Doctor Who fandom
Encyclopedia
The long-running British science fiction television
series Doctor Who
has developed a large fan base over the years.
Doctor Who fans are sometimes referred to as Whovians, most often by the American press. The usage was more common among fans in the United States during the 1980s, when the Doctor Who Fan Club of America published the Whovian Times as its newsletter. It was seldom, if ever, used by the main British or Australian fan groups.
The earliest known use of 'Whovian', outside of the 'Whovian Times', is from Flaming Carrot Comics
issue number 19 (circa 1988), when Flaming Carrot leads a combined group of Trekkie
s and Dr. Whovians into rebellion – note the now deprecated usage of 'Dr.'.
(or DWAS) – since the late 70s. It has thousands of members and enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the classic series and later with BBC Worldwide.
The Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club was founded soon after DWAS, in 1976, to galvanise resistance to the decision of the Australian Broadcasting Commission
to cease broadcasting the Doctor Who series (and was ultimately successful in having the decision overturned). The club President also edited Zerinza
the club fanzine, until 1986. In the 1990s the club was renamed several times, today being the Australian Doctor Who Club which publishes a newsletter, "Data Extract". In the 1980s, some US fans staged "Save Doctor Who" publicity campaigns, trying to urge their local television stations to keep airing the show.
The North American Doctor Who Appreciation Society was founded in the 1980s and served as an umbrella organisation for dozens of local fan groups throughout the country. Its demise in the early 1980s led to the foundation of the Doctor Who Fan Club of America, and later the Friends of Doctor Who. FDW ended unceremoniously in the mid 1990s, and since then, American Doctor Who fandom has been served mostly through local fan clubs. Major established organisations that continue to this day include the Prydonians of Princeton (New Jersey), Time Meddlers of Los Angeles (California), Doctor Who New York and the Gallifreyan Embassy of Long Island (New York), and the Guardians of Gallifrey (Florida). Other prominent fan groups have included the Unearthly Children (Pennsylvania), Friends of the Time Lord and UNIT (Massachusetts), T.A.R.D.I.S. (Arizona), the Legion of Rassilon (Northern California), Doctor Who Fan Club of Nebraska (Nebraska), Emerald City Androgums (Washington state), Motor City TARDIS (Michigan), the St. Louis CIA (Missouri), Space City Time Lords and the International House of Daleks (Texas) and the Chronicles of Who (Illinois).
The Doctor Who Information Network (DWIN) was founded in Canada in 1980 and continues to serve fans in North America. It was one of the first Doctor Who clubs in North America, and is the longest running Doctor Who club on the continent. DWIN supports the monthly Toronto Tavern fan gatherings. DWIN also sponsored several local chapters throughout Canada.
The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club
(NZDWFC) was founded in 1988 and continues to remain the country's major fan support group. They publish a fanzine, Time Space Visualiser (TSV), twice-yearly.
In Australia a variety of events (half day "parties," or full-scale conventions) have been organised, many "Whoventions" being held in Sydney by the Doctor Who Club of Australia (or its precursor), and by some other clubs in various states. The high cost of travel and small population base makes it hard to pay for many of the stars, so many events have been organised at short notice during any visits by a star, or other person linked to the show, such as Jon Pertwee (1980), Peter Davison and Janet Fielding (both 1983).
North America's first events were based in Los Angeles in 1979 and 1980 with Who One (featuring Tom Baker). Soon followed an enormous convention heyday during the 1980s in the Chicago area with the Spirit of Light events, which attracted many thousands of fans due to the show's popularity on public television, and Creation Conventions held in various cities (and including other science fiction shows' merchandise and programming as well). In the late 1980s other events such as Omnicon and Megacon showcased the classic series. The 1990s saw a decline in major events, though Chicago featured the relatively large-sized Visions
events throughout the decade, and the popular Gallifrey One
convention began in Los Angeles. As of 2010, Gallifrey One and the ChicagoTARDIS convention (Visions' successor) continue, with the annual Sci Fi Sea Cruise featuring Doctor Who guests departing from different ports each year. In addition, Massachusetts' New England Fan Experience (formerly United Fan Con) hosts guests from the series; and startup events exist in the form of Georgia's TimeGate Atlanta (begun 2008) and Florida's Hurricane Who (begun 2009).
in small quantities. In the 1970s there were some early fan activities in Britain, with associated fanzines. Some with help of the Doctor Who Production office, or even of the lead actor, such as Jon Pertwee who helped with postage. One of the first such "'zines" was published by Keith Miller in Edinburgh, at first it was roughly produced, but by the mid-1970s was improved by the switch to photocopying. By about 1975 new staff at the BBC office reduced such help, and Miller's 'zine and associated club were to fade away quite quickly.
Perhaps the "second generation" of such fanzines could be said to be formed around 1975–76, such as TARDIS
, around which the DWAS
was organised. In Australia, the national Doctor Who Club was similarly established around the 'zine Zerinza
in 1976 (to 1986), with (from 1980) a newsletter, "Data Extract" (still being published). A quarterly magazine called The Whostorian was published in Newfoundland Canada in conjunction with the As Yet Unnamed Doctor Who Fan Club of Newfoundland (AYUDWFCON).
Other zines from the first decade of fandom included Gallifrey, Oracle, Skaro, Shada and Frontier Worlds. Some information on a few of these can be viewed at a fan website. When the publication of the novelisations was in its infancy (only three being available until the mid-70s, and reference books were either awful or out-of-print, much of the content of the first fanzines was devoted to documenting plots and characters, some interviews, news, book reviews (once Target started a regular schedule), letters, fan fiction and art.
The growth of the merchandise range lead to Marvel
's Doctor Who Weekly
(later Doctor Who Magazine – DWM). Initially the reference materials were largely reissues of the work done by Jeremy Bentham for DWAS (itself usually reliant on BBC plot outlines). The "Weekly" was not always very good, and with so many pages being dominated by poor quality US-style comics (few having any of the "flavour" of the British series), meant it was less of a rival to fanzines than at first appeared. But the switch to a "Monthly" format saw it become an increasingly professional rival with better production values than the fanzines could afford. Also the "DWM" was to be a better source of reference, regular interviews, news from the studio, and with more time being spent preparing each issue. The large array of Target novels, reference books, and start of home video-recording on a big scale by the late 1970s, meant that fanzines shifted focus somewhat. Change was also be to the leading fans growing older, leaving school or university, and so having (sometimes) more money for printing, and higher expectations. As a result, editors began to concentrate more on opinion – fan reviews of stories, debate, and letters. Many of the writers were now graduates, some in media studies, or even working in the BBC itself. In these pre-internet times, most fanzines had active letters pages, which were the main conduit for debate around Doctor Who, especially with a wide geographical spread of so many fans. The need to find new, original content meant that fanzines began to look closer at the series, subjecting stories and characters to ever-deeper analysis, providing detail and discussion unavailable through more "official" channels.
As technology developed, so did fanzines. A move from photocopying to offset litho printing in the early 1980s allowed the bigger selling fanzines to improve print quality, although lower-circulation titles continued to use photocopying for many years after this. Bath-based "Skaro" was one of the first fanzines to be professionally typeset, but that was virtually the exception as this was such an expensive process. The 1970s–80s fanzines were all produced well before modern, affordable, home computers with crisp laser printers made the revolution that was desktop publishing
. Most were produced under difficult conditions, and early editors had to do everything by hand, all their own typing, with no spell check, meaning correcting mistakes was a nightmare, and final lay out could take days, if not weeks.
The mid 1980s has been described by some fans as "the golden age of A5 fanzines", as this period saw an explosion of activity, particularly in the UK. Although the enthusiasm of some editors could not be matched by their resources and many fanzines failed to see a second issue, some of the most popular zines appeared then, including Queen Bat, Star Begotten, Paradise Lost, Spectrox, the Black and White Guardian, Cygnus Alpha, Five Hundred Eyes, Eye Of Horus (in print between 1983–85 and online since 2004) and Purple Haze (edited by Steve O'Brien, later of SFX Magazine).
Format seemed to play a disproportionate role in how a fanzine was perceived, with divisions appearing between the cheaper-looking A5
fanzines and the glossier, more professional A4
"pro-zines" such as The Frame and Private Who. The news-zine "Doctor Who Bulletin" (DWB) later named Dreamwatch
Bulletin) managed to straddle this divide, sometimes controversially, combining a professional A4 magazine format with some of the anarchism and disrespect for authority of the underground. The BBC's discontinuation of the series, and ratings decline, meant that many titles faded out unless backed by a large club.
To a large extent, today fanzines have been replaced by websites, podcasts and discussion boards, but a few do still exist. Many of them are published by fan clubs including the DWAS zine Celestial Toyroom, (which was launched in 1976 and has been published continuously since then, making it the oldest surviving Doctor Who fanzine in the world)), the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club zine Time-Space Visualiser (TSV) which has been in existence since 1987, and the DWIN fanzine Enlightenment which has been published six times a year since 1983. Other individuals and groups still produce fanzines. Black Scrolls was the first prozine to offer a multimedia CDROM on its cover in 2005, featuring interviews with actors, Who-related art, a back issue archive and an alternative voice-over commentary for one of the episodes and the distinction of being professionally printed and entirely in colour which was a modest success that ran for eight issues between 1993 and 2005. Doctor Who Fanzines FANWNAK and Vworp! Vworp! are one of the few full colour A4, printed Fanzines available today, as well as others such as Panic Moon, The Finished Product which are smaller sizes and Black and White. Many fanzines still take the time-honoured route of printing and distributing their zine by mail, but many now distribute their fanzine as downloadable and printable PDFs such as Planet of the Ming Mongs, finally removing what was often the main cause for a fanzine's closure, the cost of printing and distribution.
Many professional Doctor Who writers, for both the current TV series and the books, began their careers writing for fanzines, including Paul Cornell
, Rob Shearman
, Matt Jones
, Marc Platt
, Gareth Roberts
, Clayton Hickman
, David Howe
and Stephen James Walker.
, Star Wars
, Blake's 7
just to name a few), Doctor Who also has groups of fans developing their own productions based on the show. Like other fan productions, though, the legality of such unofficial productions is highly questionable. But this has not stopped fans from making their own brand of Doctor Who.
Unlike productions based on other genre, Doctor Who fandom create not only video, but also audio drama as well, audio drama being much more mainstream in the UK where Doctor Who is made by the BBC.
One of the most significant fan groups producing dramatised stories were Audio Visuals
, who distributed their works on audio cassettes during the 1980s. Many involved in this group would later form the commercial company Big Finish
and be licenced by the BBC to produce official Doctor Who stories for a retail market on audio CD. Several of these productions were later broadcast by BBC Radio.
Many fans put a huge amount of work and effort varying from animation to live action films. A lot of them use villains from the real show, like Cybermen and Daleks, and attempt to remain within continuity.
In 2008, a milestone among fan productions was reached when The Doctor Who Audio Dramas started their 27th continuous year of production, making them the world's longest running, continuous production of Doctor Who, even beating out the BBC which ran for only 26 consecutive years.
Some fans have ended up working creatively on the television series. One of the most prominent examples is the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
, the late Douglas Adams
, who wrote or co-wrote several television scripts (The Pirate Planet
, City of Death
and Shada
) and was script editor of the original series' seventeenth season. Adams had been a fan since the first season, and made two attempts to pitch a script for Doctor Who in the early 1970s before his first serial was commissioned. Both Queer as Folk
creator Russell T Davies and Coupling
creator Steven Moffat
were lifelong fans of the series, and both in turn became head writer, or showrunner of the revived series in 2005 and 2010 respectively.
Other celebrity fans have donated to the show in alternative ways. For example, the Panini publication The Complete Seventh Doctor (p47) lists singer Bob Dylan
as a "great fan", such that he permitted his music to be used in the opening moments of season twenty-five without royalty. (Although Dylan's music was not in the event used). William Rees-Mogg
, editor of The Times
newspaper from 1967 until 1981, publicly declared his enjoyment of Doctor Who on an edition of the BBC's current affairs series Panorama
in 1980. Prompted by this, the actor and dramatist Emlyn Williams
admitted in the pages of The Times that he too was a keen follower of the series.
Celebrity fans include Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
, comedians Jon Culshaw
, David Walliams
, Mitch Benn
, Peter Kay
, Mark Gatiss
, Stewart Lee
, Dom Joly
, Matt Lucas
, Chris Addison
, Rufus Hound
Toby Hadoke
, Wil Anderson
, Chris Hardwick
; actors Benedict Cumberbatch
, David Hewlett
, Stephen Fry
, David Duchovny
, Eric McCormack
, Simon Pegg
, Bill Hader
, Rob Lowe
, Anthony Stewart Head, Tom Hanks
, Noah Wyle
singer/songwriter Marc Almond
, Will Arnett
and Elizabeth Hurley
; Simpsons
creator Matt Groening
, Inheritance Cycle
author Christopher Paolini
, Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon
, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal
, science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer
, horror writer Stephen King
, Iron Maiden
singer Bruce Dickinson
, graphic novelist and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman
, DC Comics writer Sterling Gates
, 'Starman' writer James Robinson, comics columnist Rich Johnston
, horror novelist Brian Keene
, comics author Grant Morrison
, film director Edgar Wright
, playwright Mark Ravenhill
, Star Trek
star Patrick Stewart
and science fiction writer Harlan Ellison
. Tenth Doctor David Tennant
has repeatedly said that he has wanted to play the Doctor
since he was a little boy, and has appeared in numerous Big Finish
audio plays. John Barrowman
, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and its spinoff Torchwood
is also a long time fan. Craig Ferguson
of the Late Late show is also a major Doctor Who fan.
Peter Jackson
and George Lucas
are fans of the series. Steven Moffat states that Steven Spielberg
"knows and admires the show", although Lucas states Spielberg is a fan of the original series and believes there's a lot of things missing to the new series that made the old one so great.
From the world of sport, cricketers Mike Gatting
and Graham Gooch
, footballer David Beckham
, and from the music industry US heavy metal band Slipknot
, Brian May
of the UK Band Queen
. Omar & Cedric of At the Drive-In
/The Mars Volta
, Jamie Lenman of UK band Reuben
, Matthew Bellamy
of the UK band Muse
, Welsh hip-hop band Goldie Lookin Chain
, Jon Spencer of the US garage rock group Blues Explosion, Paul & Phil Hartnoll of UK techno duo Orbital
, singer and actress Toyah Willcox
, singer Meat Loaf
. South Park
co-creator Trey Parker
who has put several references to the show in several South Park episodes. Jazz pianist Ethan Iverson
of The Bad Plus
, who has also written about the show.
The son of Rowan Williams
, the current Archbishop of Canterbury
, is a fan and Williams invited Richard Dawkins
to Lambeth Palace
in part because Dawkins's wife, Lalla Ward
played the Fourth Doctor's companion, Romana
. Novelist Michael Chabon
is a fan of the series and has written about raising his family as Whovians in his non-fiction collection Manhood for Amateurs (2009).
, but did not make the UK Singles Chart
.
In 1985, charity ensemble Who Cares? released a single inspired by Doctor Who entitled "Doctor in Distress". The single was released in aid of Cancer Relief, and featured various Doctor Who cast members (such as Colin Baker
, Nicola Bryant
and Anthony Ainley
), as well as contemporary musicians (Bucks Fizz
, The Moody Blues
and Ultravox). As with "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek", the single did not make the UK Singles Chart.
The first single about the show to make the UK Singles Chart was "Dr. Who" by Mankind. The track was based on the Doctor Who theme music
and, as with The Go-Go's, was Mankind's first and only single. Released by Pinnacle in 1978, the song peaked at Number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
The most famous example of Doctor Who-inspired music is "Doctorin' the Tardis" by The Timelords (a pseudonym for the ambient house
and situationish act The KLF
), which reached Number One on the UK Singles Chart in 1988. The song's lyrics referenced the Daleks and the TARDIS
, and its melody was based largely around the show's opening theme.
As well as both Mankind and The Timelords, many other acts have incorporated the Doctor Who theme music into their own compositions. British rock band Pink Floyd
briefly used the theme during their 1971 single "One of These Days", which featured a Doctor Who-related music video. The theme music has also been covered by several other acts, such as Orbital
, while other bands such as Coldcut
have featured samples of the theme.
Comedian and singer Mitch Benn
's 2002 album Radio Face features a song entitled "Doctor Who Girl". The song talks about how the singer would like to find a girlfriend who is like the female sidekicks of Doctor Who.
Chameleon Circuit
produces music exclusively relating to Doctor Who, under the genre 'Trock', meaning Timelord Rock
. It frequently includes references to the show's theme tune, and also episode-specific songs like 'Kiss the Girl' and 'The Big Bang 2'. They have a fast growing online following, and as of 2011 have released 2 albums - Chameleon Circuit in 2009, and Still Got Legs in July 2011, both on DFTBA records. Still Got Legs charted on the Billboard Heatseekers chart at #23.
and Doctor Who: Podshock
.
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
has developed a large fan base over the years.
Doctor Who fans are sometimes referred to as Whovians, most often by the American press. The usage was more common among fans in the United States during the 1980s, when the Doctor Who Fan Club of America published the Whovian Times as its newsletter. It was seldom, if ever, used by the main British or Australian fan groups.
The earliest known use of 'Whovian', outside of the 'Whovian Times', is from Flaming Carrot Comics
Flaming Carrot Comics
Flaming Carrot Comics is a surrealist comic book series by cartoonist Bob Burden. The character first appeared in Visions #1, a magazine published by the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1979. Flaming Carrot can be seen as a parody of various aspects of the superhero genre...
issue number 19 (circa 1988), when Flaming Carrot leads a combined group of Trekkie
Trekkie
A Trekkie or Trekker is a fan of the Star Trek franchise, or of specific television series or films within that franchise.-History:In 1967, science fiction editor Arthur W...
s and Dr. Whovians into rebellion – note the now deprecated usage of 'Dr.'.
Fan organisations
Doctor Who fans in Britain have had a formally recognised organisation – the Doctor Who Appreciation SocietyDoctor Who Appreciation Society
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society is a society for fans of the television series Doctor Who. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College Doctor Who Appreciation Society and the editors and readers of the fanzine Tardis...
(or DWAS) – since the late 70s. It has thousands of members and enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the classic series and later with BBC Worldwide.
The Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club was founded soon after DWAS, in 1976, to galvanise resistance to the decision of the Australian Broadcasting Commission
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
to cease broadcasting the Doctor Who series (and was ultimately successful in having the decision overturned). The club President also edited Zerinza
Zerinza
Zerinza was the first, and for many years the only regular Australian Doctor Who fanzine. It ran continuously from 1976 to 1986 when edited and published by Antony Howe, for the Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club , reaching issue number 35...
the club fanzine, until 1986. In the 1990s the club was renamed several times, today being the Australian Doctor Who Club which publishes a newsletter, "Data Extract". In the 1980s, some US fans staged "Save Doctor Who" publicity campaigns, trying to urge their local television stations to keep airing the show.
The North American Doctor Who Appreciation Society was founded in the 1980s and served as an umbrella organisation for dozens of local fan groups throughout the country. Its demise in the early 1980s led to the foundation of the Doctor Who Fan Club of America, and later the Friends of Doctor Who. FDW ended unceremoniously in the mid 1990s, and since then, American Doctor Who fandom has been served mostly through local fan clubs. Major established organisations that continue to this day include the Prydonians of Princeton (New Jersey), Time Meddlers of Los Angeles (California), Doctor Who New York and the Gallifreyan Embassy of Long Island (New York), and the Guardians of Gallifrey (Florida). Other prominent fan groups have included the Unearthly Children (Pennsylvania), Friends of the Time Lord and UNIT (Massachusetts), T.A.R.D.I.S. (Arizona), the Legion of Rassilon (Northern California), Doctor Who Fan Club of Nebraska (Nebraska), Emerald City Androgums (Washington state), Motor City TARDIS (Michigan), the St. Louis CIA (Missouri), Space City Time Lords and the International House of Daleks (Texas) and the Chronicles of Who (Illinois).
The Doctor Who Information Network (DWIN) was founded in Canada in 1980 and continues to serve fans in North America. It was one of the first Doctor Who clubs in North America, and is the longest running Doctor Who club on the continent. DWIN supports the monthly Toronto Tavern fan gatherings. DWIN also sponsored several local chapters throughout Canada.
The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club
New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club
The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club , New Zealand's national Doctor Who fan club, was founded in January 1988 in Christchurch by Andrew Poulsen, Scott Walker and Kay Lilley. Since 1991 the club's administration has been based in Auckland. The club is currently run by Paul Scoones and Rochelle Scoones...
(NZDWFC) was founded in 1988 and continues to remain the country's major fan support group. They publish a fanzine, Time Space Visualiser (TSV), twice-yearly.
Conventions
Many Doctor Who conventions are held worldwide. The very first in 1977 was organised by The Doctor Who Appreciation Society and that event continues in the United Kingdom as the long-running (though occasional) Panopticon; usually held to great fanfare, including marking the series' fortieth anniversary. Other popular conventions of the past include the Manchester-based Manopticon and the Swindon based Leisure Hives and Honeycomb. More recently, the company 10th Planet has held conventions such as Bad Wolf, Dimensions and Invasion. Wales-based Regenerations has had great success of late, as have other signing events held on the Strand by London-based Scificollector. The Doctor Who Appreciation Society has re-established itself as an event organiser too, and whilst Panopticon, a name still associated with the Society, has not been held since 2003, other brands, namely 'Time' and 'Doctor Who Unleashed' are well known in the market.In Australia a variety of events (half day "parties," or full-scale conventions) have been organised, many "Whoventions" being held in Sydney by the Doctor Who Club of Australia (or its precursor), and by some other clubs in various states. The high cost of travel and small population base makes it hard to pay for many of the stars, so many events have been organised at short notice during any visits by a star, or other person linked to the show, such as Jon Pertwee (1980), Peter Davison and Janet Fielding (both 1983).
North America's first events were based in Los Angeles in 1979 and 1980 with Who One (featuring Tom Baker). Soon followed an enormous convention heyday during the 1980s in the Chicago area with the Spirit of Light events, which attracted many thousands of fans due to the show's popularity on public television, and Creation Conventions held in various cities (and including other science fiction shows' merchandise and programming as well). In the late 1980s other events such as Omnicon and Megacon showcased the classic series. The 1990s saw a decline in major events, though Chicago featured the relatively large-sized Visions
Visions (convention)
Visions was an annual science fiction convention held from 1990 to 1998 in Rosemont, Illinois on Thanksgiving weekend. The convention was held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare except for the 1992 event which was held at the Ramada O'Hare...
events throughout the decade, and the popular Gallifrey One
Gallifrey One
Gallifrey One is an annual North American science fiction convention focusing primarily on the British television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs, Torchwood, K-9 and The Sarah Jane Adventures, with an additional emphasis on British and American science fiction television media, held each...
convention began in Los Angeles. As of 2010, Gallifrey One and the ChicagoTARDIS convention (Visions' successor) continue, with the annual Sci Fi Sea Cruise featuring Doctor Who guests departing from different ports each year. In addition, Massachusetts' New England Fan Experience (formerly United Fan Con) hosts guests from the series; and startup events exist in the form of Georgia's TimeGate Atlanta (begun 2008) and Florida's Hurricane Who (begun 2009).
Fanzines
Perhaps the first form of organised fan activity was around fanzines – unofficial, homemade magazines celebrating the series. Generally these were typed, with hand-drawn illustrations, with the occasional photograph, and were usually photocopied or duplicatedMimeograph machine
The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper....
in small quantities. In the 1970s there were some early fan activities in Britain, with associated fanzines. Some with help of the Doctor Who Production office, or even of the lead actor, such as Jon Pertwee who helped with postage. One of the first such "'zines" was published by Keith Miller in Edinburgh, at first it was roughly produced, but by the mid-1970s was improved by the switch to photocopying. By about 1975 new staff at the BBC office reduced such help, and Miller's 'zine and associated club were to fade away quite quickly.
Perhaps the "second generation" of such fanzines could be said to be formed around 1975–76, such as TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, around which the DWAS
Doctor Who Appreciation Society
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society is a society for fans of the television series Doctor Who. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College Doctor Who Appreciation Society and the editors and readers of the fanzine Tardis...
was organised. In Australia, the national Doctor Who Club was similarly established around the 'zine Zerinza
Zerinza
Zerinza was the first, and for many years the only regular Australian Doctor Who fanzine. It ran continuously from 1976 to 1986 when edited and published by Antony Howe, for the Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club , reaching issue number 35...
in 1976 (to 1986), with (from 1980) a newsletter, "Data Extract" (still being published). A quarterly magazine called The Whostorian was published in Newfoundland Canada in conjunction with the As Yet Unnamed Doctor Who Fan Club of Newfoundland (AYUDWFCON).
Other zines from the first decade of fandom included Gallifrey, Oracle, Skaro, Shada and Frontier Worlds. Some information on a few of these can be viewed at a fan website. When the publication of the novelisations was in its infancy (only three being available until the mid-70s, and reference books were either awful or out-of-print, much of the content of the first fanzines was devoted to documenting plots and characters, some interviews, news, book reviews (once Target started a regular schedule), letters, fan fiction and art.
The growth of the merchandise range lead to Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's Doctor Who Weekly
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(later Doctor Who Magazine – DWM). Initially the reference materials were largely reissues of the work done by Jeremy Bentham for DWAS (itself usually reliant on BBC plot outlines). The "Weekly" was not always very good, and with so many pages being dominated by poor quality US-style comics (few having any of the "flavour" of the British series), meant it was less of a rival to fanzines than at first appeared. But the switch to a "Monthly" format saw it become an increasingly professional rival with better production values than the fanzines could afford. Also the "DWM" was to be a better source of reference, regular interviews, news from the studio, and with more time being spent preparing each issue. The large array of Target novels, reference books, and start of home video-recording on a big scale by the late 1970s, meant that fanzines shifted focus somewhat. Change was also be to the leading fans growing older, leaving school or university, and so having (sometimes) more money for printing, and higher expectations. As a result, editors began to concentrate more on opinion – fan reviews of stories, debate, and letters. Many of the writers were now graduates, some in media studies, or even working in the BBC itself. In these pre-internet times, most fanzines had active letters pages, which were the main conduit for debate around Doctor Who, especially with a wide geographical spread of so many fans. The need to find new, original content meant that fanzines began to look closer at the series, subjecting stories and characters to ever-deeper analysis, providing detail and discussion unavailable through more "official" channels.
As technology developed, so did fanzines. A move from photocopying to offset litho printing in the early 1980s allowed the bigger selling fanzines to improve print quality, although lower-circulation titles continued to use photocopying for many years after this. Bath-based "Skaro" was one of the first fanzines to be professionally typeset, but that was virtually the exception as this was such an expensive process. The 1970s–80s fanzines were all produced well before modern, affordable, home computers with crisp laser printers made the revolution that was desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
. Most were produced under difficult conditions, and early editors had to do everything by hand, all their own typing, with no spell check, meaning correcting mistakes was a nightmare, and final lay out could take days, if not weeks.
The mid 1980s has been described by some fans as "the golden age of A5 fanzines", as this period saw an explosion of activity, particularly in the UK. Although the enthusiasm of some editors could not be matched by their resources and many fanzines failed to see a second issue, some of the most popular zines appeared then, including Queen Bat, Star Begotten, Paradise Lost, Spectrox, the Black and White Guardian, Cygnus Alpha, Five Hundred Eyes, Eye Of Horus (in print between 1983–85 and online since 2004) and Purple Haze (edited by Steve O'Brien, later of SFX Magazine).
Format seemed to play a disproportionate role in how a fanzine was perceived, with divisions appearing between the cheaper-looking A5
ISO 216
ISO 216 specifies international standard paper sizes used in most countries in the world today. It defines the "A" and "B" series of paper sizes, including A4, the most commonly available size...
fanzines and the glossier, more professional A4
ISO 216
ISO 216 specifies international standard paper sizes used in most countries in the world today. It defines the "A" and "B" series of paper sizes, including A4, the most commonly available size...
"pro-zines" such as The Frame and Private Who. The news-zine "Doctor Who Bulletin" (DWB) later named Dreamwatch
Dreamwatch
Dreamwatch was a British magazine covering science fiction and fantasy films, books and television programmes.Published monthly by Gary Leigh and then Titan Magazines , it was a leading genre entertainment magazine, competing with SFX and Cinescape in the genre magazine market.-Overview:The...
Bulletin) managed to straddle this divide, sometimes controversially, combining a professional A4 magazine format with some of the anarchism and disrespect for authority of the underground. The BBC's discontinuation of the series, and ratings decline, meant that many titles faded out unless backed by a large club.
To a large extent, today fanzines have been replaced by websites, podcasts and discussion boards, but a few do still exist. Many of them are published by fan clubs including the DWAS zine Celestial Toyroom, (which was launched in 1976 and has been published continuously since then, making it the oldest surviving Doctor Who fanzine in the world)), the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club zine Time-Space Visualiser (TSV) which has been in existence since 1987, and the DWIN fanzine Enlightenment which has been published six times a year since 1983. Other individuals and groups still produce fanzines. Black Scrolls was the first prozine to offer a multimedia CDROM on its cover in 2005, featuring interviews with actors, Who-related art, a back issue archive and an alternative voice-over commentary for one of the episodes and the distinction of being professionally printed and entirely in colour which was a modest success that ran for eight issues between 1993 and 2005. Doctor Who Fanzines FANWNAK and Vworp! Vworp! are one of the few full colour A4, printed Fanzines available today, as well as others such as Panic Moon, The Finished Product which are smaller sizes and Black and White. Many fanzines still take the time-honoured route of printing and distributing their zine by mail, but many now distribute their fanzine as downloadable and printable PDFs such as Planet of the Ming Mongs, finally removing what was often the main cause for a fanzine's closure, the cost of printing and distribution.
Many professional Doctor Who writers, for both the current TV series and the books, began their careers writing for fanzines, including Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
, Rob Shearman
Rob Shearman
Robert Shearman is currently best known as a writer for Doctor Who and for his ongoing association with Jarvis & Ayres Productions which has resulted in six plays for BBC Radio 4 broadcast in the station's regular weekday Afternoon Play slot, and one classic...
, Matt Jones
Matt Jones (writer)
Matthew David Jones is a British television writer and producer, who has worked on a variety of popular drama programmes for several television networks in the UK....
, Marc Platt
Marc Platt
Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC...
, Gareth Roberts
Gareth Roberts (writer)
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
, Clayton Hickman
Clayton Hickman
Clayton Hickman is a British writer, magazine editor and designer. Born in Bristol in 1977, he first worked in publishing as Editorial Assistant on Film Review magazine from 1999-2000, and went on to become the longest-serving editor of Panini Comics' Doctor Who Magazine, overseeing the...
, David Howe
David J. Howe
David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian.-Biography:David Howe was born in 1961 and established himself as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzines and other publications...
and Stephen James Walker.
Fan productions
Like other genre which has developed a large following (Star TrekStar Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
, Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
just to name a few), Doctor Who also has groups of fans developing their own productions based on the show. Like other fan productions, though, the legality of such unofficial productions is highly questionable. But this has not stopped fans from making their own brand of Doctor Who.
Unlike productions based on other genre, Doctor Who fandom create not only video, but also audio drama as well, audio drama being much more mainstream in the UK where Doctor Who is made by the BBC.
One of the most significant fan groups producing dramatised stories were Audio Visuals
Audio Visuals
The Audio Visuals were an unlicensed series of Doctor Who audio dramas made by British fans in the 1980s.Featuring Nicholas Briggs as the Doctor, twenty-six audio plays were recorded and distributed on audio cassette between 1985 and 1991 .The first three seasons were produced by...
, who distributed their works on audio cassettes during the 1980s. Many involved in this group would later form the commercial company Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
and be licenced by the BBC to produce official Doctor Who stories for a retail market on audio CD. Several of these productions were later broadcast by BBC Radio.
Many fans put a huge amount of work and effort varying from animation to live action films. A lot of them use villains from the real show, like Cybermen and Daleks, and attempt to remain within continuity.
In 2008, a milestone among fan productions was reached when The Doctor Who Audio Dramas started their 27th continuous year of production, making them the world's longest running, continuous production of Doctor Who, even beating out the BBC which ran for only 26 consecutive years.
Celebrity fans
The series has a devoted global following of people from a range of backgrounds.Some fans have ended up working creatively on the television series. One of the most prominent examples is the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
, the late Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
, who wrote or co-wrote several television scripts (The Pirate Planet
The Pirate Planet
The Pirate Planet is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 September to 21 October 1978. It forms the second serial of The Key to Time...
, City of Death
City of Death
-Pre-production:Writer David Fisher had contributed two scripts to Doctor Whos sixteenth season – The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara – and was asked by producer Graham Williams for further story ideas...
and Shada
Shada
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
) and was script editor of the original series' seventeenth season. Adams had been a fan since the first season, and made two attempts to pitch a script for Doctor Who in the early 1970s before his first serial was commissioned. Both Queer as Folk
Queer as Folk (UK TV series)
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies...
creator Russell T Davies and Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
creator Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
were lifelong fans of the series, and both in turn became head writer, or showrunner of the revived series in 2005 and 2010 respectively.
Other celebrity fans have donated to the show in alternative ways. For example, the Panini publication The Complete Seventh Doctor (p47) lists singer Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
as a "great fan", such that he permitted his music to be used in the opening moments of season twenty-five without royalty. (Although Dylan's music was not in the event used). William Rees-Mogg
William Rees-Mogg
William Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg is an English journalist and life peer.-Education:Rees-Mogg was educated at Clifton College Preparatory School in Bristol and Charterhouse School in Godalming, followed by Balliol College, Oxford...
, editor of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper from 1967 until 1981, publicly declared his enjoyment of Doctor Who on an edition of the BBC's current affairs series Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
in 1980. Prompted by this, the actor and dramatist Emlyn Williams
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
admitted in the pages of The Times that he too was a keen follower of the series.
Celebrity fans include Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, comedians Jon Culshaw
Jon Culshaw
Jonathan Peter Culshaw is an English impressionist and comedian. He was educated at St Bede's RC High School, Ormskirk and St John Rigby College, in Orrell, Wigan....
, David Walliams
David Walliams
David Edward Walliams is an English comedian, writer and actor, known for his partnership with Matt Lucas on the TV sketch show Little Britain and its predecessor Rock Profile...
, Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his humorous songs performed on BBC radio. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.Benn has performed at several music festivals, and at the Edinburgh Festival...
, Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
, Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
, Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
, Dom Joly
Dom Joly
Dominic John Romulus "Dom" Joly is a British television comedian and journalist. He came to note as the star of Trigger Happy TV, a hidden camera show that was sold to over seventy countries worldwide...
, Matt Lucas
Matt Lucas
Matthew Richard "Matt" Lucas is an English comedian, screenwriter and actor best known for his acclaimed work with David Walliams in the television show Little Britain; as well as for his portrayals of the scorekeeping baby George Dawes in the comedy panel game Shooting Stars, Tweedledee and...
, Chris Addison
Chris Addison
Chris Addison is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4...
, Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound is a British comedian and presenter. He is also the winner of 2010 "Let's Dance for Comic Relief".-Career:...
Toby Hadoke
Toby Hadoke
Toby Hadoke is an English actor, writer and stand-up comedian. He is particularly well known for his work on the Manchester comedy circuit, where he performs regularly. He runs the multi award winning XS Malarkey comedy club, and is involved with many of the more experimental and financially...
, Wil Anderson
Wil Anderson
William James "Wil" Anderson is an Australian comedian, writer, performing stand-up, and television and radio presenter and personality.- Early life :...
, Chris Hardwick
Chris Hardwick
Christopher Ryan "Chris" Hardwick is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, television personality, and voice artist...
; actors Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
, David Hewlett
David Hewlett
David Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
, Eric McCormack
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School...
, Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
, Bill Hader
Bill Hader
William "Bill" Hader is an American actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best known for his work as a creative consultant on the hit show South Park and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for his supporting roles in comedy films such as Superbad, Hot Rod, Tropic Thunder,...
, Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Anthony Stewart Head, Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Noah Wyle
Noah Wyle
Noah Strausser Speer Wyle is an American film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. John Truman Carter III in the Medical drama ER. He has also played Steve Jobs in the 1999 docudrama Pirates of Silicon Valley and Flynn Carsen in The Librarian franchise...
singer/songwriter Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
, Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
and Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Jane Hurley is an English model and actress who became known as a girlfriend of Hugh Grant in the 1990s. In 1994, as Grant became the focus of worldwide media attention due to the global box office success of his film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hurley accompanied him to the film's Los...
; Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
, Inheritance Cycle
Inheritance Cycle
The Inheritance Cycle is a series of fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini. It was previously titled the Inheritance Trilogy until Paolini's announcement on October 30, 2007 that there would be a fourth book...
author Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance...
, Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
, voice actor Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal is a voice actor that has voiced several anime and video game characters. He also voiced Kamal for the alternate reality game I Love Bees....
, science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
, horror writer Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
singer Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
, graphic novelist and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, DC Comics writer Sterling Gates
Sterling Gates
Sterling Gates is an American comic book writer currently working for DC Comics.-Early life:Sterling Gates was a comic fan from a young age...
, 'Starman' writer James Robinson, comics columnist Rich Johnston
Rich Johnston
Rich Johnston is a writer who writes about the comic book industry.-Early life:Johnston grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, studied politics at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and was an advertising copywriter until 2009; he currently lives in Kingston Vale, London, with his wife, Janice...
, horror novelist Brian Keene
Brian Keene
Brian Keene is an American author, primarily of horror, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won two Bram Stoker Awards.- Background :Keene was born in 1967. He grew up in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and many of his books take place in these locales. After graduating high school, he...
, comics author Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
, film director Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the TV series Spaced, and for directing the film Scott Pilgrim vs...
, playwright Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.His most famous plays include Shopping and Fucking , Some Explicit Polaroids and Mother Clap's Molly House . He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
, Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
star Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
and science fiction writer Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
. Tenth Doctor David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
has repeatedly said that he has wanted to play the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
since he was a little boy, and has appeared in numerous Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio plays. John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and its spinoff Torchwood
Torchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
is also a long time fan. Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...
of the Late Late show is also a major Doctor Who fan.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
and George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
are fans of the series. Steven Moffat states that Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
"knows and admires the show", although Lucas states Spielberg is a fan of the original series and believes there's a lot of things missing to the new series that made the old one so great.
From the world of sport, cricketers Mike Gatting
Mike Gatting
Michael "Mike" William Gatting OBE is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988...
and Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch
Graham Alan Gooch OBE DL is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs...
, footballer David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, and from the music industry US heavy metal band Slipknot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
, Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
of the UK Band Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. Omar & Cedric of At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
/The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is a Grammy award winning American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock, krautrock, jazz fusion, Latin American music, and...
, Jamie Lenman of UK band Reuben
Reuben (band)
Reuben were an English three-piece musical group from Camberley, Surrey. Their music was a fusion of alternative rock and heavy metal, as their songs cover a variety of styles, ranging from heavy and upbeat, such as their 2005 single "Blamethrower" to slower, more melodic songs such as their 2004...
, Matthew Bellamy
Matthew Bellamy
Matthew James Bellamy is an English musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, pianist, and main songwriter of the alternative rock band Muse.-Early life:...
of the UK band Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
, Welsh hip-hop band Goldie Lookin Chain
Goldie Lookin Chain
Goldie Lookin Chain is a comedic rap music group based in Newport, South Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the ‘chav’ culture and life in Newport and south Wales in general.-Background:Many of the songs...
, Jon Spencer of the US garage rock group Blues Explosion, Paul & Phil Hartnoll of UK techno duo Orbital
Orbital (band)
Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, singer and actress Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows...
, singer Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
. South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
who has put several references to the show in several South Park episodes. Jazz pianist Ethan Iverson
Ethan Iverson
Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the postmodern jazz trio The Bad Plus, with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King....
of The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus are a jazz trio from the United States, consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, originating from Minneapolis, MN.-History:...
, who has also written about the show.
The son of Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
, the current Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, is a fan and Williams invited Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
to Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...
in part because Dawkins's wife, Lalla Ward
Lalla Ward
Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
played the Fourth Doctor's companion, Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. Novelist Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
is a fan of the series and has written about raising his family as Whovians in his non-fiction collection Manhood for Amateurs (2009).
Music inspired by Doctor Who
Since the show's debut, various musical groups and artists have been inspired to write music either about or relating to Doctor Who. The first known example was the song "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek", the first and only single released by British band The Go-Go's. The song was released in December 1964 and distributed through Oriole RecordsOriole Records (UK)
Oriole Records was the first British record label founded in 1925 by the London-based Levy Company, which owned a gramophone record subsidiary called Levaphone Records.-History:...
, but did not make the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
In 1985, charity ensemble Who Cares? released a single inspired by Doctor Who entitled "Doctor in Distress". The single was released in aid of Cancer Relief, and featured various Doctor Who cast members (such as Colin Baker
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
, Nicola Bryant
Nicola Bryant
-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
and Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the third Master in Doctor Who. He was the fourth actor to play the role of the Master, and the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado...
), as well as contemporary musicians (Bucks Fizz
Bucks Fizz (band)
Bucks Fizz are an English pop group who achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comprised four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and...
, The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
and Ultravox). As with "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek", the single did not make the UK Singles Chart.
The first single about the show to make the UK Singles Chart was "Dr. Who" by Mankind. The track was based on the Doctor Who theme music
Doctor Who theme music
The Doctor Who theme is a piece of music composed by Ron Grainer and realised by Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Created in 1963, it was one of the first electronic music signature tunes for television and after nearly five decades remains one of the most easily...
and, as with The Go-Go's, was Mankind's first and only single. Released by Pinnacle in 1978, the song peaked at Number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
The most famous example of Doctor Who-inspired music is "Doctorin' the Tardis" by The Timelords (a pseudonym for the ambient house
Ambient house
Ambient house, a music genre that first emerged in the late 1980s, is a sub-genre of house music, combining elements of acid house and ambient music...
and situationish act The KLF
The KLF
The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....
), which reached Number One on the UK Singles Chart in 1988. The song's lyrics referenced the Daleks and the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, and its melody was based largely around the show's opening theme.
As well as both Mankind and The Timelords, many other acts have incorporated the Doctor Who theme music into their own compositions. British rock band Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
briefly used the theme during their 1971 single "One of These Days", which featured a Doctor Who-related music video. The theme music has also been covered by several other acts, such as Orbital
Orbital (band)
Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, while other bands such as Coldcut
Coldcut
Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia.-1980s:In 1986, computer programmer Matt...
have featured samples of the theme.
Comedian and singer Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his humorous songs performed on BBC radio. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.Benn has performed at several music festivals, and at the Edinburgh Festival...
's 2002 album Radio Face features a song entitled "Doctor Who Girl". The song talks about how the singer would like to find a girlfriend who is like the female sidekicks of Doctor Who.
Chameleon Circuit
Chameleon Circuit (band)
Chameleon Circuit is a band known for creating music inspired by the British television series Doctor Who. Composed of popular UK YouTube vloggers and Doctor Who fans, the band released their self-titled debut album on 1 June 2009....
produces music exclusively relating to Doctor Who, under the genre 'Trock', meaning Timelord Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. It frequently includes references to the show's theme tune, and also episode-specific songs like 'Kiss the Girl' and 'The Big Bang 2'. They have a fast growing online following, and as of 2011 have released 2 albums - Chameleon Circuit in 2009, and Still Got Legs in July 2011, both on DFTBA records. Still Got Legs charted on the Billboard Heatseekers chart at #23.
Podcasts
Another way fans voice their opinions on the show is through regular podcasts. Popular examples of this include Radio Free Skaro, DWO WhocastDoctor Who: DWO Whocast
Doctor Who: DWO WhoCast is a weekly podcast which discusses the British science fiction series Doctor Who. This podcast is notable because it is the most popular Doctor Who Podcast worldwide as shown within the independent iTunes...
and Doctor Who: Podshock
Doctor Who: Podshock
Doctor Who: Podshock is a weekly podcast about the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
.
See also
- Celebrity appearances in Doctor WhoCelebrity appearances in Doctor WhoThis is a list of actors who have made guest appearances in Doctor Who.-First Doctor stories:-Second Doctor stories:-Third Doctor stories:-Fourth Doctor stories:-Fifth Doctor stories:-Sixth Doctor stories:-Seventh Doctor stories:...
- Doctor Who in North America
- Doctor Who in AustraliaDoctor Who in AustraliaDoctor Who in Australia refers to the Australian history and culture around the British Broadcasting Corporation TV series British science fiction programme Doctor Who. In many understated ways Australians have had many links to the series from its origins. Two Australian writers played key roles...