T
he War Games,
the final epic story of Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor, first aired in 1969 and in many ways heralded a brand-new era. Not only did it mark the end of the 1960s, it also introduced us properly to the Time Lords and gave us our first real glimpse of the Doctor’s – as then unnamed – home planet. Now, it is back in full colour, giving
Doctor Who
fans in the UK an early Christmas treat when it airs on BBC Four on 23 December.
For executive producer Phil Collinson the restoration of The War Games in colour has been a massive labour of love. “I’m a big fan of The War Games,” he tells us. “I first saw it back in around 1984 when the Bradford Film Theatre were holding a Doctor Who Festival and they showed all ten episodes back-toback across two nights. So me and my friends went over there. My dad drove us there from Leeds and my friend’s dad drove us back. And I just loved it. It’s so epic. You can see the production team absolutely straining and reaching and trying to make everything as big and as bold as they possibly could.”