Fluid links at the ready! Ten Acre Films has announced that David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television, Simon Guerrier‘s long-awaited biography of Doctor Who‘s first story editor, will be published on 6th November 2023 and is available to order now.
To celebrate 60 years of Doctor Who, discover the extraordinary, little-known life of one of its chief architects, David Whitaker. As the show’s first story editor, he helped to establish the compelling blend of adventure, imagination and quirky humour that made – and continues to make – the series a hit.
David commissioned the first Dalek story, and fought for it to be made when his bosses didn’t like it. Regeneration, the TARDIS being alive, the idea of Doctor Who expanding to become a multimedia phenomenon in comics, books and films… David Whitaker was all over it. Yet very little was known about this key figure in Doctor Who history – until now. Why did he fall out with Irving Berlin? Was he really engaged to Yootha Joyce? And how did an assignment to Moscow badly affect his career?
Simon Guerrier is a writer and sometime producer. He’s the creator of the science-fiction series Graceless, and author of countless Doctor Who books, audio plays, comic strips and documentaries, and has also written books and audio plays for Sherlock Holmes, Blake’s 7, Primeval, Robin Hood and Sapphire and Steel, as well as co-writing a book on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Simon has written a number of acclaimed short films and has various TV and film projects in development.
As a producer, Simon has made documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and is currently overseeing two Doctor Who adventures starring Tom Baker. Simon has been a regular writer on titles ranging from Horrible Histories Magazine to medical journal The Lancet, and was for 13 years a reporter for Hansard in the House of Lords. He has been a guest on Front Row and The Infinite Monkey Cage for BBC Radio 4, and has given talks at venues ranging from the the National Portrait Gallery to the Blue Dot science festival at Jodrell Bank.
In addition to the standard paperback edition of David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television, a special edition hardback, limited to 250 copies, available exclusively from The Who Shop has been released – but it looks like it’s sold out already!
However, Simon will be signing the books in store on Saturday 11th November 2023 from 1.00 – 3.00pm.
Signed copies are £29.99, but for those who have already pre-ordered at £24.99 will get a signed copy at no extra charge.
• Simon Guerrier is online at simonguerrier.com
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Books, Doctor Who, downthetubes News, Other Worlds, Television
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