DVD
ONE MEDIA RRP £10
Downtime is a fascinating artefact from a time in which Doctor Who was, to all intents and purposes, an ex-television series. With seemingly no new episodes in sight, a group of enterprising fans decided to employ a professional cast and crew for an adventure featuring supporting characters from Doctor Who. The result was originally released on VHS in September 1995, and offers a glimpse of what might have been a template for the screen future of Doctor Who.
Putting things into historical context, when Downtime was released, drafts of the 1996 TV Movie script were still being wrestled over in America. Eight months later, that first attempt at reviving Doctor Who was on air. Isolated from the foreknowledge of what was to come, Downtime was a big deal in 1995. Now, it’s been re-released on DVD 20 years after its début, and in light of how history played out, it’s more than a worthwhile watch.
A sequel to the Second Doctor adventures The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, Downtime takes up the story after the defeat of the Great Intelligence in the London Underground. Victoria Waterfield, former companion of the Doctor, returns to Detsen Monastery, lured by a dream about her late father. Something lurks in the cloisters, something thought long dead. Years later, the Vice-Chancellor of New World University – a Miss Waterfield – seeks a vital component in a plan that will enable the Great Intelligence to dominate the world. A component which is in the possession of the retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart…