While a lot of people rightly see the start of Russell T Davies’ era as the revitalising of Doctor Who for a new generation, those steps were first taken with the advent of Sylvester McCoy’s era in the late 80s, as the Doctor got his first feisty streetwise companion and tackled issues of racism and homophobia.

To examine the last 23 years of Doctor Who on TV and off, we have a double panel looking at different aspects of the franchise.

Part 1: Doctor Who on screen

In association with the Director’s Guild of Great Britain, SFL hosts a panel on the art of making Doctor Who on TV.

• Andrew Morgan directed Sylvester McCoy’s first serial and returned to helm the 7th Doctor’s finest hour - Remembrance of the Daleks - which finally saw them on a flight of stairs.
• Andrew Cartmel was script editor of Doctor Who from 1987-89 and continued the adventures of the Doctor in print as a novelist and now writes new adventures for the 7th Doctor on CD.
• Charles Palmer directed four episodes of Doctor Who, including the first appearance of Martha Jones in the series and the two part story Human Nature / The Family of Blood.
• Richard Martin directed 22 episodes of Doctor Who in the 1960s, including most of the first three Dalek serials. Contrasting with the experiences of the more recent Who directors, Richard will give a valuable insight into the early years of the show and how much / how little aspects of filming have changed.

Part 2: Doctor Who off screen

During periods when the programme was off-air, his adventures continued in books and audio plays. We are very excited to bring together some of the finest writers of these spin-off stories. This group were crucial in shaping the 21st Century Doctor.

• Simon Guerrier is a writer of Doctor Who short stories, novels, comic strips and audio plays. He has also written and produced several installments of the audio adventures of the Doctor’s former companion Professor Bernice Summerfield.
• Neil Gardner is a producer of several recent Doctor Who audio titles. Neil edited Tom Baker’s long-awaited return to the role after nearly 30 years. He has also directed many of the recent Tenth Doctor talking books.
• Alan Stevens is the producer of Kaldor City, a sequel to both Doctor Who: The Robots of Death and Blake’s 7: Weapon.

The session will be followed by a live reading of a short Bernice Summerfield play “Closure” by Paul Cornell, performed by the original cast: Lisa Bowerman and Sarah Mowatt.