Looking Back

When we finally finished editing The Tamaras Crisis in 1991, we arranged a viewing for the entire cast and crew at the Clancy residence. Suffice to say that as much as Andrew and I took the production as seriously as we could, much enjoyment and amusement was gleaned by all from our Premiere. Oddly enough, the one thing which sticks in my mind from this occasion was the fact that my nephew, who was just a few months old at the time, managed to throw up on Peter Clancy’s shoulder whilst he was holding him.

Whenever we watch it all again now it’s always an amusing experience, as we constantly find new holes to pick in the script, or notice somebody’s costume falling apart that we hadn’t seen before. However, I watched it again recently but this time I tried to view it as a story rather than just some silly amateur production, and I partially succeeded. There are some excellent visual sequences in the production which I’d forgotten about that work very well, and in that sense I’m still very proud of The Tamaras Crisis. I think one of my favourite sequences was in part three when the Doctor is reminiscing about his companion Ian who had died at the start of the episode. We inserted a minute or so of footage from the end of the last story leading up to the regeneration, but played it in black and white and without the original soundtrack to really give it some atmosphere. We dubbed some very haunting Mark Ayres music from a long since forgotten Absalom Daak record, and the finished sequence still brings a lump to my throat when I watch it.

Whilst I’m on the subject of the death of Ian Lethbridge-Stewart, I couldn’t possibly finish my recollections of The Tamaras Crisis without including a still from his bedside death scene. He’d been bitten by an insect with a deadly toxin which had rapidly infected him, so we plastered Andrew’s face with treacle, Rice Krispies and red make-up to give the impression that he was riddled with the deadly virus. The intended gravity of this scene is somewhat diminished by the fact that Ian’s bedside table in his TARDIS bedroom had a smiling photo of the Brigadier on it.

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and this was certainly the case with our Doctor Who efforts. I’ve seen a lot of evidence to suggest that a huge number of Doctor Who fans during the eighties longed to be involved with the production of the show in some form or another, and this was our opportunity for a dream come true. I look back on the experience with very fond memories, and I can honestly say that it was probably the most fun I’ve had in my life.

Andrew and I had always planned to make another full-blown Doctor Who story, but we never got round to it. It was to have been even more ambitious than The Tamaras Crisis, and would feature an additional 3 or 4 cast members. We started to jot down a few ideas and a rough story line, and even had a gathering of the potential cast and crew to chat about the logistics of the production and the realistic possibilities we could achieve. It was to involve a sinister British politician and part of the story would be set in The Houses of Parliament. This was to be realised by a small amount of footage to be shot on location outside the actual buildings in Westminster, and any interior scenes were going to be filmed at a pub which we had located in Surrey, the interior of which featured a lot of Gothic style stonework and swathes of wooden panelling, and had a huge function room upstairs and various staircases and corridors that were ideal for doubling as the Parliament buildings.

But alas, the project never amounted to anything more than some preliminary discussions. We had spent an awful lot of time and money on our last venture, and now we had work commitments, rents to pay and other time and money consuming activities which prevented us from taking it any further. Our enthusiasm for Doctor Who, however, had not diminished at all. Even though the last episode of the television series had aired a couple of years earlier, we were still attending conventions, buying videos, and watching and recording the repeats that were now being transmitted by BSB and subsequently by UK Gold.

Next Episode: A Process of Rediscovery