‘MAWDRYN UNDEAD’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Turlough with the Brigadier, the Black Guardian, the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan

We come now to what is considered the highlight of Season 20 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and what forms the majority of the season in the next three stories. It’s time for ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’, one of my favourite Peter Davison-era trilogies. 🙂

I cherish very fond memories of ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ when I first it on DVD in 2009. The three stories feature the return of Valentine Dyall as the titular Black Guardian, who was previously in ‘The Armageddon Factor’ in ‘The Key to Time’ season.

That’s Season 16 in Tom Baker’s era of the classic TV show. ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ also chronicles the debut of Mark Strickson as Turlough, a brand-new ‘Doctor Who’ companion who is initially assigned to kill the Doctor on behalf of the Black Guardian. 😐

‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ is also very significant and special for me, as it features the departure of the lovely Sarah Sutton as the lovely Nyssa of Traken, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion. She doesn’t leave in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, but she does leave in ‘Terminus’.

The three stories that form ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ include ‘Mawdryn Undead’, ‘Terminus’ and ‘Enlightenment’. All three stories have varying levels of storytelling, concepts and ideas, which makes it a fascinating and invigorating trilogy to check out. 🙂

At this point in the series, in terms of the gap between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’, there are stories featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan that slot within that gap, including a book and a comic adventure as well as some Big Finish audio stories.

Most notably, there’s the story ‘Goth Opera’, which is a vampire story in the form of a book that has now been adapted into a Big Finish audio drama. There’s also the comic story ‘Blood Invocation’, another vampire story, but, for me, isn’t as good as ‘Goth Opera’ is. 😐

There are also the stories featured in the ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and ‘In the Night’ box sets by Big Finish, including ‘Friendly Fire’, ‘The Edge of the War’, ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’ and ‘Resistor’. Presumably, they occur between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’. 🙂

There are also stories penned by WilliamsFan92, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and an original companion called Michael Anderson. These include ‘Siroto’, and a ‘Short Trip’ penned by me featuring that TARDIS team called ‘The Race of Endurance’. 🙂

In terms of how the 20th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ is celebrated in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, well, we have the Black Guardian making an appearance, since this marks as his first story in his own trilogy. There’s also the return of an old friend of the Doctor’s in this tale.

That friend of course is Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. It was great to see Nick Courtney reprise his role as the Brigadier in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and play two versions of the character, which we’ll get to later in the review. 🙂

Incidentally, I’ve had my DVD covers of ‘Mawdryn Undead’, ‘Terminus’ and ‘Enlightenment’ signed by Sarah Sutton at ‘Timey-Wimey 1’ in Brighton in November 2014. I’m very pleased I’ve had my ‘Black Guardian Trilogy’ DVD covers signed by Sarah.

If you’re wondering why I’ve had my ‘Enlightenment’ DVD cover signed by Sarah, even though she doesn’t appear as Nyssa in that story, I’ll explain when we get to my updated review on the ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’ featurette on the ‘Terminus’ page. I do wish Sarah was in the tale though.

I’m also very lucky to have had signed photos of Sarah as Nyssa in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and ‘Terminus’ when I saw her at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’ in July 2011. That was the third time I saw Sarah in real life and at a convention. Incredible how time has flown by. 🙂

I’ve also had my DVD cover of ‘Mawdryn Undead’ signed by Peter Davison at ‘York Unleashed’ at the York Racecourse in York, August 2017. I’ve also had my DVD cover of the TV story signed by Mark Strickson at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’ in July 2017. 🙂

It’s amazing since seeing ‘Mawdryn Undead’ on DVD in 2009 that I would be seeing it again for this updated review on its Blu-ray release in the Season 20 Blu-ray box set. I’ve enjoyed revisiting the story on Blu-ray in 2023 and I’ve enjoyed revisiting it again in 2025.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a very good story to check out in the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s a story that deals with time. It could easily be considered a story predating Steven Moffat’s era, especially since our heroes jump about between two time zones. 🙂

Incidentally, Tegan mentions to the Doctor that she’s still having bad dreams when she asks if she’s free of the Mara, following ‘Snakedance’. Understandably, the link is provided between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’ to keep up the series continuity.

But if we’re to take into consideration the stories in the gap between ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’ as well as the stories, both TV and non-TV, that follow after that, I wonder if this is a foreshadowing of ‘The Cradle of the Snake’. It’s a very likely possibility.

Anyway, in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, the TARDIS ends up inside an empty spaceship that’s caught in a warp ellipse in outer space. As the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan explore the spaceship, they learn that it’s been in orbit of the warp ellipse in two Earth time zones. 😐

Those time zones are 1977 and 1983. This leads to a huge continuity error in the grand scheme of things regarding ‘Doctor Who’ history, particularly as we consider the Brigadier being in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, but we’ll discuss more on this later in the review. 🙂

The Doctor soon ends up being separated from Nyssa and Tegan, as they go off in the TARDIS to Earth in 1977 whilst he ends up on Earth in 1983. The Doctor reunites with his old friend, the Brigadier, who doesn’t seem to recall who he is once they meet in this tale.

There’s also a public school boy named Turlough. The public school called Brendon School is where the Brigadier is now working at. The Doctor must solve the mystery of the peculiar spaceship and must survive the danger of Mawdryn and his fellow mutants.

Mawdryn is a scientist. He and his people have been aboard their spaceship for many years. They’re trapped, afflicted by a mutation that constantly causes their bodies to renew. Mawdryn and his kind seek to die, using the regenerative abilities of a Time Lord.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a four-part adventure by Peter Grimwade. Peter Grimwade is well-known for directing four ‘Doctor Who’ stories in the early 1980s that feature Tom Baker and Peter Davison. The stories include ‘Full Circle’, ‘Logopolis’, ‘Kinda’ and ‘Earthshock’.

This is Peter Grimwade’s second contribution as a ‘Doctor Who’ writer, since he previously penned ‘Time-Flight’, which was the season finale of Season 19 of the classic TV series. Not many people hold ‘Time-Flight’ as a story in high regard compared to me.

With ‘Time-Flight’ seemingly a disaster in Peter Grimwade and many people’s eyes, he was determined to have another go with writing ‘Mawdryn Undead’. And to be fair, ‘Mawdryn Undead’ is very solid as a ‘Doctor Who’ story, despite having many elements.

Apparently, ‘Mawdryn Undead’ was inspired by ‘The Flying Dutchman’ legend. I can’t claim to know what that’s about, but it’s fascinating how Peter Grimwade came up with the idea to do a sci-fi take on ‘The Flying Dutchman’ legend and how he delivers it for TV.

Like I said, the story predates the timey-wimey stories of Steven Moffat’s era, especially when you’re having to jump between different time zones. We start in 1983 before going back in time to 1977 and we jump back and forth now and again. It sounds so confusing.

But quite frankly, and after seeing this story multiple times, I was able to get into the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ story, as I found it very exciting. Yes, there are noticeable plot-holes in the timey-wimey aspects of the story, and it’s challenging in putting the pieces together.

Despite that, it was made up for when engaging with the characters and unravelling how they saw things from their perspective. It’s the character-driven aspects of a timey-wimey adventure that appeal to me rather than the plot-driven aspects featured in one.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is very well-directed by Peter Moffatt. This isn’t Peter Moffat’s directorial debut in ‘Doctor Who’, of course. Previously, he directed stories like ‘State of Decay’ for Tom Baker’s Doctor and directed ‘The Visitation’ for Peter Davison’s Doctor. 🙂

I’m pleased Peter Moffatt wasn’t intimidated by Peter Grimwade whilst directing this story, considering they’ve been both ‘Doctor Who’ directors in their lives. Peter Moffatt would later go on to direct ‘The Five Doctors’, ‘The Twin Dilemma’ and ‘The Two Doctors’.

Talking about the cast, Peter Davison is brilliant as the Fifth Doctor in this adventure. I really like the innocence he portrays in the Doctor, especially when he’s working out what’s going on with the mysterious spaceship caught between two Earth time zones. 🙂

I’ve also greatly enjoyed his scenes with Nyssa and Tegan when they’re exploring aboard the spaceship. The Doctor shows great concern for his friends when he’s separated from them, and I like how he comes to self-sacrifice everything for them in ‘Part Four’. 🙂

It’s very dramatic and moving to see. For all the criticisms that the classic TV show gets for not being emotional enough, there are some very good and emotionally-charged scenes in stories like ‘Mawdryn Undead’, and it’s great to see the actors play them well.

I did think it was a bit harsh of the Doctor to call Tegan ‘stupid’ when he hears that she and Nyssa brought the 1977 Brigadier with them whilst he brought 1983 Brigadier. They weren’t to know that there would be two Brigadiers aboard the ship. Nor did the Doctor.

It’s interesting that the Doctor seems very accepting of Turlough when he meets him in the TARDIS in ‘Part One’ compared to Nyssa and Tegan who are suspicious of him. Maybe the Doctor was keen to have another Adric, after what happened in ‘Earthshock’.

This is in spite the fact that in other mediums, the Fifth Doctor has had male companions in-between ‘Earthshock’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’ like Thomas Brewster, Billy Walker, Marc and Michael Anderson. 😀 Odd the Doctor accepts Turlough quickly. 🙂

I enjoyed it when the Doctor is delighted to see his old friend, the Brigadier, again. Peter Davison’s able to deliver the fact that he knows the Brig very well from the days when he used to be Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker as the Doctor. A nice feeling. 🙂

I greatly like this line delivery shared between Nick Courtney as the Brigadier and Peter Davison as the Doctor, when the Brig is trying to remember things before a flashback sequence occurs. It’s well-played between the two actors when watching it on screen. 🙂

Doctor: Are you all right?
Brigadier: Someone just walked over my grave.
Doctor: Perhaps it was a Yeti, Colonel Lethbridge Stewart.

Sarah Sutton is a joy to watch as Nyssa in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. I love Nyssa’s outfit in this story, as it’s a blue-grey jacket and a skirt. It’s a marked improvement over the outfit she wore in ‘Snakedance’. She looks so lovely and glamorous when I see her on the TV. 🙂

It’s a shame the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ outfit wasn’t the signature outfit Nyssa wore throughout Season 20. After all, Tegan’s signature outfit is the tube top and white shorts, which she began wearing in ‘Arc of Infinity’. I wish we saw more of Nyssa in that outfit. 😦

Ah well, at least she wears it in the next story. Well, half of it, but we’ll get to that another time. A criticism I’ve made about Nyssa in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ is that I found her rather sidelined, despite loving the screentime she had in this tale. I’d like to elaborate on this.

You see, Nyssa could have gone with Tegan to the bottom of the hill to find help at Brendon School whilst the horribly disfigured man they found in the transmat capsule that they think is the Doctor stays in the TARDIS. Instead, Nyssa stays with the man in the TARDIS.

Now, to be fair, Nyssa needs to look after him, considering that the TARDIS doesn’t have the Zero Room anymore. This is despite the fact that the Big Finish audio story ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’ establishes that there’s been a brand-new Zero Room built.

Granted, ‘Renaissance of the Daleks’ was made after ‘Mawdryn Undead’, and that Zero Room could have been destroyed or jettisoned since then. But even if that was the case, surely there could have been scenes inside the TARDIS featuring Nyssa with the man. 😐

And I don’t mean just standing around and looking at the scanner screen now and again. Nyssa could have had an active subplot with the disfigured man whilst Tegan is elsewhere. Maybe she could have gotten to know the man who she thinks is the Doctor.

I know that sounds like me craving for more stuff with Nyssa compared to Tegan, but the fact that Tegan gets more to do than Nyssa, and Nyssa is basically waiting for Tegan in ‘Part Two’ and doing nothing is quite disappointing, and I wish she had more to do in this.

I do like it when Nyssa gets to show her caring and compassionate side in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, particularly when she’s looking after the man, who happens to be Mawdryn, in the TARDIS. This is especially when he’s demanding for the TARDIS to take off at once.

Mawdryn: Prepare to leave at once.
Nyssa: We can’t leave without Tegan.
Mawdryn: At once!
Nyssa: Doctor, you don’t know what you’re saying. Tegan will be back soon.
Mawdryn: AT ONCE!

I also like it when Nyssa shows sympathy for Mawdryn when she, the Doctor, Tegan and the 1983 Brigadier learn the truth about the condition of him and his people. The moment in ‘Part Four’ where Nyssa shares her opinion on the matter tugs at the heartstrings.

Nyssa: Will the mutants really travel for the rest of time?
Doctor: I’m afraid so.
Nyssa: That’s terrible.

Janet Fielding is very good as Tegan in this story. It was interesting how she recovered quite quickly from having had bad dreams of the Mara before being thrust into another adventure where she, Nyssa and the Doctor end up in a seemingly empty spaceship.

Tegan gets to have an active role in this story, especially when she goes to the bottom of the hill so she can find help at Brendon School whilst Nyssa is looking after Mawdryn in the TARDIS. I like it when she gets to meet the Brigadier and learn that she’s in 1977. 🙂

It was fascinating to see Tegan be easily suspicious of Turlough and not trust him when he happened to ‘walk’ into a transmat capsule to end up on the mutants’ spaceship and be in the TARDIS. Nyssa is less suspicious about Turlough when seeing him for the first time. 🙂

Tegan: I don’t trust that boy.
Nyssa: Oh, I don’t know. I thought he was rather nice.

And when Tegan points out that nobody on Earth is going to simply walk into a transmat capsule, Nyssa points out the same thing happened to her when she walked into the TARDIS on the Barnet Bypass in ‘Logopolis’. It was amusing Tegan had a sulky look then.

Tegan is also quick to suspect Mawdryn in his proper form in ‘Part Three’ and that he isn’t the Doctor. Throughout the episode, Tegan’s suspicions increase right up to the point where she sees Mawdryn in a cubicle and says, “I knew you weren’t the Doctor.” 😐

There’s no nonsense with Tegan when she becomes insistent to Mawdryn about him not going out alone in the spaceship in ‘Part Three’. Nyssa’s more diplomatic than Tegan, but Tegan is correct to quickly suss out that Mawdryn as the Doctor isn’t who he claims to be.

I did like that moment where Tegan thanked the Doctor for being willing to self-sacrifice himself to save her and Nyssa when they were afflicted with Mawdryn’s condition. Nyssa would have done the same, but it was good to see Tegan’s soft side then. 🙂

Tegan: Before we go, Doctor, thank you. You were prepared to risk everything for us.

With all these things said about Nyssa and Tegan, there’s one thing I need to question about their appearance in ‘Mawdryn Undead’. When they go into the transmat capsule that arrives in 1977, they find the horribly disfigured man that happens to be Mawdryn. 😐

Now, surely Nyssa and Tegan would react with horror before asking who the man was. Instead, they react with horror and immediately think the bloodied and burnt Mawdryn is the Doctor. Why did the two think it was the Doctor upon seeing him in the capsule? 😐

Why didn’t they think it was Turlough? I know they thought they were in 1983 instead of 1973 at the time, but my first reaction upon seeing the disfigured Mawdryn on the floor of the transmat capsule wouldn’t be to think it’s the Doctor. I’d ask him who he is first.

I don’t blame Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding’s performances in that regard, as they’re acting their socks out in those scenes. It’s clearly the writing and the direction to blame. More thought should have been put into how Nyssa and Tegan thought it was the Doctor. 😐

And it gets even worse! You see, Nyssa and Tegan end up carrying Mawdryn from the transmat capsule into the TARDIS. Now, if I wrote that scene, I would have had either Nyssa or Tegan going back to the TARDIS to fetch a stretcher and carry Mawdryn on it.

Instead, Nyssa and Tegan are seen dragging Mawdryn into the TARDIS and laying him out on the console room floor before putting blankets on him as well as Tom Baker’s Season 18 burgundy coat. Surely that would’ve caused Mawdryn more pain and suffering then?

Why didn’t one of them go back to the TARDIS to fetch a stretcher to put Mawdryn on in order to carry him back to the TARDIS? Was it that hard to come up with that idea? I know production on these stories is pressed for time, but it’s rather thoughtless, right? 😐

I’m sure I’d be writing a ‘Doctor Who’ story where Nyssa and Billy consider helping a sick person by finding a stretcher and placing him, her or them on it in order to make a journey from one place to another very painless and easy-going. It’s frustratingly bizarre!

It was great to see Nick Courtney make a triumphant return as the Brigadier in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series in ‘Mawdryn Undead’. The last time he was in ‘Doctor Who’ was ‘Terror of the Zygons’, which was made in 1975. Amazing it’d been that long since then. 🙂

In many respects, it feels like the Brigadier hasn’t been away from the TV series. Nick Courtney is so into the character that he slips back into the role quite easily. It’s also superb to see him perform opposite Peter Davison compared to the previous Doctors. 🙂

It’s interesting how Nick Courtney gets to play two versions of the Brigadier in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. He plays the 1983 Brigadier whom the Doctor meets, and he plays the 1977 Brigadier whom Nyssa and Tegan meet. Nick Courtney plays the two Brigs well.

I really like it how the Brigadier gets to remember the Doctor after forgetting about him for six years. This happens when the Doctor name-triggers his memory back into place after mentioning Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith and Liz Shaw’s names to the dear Brigadier.

This of courses leads to a brilliant flashback sequence featured in the story where the Brigadier remembers the Doctor. That’s the CGI version of the flashback sequence, not the original. The CGI version is way better, since it has more and better clips of stories. 🙂

As well as the Yeti from ‘The Web of Fear’, the Cybermen from ‘The Invasion’, the Axons from ‘The Claws of Axos’, the K1 Robot from ‘Robot’, the Zygons from ‘Terror of the Zygons’ and the first three Doctors, there is also a Silurian, the Master, Bok and Omega.

Interestingly, no Daleks are featured in the CGI version of the flashback scene as opposed to the original version. But then, the Brigadier didn’t encounter the Daleks much in ‘Day of the Daleks’ compared to Benton who fought the Daleks on the front line.

I’m surprised the Doctor’s mentioning of Benton and Harry Sullivan didn’t trigger the Brigadier’s memory of the Time Lord’s time at U.N.I.T. Then again, they were officers under him. Same with Mike Yates, although it’s odd the Doctor didn’t mention him at all.

Despite that, the video quality in the CGI version of the flashback sequence is very good and it’s aided incredibly well by Paddy Kingsland’s musical score. In fact, Paddy Kingsland’s musical score for ‘Mawdryn Undead’ is one of his best ever for ‘Doctor Who’.

I also like that the flashback sequence has the Brigadier remembering the Doctor earlier rather than later in the story. Usually, that would be often the case in modern storytelling, but I’m glad that the Brigadier remembers the Doctor quickly in ‘Part Two’. 🙂

Brigadier: Well, bless my soul. So, you’ve done it again, Doctor.

So yes, the Brigadier being back in ‘Doctor Who’ must have been very exciting for ‘Doctor Who’ fans. It adds to the 20th anniversary celebrations, especially when the Brigadier has actually met all the first five Doctors in the TV show by this certain stage. 🙂

Mind you, Nick Courtney wasn’t originally considered to return to ‘Doctor Who’ for this particular story. With ‘Mawdryn Undead’ being set at a school, it was initially considered that William Russell, who played Ian Chesterton in the series, would return in this tale.

Now, I would have welcomed William Russell coming back to ‘Doctor Who’ with great enthusiasm if he’d agreed to return to the TV series. Sadly, that didn’t happen because either he wasn’t interested in returning or maybe he wasn’t available to make the return.

It’s a shame really, and it would have saved a lot of continuity issues regarding the Brigadier’s return to ‘Doctor Who’ instead of Ian. Despite that, I’m glad Ian met the Fifth Doctor in ‘The Five Companions’ and he did appear in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ in 2022.

Some might question why the Brigadier became a teacher after his time in U.N.I.T., especially since it might not be the sort of career choice he’d take compared to Ian who was already a schoolteacher in his time of ‘Doctor Who’. But it does actually make sense.

Quite often, army types can become schoolteachers as a way of retirement. It’s not uncommon and I think it’s okay for the Brigadier to be a schoolteacher following his days at U.N.I.T. And it’s interesting he became a maths teacher, which surprises the Doctor.

Say, do you recall the Twelfth Doctor’s reaction to Danny Pink being a maths teacher instead of a P.E. teacher in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘The Caretaker’?

Danny: I don’t teach P.E. I’m not a P.E. teacher.
Doctor: Sorry, that seems very unlikely.

About ten seconds later…

Danny: I, I’m not a P.E. teacher, I’m a maths teacher.
Doctor: Nope, sorry. No, I can’t retain that. I’ve tried. It’s just not going in.

Clearly, the Doctor forgot some important words said to him by the Brigadier in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ about a solider becoming a maths teacher, didn’t he?

Brigadier: Oh, I know how many beans make five, Doctor. And you don’t have to be a Time Lord to cope with A Level maths.

I mean, it might have been the Twelfth Doctor getting on a bit and forgetting things said to him many years ago or it could be the quality of how the writing was done in 2014 compared to 1983. It’s open to speculation, but it’s a fascinating comparison, isn’t it? 🙂

Whilst it’s good to have the Brigadier back in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ instead of Ian, had William Russell agreed to return, then maybe having the story set in the two time zones of 1977 and 1983 would make sense. It’d fit Ian a lot more than it’d fit for the Brigadier. 😐

(sighs) Because…yeah, the Brigadier being in 1977 and 1983 in this story…doesn’t match to the fact that the U.N.I.T. stories from the Jon Pertwee era are supposed to take place in the 1980s. 😐 The ‘Doctor Who’ production team didn’t do their research on that.

(groans) Look, I know, I know, I know. This is a debate that has been going on for years since ‘Mawdryn Undead’ came out in 1983 and it’s a huge continuity issue that hasn’t been resolved in a satisfactory manner. And it’s amazing that this has happened at all. 😐

For those are uninitiated with regards to this, the U.N.I.T. dating conundrum needs to be taken seriously if we’re to take into account how these stories were presented for TV audiences. And this is something that happened early with ‘The Abominable Snowmen’.

If we’re to believe how that story turned out, ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ took place in 1935. Then we move on to ‘The Web of Fear’, which takes place 40 years later and we’re in the year 1975. Please bear in mind that Professor Travers appeared in both Yeti tales.

And the Brigadier – or Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart as he was called then – was in ‘The Web of Fear’ itself. Then we cut to ‘The Invasion’, which, according to the Brigadier, who gained his promotion, takes place about four years after the events of ‘The Web of Fear’.

And ‘The Invasion’ happens to be the first proper U.N.I.T. story in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. After that, during the Jon Pertwee era, the U.N.I.T. stories became vague in terms of when they take place in Earth’s history, whether it’s in 1979 or the early 1980s itself. 😐

But then, Sarah Jane told Laurence Scarman in ‘Pyramids of Mars’ that she came from 1980. So, logically, the U.N.I.T. stories should at least take place between 1979 to 1980, and the Brigadier himself should have lived in that period when he was running U.N.I.T. 😐

So, having the Brigadier be in 1977 and in 1983 when the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan meet him in ‘Mawdryn Undead’…doesn’t really make sense when you add up all the preexisting information concerning the U.N.I.T. stories and their place in Earth’s history.

I know ‘Mawdryn Undead’ was originally written with Ian Chesterton in mind before the Brigadier took that slot, but how come Peter Grimwade didn’t correct this when he was writing the TV scripts? How come the script editor Eric Saward didn’t correct this error?

Heck, the production team had an unofficial continuity advisor in the form of Ian Levine. Wasn’t he around when ‘Mawdryn Undead’ was being produced? Did no-one check with him about the dating issues concerning the Brigadier’s appearance in this adventure? 😐

It’s so baffling that this occurred at all, and for years, many people have tried to find an answer to the whole U.N.I.T. dating problem in ‘Doctor Who’. Even I’ve tried to do that when I wrote a theory in my 60th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.

But I don’t think we’re going to get a very satisfying answer to the issue either way in the grand scheme of things. Even the Tenth Doctor wasn’t sure when the U.N.I.T. stories took place once asked about his time in working for U.N.I.T. in ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’.

Donna: What, you used to work for them?
Doctor: Yeah, long time ago. Back in the ’70s. Or was it the ’80s?

Quite frankly, I’m not too bothered by this blunder in ‘Doctor Who’ continuity, as it’s the stories and the characters that are of prime importance. And over the years, we’ve had ‘Doctor Who’ stories that ignore certain continuity elements established over the years.

‘The Power of the Doctor’, whilst great in featuring the return of Sophie Aldred as Ace, ignores the fact that Ace had met the Thirteenth Doctor before in ‘At Childhood’s End’. A story that was penned by Sophie Aldred herself and Ace met Graham, Ryan and Yaz too.

Russell T. Davies’ story ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ establishes the possibility of Nyssa and Tegan being a couple and ignores the Big Finish audio stories that occurred beforehand where an older Nyssa from ‘Cobwebs’ to ‘The Entropy Plague’ had ended up in E-Space.

‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ establishes that the Thirteenth Doctor meets Mary Shelley for the first time, despite Big Finish establishing that the Eighth Doctor met Mary Shelley first. There’s also the Tenth Doctor who met Mary Shelley in a 2008 comic story.

There are also multiple versions of ‘Shada’ coexisting with each other. There’s ‘Destination: Skaro’ ignoring the ‘I, Davros’ mini-audio series by Big Finish and other origin stories featuring the Daleks, including comics, aside from ‘Genesis of the Daleks’.

And there’s the fact that there are multiple versions of ‘The Star Beast’ where the Fourth Doctor met Beep the Meep as well as the Fourteenth Doctor. ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ ignores the Fourth Doctor meeting Isaac Newton and also ignores the Fifth Doctor meeting him.

I know I’m digressing with this, but the point I’m trying to make is that ‘Doctor Who’ continuity is all over the place and we’re never going to get a satisfying answer to how things are supposed to be consistent, especially if we combine TV with other mediums.

Even though I’ve put together my ‘Doctor Who’ timelines on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, there’s not going to be a satisfying version of chronologies featuring certain characters, places and organisations like U.N.I.T., and many people come up with different theories.

I’d like to think I’m making a good effort in making sense of things, particularly when it comes to reorganising certain sections of a ‘Doctor Who’ timeline for a character and such. But I find that time’s always going to be in flux when handling these certain issues.

Yes, it’s annoying that the U.N.I.T. dating conundrum has happened and it’s a struggle to make sense of it, even by today’s standards. But I’m doing my best not to worry about it too much, as it’s bound to give me headaches should I attempt to think so hard about it.

Maybe one day I might make sense of all these continuity issues in ‘Doctor Who’ when it comes to say, putting together a special 70th anniversary series of ‘Doctor Who’ stories. Already I’m making plans for 2033, but that’s something to tease you with for another time. 🙂

Anyway, back to ‘Mawdryn Undead’. Mark Strickson makes his debut as Turlough in this story. What’s ironic is that Season 19 had a problem in terms of a crowded TARDIS. Adric was killed in ‘Earthshock’ for the crowded TARDIS to be less than it seemed to be.

Season 20 could’ve easily had just the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan travelling as a trio in the TARDIS. Instead, producer John Nathan-Turner wanted another male companion in the TARDIS, bringing the crowded TARDIS back up from three regulars to four again. 😐

I don’t know what goes on in the mindset of John Nathan-Turner as a ‘Doctor Who’ producer sometimes, but if you’re going to reduce the crowded TARDIS from four to three regulars, you need to commit to that so that character development can be good.

Now that’s not to say I object to Turlough being a ‘Doctor Who’ companion. Far from it. Mark Strickson is excellent as the character, and it’s interesting to see him introduced as a public schoolboy who’s an alien and is assigned as an assassin to kill the Doctor. 😐

I’ve met Mark Strickson at several conventions over the years. Mark is a great guy to meet and chat to at conventions. This includes ones at Weston-super-Mare in July 2014, Newcastle in October 2015, Birmingham in March 2016 and London in July 2017.

It’s interesting Turlough is selected by the Black Guardian to work for him to kill the Doctor. There’s clearly hints of him having a shady past. It’s evident in the way he’s so devious, selfish and manipulative in his first story, which I found great to check out here.

Mind you, as Peter Davison has pointed out in the ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ making-of documentary, it can be challenging to maintain the pretence of Turlough wanting to be friends with the Doctor whilst also having to find ways to kill him during the TV series.

Thankfully, this storyline of Turlough attempting to kill the Doctor is contained in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ compared to beyond the trilogy in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s what comes afterwards which is a concern regarding how you continue Turlough’s character journey.

This is something we’re bound to uncover in future stories in the rest of ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ as well as the rest of Turlough’s time in the TV series. But make no mistake. Turlough’s character as an assassin before changing in the series has issues. 😐

It’s good to see Valentine Dyall return as the Black Guardian and for three stories compared to making a brief appearance at the end of ‘The Armageddon Factor’. And he’s very different in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ compared to ‘The Armageddon Factor’.

In ‘The Armageddon Factor’, he was seen trying to deceive the Fourth Doctor and Romana to give him the Key to Time. He was dressed up in the White Guardian’s clothes to create the deception. Once the Doctor saw through it, he converted to be negative. 😀

And that’s a negative image of him on-screen, whether it’d be on the TARDIS scanner or not. He also had a moustache then. For this trilogy of stories, Valentine Dyall is seen to be dressed in black and is wearing a black crow on his head. Yes! Of course he’d wear that!

Why wouldn’t the Black Guardian wear a black crow on his head? 😀 In all seriousness, it’s a good symbolic image to represent who he is compared to how the White Guardian appears in ‘Enlightenment’, which we’ll look into when we get to the review of that story. 🙂

Valentine Dyall also makes up with delivering a menacing and booming performance as the Black Guardian, particularly in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Peter Davison was very impressed with his voice that he tried to emulate him when doing ‘The Eternal Summer’.

It’s interesting that the Black Guardian seeks revenge on the Doctor following ‘The Key to Time’ season and that he employs Turlough to kill the Doctor. Also interesting that the Black Guardian says he mustn’t be involved once it comes to assassinating the Doctor.

Then again, the Black Guardian has had agents working for him like Cessair of Diplos (I believe) from ‘The Stones of Blood’, the Shadow in ‘The Armageddon Factor’ and Menlove Stokes from ‘The Well-Mannered War’. He’d no direct involvement those times.

I’m sure there are other agents I’ve missed out, but it’s interesting it’s taken this long for the Black Guardian to assign someone to kill the Doctor following ‘The Armageddon Factor’. The randomiser was removed from the TARDIS in ‘The Leisure Hive’, wasn’t it? 😐

David Collings guest stars as the titular Mawdryn in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. I enjoyed David Collings’ performance as Mawdryn in this story. This isn’t his ‘Doctor Who’ story, as he last appeared in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘The Robots of Death’.

I first came across David Collings when he played Legolas in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ radio series. The character he plays in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a very tragic figure. He and his fellow mutant brothers are trapped aboard their spaceship, seemingly for eternity. 😐

They happen to be immortal and cannot die. It’s interesting how it’s unveiled how Mawdryn and his kind stole Time Lord technology to find a way to become Time Lords themselves before it went ‘disastrously wrong’, causing this endless mutation for them.

There seems to be no means of ending their eternal agony. At least not until the Doctor shows up. It’s revealed that Mawdryn and his kind need the Doctor’s help to end their suffering by stealing his remaining regenerations. The Doctor is unwilling to help them. 😐

If the Doctor provided his regenerations to Mawdryn and his seven brothers that would allow them to die, it would mean the Time Lord wouldn’t be able to regenerate anymore after that. Incidentally, the Doctor shares this…well, sort-of dated information to Tegan.

Doctor: I can only regenerate twelve times. I have already done so four times.
Tegan: So?
Doctor: Don’t you see? Eight of them, eight of me.

Um, no, Doctor. Apparently, things have changed since then. You were given a new regeneration cycle by the time ‘The Time of the Doctor’ came along. And it turns out you were the Timeless Child in Jodie Whittaker’s era where you have endless regenerations.

I know things were different back then, considering the classic TV series kept the 13 regenerations rule for Time Lords according to Robert Holmes in ‘The Deadly Assassin’. But it’s sad and surreal that Peter Davison isn’t really the fifth incarnation of the Doctor anymore.

Going back to Mawdryn, when he’s recovered at the end of ‘Part Two’, he has…well, a sort-of pizza-like brain protruding at the top of his head. I don’t know whose idea it was to make Mawdryn look like that – Peter Grimwade or not – but it looks pretty disturbing. 😐

There was a ruckus that went on behind-the-scenes concerning how Mawdryn’s make-up initially looked, and John Nathan-Turner wasn’t happy with it. Whether the brain protruding from Mawdryn’s head is important or not, it doesn’t disguise how grotesque it is.

I think it’s fair to say Mawdryn isn’t really a villain in the sense of him wanting to take over the universe. He’s not entirely malicious, as he wishes the Doctor to help him and his brothers of his own free will. But it’s clear he can be manipulative on that front too. 😐

This is when Mawdryn tells the Doctor to ‘accept the consequences of’ his ‘actions’, as he, Nyssa, Tegan and 1983 Brigadier are about to leave in the TARDIS when the Time Lord refuses to help. Mawdryn knows how the Doctor can be easily persuaded to help. 😐

The story’s guest cast also includes Angus MacKay as the Headmaster at Brendon School. This isn’t Angus MacKay’s first association with ‘Doctor Who’ either, as he was the first actor to play Borusa in the ‘Doctor Who’ series in the story ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

Incidentally, the Headmaster is called Mr. Sellick, according to the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ Target novelization. There’s also Stephen Garlick as Ibbotson, Turlough’s best friend at school. Ibbotson is often nicknamed ‘Hippo’ by Turlough, which I think is quite mean. 😀

It was funny to see Turlough and Ibbotson take the Brigadier’s car for a drive in ‘Part One’ of the story. 😀 The cast also includes Roger Hammond as Dr. Runicman, the school’s medical doctor. Roger Hammond was previously in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Chase’. 🙂

He was Francis Bacon in that. And he would go on to play Harold Withers in ‘The Eternal Summer’, the second story of ‘The Stockbridge Trilogy’ by Big Finish. There’s also Sheila Gill as the Matron, who looks after Turlough after crashing the Brigadier’s car in the story.

Despite there being seven of Mawdryn’s brothers aboard the spaceship, only two of them speak. They’re played by Peter Walmsley and Brian Darnley. Some have made fun of the fact that the mutants aboard the spaceship glide about like they’re ballet dancers.

Whilst it’s funny to see them move about like that in ‘Part Three’ of the story, I wouldn’t call it a necessary thing to poke too much fun at. After all, these are aliens. Maybe they have different movements compared to humans. At least they did walk properly in ‘Part Four’.

It was shocking and disturbing to see Nyssa and Tegan being wizened and disfigured by the disease inflicted upon them by Mawdryn in ‘Part Four’. Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding must have had a lot of make-up put upon them to perform that horrifying scene.

And this was like a day before Janet Fielding’s wedding, would you believe? 😀 It was also interesting to see Nyssa and Tegan de-age to become children, with Nyssa played by Lucy Baker/Lucy Benjamin of ‘EastEnders’ fame and Tegan played by Sian Pattenden.

I’d have to question the casting choices of Nyssa and Tegan’s child actors though, since – meaning no disrespect to them – Lucy Baker/Benjamin and Sian Pattenden don’t look like the younger versions of Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan in the story.

I mean, it might down to perspective, but surely the production team could have found child actors that looked like their grown-up counterparts in the story. I know it’s very brief and the girls had one line to say, but they don’t match to how Sarah and Janet look.

It does inspire me to write a ‘Mind Robber’-like story someday where Peter Davison’s Doctor got Nyssa’s face wrong, and she ended up being Lucy Benjamin for a couple of episodes. Billy Walker would be so surprised to see Nyssa look so different than normal.

Fortunately, Nyssa would get her Sarah Sutton face back of course, and the Doctor and Billy would be pleased. 😀 ‘Mawdryn Undead’ ends with the 1977 and 1983 Brigadiers meeting face to face with each other, shorting out the time differential, as was predicted.

The Blinovitch Limitation Effect and all. 😀 Thankfully, this didn’t kill the Brigadiers, and the 1977 Brigadier has lost his memory, bringing everything full circle as to how the 1983 Brigadier didn’t remember the Doctor at all when they reunited in ‘Part Two’ of the story.

The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan take both Brigadiers home to their times, and the trio discover Turlough is with them aboard the TARDIS. Mawdryn and his kind have also received the death treatment they craved, thanks to the two Brigs meeting each other. 🙂

Turlough asks the Doctor if he can join him in the TARDIS and the Doctor says, “I think you already have.” Nyssa and Tegan are still suspicious of Turlough, whilst Turlough seems to have won his way with the Doctor and is still working for the Black Guardian. 😐

The original DVD special features were as follows. There was a dual mono sound audio mix option for the story, a DVD audio commentary with Peter Davison, Mark Strickson, Nicholas Courtney and script editor Eric Saward, and an isolated music option of the story by Paddy Kingsland to enjoy. There was an info-text commentary option to enjoy, and the making-of documentary ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’, featuring behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There was the lovely mini-episode called ‘Liberty Hall’, starring Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier. There were deleted and extended scenes of the story, and film trims. There were outtakes of the story, the CGI effects option of the story to enjoy, BBC continuity announcements of the story, a photo gallery of the story, a set photo gallery of the story, and PDF materials, including a ‘Radio Times Listings’ of the story, CGI storyboards and studio floorplans. There was also a ‘coming soon’ trailer for ‘The Twin Dilemma’, starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. There were two Easter Eggs to look out for on the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ DVD, including a TARDIS Information System item and VT countdown clocks for the story.

On Disc 3 of the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 20’ Blu-ray, the dual mono sound audio mix option, the DVD audio commentary, the isolated music option, the ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ making-of documentary, the ‘Liberty Hall’ mini-episode, the deleted and extended scenes, the outtakes and the CGI effects option can be found on there. The info-text commentary option, the film trims and the photo gallery have been updated for 2023 on the Blu-ray. The BBC continuity announcements of the story have been updated as BBC trailers and continuity announcements of the story. The two DVD Easter Eggs, including the TARDIS Information System item and the VT countdown clocks have been combined into one Blu-ray item.

The new special features on Blu-ray include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ feature on ‘Mawdryn Undead’ with Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Mark Strickson (Turlough) as well as Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) as well as Katy Manning (Jo) and Sophie Aldred (Ace). There’s the ‘Finding Mark Strickson’ featurette, taken from Disc 2 of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ DVD box set. There’s a ‘Points of View’ item, and there’s the ‘Once Upon a Time Lord’ documentary made in 1982 on the rise of fandom in the USA, including behind-the-scenes interviews with cast and crew, including producer John Nathan-Turner, Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Anthony Ainley, writer Terry Nation, etc. There’s also the ‘Monstercon II’ convention panel interview with Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson,

On the PDF front, as well as the ‘Radio Times Listings’ of ‘Mawdryn Undead’ and the studio floorplans, there are production documents, four rehearsal scripts, four camera scripts, four transmission scripts, a recording schedule, design drawings (not sure if the CGI storyboards from the DVD release are included), and costume designer Amy Roberts’ costume designs for the story. You need a special Blu-ray computer drive for that.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a great story to kick off ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’. It’s a very good introduction for Turlough as a ‘Doctor Who’ companion and it features a superb return for Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, including two versions of him.

It’s also great to see Valentine Dyall return as the Black Guardian in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, and David Collings is very good playing the titular Mawdryn. I enjoyed the timey-wimey aspects of this story and how cleverly very well-written it is by Peter Grimwade. 🙂

Yes, there are noticeable plot-holes in the story that can’t be avoided, but I like how Peter Grimwade managed to tell this story with it being set in two time zones and with the two Brigadiers. The U.N.I.T. dating conundrum is an issue, but I wouldn’t harp on it too much.

It’s also a good story featuring Peter Davison as the Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan. Despite my criticisms about Nyssa being sidelined in ‘Mawdryn Undead’, she does stand out well, especially in the blue-grey outfit she wears.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a very special ‘Doctor Who’ story for me, especially with it being the first story in a trilogy of stories that inspired me to go to conventions and meet people like Sarah Sutton. It also inspired me to pen a similar trilogy called ‘The Salvador Trilogy’. 🙂

That includes ‘The Austen Code’, ‘Junglos 4198’ and ‘Chieftain’s Caves’. After ‘Mawdryn Undead’, I was looking forward to the next story in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’, knowing it would have a very heartbreaking swansong for my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ rating – 9/10

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‘WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER?’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This is the first in a trilogy of documentaries focusing on the three stories in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’. I know that shouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s amazing how consistent the documentaries are with Brendan Sheppard as the producer and director. 🙂

The documentary is narrated by Floella Benjamin. For ‘Doctor Who’ fans, Floella Benjamin is well-known for playing Professor Rivers in four stories of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. I saw this documentary before Series 3 of ‘SJA’ was shown on TV in 2009. 🙂

The interviewees for the documentary include Peter Davison, Nicholas Courtney, Mark Strickson, David Collings and Lucy Benjamin. It’s very sad that Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding weren’t interviewed for the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ making-of documentary on DVD.

Thankfully, that’s made up for on the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ Blu-ray disc with the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item, the ‘Once Upon a Time Lord’ US documentary, and the ‘MonsterCon II’ convention footage featuring Sarah Sutton and Mark Strickson. I’m glad that’s happened.

Eric Saward is also interviewed for the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ making-of documentary. Essentially, Eric Saward represents Peter Grimwade, as the story’s author passed away in 1990. It was very interesting to hear Eric share his thoughts on the story’s concepts and characters.

There’s also Peter Moffatt, the story’s director, interviewed in the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ making-of documentary. Basically, it’s clips of Peter Moffatt from his ‘Directing Who’ interview from ‘The Visitation’ DVD and Blu-ray releases. I’m glad they’re in the documentary.

There’s also an interview with plastic surgeon Dr. Simon Withey, who shares his thoughts on the possibility of regenerating new limbs for people to live longer. I’m not sure the documentary needed that aspect to be discussed, as I didn’t find it relevant to the story.

The question is raised about whether the cast and crew of ‘Mawdryn Undead’ want to ‘live forever’. There was an interesting set of answers. Peter Davison and Lucy Benjamin seemed keen about it whereas people like Nick Courtney, David Collings and Mark Strickson weren’t.

Speaking personally, I’m convinced many of us will live forever. I live by John, Chapter 3, verse 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. I’m looking forward to when that time comes.

‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ is a very good making-of documentary focusing on ‘Mawdryn Undead’. A shame Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding aren’t in the documentary, but I greatly enjoyed Peter Davison, Mark Strickson and Nick Courtney being interviewed.

‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ rating – 8/10

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‘FINDING MARK STRICKSON’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This interview with Mark Strickson was released on Disc 2 of the ‘Enlightenment’ 2-disc DVD set in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ DVD box set. Now it’s available on Disc 3 of the Season 20 Blu-ray box set containing ‘Mawdryn Undead’. I’m happy it’s re-released on there.

It makes sense for the interview to be on the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ Blu-ray disc, as Mark Strickson was interviewed for the ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ making-of documentary simultaneously, and you can see the Brendon School filming location in the background.

I greatly enjoyed Mark Strickson being interviewed. I would later check out his ‘Myth Makers’ interview, but it was intriguing to hear him share his early acting career from being in a TV show called ‘Strangers’ for Granada TV to very soon be working in ‘Angels’ for the BBC.

It’s also interesting to hear him share his ambitions of being a musician before becoming an actor. He of course talks about ‘Doctor Who’ and it was a joy to hear him share his story on going to meet the producer John Nathan-Turner and asking to be in ‘Doctor Who’.

Apparently, Mark Strickson wanted to be in ‘Doctor Who’ instead of being in ‘Angels’. 😀 It was also good to hear him share his enjoyment of doing the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. At the time of the interview, three Big Finish audios with Turlough were available. 🙂

They included ‘Phantasmagoria’, ‘Loups-Garoux’ and ‘Singularity’. Mark Strickson has done more Big Finish audios since then, but it’s amazing he enjoyed doing those three audio stories by 2009. Mark Strickson also talks about his career beyond ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂

He shares how he became a producer on wildlife documentaries. This was slightly touched upon in his ‘Myth Makers’ interview and he shares here about doing a zoology course in Australia. It’s quite a fascinating contrast for him being an actor and a producer.

‘Finding Mark Strickson’ has been a very enjoyable interview with the actor. I’m pleased that Mark shared how much he’s enjoyed his time in ‘Doctor Who’ and beyond, and that he’s had ‘the time of his life’. He brings about a positive energy when being interviewed. 🙂

‘Finding Mark Strickson’ rating – 8/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE’ – ISSUE #110

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Originally posted on the 28th of April 2017.

This is a collector’s item worth having! I’m very pleased that I purchased it from Amazon.co.uk! 🙂

As you may (or may not) know from my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ reviews, I’m a huge fan of Sarah Sutton as Nyssa of Traken in ‘Doctor Who’. Over the years, I’ve been collecting memorabilia of Sarah as Nyssa. These include photographs, rare autographs and some items related to Sarah.

When I discovered Issue #110 of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ via Amazon.co.uk, I was keen to purchase it. Reading through the ‘DWM’ issue published in March 1986 has been extraordinarily pleasing and invigorating. Not only was I enjoying an interview with Sarah Sutton (the highlight of the magazine for me), but I also read a certain product in ‘DWM’ history.

I’ve written letters to ‘DWM’ about Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and two of them have been published in the ‘Galaxy Forum’ section. One of these letters was asking ‘DWM’ for a new interview with Sarah to share her memories of Nyssa and what she thinks of the TV series today. So far, nothing’s come about.

I’ve had one fan from America supporting this idea in another ‘DWM’ two issues later. I live in hope that an interview with Sarah is imminent and will be worth waiting for. I was delighted to read the interview that was done with Sarah in 1986 for Issue #110 in ‘DWM’ and to read her thoughts.

I’ve now had my copy of Issue #110 of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ signed by Sarah Sutton at the ‘Stars of Time’ convention in Weston-super-Mare in July 2012. The issue has a lovely front cover, since it features the photo of Sarah as Nyssa in her ‘Mawdryn Undead’ outfit, which is one of my favourites.

The items included in the ‘DWM’ issue are very different to the level of content that’s contained in ‘DWM’ today. The contents page is very limited and not very verbose as current ‘DWM’ is. But it was lovely to read and see how ‘DWM’ published its issues back in the 1980s and how limited it seemed.

There’s a ‘To The TARDIS’ section, which is like the ‘Galaxy Forum’ section of ‘DWM’ today, as it contains fan letters sent to the magazine on various topics. These include letters by fans from places like Cardiff and Australia on the series’ availability down under as well as asking about the upcoming Season 23.

There’s Part 1 of an article by Richard Marson called ‘At the Eleventh Hour’, which looks into the delivery of last-minute scripts of stories in the 1960s. This was interesting, as I enjoyed reading about how stories like ‘The Mind Robber’, ‘The Invasion’, etc., were delivered at the very last minute.

There’s the ‘Matrix Data Bank’, which is an additional fan-letter request section that has ‘DWM’ responding to questions from fans regarding certain things about the magazine. It also reveals the winners of certain competitions given out to readers of the magazine, which was interesting to see.

There’s the famous ‘Gallifrey Guardian’, which felt very familiar to me in ‘DWM’. It was shocking though, as the ‘Gallifrey Guardian’ back in 1986 was smaller than the one today. I liked some of the news items, including a statement from Colin Baker, who announces on making a start with Season 23.

There’s also a tribute to Valentine Dyall, which was made following the tragic death of the veteran actor after he passed away in 1986. Valentine Dyall is well-known for playing the Black Guardian in the TV series and it was interesting to read how he had started his radio appearances as the Man in Black.

There’s ‘The Doctor Who History Tour’, a satire comic featuring the Doctor and Peri on an adventure through the history of the TV show. It features an amusing appearance by Terry Nation and his Daleks.

There’s the ‘Archive’/’Fact File’ for this magazine, which is similar to ‘The Fact of Fiction’ articles featured in ‘DWM’ today. This fact file looks into the story ‘Mawdryn Undead’. The fact file isn’t as detailed as ‘The Fact of Fiction’ articles of today, but it was an interesting article to read.

Of course, the highlight of the magazine issue for me is the SARAH SUTTON interview. The interview is conducted by Richard Marson. I love Sarah’s interview in ‘DWM’. It may seem dated, but it was very lovely to read some of the familiar comments about certain stories that Sarah’s been in.

I love how the interview explores a brief history of Sarah’s earlier work before she did ‘Doctor Who’. Sarah comments on the stories she worked on and the actors she’s worked with like Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson. This ‘DWM’ interview must have been done before Sarah did her ‘Myth Makers’ interview with Nicholas Briggs, which I’ve enjoyed seeing on DVD.

I’ve met Sarah at plenty of conventions and I’ve developed an easy-going rapport with my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion, talking about various topics other than the TV show itself. I’ve conducted my own interview with Sarah, which is called ‘A Conversation with Sarah Sutton (Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’) by Tim Bradley’. This can be viewed online via YouTube or my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog.

In the magazine issue, there’s a brief interview with one of the Production Team people following Sarah’s interview and that’s with assistant floor manager Val McCrimmon. Although I found Val’s interview intriguing regarding the technical aspects to making ‘Doctor Who’, I didn’t find it as enlightening as Sarah Sutton’s interview.

There’s a comic strip adventure in this ‘DWM’ issue and it’s the final episode of ‘Exodus’/’Revelation!’/’Genesis!’, a Cyberman story with the Sixth Doctor, Peri and Frobisher. For the full story of ‘Exodus’/’Revelation!’/’Genesis!’, you can find it in the ‘Voyager’ graphic novel. The story ends with Frobisher saying he’s stuck as a penguin.

There’s an ‘Off the Shelf’ section that contains a review by Gary Russell on ‘The King’s Demons’ Target novelization by Terence Dudley. This review is very complimentary by Gary, who details how the novelization contains greater character and story development compared to the actual TV story.

The final item of this ‘DWM’ issue is ‘The Moral Dilemma, Part 2’, which is an article by Richard Marson looking into the moral issue of ‘Doctor Who’ stories. This looks into from Tom Baker’s era to the current reign of Colin Baker’s era. I like how it ended with looking forward to the future of ‘Doctor Who’.

I read this ‘DWM’ issue with Sarah Sutton’s interview on holiday in Scotland, August 2012. I’ve recently re-read it for this review and I’ve enjoyed reading it again. It’s very different compared to how ‘DWM’ is made today and it was interesting to learn how things were done differently in publishing the magazine back then.

I would love to go back in time and find out what experiencing ‘Doctor Who’ was like in the 1980s and collecting the ‘DWM’ issues month-by-month. I’m currently waiting for the next ‘DWM’ interview with Sarah Sutton. I hope Sarah will be approached to be interviewed for today’s audience.

This is a great item to have if you’re a Sarah Sutton/Nyssa fan like me!

‘Doctor Who Magazine’ – Issue #110′ rating – 10/10

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‘DOCTOR WHO – MAWDRYN UNDEAD’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Flying Dutchman in Space

‘Doctor Who – Mawdryn Undead’ has been a pleasurable novelization and audiobook to read and listen to! 🙂

I purchased the Target novelization of ‘Mawdryn Undead’ with the novelization of ‘Arc of Infinity’ at the ‘Regenerations 2011’ convention in Swansea in September 2011. I found the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization a better and improved book by Peter Grimwade compared to the one he did for ‘Time-Flight’.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ was originally transmitted on TV in 1983. Peter Grimwade, who wrote the original TV story, novelized ‘Mawdryn Undead’ for the Target range of ‘Doctor Who’ books in 1984. The book was published in January of that year and the story is divided into eight chapters, not twelve as I expected it to be.

The story was the first in ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ for TV. I enjoyed reading the story in prose form, as I found that Peter Grimwade had enhanced the story further in the book with more character development on Turlough and the Brigadier, and more detail on Brendon School and Mawdryn’s ship.

I assume that Peter Grimwade found ‘Mawdryn Undead’ a happier experience with novelizing the scripts of the story into prose compared to doing ‘Time-Flight’. I make this assumption, as it doesn’t seem like he’s rushing with telling the story in ‘Mawdryn Undead’ like he did with novelizing ‘Time-Flight’.

Of course, there are moments in the story where Peter Grimwade tends to paraphrase some of the dialogue of the characters into exposition. But that didn’t distract me from my enjoyment of the story, as I was able to home in on the characters and follow their journeys throughout without difficulty.

I purchased the 1992 paperback edition of the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ Target novelization when at the ‘Regenerations 2011’ convention in September 2011. I quite like the front cover of the 1992 book by Alister Pearson. It features the images of the Fifth Doctor, Mawdryn, the Black Guardian and Turlough on it.

In July 2018, the audiobook of ‘Doctor Who – Mawdryn Undead’ was released. I purchased the audiobook in Cardiff. The story is read by Mawdryn himself! 🙂 That’s right! David Collings, who played Mawdryn in the TV story, reads the audiobook of the Target novelization and it was superb to hear it.

Before it was released, I did wonder whether the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization would get its own audiobook by the BBC someday. I wondered who would read the story. Originally, I hoped it would’ve been Sarah Sutton. I was convinced (and still am) that Sarah would make a wonderful narrator.

I’d seen Sarah read an extract of the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization for Peter Grimwade’s ‘Myth Makers’ DVD. She read that as well as extracts from the ‘Time-Flight’ novelization and Peter Grimwade’s own book ‘Robot’. I’d like to think Sarah Sutton will read a ‘Doctor Who’ Target audiobook someday.

With that said, I didn’t think David Collings was inappropriate to read the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization. On the contrary, David is a fine narrator and I enjoyed how he approached the story, doing his take on the reading. This wasn’t the first time I heard David Collings in an audio production.

The first time was when he played Legolas in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC radio series. Having David Collings read the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization felt appropriate, as he played the title character himself. However, I don’t think David Collings is one for doing a number of voices on audio.

Despite him providing a rich narration for the story with his fluting tones, David Collings doesn’t recreate the characters’ voices on audio. Oh, he provides a gruff voice for the Brigadier, an Australian twang in Tegan’s voice, and a lighter, softer voice for Nyssa, which is what I always expect.

But for the Doctor, Turlough and the Black Guardian, I struggled to identify their voices in the audiobook for the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ novelization. It might be me, but I take it David Collings is providing a reading of the story rather than a performance. It’s still a very good reading by David though.

At the beginning of the story, there’s a quotation from ‘The Flying Dutchman’ by Richard Wagner. It was intriguing to have that quotation at the start of the book. It helps to set up the atmosphere for ‘Mawdryn Undead’, as to what the tale will entail with Mawdryn and his people on a ship for eternity.

Peter Grimwade does well with introducing Turlough as the new ‘Doctor Who’ companion in the series via the book. It was interesting to discover how Turlough saw things from his point of view throughout the story, especially in how he has contempt for his life at Brendon School and that he’s pretty unhappy.

Of course, Peter Grimwade, being the creator of Turlough in his first story, is able to home in on his thoughts and feelings throughout the book. He also does well with hiding Turlough’s alien origins in the story, something that he wouldn’t reveal till later, since he wrote Turlough’s exit and unveiled his background in ‘Planet of Fire’.

It was interesting to read how Turlough inwardly teases and belittles his friend Ibbotson (or ‘Hippo’, as he calls him) in the story. Sometimes, it comes across that Turlough is being a bully to Ibbotson at school. But it turns out, he actually considers him as his best, perhaps only, friend at Brendon School.

An interesting point to note is that Brendon School is revealed as the school that Turlough goes to in the novelization, which was never revealed in the TV story. Peter Grimwade enhances on the school’s history, since he knows aspects about a boys’ public school inside-out, from its teachers right up to the military corps.

I like how Turlough’s relationship with the Black Guardian is developed here. Turlough is clearly an unwilling partner in his bargain with the Man in Black. 😀 Sometimes, when Turlough thinks of thoughts against his partner, the Black Guardian causes him to have headaches until he soon restrains himself.

There’s one aspect about when Turlough and the Black Guardian meet that I like. Turlough meets the Guardian whilst ‘floating in an enormous candyfloss of cloud’. This was interesting, as it was different to the dodgy visual effects in the original TV story and it matches well to the CGI effects for the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ DVD and Blu-ray.

It was also interesting that the bargain between Turlough and the Black Guardian was paraphrased and rather quick, almost like a dream. Some of the dialogue when Turlough asks why the Black Guardian can’t interfere with all the powers he’s got is moved to the scene where Turlough’s in a sick bay bed.

I noticed when reading the novelization with the audiobook in the background, the Matron – Miss Cassidy – who attends to Turlough in bed, is rather unfriendly and less motherly as she was in the TV version. This was changed by Peter Grimwade, as he wasn’t happy with the way the Matron was portrayed in the TV story.

I also noticed that before Turlough had his nightmare encounter with the Black Guardian whilst in sick bay, he was awake first before he fell asleep. This was good in setting up the illusion that when Turlough thought he was talking to Mr. Sellick, his Headmaster, it turns out Sellick was actually the Black Guardian.

The Brigadier is well-handled as a character in the ‘Doctor Who’ book. I like how Peter Grimwade handled the stories of the two Brigadiers, including the one from 1977 and the Brigadier from 1983. The reasons for the Brigadier’s ‘nervous breakdown’ is explored in the story and it was interesting how it was built upon.

There was something about the Brigadier that was rather out-of-character for me though. When the Brigadier inspected the damage to his Humber car, he declares that Turlough deserves capital punishment. This means that he wants Turlough dead! I say! That’s rather extreme isn’t it, Brigadier?

It was interesting that the older Brigadier confessed to the Doctor that he was scared about what was happening to him in the story. I also found it interesting when the Brigadier was ‘transported’ back to Palestine as a young man, when confronting Mawdryn after discovering he’s not the Doctor.

I liked it when Tegan meets the 1977 Brigadier for the first time, and she feels safe around him, because he reminds her of Captain Stapley from ‘Time-Flight’. It was a nice and interesting link to the story, considering Peter Grimwade wrote ‘Time-Flight’ and Tegan thought highly of Stapley.

I liked the references made by the Brigadier to the Doctor on ‘The Flying Dutchman’ ship when comparing it to Mawdryn and his people. This adds nicely to the inspiration for ‘Mawdryn Undead’ by Peter Grimwade when he wrote the story for TV, and it enhances the characters of Mawdryn and his kind.

Sadly, some of Mawdryn’s own backstory isn’t well-developed in the book. It’s more the same as it was in the TV story and it’s muddled as to why Mawdryn wants to be a Time Lord one minute and then the next minute, he wants himself and his brothers to die. It’s interesting that he’s described as a reptilian and more alien in the book.

The characters of Nyssa, Tegan and the Doctor are well-handled in the story. Tegan gets heavily focused as a companion compared to Nyssa, like it was in the TV story. But I like how Peter Grimwade stresses on Tegan’s bluntness and Nyssa’s gentle compassion, especially when they deal with Mawdryn.

It was interesting to discover through the novelization, with the audiobook in the background, that it was raining when Nyssa and Tegan arrived in 1977 before it stopped and became sunny again. Apparently, it was raining a bit on the Silver Jubilee Day in 1977, according to the Target novelization.

The scene lengths in the story are longer, just as the eight chapters are lengthy and chunky. There’s also less cutting of scenes to spoil the flow of the story’s action, as it tended to be the case in the TV story. One example is the scene where the Doctor meets the Brigadier for the first time on the obelisk hill.

I liked that scene featuring the Doctor’s conversation with the Brigadier about U.N.I.T. on the hill and not back at the school. It seemed to make sense, especially when Hippo didn’t need to go back to the Headmaster’s office for some strange reason on TV. The Brigadier takes the Doctor to his hut from the hill.

Another example is when the Doctor and the Brigadier walked up to the obelisk in ‘Part Three’ with dialogue taken from the first scene of that episode after discovering Turlough has escaped from sick bay. I like how Grimwade transfers dialogue to scenes in order to save time and to keep the flow.

The story ends with Turlough joining the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan in the TARDIS and there’s an extra scene where the Brigadier is content and happy afterwards. It would have been nice to have seen that scene, since the TV story ended quite abruptly once the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan said goodbye to the Brigadier.

‘Mawdryn Undead’ is a better novelization by Peter Grimwade compared to his novelization for ‘Time-Flight’. I enjoyed reading the book for this review as well as exploring more of Turlough’s introduction and the returns of the Brigadier and the Black Guardian in the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.

The audiobook adds to that enjoyment, and I’m very pleased this was done with David Collings providing the narration, especially since he played Mawdryn in the TV story. I’m disappointed David Collings didn’t do exact recreations of the characters’ voices in the audiobook, but the reading he provides is still decent enough.

‘Doctor Who – Mawdryn Undead’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Fifth Doctor was ‘The Ghosts of Deepdale’ For Nyssa is ‘The Ghosts of Deepdale’ For Tegan is ‘The Ghosts of Deepdale’ For the Brigadier is ‘Heart of TARDIS’ (Book) ‘Necessary Force’ (TBA) (Audio)	The next story For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Gardens of the Dead’ (ST/Audio) For Nyssa is ‘Gardens of the Dead’ (ST/Audio) For Tegan is ‘Gardens of the Dead’ (ST/Audio) For the Brigadier is ‘Necessary Force’ (TBA) (Audio) ‘The Five Doctors’ (TV) For Turlough is ‘Gardens of the Dead’ (ST/Audio)
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