Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary today (23rd November), with the very first episode being transmitted on that date in 1963. Local author Jamie Hailstone,who pens the Professor Howe, Dr Who parody series says the show has several links with the county, with key episodes being filmed here.
Jamie is well qualified to chat about Dr Who as not only is he an author but has written a guidebook to the David Tennant era, and written the questions for the Oxford V Cambridge Doctor Who quiz!
The Professor Howe books are parodies of well-known Doctor Who stories, which raise money for Children in Need.
Jamie explained; "Climping Beach doubled for Australia in the 1967 story ‘The Enemy Of The World’, in which the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) thwarts the evil plans of a dictator called Salamander, who was also played by Patrick Troughton. For many years, only one episode of the six-part story survived in the BBC archive, but in 2013 the remaining five episodes were discovered in Nigeria and the story is now complete again.
"In 1975, the Doctor Who production team returned to Climping Beach for the Fourth Doctor story ‘The Terror of the Zygons’, except this time the beach doubled for the Scottish Highlands, where the story was set. The Fox Goes Free pub in Charlton, near Chichester was also used as filming location for that particular story, which starred Tom Baker.
"In 1988, Doctor Who celebrated its 25th anniversary with a story called ‘Silver Nemesis’ featuring the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), which was also filmed in West Sussex. In the story, Arundel Castle doubles for Windsor Castle. Several scenes were also filmed in the park behind the castle and in Arundel High Street and Tarrant Street. The production team also visited Bramber, where St Mary’s House was used as a filming location.
Photo Jamie Hailstone
As part of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary celebrations, all three stories are now available to watch on BBC iPlayer
In addition, Raymond Cusick was the BBC designer who designed the Doctor’s arch nemesis, the Daleks. Although the scripts were written by Terry Nation, it was Raymond who was given the onerous task of helping bring Nation’s idea to life.
Photo Jamie Hailstone
You can find out more about Jamie's books here.
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