The first issue of Doctor Who Magazine – Doctor Who Weekly, as it was then titled – was published on 11 October 1979. The cover featured an image of the incumbent Doctor, Tom Baker, and one of his deadly enemies: a Dalek! Editor Dez Skinn had initially put together a ‘dummy’ version of the first issue, which featured a solo shot of Tom Baker...
“I adore putting together a dummy for a magazine, simply because you can put anything in you like!” says Dez. “It doesn’t need to make any sense. But what you want to do is give the impression of what it will look like. A visual appearance, rather than any detail. But I’d foolishly not realised that the Daleks were almost as big as the Doctor – to the general public, anyway. And I’ve always believed in aiming magazines at the general public, rather than just at fans. So I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to have a Dalek on the cover.’ I did have a Dalek back-up comic strip in the first issue, of course. Daleks sell!”