Telos Books, out now
A collection of Barry Newbery’s behind the scenes photos from the majority of the Doctor Who stories on which he worked.
Following a brief scene-setting introduction by Steven James Walker, this is a lavishly illustrated trot through Newbery’s time on Doctor Who – from the remount of An Unearthly Child to The Awakening (the latter only represented by a couple of small pictures, as unfortunately pictures from that and Doctor Who and the Silurians don’t exist).
Hardcore fans will have seen many of these before, but for the novice, or someone coming to the classic show via the new series, this will hopefully put to rest once and for all the idea that somehow the original series was done on the cheap. Look at the detail in the sets for The Aztecs, The Crusade or Marco Polo, and the attention that was taken over the Western “location” for The Gunfighters. Audiences may have been looking at it in far less detail than the 1080HD of the 2012 show, but there’s still much to be found in the background.
The text, taken from old interviews, puts the material in context, and there’s the odd note where material was actually designed by someone else but used in one of Newbery’s episodes. The occasional shot showing the cast “at rest” adds a human element to the collection.
Verdict: A fascinating glimpse behind the curtain at the magic. 7/10
Raine Rodeaux
Click here to order The Barry Newbery Signature Collection from Amazon.co.uk
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