1 seem to actually exist. It must be Editorial one of those amalgamations that your memory does when you are a by Paul Winter child; a bit like all the snowy Christ- mases I remember that never actual- Welcome to the 2020 Celestial Toy- ly happened either. room Annual. This time round, we concentrate on the Pertwee era of But enough of this..... It only falls to the show, covering all televised sto- me to thank all those who contribut- ries as well as the two BBC radio se- ed this time round. Once again, I am rials. For those new to our annuals, pleased that alongside many of our we deliberately choose not to cover ever reliable contributors we have other output such as novels and Big some new names. Remember, eve- Finish audios, not because we do not ryone is welcome to make a contri- appreciate them, but because the bution to DWAS. If you have never output would otherwise be so vast written before, we have plenty of that the annual, if we ever finished it, people here to help you along. would be enormous. Paul For those of my generation, Jon Pertwee was the Doctor. When I was an impressionable five-year-old I wor- THE CELESTIAL TOYROOM shipped the man. He may as well ANNUAL 2020 have been the Doctor in real life - for me there was no difference. When I had the fortune to meet him a few Published by the Doctor Who Appreci- years after he left the programme, at ation Society. All content is © DWAS the Heathfield Show in East Sussex, and the respective contributors. on reaching the front of the queue with my postcard for him to sign, I CONTACT US couldn’t even bring myself to speak. The only other times I can remember DWAS being like that were meeting Tom P O Box 1011 Baker many, many years later at one Horsham of JNT’s ‘Evening with...’ events and RH12 9RZ, UK even more recently, when I queued to get my ‘War of the Worlds’ DVD Edited by: Paul Winter Publications Manager: Rik Moran signed by Jeff Wayne. The latter two Front Cover by Graeme Wey examples are more embarrassing as Back Cover by Patrick White I was a grown adult by this point. I have never quite worked out what FIND US ONLINE my first story was but following many well spent hours looking at Wikipedia www.dwasonline.co.uk I have settled on ’Day of the Daleks’ facebook.com/dwasonline twitter.com/dwas63 which surprisingly was also the first youtube.com/dwasonline Target book I bought. I also have a strong memory of a scene from ’The E-mail: [email protected] Sea Devils’ which sadly does not All other images © BBC unless stated. No infringement intended. 2 Along with the Havoc team he showed me how to do most of my Foreword own stunts and how to be a really by Katy Manning good motorbike pillion! I would soon discover that Jon had a somewhat mischievous sense of humour, which I learned more about when my then Boyfriend Rod and I were holidaying with the Pertwee family in Ibiza, plotting some fiendishly cleverly devised pranks which were played on un- suspecting house guests! His life experiences were a con- stant source of admiration and laughter, and his passion, dedica- tion and constant care for Doctor Who never wavered. Jon inspired me and encouraged me with my silly voices, creating characters together from quirky village names as we drove to and from locations. I could not have asked for a more wonderful leading man and mentor As a very myopic little Manning, in my chosen profession and life, before the wonders of television but most of all a very much loved and my pebble glasses that helped friend. me see it, the voices of ' the wire- Katy less ' were my friends. One of the comedies that really used to make me giggle, and still does, was the ‘The Navy Lark.’ Little did I know that years later the flamboyant cloaked Adventurer I would be running across freezing cold wet windy terrains, and fleeing from Aliens with, was part of one of my strongest childhood memories . I learned every single day from this marvellous man: Jon was a mes- merising raconteur, a singer, a gui- tarist, a deep-sea diver and all round man of action. 3 © BBC 4 there was a sense the show had The Era had a good innings and something new should replace it in the forth- By Jeremy Bentham coming era of colour on BBC1. Was I a good fan? In this self-same Average ratings of just over six mil- feature last year my good friend lion for Troughton’s final year were and DWAS luminary Ian McLachlan significantly down against all previ- closed his overview of the Hartnell ous seasons, rampant inflation was era by reiterating many a fan’s eating into its production budgets, childhood hope that, ‘...one day and those still loyal to the show someone would discover how to were all too aware that one of its construct a real-life TARDIS’. It’s a core staples – the monsters – had fantasy that still resonates with part been conspicuously absent from of me too, but tempered by the programme for over a quarter of knowledge that, if ever such a de- a year by the time episode 10 of vice did exist, I’d be immediately ‘The War Games’ aired in July. using it to break The First Law of Time and start crossing my own Was I that bothered though? I still time stream in search of answers. watched every episode, I still cut out and saved every Doctor Who In particular I’d like to know from my article and listings page from the younger selves if I was as passion- Radio Times, and I even stuck with ate a fan at the point Jon Pertwee buying TV Comic, even though I was being announced as the third regarded it a poor relation to my Doctor as I was eight years later growing collection of Marvel Comics when the great man himself and magazines such as Forrest stepped onto the stage of the first Ackerman’s ‘Famous Monsters of Doctor Who Convention in Batter- Filmland’, that were more appropri- sea to thunderous applause from ate to my senior school age brack- that first wave of assembled DWAS et. members. It has bothered me for a while that my answer might be no. It wasn’t that I’d fallen out of love with Doctor Who. It just seemed It’s common knowledge now that there were better new drama series Doctor Who almost came to its own appearing on TV, and more exciting final end with the closing of the films in the cinema; 'Moon Zero Troughton period in 1969. The reg- Two', 'Marooned' and Gerry Ander- ular cast was all keen to move on, son's 'Doppelganger' rode the wave most of its production team were of interest in all things space on the being allocated to other projects, big screen, while ‘The Gold Rob- and among senior management bers’, ‘Strange Report’ and ‘Randall 5 & Hopkirk (Deceased)’ were but nised radio and film comedy actor, three enticing new offerings from and presumably accompanied ITV. again by two juvenile cipher com- panions, would make the grade on The BBC famously chose the week colour TV? of the actual Apollo 11 moon mis- sion in July to commandeer Doctor And 1969 proved to be somewhat Who’s traditional Saturday evening of a fallow year for tele-fantasy slot to launch season one of the when compared against the sched- long-awaited American sci-fi series ule of new material being prepared ‘Star Trek’. Was it true then that the for 1970. Long before Dave Ed- acknowledged quality of that first munds grabbed the Christmas num- series caused me to doubt if further ber one spot with ‘I Hear You temporal meanderings by a home- Knocking’, ITV had been knocking less Time Lord, played by a recog- out hit after hit with ‘Ace of Wands’, 6 ‘UFO’, ‘Catweazle’ and ‘Timeslip’ initially cast him, precisely by not while Auntie Beeb had captured being the rubbery-faced, guitar- many a newspaper headline com- playing man of a thousand funny menting about its new speculative voices which is how Peter Bryant fiction series ‘Doomwatch’. had initially thought he might play the role. Humour was still present in All in all then, I don’t think Jeremy the character, principally observed the younger greeted the dawn of during his escapes from the cottage Jon Pertwee’s era with a highly hospital, but there was far more positive mindset. Even his own dia- Professor Quatermass and Adam ries reveal a moan that the 3rd-9th Adamant present in this new, flam- January 1970 Radio Times edition, boyant, dapper man-of-mystery. which had Pertwee’s Doctor promi- nently on the cover, did not then The allusions to Quatermass were include a feature article inside intro- not confined to just the Doctor in ducing ‘Spearhead from Space’. It this primarily Derrick Sherwin- all seemed rather low-key… So, influenced season. His new earth- what ultimately did shine light into bound home came across as a that dark place? cold, almost Orwellian 20-minutes into the future world where nuclear Put simply, ‘Spearhead from Space’ power, space-research and heavy proved an awesome opener for this industry projects fell under the ad- new era. It was slick, pacey, well- ministrative purview of zealous civil edited and, thanks to it being shot servants, stern military officers and entirely on colour film and on loca- self-obsessed scientists.