DWO interviews Ex-Doctor Who DVD Commissioning Editor, Dan Hall, regarding his time on the range, his current projects, and what the future could hold for the Classic Series range.
What have been some of your fondest memories in your time working on the Doctor Who DVD range?
Having the opportunity to work with some great people. Two of my bosses - Sue Kerr and Stuart Snaith - are people who I respect highly in the Home Entertainment publishing world. I learnt a huge amount from them over the years, and they were always highly supportive of the content.
Do you have any regrets, any tears any anxieties from your time on the range?
Ah! I would have liked to have taken more risks. It is impossible to please everybody, and I should have spent less time trying to do this.
What have you been up to since the last release and do you have any non-Doctor Who future projects we can look out for?
It’s been a real mixture of things since Doctor Who. Probably the biggest was working with PWL and Cherry Red records on the recent four Kylie Minogue Special Editions. Pup worked with the record company restoring the content, designing and authoring the DVDs. It was a great project and my teenage self would have been very proud!
We gave over control of the next question to the @DrWhoOnline Twitter followers and Francis (@lifetrainee) asks: “I'm a producer with an unlimited budget ready to go*. What would be your dream extra for any of the classic stories? *[I'm not]”
An unlimited budget is never a good thing! Limitations feed creativity, and certainly some of the best content we made for the range was by no means the most expensive. Where money can help is by providing consistency of content; a regular schedule of commissions and releases.
But if I had had a wee bit more money on some of the releases, I would have liked an Ed Stradling season overview for every single season. The few we had were always insightful and fascinating.
What do you feel the future is for the Classic Series Doctor Who range? Physical / Digital? Season Box-sets? Or has it had its day?
Classic DW has a terrible habit of not going away! It was broadcast and people wanted more. It was broadcast again and they wanted more. Then it came on VHS and they wanted more. Then DVD… So I would be a pretty bad gambler if I said it had had its day.
I am working in other parts of the industry these days and don’t have much to do with Classic DW. But I have genuine confidence that the BBC and BBC Worldwide will take the brand somewhere exciting. Why wouldn’t they?! As for what that is, that is a much wider Home Entertainment question. And if you find the answer, there are a lot of studios in Hollywood that I’m sure would like to speak with you!
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[Source: DWO]
