Directing Doctor Who

I t might seem like a strange thing

Twice Upon a Time

Doctor Who got off to something of a false start in 1963. JONATHAN MORRIS explains how director Waris Hussein seized the opportunity to remake the first episode

Inside the Spaceship

The moment where Barbara enters the TARDIS in

CLOSE-UP

Alan Bennion as Slaar, leader of the Ice

STRAIGHT SHOOTING

GARY HOPKINS recalls highlights of his conversations with the late Douglas Camfield, who made more episodes of Doctor Who than any other director

How To Get Into Television

Camfield with his wife, actress Sheila Dunn. D

The Land of Fiction

DAVID MALONEY was a mainstay of Doctor Who in the 1960s and 70s, responsible for some of the series’ most acclaimed episodes. STUART MANNING appraises an impressive body of work

Something From Nothing

The Mind Robber (1968) was a challenging proposition.

CLOSE-UP

In the back of a police

HOW TO READ A CAMERA SCRIPT

From the 1960s to the 80s, Doctor Who’s directors compiled scripts that served as road maps for recording sessions. As JONATHAN MORRIS explains, deciphering these technical documents can unlock the mysteries of missing episodes…

CLOSE-UP

The Cyber Lieutenant (Mark Hardy) and the

CLOSE-UP

The Dalek Emperor in The Parting of the

LIGHT YEARS

One of a director’s most important collaborators is the cinematographer. NEIL OSEMAN describes how the job, and the tools used to complete it, have evolved over Doctor Who’s history

OB, OR NOT OB

O ne drawback of shooting on film was

DIMENSIONS IN SPACE

Director of photography Neville Kidd. The Daleks

Between the Lines

Christopher Barry’s meticulous preparations to direct The Rescue reveal a process where the director can also act as writer and story editor. MARCUS HEARN follows the paper trail…

The 1960s

Doctor Who’s black-and-white episodes were locked in to a system of electronic studio recording that was ill-suited to the programme’s scope and ambition. However, as OLIVER WAKE explains, the best directors were still able to create remarkable television

Christopher Barry

C hristopher Barry was one of Doctor Who’s

The 1970s

TIM WORTHINGTON describes the challenges faced by Doctor Who’s directors in a decade where not every problem proved surmountable…

Let That Sync In

A fter leaving Doctor Who, Barry Letts became

The 1980s

BOB FISCHER takes a fresh look at a decade where new directing talent – and pioneering technology – ensured that the series’ changes were more than just superficial

Beyond Who

I t’s no surprise that some of Doctor

The 2000s

Television drama production had transformed by the time Doctor Who returned to screens in 2005. New techniques gave the series’ directors unprecedented freedom, as EDDIE ROBSON explains

The 1990s

B arring a couple of mini-episodes produced for

The 2010s

ALISTAIR McGOWN appraises a decade of diverse styles and stories, all benefitting from a new generation of highly sophisticated cameras

Hot Shots

Ashildr (Maisie Williams) in a sequence from The

The 2020s

The most recent series of Doctor Who was the twelfth since the show was resurrected, and the 38th since it began back in 1963. However, as EMMA REEVES highlights, directors are still finding ways to tell stories in unusual and inventive ways

Trial by Television

The earliest weeks of Doctor Who’s production proved to be a valuable test of relationships – as well as the programme’s format. PATRICK MULKERN takes WARIS HUSSEIN, the series’ first director, on a journey back to those uncertain times

FIRST MOVES

William Hartnell in his most famous role prior

Unfinished Business

PAUL JOYCE wasn’t able to achieve everything he wanted with Warriors’ Gate, but his groundbreaking direction of the programme, and the controversy surrounding it, have earned him a place in Doctor Who history. He tells MARCUS HEARN about a turbulent few months that cast a long shadow

The Flip Side

“You want to bet?” asks Royce as Aldo

CANDID CAMERA

In the 1980s, director GRAEME HARPER broke the rules of production with spectacular results on serials such as The Caves of Androzani. He brought the same dynamic approach when he returned to direct David Tennant’s Doctor. “Now we’re all artists,” he tells NICK SETCHFIELD. “We can paint our pictures.”

IMPOSSIBLE PLANETS

Daleks in New York, Kylie Minogue in space and a double-decker bus in Dubai… JAMES STRONG talks to ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH about directing some of the most demanding 21st-century episodes

BROADCHURCH UNITED

J ames also worked on Torchwood (2006-11), Doctor

Post Modern

For DOUGLAS MACKINNON, one of the most prolific directors of 21st-century Doctor Who, lines are getting blurred. “Post-production starts when I first read the script,” he tells BOB FISCHER

EVENT TELEVISION

Peter Capaldi, Alex Kingston and Hydroflax actor Greg

Cutting it Fine

As director RACHEL TALALAY tells SIMON GUERRIER, the finishing line can be surprisingly close to the broadcast…

No Spoilers

These days, there’s a tremendous effort to keep