When one thinks of Doctor Who as a whole, certain periods in its long history stand out. There's the Troughton era of course, time of monsters galore and 'base under seige' adventures ... Pertwee has the action packed approach, and of course there's the vast and complex adventuring of 'The Daleks' Master Plan', 'The Key to Time', 'The Trial of a Time Lord' and 'Flux' ... but if pressed to focus in on the one era which stands out above all others, many would perhaps pick on the stories made under the producership of Philip Hinchcliffe, who, with his script editor Robert Holmes, defined more than any other, the essence of what made Doctor Who compulsive watching. I have long said that Doctor Who is far more a horror show than science fiction, and it's that horror element which scares and enthrals in equal measure ... and Hinchcliffe's era encapsulated everything which is great about that approach.
Little wonder then that Gareth Kavanagh and the fine people at Roundel Publishing chose this era to launch their series of kickstarted-funded books looking at what makes Doctor Who tick.
The book is available in large format hardback and paperback, and, as it was a kickstarter, depending on which 'tier' you chose, comes with a variety of DVD/art cards and other ephemera.
Looking at the book, and I am immediately reminded more of a fanzine than of a commercially produced product ... but this is no bad thing. In the bad old days, fanzines were how a wide variety of writers and commentators got their ideas and words out to the world ... and in today's world, while paper fanzines may be a thing of the past, the expression and talent which went into them is now channelled into YouTube videos and professionally produced books like this.
The book is not full of glossy photographs, many of which we may have seen many times before, but it is full of ideas and writing, ably supported by William Brooks who provides consistent design and imagery throughout.
The idea is fairly simple: essays exploring various aspects of Doctor Who through the lens of Philip Hinchcliffe's stories ... so we have pieces which look at Morality and Politics, the representation of disabled characters, borrowing from the classics, the Big Finish stories, Female Companions, orthodoxy, World building, ESEA characters ... and many more. The writers had a pretty free reign to approach the subjects as they wished ... and each is by different contributors, some with special knowledge of the subject in question (so the piece on disabled characters is by Alex Kingdom who suffers from cerebral palsy; and the piece on Big Finish is by Kenny Smith who produces that company's monthly free magazine). This leads to a variety of styles, ideas and points of view which makes the book refreshing ... and again reinforces the fanzine idea: this is exactly the sort of thing that fanzines did in the eighties and nineties before the internet took over.
It's a fascinating deep dive into the worlds of Doctor Who, and specifically the Doctor Who from this period.
Add to the package a special DVD containing an interview with Philip, a piece from a 2023 convention where fans recall their favourite Hinchcliffe moments, and audio commentaries for 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'Pyramids of Mars', 'The Hand of Fear' and 'The Deadly Assassin', and this is a fantastic package which should delight any fan of the series, and those who love those sixteen adventures from 'The Ark in Space' to 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' especially.
Copies are available from https://cutawaycomics.co.uk/publications/the-dna-of-doctor-who
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