INTERVIEW BY SIMON GUERRIER
On 25 January 2007 the Toy Retailers Association named Character Options’ Cyberman Voice Changer helmet as UK Toy of the Year, awarding a further prize to the same company’s range of Doctor Who action figures. This was evidence, not only of Doctor Who’s massive success since its return to television in 2005, but also of a radical transformation in the way series merchandising was handled.
Richard Hollis was head of UK licensing at BBC Worldwide from 2002 to 2011 and oversaw this extraordinary change. But his association with Doctor Who goes back much further than that.