"Director: Bill Baggs"

• The Doctors - Thirty Years of Time Travel and Beyond | DVD | (16/04/2012) from £8.15   |  Saving you £-0.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The Doctors: 30 Years Of Time Travel And Beyond is a hallmark documentary about the world famous BBC TV series 'Doctor Who', packed with personal insights and views from the very people who made the programme.Arranged in order of the various actors to have played the Doctor, this documentary features a host of specially recorded interviews with the programmes cast and crew. Doctors, companions and production personnel all share their unique experiences on the programme and their opinions as to what makes 'Doctor Who' so special to so many.The programme also features rare, behind the scenes home movie footage of The Smugglers, The Abominable Snowmen, The Daemons and the unfinished Tom Baker story Shada, as well as a unique collection of unpublished photographs spanning all the Doctors from the TV series.In addition to the main feature, this special DVD release comes packed with previously unseen material that could not be included in the original VHS release. Based on the bestselling book by Adrian Rigelsford, this documentary offers a comprehensive, candid and at times controversial look at a series that continues to grow in popularity.

• The Doctors - 30 Years Of Time Travel And Beyond | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond is a Doctor Who documentary directed by Bill Baggs, the independent producer behind Who-related video series Auton (1997-9), P.R.O.B.E. (1995-6) and The Stranger (1992-5). Amateurish production values include captions being cropped at the sides of the screen and microphones wandering fully into shot. But it's worth putting up with these for the many interviews, including those with Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. The highlight among the ex-Doctors being Peter Davidson talking in very good humour with Mark Strickson (Turlough). Other interviewees include Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Louise Jameson (Leela) and Sophie Aldred (Ace) reminiscing affectionately with McCoy at one of the locations for their Who adventure "Survival" (1989). Also offering their views are producers Philip Hinchcliffe (1974-7) and John Nathan-Turner (1980-9), director David Moloney, Shaun Sutton of BBC Drama, writers Pip and Jane Baker and various others. Included are some previously unpublished stills and colour location filming footage from "The Smugglers" (1966), "The Abdominal Snowman" (1967), "The Daemons" (1971) and "Shada" (1979). Covering the entire 26-year history of Doctor Who in 66 minutes means this is far from comprehensive, but for fans it is fascinating stuff elevated by the genuine love almost everyone involved clearly feels for the show. On the DVD: The Doctors: 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond has production values far removed from the exceptionally well presented official BBC Doctor Who titles. The only extra is 12 minutes of silent colour location filming footage of very variable quality, selections from which are included in the main programme. In the documentary itself the sound is perfectly acceptable mono. Unfortunately the picture appears to have been transferred from a damaged video master and there is an almost constant horizontal tearing across the centre of the screen, varying from slight but noticeable to so extreme it makes the feature all but unwatchable. The packaging incorrectly names the director as Bill Braggs and describes the programme as giving an insight into "the design of the Ice Warrior and Cybermen models" featured in the last series. It doesn't.--Gary S. Dalkin