Doctor Who Chronicles heads back to 1988

By John Freeman on February 25, 2023

The latest issue of Doctor Who Chronicles, a smashing companion to Doctor Who Magazine, on sale now in all good newsagents and comic shops, heads back to 1988, which featured perhaps the Seventh Doctor’s best season on TV.

This lavish 116-page publication from the makers of DWM looks at the stories, people, events and news in this remarkable year – a time when Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred starred as the Seventh Doctor and Ace, and the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with four memorable adventures: Remembrance of the Daleks, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

It was a year that pitted the long running show against Coronation Street for ratings, the dawn of the Dapol action figures, and Daleks hovered up stairs on TV for the first time. There may have been only four new stories on TV, but there was plenty of other Doctor Who related activity, with new novelisations, video releases and more, all documented in this special publication.

The latest bookazine includes exclusive articles, previously unpublished interviews and rare behind-the-scenes images, including a chat with me, John Freeman, DWM’s editor at the time, and an enjoyable retrospective of the comic strips of the time overseen by Richard Starkings, by Paul Scoones.

Doctor Who Chronicles always offers a fascinating retrospective on the year covered and comes crammed with photographs that definitely bring back memories of that dramatic year in the history of the show.

• Doctor Who: Chronicles Issue 7: 1988 is in shops now, or available to order direct from Panini here

John Freeman

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.