By Matthew Kilburn

Obverse Books, out now

Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monograms focusing on a single Doctor Who serial continues with Sarah Jane Smith’s debut story and Season 11 opener, Robert Holmes’ The Time Warrior.

One of the greatest joys of Obverse Books’ series of academic spotlights on Doctor Who stories is the ability to unearth something that you had never read before, even if you thought that there was nothing new to say. And in the case of Matthew Kilburn’s look at the story which introduced us to the Sontarans there’s plenty of occasions where you go ‘Ah, I hadn’t thought of that’.

The Time Warrior was the first historical (or even pseudohistorical) Doctor Who serial of the 1970s, and Kilburn contextualises the rediscovery of the past as an innovation for the show – Terrance Dicks called it a ‘gimmick’ among a series of gimmicks to keep the show fresh. The author also had access to rehearsal scripts courtesy of an unnamed collector and we find out a few tasty nuggets around script changes (Sarah says it’s ‘1974’ rather than the filmed ‘20th Century’, thus kicking off the whole UNIT dating discussion again). There’s also a fun typo in the rehearsal scripts  referring to Professor Rubeish as ‘Rubbish’, confirming what we always felt about the credentials of this scientist.

Transmitted a few weeks after the publication of Radio Times’ 10th Anniversary special, the author helps place the show amongst other Medievalism on early 70s TV, focusing on the role of Sarah Jane Smith as an early example of Women’s Lib for children. There’s also a detailed look at how Gothic sources shaped the narrative of the show and how Holmes’ experience in the Second World War informed the manner of Linx and the Sontaran race.

Verdict: As the lengthy bibliography will testify, Matthew Kilburn has really done his homework with this concise look at The Time Warrior. Academic in approach, but not too scholarly in its language to put off the casual reader, I immediately picked up the DVD to give the story another watch. 8/10

Nick Joy