A look back at the Radio Times Doctor Who strip

Episode 8 of one of the Radio Times Doctor Who strips, “Perceptions“, is currently up for sale on eBay. 

Original art for Episode Eight of the Radio Times Doctor Who strip, "Perceptions", written by Gary Russell, drawn by Lee Sullivan
Original art for Episode Eight of the Radio Times Doctor Who strip, “Perceptions”, written by Gary Russell, drawn by Lee Sullivan
Episode Eight of the Radio Times Doctor Who strip, "Perceptions", written by Gary Russell, drawn by Lee Sullivan, as published, with colour by Alan Craddock
Episode Eight of the Radio Times Doctor Who strip, “Perceptions”, written by Gary Russell, drawn by Lee Sullivan, as published, with colour by Alan Craddock

Back in 1996, the Radio Times began a brief run of short Doctor Who comic strips starring the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), written by Gary Russell, with art by the Doctor Who Magazine veteran, Lee Sullivan. The strips ran in colour, supplied by Alan Craddock.

The comic strips started running in Radio Times just a week after the Doctor Who TV movie starring Paul McGann aired on BBC One for the first time and ran for 42 weeks. They also introduced two new companions, Stacy Townsend and the Ice Warrior, Ssard.

Doctor Who - Dreadnought by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who – Dreadnought by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock

“It was a very exacting project,” Lee Sullivan recalls on his official website, “because of the necessity to include a title, recap and cliff-hanger in each episode – not to mention advance the story – within such a small area.”

Lee has published an archive of some of the strips, which includes some sequences showing script, initial roughs, inks, colours and the final lettered and printed image and how it appeared within the magazine.

“Notably, my initial roughs were without drawings at all,” he notes, “as I had to design the pages around the dialogue!”

Five strips were published: “Dreadnought“, pitting the Doctor against the Cybermen; “Descendance” featuring the Ice Warriors, in which the Doctor must retrieve a kidnapped Ice Lord; “Ascendance“, continuing the previous story, the Doctor and kidnapped Ice Lord Izaxyrl heading into Mars; “Perceptions“, set in Victorian London, featuring the equine-looking Equinoids, mentioned by the Third Doctor in Frontier in Space; and “Coda“, which quickly wrapped up dangling plotlines over just two episodes.

Doctor Who - Descendance by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who – Descendance by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who -Ascendance by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who – Ascendance by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who -Perceptions by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
Doctor Who – Perceptions by Gary Russell, art by Lee Sullivan, colour by Alan Craddock
"Coda" a two-part story unceremoniously bringing the Doctor Who strip in the Radio Times to an abrupt end
“Coda” a two-part story unceremoniously bringing the Doctor Who strip in the Radio Times to an abrupt end

Published between June 1996 and March 1997, the strip came to an end after a change of management at Radio Times, who slowly downgraded the magazine’s “Sci-Fi Page” until it was eventually dropped later in 1997.

“There were two more ten-part stories,” Gary Russell has previously stated, “in which Stacy was revealed to be a Zygon replacement (they were to have been the villains from the Victorian tale we did finish [“Perceptions”] – and then added that awful ‘Coda’ to. 

“Story one was on an ice planet [titled “Deceptions“, which Lee had begun to draw. Story two took them to the Zygon homeworld, and saw Ssard rescuing the fair damsel which started the romance that finished up in Placebo Effect.”

What might have been: the completed opening episode of "Doctor Who - Deceptions" for Radio Times, written by Gary Russell, with art by Lee Sullivan, coloured by Alan Craddock
What might have been: the completed opening episode of “Doctor Who – Deceptions” for Radio Times, written by Gary Russell, with art by Lee Sullivan, coloured by Alan Craddock

The stories have never been collected in print, but as Gary notes, the Doctor’s companions did at least make an appearance in his Eighth Doctor novel, Placebo Effect, the Doctor attending their (disrupted) wedding. It fits them into the BBC books continuity perfectly.

A continuation of the strip appeared in The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1997, produced by Terraqueous Distributors, released in aid of the charity, Refuge, last year.

Check out the art for Doctor Who: Perceptions Episode 8 here on eBay

• Lee Sullivan’s “Doctor Who in Radio Times” Guide

The Cuttings Archive (on Wayback): Doctor Who – Radio Times Checklist

Stuart Ian Burns reviews of the strips

Placebo Effect by Gary Russell, published in 1998, is available from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

3999. An artificial planetoid, Micawber’s World, is hosting the Intergalactic Olympic Games, and athletes from all the worlds in the Galactic Federatoin are arriving to take part. The Eighth Doctor and Sam arrive to examine some bizarre new drugs…








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