Dr. Who/Expert Profile

Expertise

I am a freelance writer and huge "Doctor Who" fan. I have seen pretty much every episode that exists, and am familiar with the plots and production details of the series as a whole. I possess every issue of "Doctor Who Magazine", every Target novelization, and a range of the best reference works. I am confident that I should be able to answer any specific queries quickly and accurately. I have written a book called "Pocket Essentials: Doctor Who" (ISBN 1903047196, £2.99), out now. I also have a website called "Skonnos", which features interviews, articles and reviews. The only areas I don`t cover are fan-produced spin-offs and new book adventures.

Experience in the area

I am a freelance writer and have written articles on "Doctor Who" for "Midweek" magazine, "The Bookseller" and "The Independent" newspaper. I have a website called "Skonnos" (http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.campbell10/index.htm) which contains many interviews I have conducted with the production team and actors, as well as reviews and articles. I have also written a reference book for Pocket Essentials, called, unsurprisingly, "The Pocket Essential Doctor Who" (£3.99, ISBN 1903047196).

What do you like about this subject?

Since I sat entranced in front of the flickering TV on cold winter evenings in the early 70s, the programme has always been a constant source of entertainment and delight to me. Jon Pertwee started the ball rolling, and Tom Baker steered it through its most popular era. Since then, I've never really grown tired of it.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

Although the TV series has a finite history, there's still plenty more to learn about how it was made, why certain stories were chosen instead of others, and just what it is about the programme that makes it so popular and so unique - in other words, the elusive answer to what makes it 'tick'.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

For starters, the 1976 story "The Deadly Assassin" is the template for empty-headed 1999 movie "The Matrix", "The Terminator" and its sequel were foreshadowed by "Day of the Daleks" in 1972, and the time-travelling TARDIS was the obvious inspiration for Bill and Ted's excellent and bogus big-screen adventures...(I'm serious!)

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

"Ghostlight" is terrible (because of all its faults), and "Planet of the Spiders" is marvellous (despite them). Adric is actually a pretty good companion, quite what anybody sees in "The Invasion" is anyone's guess, and Richard Briers is hilarious in "Paradise Towers". Colin Baker is a lovely man but a terrible Doctor, and Sylvester McCoy made a laughable 'man of mystery'.