Doctor Who Magazine have sent DWO the cover and details for Issue 483 of DWM.

Paul Wilmshurst, director of the recent Doctor Who episodes Kill the Moon, Mummy on the Orient Express and Last Christmas, explains the challenges of working on the series, in his first major interview....

"We were all very proud of the fact that the Mummy was so scary they wouldn't put it in the series trailer," Paul tells DWM. "It's always about how far can you go? I think the old joke is true: how complicated can you make it to hold a child's attention, and how simple can you make it for adults? Can you make it scary enough for the children to be satisfied, but not too scary for the adults to be worried?"

ALSO INSIDE ISSUE 483 OF DWM...

•  Doctor Who's very first director, Waris Hussein, reveals how the classic 1964 adventure Marco Polo was made – with the help of unique documents unseen for 50 years!
•  Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat answer readers’ questions – including one from former showrunner Russell T Davies! – in his exclusive column.
•  Peter Purves, who played companion Steven Taylor in the 1960s, looks back at some of his most memorable adventures in the second part of an exclusive interview.
•  En garde! Discover fascinating new facts about the swashbuckling Fourth Doctor adventure The Androids of Tara in The Fact of Fiction.
•  DWM presents an exclusive prelude to the new series of books featuring Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, in the form of a complete short story by Andy Frankham-Allan: The Ambush.
•  Bernard Kay, the much-loved actor who appeared in four Doctor Who stories, is remembered by his friend Toby Hadoke.
•  The Doctor and Clara tackle both Sontarans and Rutans in the concluding part of The Instruments of War, a brand-new comic strip written and illustrated by Mike Collins.
•  The Time Team watch the Tenth Doctor take a bus to alien world, as they visit the Planet of the Dead.
•  Jacqueline Rayner demonstrates the fun to be had in spotting Doctor Who actors in other roles in Relative Dimensions.
•  The DWM Review assesses the very latest Doctor Who audio and book releases.
•  The Watcher examines the changing nature of history in Doctor Who, in the latest Wotcha!
•  The DWM Crossword, prize-winning competitions, official news and much more!   

+  Doctor Who Magazine Issue #483 is out on Thursday 5th February, priced £4.99.

+  Subscribe Worldwide to DWM from just £19.49 via Unique Magazines!

+  Check Out The DWO Guide to Doctor Who Magazine!

[Source: Doctor Who Magazine]

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Twenty - Assassin at Peking (Marco Polo, Episode Seven)

Dear diary,

The downside to a seven part story is that… well… it's very easy to run out of things to say on the whole. Across the last week, I've praised the sets, the performances, the dialogue…

I've listed several reasons why I think this story is so high up people's lists of tales they want returned to the archive, and I've voiced constant surprise that I'm not bored by the fact that not an awful lot seems to be happening.

So forgive me if I'm reaching for new things to add here. In short; I've enjoyed this episode, too, but I'm looking forward to moving on with a new story.

What? You want more? Oh, go on then…

He's a late addition to the cast, but Kublai Kahn is a great character. he was used comically yesterday, puncturing a lot of bureaucratic and ceremonial nonsense with simply being rather down-to-earth. It's great to see him at the start of this episode, playing Backgammon with the Doctor, and the stakes being so high - yet so relatively small to him!

I've mused on the fact that the Doctor has been mellowing a lot over the last few episodes, and I think it's very much on show here, now. I can't imagine the Doctor of three weeks ago sitting down to casually play for the return of his TARDIS. The way he laughs about it as he leaves the room is just as great.

One thing that has bugged me a little, though, and this has been rumbling for a few days now… Marco really can't decide which side he's on, can he? It's used to great effect in a couple of places, almost painting Marco as the bad guy. In this last episode, though, it just feels muddled as he swings from wanting to help our regulars, to being against them, to feeling sorry for them, to wanting them kept locked up, to setting them free with a key to the TARDIS…

It's a shame, as he's a really interesting character, and his final thoughts in the story, wondering where the Doctor and Co might be are lovely, and a nice end to the tale. In all honesty, though, that's all I have to add, so I'll rate the episode and move onto my thoughts on Marco Polo as a whole…

I'd never really 'seen' Marco Polo before this viewing. I'd listened to the first episode a few times over the years, usually when I'm trying to complete a marathon, but I've never made it right the way to the end. As a result of this, I've always been a bit unsure of it when people list it among the stories they really lament the loss off.

Actually, though, it's really rather good. I still can't get my head around it - by all rights, I should have been bored out of my mind. I've complained on more than one occasion that the story is just a lot of walking and talking with the occasional 'event' to spice things up a little. Added to that, I've had to watch the whole thing as still images. Not a single clip to break it up!

But it's never let my attention slip. I won't go into the reasons all over again (they're listed at the top of today's post if you need a refresher). I've enjoyed all seven episodes to some degree, and it's my highest rated story so far.

What's odd, though, is that like The Daleks, I've reached the end of seven episodes and feel like I could do with a bit more time in this location. There's an awful lot packed into these last 25 minutes; the resolution to the cliff hanger, the Doctor's game with Kublai Kahn, Tegana trying to win on all sides, an army marching on the city, Tegana's death, the escape from the era…

The problem this causes is that some things aren't given enough room to breathe. The death of Ping-Cho's proposed husband comes out of nowhere and is glossed over in about a minute. It feels like a sad resolution to a story that's been bubbling under throughout these seven episodes.

On the whole, though, the average of my scores gives this episode a solid

Next Episode: The Sea of Death

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Nineteen: Mighty Kublai Kahn (Marco Polo, Episode Six)

Dear diary,

I can't quite get my head around this story. Let's recap; I've stated a few times over the past couple of days that I worry I'll get bored of it. I've mentioned that it's a lot of back-and-forth between the TARDIS crew and Marco Polo, with the occasional 'set piece' to keep the attention going.

I've also mused on more than one occasion that there's only so long it can go on for, before it gets boring. During yesterday's entry, I hoped that the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara getting back to the TARDIS would signal a turning point for the narrative, but it was very quickly put back to the status quo in this episode.

And yet, and yet… I just can't stop enjoying it. Much of what we have here, we've seen before - Marco is angry at the travellers for defying him, but he forgives them. Tegana convinces him that he should be more suspicious of them. William Russell gets plenty of opportunities to shine. The Doctor is more fun that he's been at any previous point in the series (his complaining of a bad back when being forced to kneel before the Kahn is especially well done).

We're given several new locations, but it all still feels like the same old caravan. Tegana is up to something evil and making dodgy deals… It's all very much same-old-same-old.

But it's not boring. Every bit of this episode has been just as entertaining as the last one, or the one before that. By all rights, I should have had enough of this story by now. Really, I should! Heck, but the fourth episode of An Unearthly Child, I was ready to run a hundred miles from another 25 minutes.

Another thing I commented on recently was the fact that the visual appeal of this story helps to make it a prime candidate for discovery. I wonder if the fact that it's also a very dialogue-heavy story means it's better suited to be left lost? By removing much of the visual element to the story, I'm left being able to focus on other areas.

I've praised William Russell already, but I have to say good things about everyone, really. Jackie Hill, Bill Hartnell, Carole Ann Ford… And it's not just the regulars, our guest cast are engaging, too. Even Tegana isn't as pantomime as he was being to start off with. There's a very real chance that because - for the most part - I'm having to rely on the performances to enjoy the story, I'm enjoying it far more.

It helps that there's some lovely dialogue floating around in today's episode, too. There are a few lines from this era of the programme which are rightly famous ('Have you ever thought what it's like…' 'A thing that looks like a police box…'), but there's a few here that should be as instantly recognisable.

'I come from another time. Our caravan, it not only covers distance, it can cross time!', and Marco's description of time travel as being able to 'defy the passage of the sun'. They're both lovely lines, and I'm surprised I've never heard either f them before.

Then there's the fun ones, such as the one Barbara used to set up the above conversation, when she's trying to convince Ian to speak to Marco; 'Oh, Marco? Ian wants a word with you. * yawn *, I'm feeling a bit tired, I think I'll go to bed…'. It's really rather wonderful…

Next Episode: Assassin at Peking 

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Eighteen - Rider From Shang-Tu (Marco Polo, Episode Five)

Dear diary,

I've not mentioned it, but since Episode Two, I've been watching this story as a tele-snap recon, rather than by listening to the narrated soundtrack. It's perfectly acceptable, and it's just easier to follow the story this way, rather than having to manually look through the images and try to time them up with the audio.

The downside to this, though, is that things aren't always clear. At the end of yesterday's episode, when Ian is sent to distract the guard outside their tent, I assumed he'd knocked him out. There's no dialogue, just ambient noise and soundtrack, and then a shot of the guard on the floor.

This episode confirms that, actually, the guard was already dead. Stabbed. Ian just found the body. It's a shame it's not clearer, as it means I spent a few minutes at the start of this episode thinking back over to the events of yesterday, when I really should have been enjoying this one.

It's also a shame when you have big fight sequences, as in today's installment. It means there's a few minutes of blurry images and a lot of noise while the characters all fight, but you don't actually see any of it taking place. In some ways, this isn't too much of a loss. As with the sand-storm a few days back, in means things can look far better in my mind than they perhaps did on TV, but it would be nice to be able to see something, I guess.

I'm still enjoying things on the old Silk Trail, though this is another episode which uses a set piece (the fight, on this occasion) to break up lots of scenes set in the camp. Even when we reach the end of the episode, with the group settled down for the night, it doesn't feel as though they've really moved. It's another casualty of the tele-snaps that all the locations look broadly the same.

I'd imagine this story could have looked fantastic - the first episode featuring snow-capped mountains, then moving to deserts for Episode Two, caves for Episode Three, and now in this episode we've got a bamboo forest. It's a real pity that I can't really see any of it properly.

Many people seem to list Marco Polo among the stories they'd most like to see returned to the archives, and I'm starting to see why. For all the talking among characters, it's a terribly visual story.

And then we reach the end, with the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara back safely in the TARDIS. But, hold on! Where's Susan?! It's very reminiscent of the trick pulled to stretch out The Daleks for a few more episodes - 'We've made it back to the TARDIS, but we've left something behind!'. In The Daleks, they then came back from this point by spinning the story off in a different direction, which helped to keep me interested. I hope a similar thing is going to be happening here, as if they just carry on as they have so far, there's a danger that my patience will wear thin!

Next episode: Mighty Kublai Kahn

Next Episode: Mighty Kublai Kahn 

 Day Seventeen - The Wall of Lies (Marco Polo, Episode Four)

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Seventeen - The Wall of Lies (Marco Polo, Episode Four)

Dear diary,

Do you remember, back in An Unearthly Child (The story, not the episode!), Ian told the tribe that the TARDIS travellers had no leader. At that stage, it was true. As the fabulous Wife in Space blog once said, 'They should have called the show Ian'.

Here, though, Tegana and Marco discuss the travellers;

TEGANA
Marco, which one leads them?

MARCO
The Doctor

TEGANA
And leaders are obeyed?

It's clear, to our guest characters in this story that the Doctor is the leader of the group, and actually, it's becoming clear to us as viewers, too. The show at this stage is still very much an ensemble piece - all four of our regulars are given their own chance to shine at one stage or another, be it Barbara sneaking out to follow Tegana in the last episode, or Ian distracting the guard here.

Still, though, the Doctor has emerged as the leader of the group. He is the only one with the power to fly the TARDIS, as we're reminded earlier this story. Ian, Barbara, and Susan's lives are all in his hands. It's nice that this has become so prominent after the events of the last story, which I noted as a turning point in his character.

He still has the ability to be crotchety, and to be manipulative, but he's a far warmer soul in this story that we've seen him before, and now that his companions are becoming his friends, he's much nicer toward them. What I'm particularly enjoying is the way that he's a short with those he distrusts as he was with the schoolteachers, once. I really love the way that the Doctor barks at Marco - “You poor, pathetic, stupid savage!”.

Our guest cast is interesting in this story. They're far more rounded as characters than we're sometimes treated to. Marco Polo seems to walk a fine line between being an ally of the group and an enemy. This is most noticeable here for the first time since The Roof of the World, when he initially took the TARDIS away.

The way that he barks orders, listening to the corrupting words of Tegana is totally believable. He wants desperately to trust the travellers, to make friends with them, but from his point of view, it's a no-go. They've betrayed him by sneaking into the TARDIS while no one is looking, and so he has to swap sides again.

It's nice, following on from the pantomime villainy of the first few episodes here, to have a character with a distinct grey area. Marco isn't evil, but he is an obstacle to the TARDIS crew.

I do have to wonder, though, why Tegana - and by extension, Marco - believe out far more likely that the Doctor uses magic to access the 'caravan', above the possibility that he may have a second key. While I could argue that Tegana simply uses magic to reinforce the idea of the Doctor as an evil spirit, Marco does seem surprised to find another key…

On the whole, I'm still really enjoying the story, and I'm actively looking forward to continuing on the journey. The only thing that troubles me is that we spend so much time in the 'camp'. I was really enjoying bits at the start of this story, with the travellers exploring the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes. Ian studies the face to realise the eyes do move, finds signs of a hidden door and…

Well, and then it's all over, and they're sent back to camp. Much as I'm enjoying the Doctor sneaking around, and our heroes trying to avoid detection as the ship gets repaired, it would have been nice to have some more time spent in the cave - it's a different setting and a chance to see something new with the story.

While I'm finding plenty to like in Marco Polo so far, I worry that over time, I'll grow weary of the story is it just carries on revolving around the camp. Interesting characters are only half the battle…

Next Episode: Rider from Shang-Tu

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Sixteen - Five Hundred Eyes (Marco Polo, Episode Three)

Dear diary,

This episode brings up some interesting questions about the TARDIS. A cold night, followed by a hot day causes condensation to form on the inside, to the extent that it's described as 'streaming down the walls'. Point One; surely the TARDIS should have a circuit that stops that? Is it one of the broken ones? It'll ruin all of the Doctor's furniture. Maybe that's why the console room is so bare by the 1980s?

Point Two (a more serious one, promise), is that this clearly treats the inside of the TARDIS to be situated within the four walls of the police box. Now, I know there's a couple of different schools of thought on this, but I've always been of the opinion that when you cross the threshold, you're transported to another part of space and time. Maybe even another dimension.

Couldn't tell you when I became sure of that, but it's been in my head for as long as I can remember. What's everyone else's thoughts on the subject? Is it a huge space fitting inside the (comparatively) smaller box, or a portal to somewhere else? Leave a comment or Twitter me with your thoughts - I'm genuinely interested to see what people think.

I'm pleased to say that I'm still really enjoying this story. Perhaps its reputation as one of Doctor Who's best is justly deserved? I'm not entirely sure what it is that's sucking me in. The story is good enough, I suppose, though it still feels like they need to insert a number of things just to fill out the journey (more on which in a minute), but I think it's just the characters.

There was a point, when the Doctor, Susan and Ping-Cho are exploring the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, when it feels just right that Ping-Cho is with them. She almost feels like a part of the team. Equally, it seems right that Marco and Ian should pair off together to hunt for the missing Barbara, too. It's a real testament to the story that these guest characters have only been a part of the narrative for a few days, but they already feel fully formed.

As for what I'd call 'padding'… the tale of Aladdin is very odd - a few minutes of the story given over to be told another story. It's almost like story time at school, where you all get to sit cross-legged on the floor, and listen to a fairytale. It feels oddly out of place - especially given that a fair bit of time early in the episode is given over to setting up that Ping-Cho is going to be telling it.

It does, however, give us a chance to see Susan and the Doctor at their most relaxed. From the images in the recon, you can see Susan laying up against her grandfather, clearly they've known each other for a long time. I'm not sure why people go to such great lengths to deny that they're family - the image says it all! The Doctor is her grandfather, and that's exactly the relationship they share on screen.

The episode is still taking its duties to educate the audience very seriously - we're given a lesson via Ian about how condensation is formed (a great use of him as a science teacher. It really is a fantastic role for the series' early set up), and then later on as he tells Susan (in a completely un-forced way. Or not.) “Do you know that we still use the word ashshshn in English today?”

It's nice to see the series using this story as a chance to fulfil one of its initial briefs. It's not something that will last forever, and I'm looking forward to seeing how long it does before it gets fazed out in favour of 'Monster of the Week'…

I'll avoid saying too much about Susan's reactions at the cliff hanger (“THEY MOVED!”), but the rest of the episode is working very well for me!

Next Episode: The Wall of Lies 

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Fifteen - The Singing Sands (Marco Polo, Episode Two)

Dear diary,

One of the benefits of the missing episodes is that they give you the chance to let your mind fill in the gaps. Today's episode features a sequence in which Susan and Ping-Cho are caught outside during a sand storm. Now, on screen, this may (or may not…) have looked great, but in my head, it can look as great as I'd like.

In my head, it can be suitably epic and dramatic, the soundtrack certainly helps with that, and it's actually quite a brilliant scene. It injects a nice level of drama to the story, which helps to carry this episode. It doesn't hurt that for this installment, I've used a proper recon of soundtrack and tele snaps, mixed with some other photos taken on the set. There comes a point when you almost forget that things are supposed to be moving - just like yesterday, I'm caught up in the story.

An Unearthly Child doesn't really fit the format of the historical adventures (it set more in a fantasy 'stone age' than any easily definable period of history), which makes Marco Polo the first story that can be really pinned down. I can go and look him up and read about his travels to the East along the old silk trails, and see how this story might fit in.

It's a format that really works for the show, and it's a shame we've not had any of these 'proper' historical adventures in the revived series. While The Daleks was made interesting by the first appearance of the Doctor's greatest enemy, this story is given it's boost by interesting characters.

It's telling that I didn't really feel the absence of the Doctor during this installment; especially considering they go to great lengths to remind us that he's just off to one side, either sulking or sleeping. He turns up at the end, of course, but it really is little more than a cameo.

I'm too busy enjoying the story of Ian, Barbara, Susan, Ping-Cho, Marco and Tegana. The cast gel really nicely (though, really, Tegana is just a pantomime villain. I half expect Marco to turn up during the cliff hanger, as Tegana pours the water away, just so we can shout 'behind you!' at him…).

Something that I didn't tough on yesterday, but will here (and no doubt again at some point) is just how good the incidental music to this story is. You could quite happily give me a soundtrack of it to listen to as I drift off to sleep - it's some really nicely composed stuff.

I'm hoping that the story keeps up its current high quality as we continue on, though I worry that the further into it I go, the more it will need to resort to finding padding for the journey. It feels a little like each episode may just be there to fill time before Tegana can commit something evil…

Next Episode: Five Hundred Eyes 

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...

Day Fourteen - The Roof of the World (Marco Polo, Episode One)

Dear diary,

Brace yourself; I'm going to open today's entry with a statement that may not get me many fans… I like that there are missing episode of Doctor Who.

Yes! I know! I should really mourn their loss - 106 little pieces of the show that I may never get to experience in their original format. I should hate the fact that they're lost from the archives. I should be up in the attic, hunting around for film cans in the vein hope that I've got a part of The Web of Fear tucked up there or something.

But the fact is, as far as I'm concerned, the fact that we're missing these little bits of the programme's history somehow makes it all the more magical. It makes the 1960s era of the show seem distant and difficult, but it makes it seem so mythical, too.

Perhaps I'm more willing to accept the fact of missing episodes simply because I'm a fan of archive telly in general, so I'm used to there being gaps in my favourite shows. Most of the first season of The Avengers is missing from the archive (oh, but how I love the few episodes that survive from it!), the same is true for Dad's Army, or Adam Adamant Lives!, or The Army Game. Take a look at the DVDs on my shelves, and you'll find that a good chunk of them are missing an episode or two because of the archiving policy of the era.

That's not to say that I don't like to see episodes returned. I was ecstatic when two turned up in 2011, and I'd be thrilled if some more turned up. Of course I would! I'm not mad! But I don't see them as all that big of a loss while they're still missing.

Besides, calling them 'missing' episodes is almost as ridiculous as calling the period between 1989 and 2005 the 'wilderness' years. They're not all that missing at all! We've got a soundtrack for all of them. That's bloody lucky. That's simply not true of the other examples I've given above for show's missing pieces of their past. On top of that, we've got tele-snaps for most of the stories, plus a wealth of behind-the-scenes photos.

Still, all that said… It does make it hard to do a marathon of Doctor Who from the start. The last time I tried it, I didn't even bother with the missing episodes, I just skipped over them to the next available story. This time, though, I'm doing every episode, which means delving into various reconstructions.

They'll be taking a number of forms over the coming months (in just a few weeks, Reign of Terror comes out on DVD, with it's missing episodes fully animated! And just in time for when I have to watch it!), but for today's story, I've been listening to the narrated soundtrack, and taking a look at the tele-snaps as I go.

Now, let me get this one out of the way early on, because I'm likely to ramble on about it plenty over the next week; William Russell's narration on the soundtrack is superb. The man is simply amazing. His work for Big Finish over the yard has been fantastic, and even here, he's giving it his all. He really is one of the greatest ambassadors the show has ever had, and I really do hope he gets a chance to pop up in the 50th.

As for the episode itself… Marco Polo has a reputation for being one of the great lost stories of Doctor Who. There are parts of the internet where you can find it held up as a cure for all the evil in the world. It has to be said, I've always been more than a little skeptical of this. I don't tend to like it when people constantly tell me how good something is.

Based on this first episode alone, though, it is rather brilliant, isn't it? I've found myself being swept up in the story with this one, which is always a good sign, and the 25 minutes just breezed by. Right from the word 'go', with the travellers exploring their surroundings on the mountain top, I caught up with events, and it's not long before their being swept away to join Marco Polo's caravan.

This episode is perhaps the best example we've had so far of the show fulfilling it's original intention to educate the audience, as well as to entertain it. We're given discussions of Marco Polo's journey and of his life, given specific details. Coming to this after a recent re-watch of Andrew Marr's fantastic History of the World documentary, it's startling how much they impart here.

And yet, I wasn't bored at any point. I'd worried, without having anything much to focus on, that my attention would wander away from the story, and I'd end up missing bits. I'm really glad that the educational stuff is nicely mixed in with enough of a story to keep me interested.

Marco Polo isn't really a good guy, here. He's certainly not evil (unlike Tegana, who might as well be twirling his mustache as he laughs from a corner), but he tells the Doctor that he's taking the TARDIS, and that's that. Mark Eden plays those scenes really well, in what might be one of the best performances we've had in the series so far.

It's continuing a trend of having a very strong opening episode, so I'm hoping that can hold true for the next few days…

Next Episode - The Singing Sands