Ian Levine
Encyclopedia
Ian Levine is an English
songwriter
, producer
, and DJ
. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who
.
Levine attended Arnold (House) School
in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970. In 1996 Levine traced over 660 members of his own family on his mother's side and organised the enormous Cooklin family reunion, on 21 July in London. This has been called the biggest family reunion of all time, and was covered on the BBC Evening News, and, extensively, in The Jewish Chronicle
.
Between 1997 and 1999 Ian Levine produced and directed the documentary film The Strange World of Northern Soul, an anthology of the underground music cult. This was a video box set, containing over 12 hours of footage with booklet and CD, and incorporating 131 performances by the legendary American soul acts who have, in most cases, never been filmed before. The event premiered at the King George's Hall in Blackburn to an audience of 1300 in July 1999. The Strange World of Northern Soul was released on DVD as a six-disc box set, replete with extras, in 2003.
In May 2000, Levine organised the reunion of his entire school class from the 1960s at Arnold School
in Blackpool. All 30 members of class 3A were found and brought together to experience lessons, P.E.
in the gym, a rugby match, and an assembly with their original teachers, all in original style school uniform. The reunion was filmed and shown by the BBC.
genres of pop
, soul
, disco
, and Hi-NRG
.
Earlier in his career he was a disc jockey at the Blackpool Mecca
, and became an avid collector of soul, R&B
, and Northern Soul
records
. In the mid-1970s he also produced for disco, leading into the genre's evolution into Hi-NRG.
Levine was also a resident DJ at the legendary gay disco Heaven
, which was as important in the 1980s to the London
gay scene as The Saint
was to New York
's.
He and songwriting partner Fiachra Trench
were among the main figures in the development of the Hi-NRG style and its moderate success in North America
, writing and producing "So Many Men So Little Time" by Miquel Brown
(two million sales), and "High Energy
" by Evelyn Thomas
(seven million sales).
During the 1980s and 1990s he mixed a number of dance-pop
hits for artists, including Pet Shop Boys
, Erasure
, Kim Wilde
, Bronski Beat
, Amanda Lear
, Bananarama
, Tiffany
, Dollar
, Hazell Dean
and founded his own groups: Seventh Avenue which featured two members of Big Fun, Optimystic and Bad Boys Inc
.
He also wrote and produced for the successful UK
boy band
Take That
, and for The Pasadenas
. He has written and produced several TV themes including "Discomania", "Gypsy Girl", "ITV Celebrity Awards Show", "Christmasmania", and "Abbamania".
In 1987, Levine began recording some former artists from Motown. By 1989 the project had grown in size and a reunion of 60 Motown stars in Detroit, outside the original Hitsville US
building, attracted attention from several media outlets. Motorcity Records
was launched as a record label, initially distributed by PRT and later Pacific, then Charly and finally Total/BMG. By the time the project ended in the mid 1990s, over 850 songs had been recorded by 108 artists who had all been formerly signed to Motown. As an album range, the project continues to be released to this day, but the most successful single was by an artist who hadn't recorded for twenty three years, Frances Nero
, with "Footsteps Following Me", co-written with Levine and Ivy Jo Hunter, the man who wrote "Dancing in the Street
". According to her website "Her dream was short-lived - after recording constantly and receiving no royalties from Ian Levine, she severed her relationship and pursued other ventures." Other than that, the project was not successful commercially.
In 2007, Levine formed the label Centre City Records, on which he has released four albums: Northern Soul 2007
, Disco 2008, Yesterday and Tomorrow (a collection of his 30 greatest hits, re-interpreted by his current roster of artists) and Northern Soul 2008.
science fiction
television series Doctor Who. Levine was, in part, responsible for the return of a number of missing episodes of the show to the BBC's archives, and was involved in stopping the destruction of further serials after he learnt that they were being discarded.
An unofficial continuity consultant during the early 1980s, some observers have speculated that the Abzorbaloff monster played by Peter Kay
in the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters
" was based on Levine and reflects his role in fandom. The Abzorbaloff design was created by Blue Peter
"Design a Doctor Who Monster"-winner William Grantham.
. The participants included the series' two lead actors, Colin Baker
and Nicola Bryant
, as well as other actors associated with the series such as Nicholas Courtney
and Anthony Ainley
. Also involved were members of the bands Bucks Fizz
, The Moody Blues
and Ultravox
. Hans Zimmer
was one of the musicians involved in the record's production. Levine has since claimed that the song was originally the brain child of Gary Downie
, a production manager at the BBC and partner of John Nathan-Turner
, the producer of the show at the time.
The single was released under the name “Who Cares?”, and was universally panned. Levine himself said later, "It was an absolute balls-up fiasco. It was pathetic and bad and stupid. It tried to tell the Doctor Who history in an awful high-energy song. It almost ruined me.”
with series script editor Eric Saward
, although the writer's credit is officially given to “Paula Moore”, a pseudonym for Saward's then girlfriend, Paula Woolsey. Levine's claim is that he wrote the story outline and that Saward wrote the script, with Woolsey contributing nothing.
This version of events was flatly denied by Eric Saward in a Doctor Who Magazine
interview, as well as by Woolsey herself when she was interviewed by David J. Howe
, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker for their series of Doctor Who reference books. Levine at one time worked in close collaboration with the Doctor Who Restoration Team
on various DVD releases of classic Doctor Who serials, though he no longer produces documentaries for them.
Levine's efforts to locate missing episodes of Who continue. On 20 April 2006, it was announced on the BBC children's show Blue Peter
that Levine would purchase a life-sized Dalek
for anyone who would return one of the 108 missing episodes; details were provided on Blue Peters website.
releases: the documentaries "Over the Edge" and "Inside the Spaceship" were included on the 3-disc set "The Beginning", while "Genesis of a Classic" appeared on the release for Genesis of the Daleks
. Levine has also contributed to many other classic series DVDs, appearing as an in-vision interviewee on occasions, and by allowing the Restoration Team access to his private collection of rare studio footage and off-air recordings.
, an unsuccessful pilot for a proposed Doctor Who spin-off series featuring the robotic dog and Sarah Jane Smith
.
in the world, with at least one copy of each DC comic book sold at retail (i.e., not including promotional or giveaway comics) from the 1930s to present. The last vintage comic book he obtained for his collection was a copy of New Adventure Comics #26, which he acquired at the San Diego Comic-Con
in July 2005.
Although Levine's complete DC comic book collection does not include all of the hundreds of different promotional (non-retail) and giveaway comic books that DC released over the decades (the particular indentifying information for many of them has been lost due to DC not retaining decades-old licensing information), his DC promotional and giveaway collection contains the vast majority of all of the DC promotional and giveaway comic books currently known to have existed, and is perhaps the most complete DC promotional and giveaway collection currently in existence.
The writer and comic book expert Paul Sassienie began cataloging, grading and certificating 'The Ian Levine' collection in May 2011.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show 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...
.
Levine attended Arnold (House) School
Arnold School
Arnold School is an independent school located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England on the Fylde coast. It is in the United Church Schools Trust group of schools and is a member of HMC.-History:Arnold School was founded by Frank Truswell Pennington on 4 May 1896...
in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970. In 1996 Levine traced over 660 members of his own family on his mother's side and organised the enormous Cooklin family reunion, on 21 July in London. This has been called the biggest family reunion of all time, and was covered on the BBC Evening News, and, extensively, in The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...
.
Between 1997 and 1999 Ian Levine produced and directed the documentary film The Strange World of Northern Soul, an anthology of the underground music cult. This was a video box set, containing over 12 hours of footage with booklet and CD, and incorporating 131 performances by the legendary American soul acts who have, in most cases, never been filmed before. The event premiered at the King George's Hall in Blackburn to an audience of 1300 in July 1999. The Strange World of Northern Soul was released on DVD as a six-disc box set, replete with extras, in 2003.
In May 2000, Levine organised the reunion of his entire school class from the 1960s at Arnold School
Arnold School
Arnold School is an independent school located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England on the Fylde coast. It is in the United Church Schools Trust group of schools and is a member of HMC.-History:Arnold School was founded by Frank Truswell Pennington on 4 May 1896...
in Blackpool. All 30 members of class 3A were found and brought together to experience lessons, P.E.
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
in the gym, a rugby match, and an assembly with their original teachers, all in original style school uniform. The reunion was filmed and shown by the BBC.
Music career
Levine is most noted for his work in the musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
genres of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, and Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
.
Earlier in his career he was a disc jockey at the Blackpool Mecca
Blackpool Mecca
The Blackpool Mecca was a large entertainment venue on Central Drive in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire in the North West of England, first opened in 1965. In the 1970s, it was particularly known for The Highland Room, which was a major Northern Soul music venue...
, and became an avid collector of soul, R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and Northern Soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. In the mid-1970s he also produced for disco, leading into the genre's evolution into Hi-NRG.
Levine was also a resident DJ at the legendary gay disco Heaven
Heaven (nightclub)
Heaven is a Superclub in London, England which appeals predominantly to the gay market. It is located underneath Charing Cross railway station in Central London, just off Trafalgar Square.-Early history:...
, which was as important in the 1980s to the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
gay scene as The Saint
The Saint (club)
The Saint was an American gay superclub, located in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, that operated from 1980 to 1987.-History:...
was to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's.
He and songwriting partner Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Trench
Fiachra Terence Wilbrah Trench is a musician and composer from Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland....
were among the main figures in the development of the Hi-NRG style and its moderate success in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, writing and producing "So Many Men So Little Time" by Miquel Brown
Miquel Brown
Miquel Brown Miquel Brown Miquel Brown (born Michael Brown, 1954 is a Canadian actress and Disco/Soul singer from the 1970s and '80s most popular for the songs "Close to Perfection" and the Hi-NRG songs 'So Many Men, So Little Time' and "He's A Saint, He's A Sinner" (both now considered vintage gay...
(two million sales), and "High Energy
High Energy (Evelyn Thomas song)
"High Energy" is the title of a 1984 song by American dance singer Evelyn Thomas. The song was very popular in dance clubs around the world, and it topped the American dance chart in September of that year. It also spent four weeks atop the pop chart in Germany, and peaked at #5 on the UK singles...
" by Evelyn Thomas
Evelyn Thomas
Evelyn Thomas is an American singer from Chicago, Illinois, best known for the dance hits "High Energy", "Masquerade", "Standing At The Crossroads", "Reflections", and "WeakSpot"....
(seven million sales).
During the 1980s and 1990s he mixed a number of dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
hits for artists, including Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
, Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...
, Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...
, Bronski Beat
Bronski Beat
Bronski Beat were a popular British synthpop trio who achieved success in the mid 1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy". All members of the group were openly homosexual and their songs reflected this, often containing political commentary on gay-related issues...
, Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear
Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....
, Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
, Tiffany
Tiffany
-People:* Tiffany * Tiffany * Tiffany , an American pop artist* Tiffany , a K-pop artist* Charles Comfort Tiffany, American Episcopal clergyman* Charles Lewis Tiffany, a founder of Tiffany & Co....
, Dollar
Dollar (band)
Dollar are a pop vocal duo from the UK, consisting of David Van Day and Thereza Bazar. The duo were successful in the late 1970s and 1980s.-Career:...
, Hazell Dean
Hazell Dean
Hazell Dean is a British dance-pop singer, who achieved her biggest success in the 1980s as a leading Hi-NRG artist. She is best known for the top ten hits "Searchin' ", "Whatever I Do " and "Who's Leaving Who"...
and founded his own groups: Seventh Avenue which featured two members of Big Fun, Optimystic and Bad Boys Inc
Bad Boys Inc
Bad Boys Inc were an English boy band, formed in 1993 by the record producer, Ian Levine. Signed to A&M Records, the members were David W. Ross, Matthew Pateman, Tony Dowding and Ally Begg.-Career:...
.
He also wrote and produced for the successful UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
, and for The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas
The Pasadenas were a R&B / pop group from the United Kingdom, best known for their hit songs, "Tribute " and "I'm Doing Fine Now".-Career:...
. He has written and produced several TV themes including "Discomania", "Gypsy Girl", "ITV Celebrity Awards Show", "Christmasmania", and "Abbamania".
In 1987, Levine began recording some former artists from Motown. By 1989 the project had grown in size and a reunion of 60 Motown stars in Detroit, outside the original Hitsville US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
building, attracted attention from several media outlets. Motorcity Records
Motorcity Records
Motorcity Records is a British record label formed by producer Ian Levine in 1989. The label aimed to record new material with former Motown artists.-History:...
was launched as a record label, initially distributed by PRT and later Pacific, then Charly and finally Total/BMG. By the time the project ended in the mid 1990s, over 850 songs had been recorded by 108 artists who had all been formerly signed to Motown. As an album range, the project continues to be released to this day, but the most successful single was by an artist who hadn't recorded for twenty three years, Frances Nero
Frances Nero
Frances Nero, at the age of 22, became the first live performance contest winner in Motown Records's history. Topping out 5,000 contestants, she emerged victor in June 1965. She was awarded $500, a dozen long stemmed red roses, a recording contract for one year and the honor of being the first...
, with "Footsteps Following Me", co-written with Levine and Ivy Jo Hunter, the man who wrote "Dancing in the Street
Dancing in the Street
"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.-Martha and the Vandellas original:...
". According to her website "Her dream was short-lived - after recording constantly and receiving no royalties from Ian Levine, she severed her relationship and pursued other ventures." Other than that, the project was not successful commercially.
In 2007, Levine formed the label Centre City Records, on which he has released four albums: Northern Soul 2007
Northern Soul 2007
Northern Soul 2007 is a compilation, released September 2007, consisting of 24 new tracks as a tribute to the 1960s–1970s Northern Soul era, produced by Ian Levine and Clive Scott...
, Disco 2008, Yesterday and Tomorrow (a collection of his 30 greatest hits, re-interpreted by his current roster of artists) and Northern Soul 2008.
Doctor Who
Levine is well-known as a fan of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
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...
television series Doctor Who. Levine was, in part, responsible for the return of a number of missing episodes of the show to the BBC's archives, and was involved in stopping the destruction of further serials after he learnt that they were being discarded.
An unofficial continuity consultant during the early 1980s, some observers have speculated that the Abzorbaloff monster played by 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...
in the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters
Love & Monsters
"Love & Monsters" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In this episode, an ordinary man named Elton Pope becomes obsessed with a man called the Doctor and his strange blue box, and joins a group of like-minded people in hopes of finding him...
" was based on Levine and reflects his role in fandom. The Abzorbaloff design was created by Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
"Design a Doctor Who Monster"-winner William Grantham.
"Doctor in Distress"
In 1985, when the BBC announced that the series would be placed on an eighteen-month hiatus, and the show's cancellation was widely rumoured, Levine gathered a group of actors from the series, together with a number of minor celebrities, to record a protest single called Doctor in DistressDoctor in Distress (single)
"Doctor in Distress" is a pop song related to the BBC television programme Doctor Who. It was released as an ensemble charity single in 1985.- Background :...
. The participants included the series' two lead actors, 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...
and Nicola Bryant
Nicola Bryant
-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
, as well as other actors associated with the series such as Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney
William Nicholas Stone Courtney was an English television actor, most famous for playing Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
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...
. Also involved were members of the bands 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
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
. Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
was one of the musicians involved in the record's production. Levine has since claimed that the song was originally the brain child of Gary Downie
Gary Downie
Gary Downie was a production manager on many 1980s episodes of the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who, and partner of its producer John Nathan-Turner. His own analysis of the role of a production manager can be found on the BBC DVD release of The Two Doctors...
, a production manager at the BBC and partner of John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who, from 1980 until it was effectively cancelled in 1989...
, the producer of the show at the time.
The single was released under the name “Who Cares?”, and was universally panned. Levine himself said later, "It was an absolute balls-up fiasco. It was pathetic and bad and stupid. It tried to tell the Doctor Who history in an awful high-energy song. It almost ruined me.”
Later history
In recent years he has claimed that he co-wrote the Season 22 story Attack of the CybermenAttack of the Cybermen
Attack of the Cybermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 5 January to 12 January 1985. It opened Season 22 of the series...
with series script editor Eric Saward
Eric Saward
Eric Saward was born on 9 December 1944 and became a scriptwriter and script editor for the BBC, resigning from the latter post on the TV programme Doctor Who in 1986....
, although the writer's credit is officially given to “Paula Moore”, a pseudonym for Saward's then girlfriend, Paula Woolsey. Levine's claim is that he wrote the story outline and that Saward wrote the script, with Woolsey contributing nothing.
This version of events was flatly denied by Eric Saward in a Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
interview, as well as by Woolsey herself when she was interviewed by David J. 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...
, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker for their series of Doctor Who reference books. Levine at one time worked in close collaboration with the Doctor Who Restoration Team
Doctor Who Restoration Team
The Doctor Who Restoration Team is a loose collection of Doctor Who fans, many within the television industry, who restore Doctor Who episodes for release on DVD....
on various DVD releases of classic Doctor Who serials, though he no longer produces documentaries for them.
Levine's efforts to locate missing episodes of Who continue. On 20 April 2006, it was announced on the BBC children's show Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
that Levine would purchase a life-sized Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
for anyone who would return one of the 108 missing episodes; details were provided on Blue Peters website.
DVDs
Ian Levine has also been responsible for producing a number of extras on the Doctor Who DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
releases: the documentaries "Over the Edge" and "Inside the Spaceship" were included on the 3-disc set "The Beginning", while "Genesis of a Classic" appeared on the release for Genesis of the Daleks
Genesis of the Daleks
Genesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from 8 March to 12 April 1975. It marks the first appearance of Davros, the creator of the Daleks.-Plot:...
. Levine has also contributed to many other classic series DVDs, appearing as an in-vision interviewee on occasions, and by allowing the Restoration Team access to his private collection of rare studio footage and off-air recordings.
K-9 and Company
He also composed the theme music for K-9 and CompanyK-9 and Company
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who . It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K-9, a robotic dog. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but...
, an unsuccessful pilot for a proposed Doctor Who spin-off series featuring the robotic dog and Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
.
American comic books
Levine also possesses one of the world's great collections of American comic books. He claims to have the only complete set of DC ComicsDC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
in the world, with at least one copy of each DC comic book sold at retail (i.e., not including promotional or giveaway comics) from the 1930s to present. The last vintage comic book he obtained for his collection was a copy of New Adventure Comics #26, which he acquired at the San Diego Comic-Con
Comic-Con International
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
in July 2005.
Although Levine's complete DC comic book collection does not include all of the hundreds of different promotional (non-retail) and giveaway comic books that DC released over the decades (the particular indentifying information for many of them has been lost due to DC not retaining decades-old licensing information), his DC promotional and giveaway collection contains the vast majority of all of the DC promotional and giveaway comic books currently known to have existed, and is perhaps the most complete DC promotional and giveaway collection currently in existence.
The writer and comic book expert Paul Sassienie began cataloging, grading and certificating 'The Ian Levine' collection in May 2011.