FEATURE BY JONATHAN MORRIS
The central premise of Doctor Who is that it can tell stories set anywhere in time and space. Past, future, present-day, Earth, other worlds; it can go anywhere in the universe. So why does it also need to tell stories that take place in other universes? Part of the original idea for Doctor Who was that there would occasionally be ‘sideways’ stories, stories set not in the past or future but giving another perspective on the here and now. This idea was phased out, with Planet of Giants (1964) being the only example to reach the screen, but for a while another ‘sideways’ story was in development.
