set. It lasted many more years and, with the exception of the odd episode in colour, I saw most of mid seventies Who on this set surrounded by all the weekly Marvel comics and my record collection.
By late 1980 there were signs that the TV was finally packing in, I was having to put it on at least twenty minutes before I wanted to watch anything as the picture would appear as a narrow band across the centre of the screen, I was watching it as we would watch something in a letter box format these days. By the time of Logopolis I could really tell that it was on the way out as the picture wasn't widening at all and I watched the final episodes in colour in the living room amid all the family chatter that went with it.
The TV was dutifully dumped, I remember the dustmen taking it away, it went into the crusher with a sad crash and a muffled thump as its tube exploded amongst all the other rubbish. A few months later I ordered a portable black and white set from a catalogue run by the chap that lived next door to us, it cost £22 and I paid for it over the course of the next year. The TV arrived during a repeat of episode two of Full Circle, the front room was revamped and became more eighties.
I remember reading about the forthcoming repeats of "The Five Faces of Doctor Who" in DWM, and became very excited at the prospect of seeing some old Who at last and settled down to watch An Unearthly Child with my sister in the firelight of a cold November night. The story was new to me, I couldn't have seen it on its first run and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, Hartnell's Doctor was different to how I remembered him, and as it was my first real taste of archive TV the production was totally different to anything modern.
I knew I would probably have seen The Krotons on its original run, but the story was as unfamiliar to me as if it were a new one, although the part where the Kroton goes in search of the Tardis and fires on it was naggingly familiar.
Carnival of Monsters and The Three Doctors were a little more familiar, and it was nice to see them again.
I do remember wondering why something more indicative of each Doctor wasn't shown, I had clear memories of Tomb of the Cybermen, and wondered why they didn't show that, it was of course around this time that the whole issue of wiped and lost episodes was revealed, something of which I had no previous idea of.
I still had no way of recording episodes, my old reel to reel tape recorder had long packed in and video recording for us was still two years away, however, come the new series, and a new Doctor, came the chance for the first time ever to see an episode twice in the same evening as BBC Wales showed the early Peter Davison episodes just after they had finished on BBC West, although getting my gran to migrate to the front room to watch Coronation Street though was a job in itself.

[Andrew Curnow]

1981 was just a brilliant year to be a fan. The return of the Master... and then the return of the return of the Master in the final moments of Traken... and a regener-bloody-ation, just brilliant. And then those Summer repeats ending with a lowkey announcement that they'd be showing some old stories in November - including the very first story (which at the time, as a 10 year old, seemed to have come from the prehistoric era, it was so old!!).

The Five Faces of Doctor Who... K9 & Company.... everything was like one massively exciting build-up to a brand new Doctor for 1982!

1981 was just, really, fantastic!

[Stephen Morgan]

As most of us here would have watched "The Five Faces" season, do we have any particular memories of watching The Adventure Game at the same time? Well! just after each Monday episode anyway. Gronda! Gronda!

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm sure we would have watched it (first season?) but I don't remember that at all. Bizarrely my biggest memory (other than watching the stories themselves that is) is being absolutely certain that after the final episode of Logopolis the continuity announcer would, erm, announce that they would be releasing a boxed set of Target books of the five stories, even though AUC and The Krotons hadn't even been adapted at that time.

I had a very confused childhood...

[Logo Polish]

AUC was. The book came out a few weeks before the repeat. October, I think.

[Andrew Curnow]

I was half-right then! Actually, I think I got AUC for Christmas 1981, so I'm probably confusing when it came out with when I got it. Lovely shiny logo it had too, ah them were the days...

[Jonno]

To save me much time and effort, my thoughts on and memories of 1981 can be found here along with two other chaps whose names sound familiar...

With Stephen having kindly done the August 1980 scheduling, here's the line-up for the last part of Logopolis on 21/03/81. Who was straight after Grandstand and ahead of the News and a Cartoon, then Jim'll Fix It, Little and Large, the film Royal Flash, Dallas, News and Parkinson.

BBC2 had the film Tovarich late afternoon and opposite Who, followed by Did You See..? (which included the regeneration clip), News, Rugby Special, Bartok Centenary, 100 Great Paintings, Arena and Old Grey Whistle Test.

ITV (LWT) had Punchlines after World of Sport and opposite Who, then News, Buck Rogers, 3,2,1, the film Operation Cross-Eagles, The Professionals and The Big Match after the News.

[Andrew Curnow]

Dallas on a Saturday night, those were the days!

[SiHart]

To save me much time and effort, my thoughts on and memories of 1981 can be found here along with two other chaps whose names sound familiar...

The article by a certain someone is probabaly familiar too

Si xx

[Jonno]

Yes, I noticed what you'd done there, Si! It probably would have been quicker for me to copy and paste too rather than sorting out links!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

That's an interesting read Jonno - you are so right to point out the excitement of seeing an older story repeated. In these days of BBC Iplayer, countless repeats on BBC 3, 'watch' and other digital channels, it's difficult to even understand that there was a time when if you missed it, then you really missed it. I only ever saw 50% of the following season due to it clashing with cubs - I'll never forgive my Mum for making me join up and go to cubs - my brother and I could not have been clearer at the time about our desire not to go!!!

Si Hart's thoughts seemed a little bit familiar though!!!!

[SiHart]

1982

By the start of 1982 it seemed to me my Mum had been pregnant for ages and ages. And indeed she carried my brother for most of Season 19, so my memories are a mix of the awe and excitement of a new Doctor and the awe and excitement at the arrival of a new member of the family. Fortunately neither of them was a disappointment.

Doctor Who was all about Tom Baker for me. And K9, but now both were gone. I think, certainly for the little 6 year old me, that the Monthly and the Five Faces of Doctor Who season helped a great deal with the transition to the fifth Doctor. I was by now well aware of the other Doctors and had the chance to experience their adventures through the magazine, the repeats and the Target books, and so I was looking forward to seeing what the new Doctor was like. Best of all, we’d get two episodes a week now! How exciting!

I can’t remember what I thought of Peter Davison when he began. I suppose he was just the Doctor and that was that. I can remember liking his references to K9 and the “fit as a fiddle Vicki” (that’s my sister’s name) bit as well as the business of exploring the TARDIS corridors. I was intrigued by this- the whole notion of the ship being huge and who knows what rooms were to be found. By the end of the season he was just the Doctor, not the new Doctor and he met universal approval from everyone at school as I remember.

The newest innovation in our house was a big TV. It was just like the ones we had at school with the wooden shutters across the screen that were pulled over when the TV wasn’t be used. Even better though was a top loading Video! Quite how my family came to be one of the first take up a video rental among our friends is one of those mysteries I’ll never know about, but I have happy memories of sitting down to watch the first part of Castrovalva the morning after it’d been shown. You cannot imagine how utterly exciting that was at the time. We never kept any of them for long, as I suspect we only had one or two tapes at the time.

Images remained with me from these stories for years afterwards, Bigon revealing his robotic nature, Tegan and Tegan in Tegan’s head (which was one of the most unnerving things I’d seen in Doctor Who) and the whole family really enjoying The Visitation. The big story though was Earthshock. I didn’t like the squelchy end of Snyder, but I loved the return of the Cybermen. They were awesomely scary and powerful. I remember going up to bed after one of the episodes and nervously going up the stairs to the landing hoping there weren’t Cybermen hiding in any of the three big cupboards. It didn’t help that my Dad liked to keep the rest of the house dark when we weren’t using the rooms, so we always went out of the brightly lit living room into the dark.

I cried when Adric died. That didn’t happen. The Doctor’s friends didn’t die. It was a huge moment and much discussed at school.

My brother was born on the 30th March 1982; the day the last episode of Time-Flight was broadcast. It was a really exciting day. Mum had gone off to hospital before we went to school, and Grandma was there to look after us. Dad arrived at school at lunchtime to tell us the news over the school fence and I made a big announcement to Mrs Sargeant and Class 4 after lunch. After school, we got the bus up to the hospital with Grandma and met out new little brother, Jonathan. He was small and noisy! But we had to rush home. We couldn’t miss Doctor Who! I had my priorities straight!

Some of the best Doctor Who was in the Monthly. Through early 1982 I followed the Doctor’s adventure with Justin and Shayde as he fought The Tides of Time. It was an awe-inspiring comic strip, which I probably didn’t truly understand at the time, but the artwork was great. I used to get all the issues with that strip in it and read it as a whole story! I liked The Stockbridge Horror too, especially the panel with the creature hanging onto the TARDIS while it spun through space… and the bit where it smashed the light! Amazing stuff! The posters from the early issues of 1982 all went up on my bedroom wall, until I moved rooms to share with my new brother.

One day in the summer, Dad arrived home from work telling me that was Doctor Who was on that night. He wouldn’t say what it was called, and so I was amazed to be sitting down to watch a Jon Pertwee story, Curse of Peladon! Over the following weeks we were treated to Genesis of the Daleks (which was really exciting because I knew that one from the tape) and another showing of Earthshock, which we’d all liked a lot too.

That Christmas brought some new family traditions. My Aunty Linda asked for a list of Doctor Who books I didn’t have and would then, for the next few years buy me a selection of them for Christmas every year through the 80s.It was always really exciting unwrapping that present and seeing which exciting Target books I’d soon be reading. My Uncle Tim would buy me the annual every year too and I’d sit on Christmas day and read all the stories. It was new Doctor Who after all!

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

1982 - another great year. Like you, Si, Davison was "just the Doctor and that was that" for me. I had a great sense of excitement about seeing 'a new bloke' but it never for one minute occurred to me that he'd be anything other than brilliant - and I still maintain that he was, right from the word go, just superb.

The other 'big' thing that sticks with me from 1982 is that for some reason after number 61 (the first proper Davidson issue) none of the newsagents in Carlisle seemed to get the mag in... until six months later, when I spotted number 67 in the WH Smiths magazine rack. And from that very same shop, I remember my Dad spontaneously buying my brother a new football and me the then-new release, Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon. I don't mean it to sound nasty, but it was, and is, quite unusual for Dad to do anything off the cuff like that, so maybe that's why it sticks in my mind!!!