Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who
Edited by Steve Berry
Foreword by Terry Pratchett
Published by Gollancz, October 2013
226 pages
Review by Mark Yon
As I type this, it is late October 2013. Here in the UK, as well as the approaching Hallowe’en, there is something new this year – a growing sense of anticipation as we approach the anniversary of the world’s longest running SF television series. In November, it will be the 50th anniversary of the first episode of BBC Television’s Doctor Who.
Whilst we could quibble about whether it actually is a 50th anniversary of a continuously running TV series – there was an infamous gap in the series between 1989 and 1996 and then, after an unsuccessful US version, until 2005 – there is no doubt that, for many people, Doctor Who has been an enduring part of their lives.
This book is a worthy celebration of this event. To quote the back of the book, “Behind the Sofa is a collection of over 150 celebrity memories of Doctor Who, compiled with the aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK. The book has taken more than five years to put together and its publication was originally “crowd-funded” by the pre-orders of an enthusiastic Whovian community.”
Which says it all, really.
There is a Foreword by Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, and an Introduction by Sir Terry Pratchett (not the Foreword mentioned on the book’s cover) where Sir Terry tells of his long-lasting love of the show “I was there at the beginning”, watching the original episode twice.* As Sir Terry quite rightly puts it, “it’s been such a part of the DNA of Great Britain for so many years now that that even if you didn’t watch it religiously, you probably know more about it than you think.”
Of the book itself, it’s a great “dipping into” book. You can read it in order, but some of the 150+ comments can become a little repetitive in one sitting. Though I did do this to start, in the end I found it better to look up a particular name or turn to a page at random. The contributors are not in any order, though there is a useful list of contributors in the contents at the front of the book.
Not everyone giving their stories here you will know, especially outside the UK, but I guess this book is meant for the casual viewer as well as the obsessive fan. The only thing I missed was comments from the still-living actors who portrayed the Doctors themselves: Colin Baker, Matt Smith, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, David Tennant, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Eccleston.
Most of the stories deal with the older version of the series – there’s a lot of “Tom Baker was my Doctor” type of comments – but names you may recognise making comments are Scott Lynch, Paul Cornell, Mike Carey, Stephen Baxter, Sophia Myles, Bernard Cribbins, Ben Aaronovitch, Alastair Reynolds and Michael Moorcock. There’s even a comment from Michael Grade, the Controller of the BBC who cancelled the series in 1989 – “I killed the b-stard! I just didn’t realise it was immortal.”
This is a humorous and fondly reflective summary of memories that gives fans lots to talk about, and the chance to revel with the remembered past of Doctor Who episodes, events and conventions. I loved it.
If you’re an older Who fan (like me) then there’s a lot to like. Others who don’t get ‘the Who-thing’ will still remain nonplussed – though they might be impressed by some of the better known fans in this book.
And if that wasn’t enough, 100% of the royalties from the sale of this book will go to Alzheimer’s Research UK, a worthy cause deserving of your money.
*(A rare event in those days of 1963, as it was usually performed live, but the situation was that the first episode was shown on Saturday 23rd November, the day after the JFK assassination in the US, and so it was shown first on the Saturday and then later on the following Saturday before the second episode because of public demand.)
Mark Yon, October 2013.
