By Phil Pascoe

Obverse Books, out now

Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monographs focusing on a Doctor Who serial or story hits 1985’s Season 22 serial Timelash, and amazingly they’ve found someone who has a great deal of affection for it – author Phil Pascoe.

The brave opening dedication says it all: ‘For anyone dedicated enough to read a book about Timelash – all 500 of us?’ Honestly, I’d challenge Pascoe to find the other 499, but importantly he loves it, and rather than being an apologist, he acknowledges there’s little love for the story that came second from bottom in DWM’s Mighty 200.

Pascoe goes straight into the analysis; he doesn’t promise that he’ll change our view by the end, instead breaks down the narrative for us. No one would disagree with the assertion that Peri is poorly served by the story, not just through a historical prism, but recognised at the time. Oh, and one anagram of the story title is ‘Male shit’ – pretty spot-on if you ask me.

We find out that Baker and Bryant were spending half their rehearsal time prepping for JN-T’s Cinderella pantomime, but even if they were 100% on point, Glen McCoy’s script wasn’t going to help. Pascoe continues with an enlightening review of the episodes’ bountiful phallic imagery (no, me neither) and manages to not be too unkind about Paul Darrow’s ‘Shakespearean’ performance of Tekker.

I’ll give the author added credit for taking the time to count the high number of out-of-shot lines featured across the two episodes – 90, if you’re interested – suggesting that even the direction was out of kilter with regular contemporary house style. HG Wells is discussed – are we meant to believe that the Doctor influenced him, or was it the other way round? –and the fact that both his appearance and background detail both seem at odds with accepted history.

Naturally we tackle the nonsensical suggestion that Borad was Nessie(!) and the problematic throwaway suggestion that the Third Doctor had a previous adventure on the planet. But more than anything, Pascoe tells us why this story means so much to him, taking him back to magic memories – and that’s what makes Doctor Who one big TARDIS for us fans, transporting us down the nostalgia vortex.

Verdict: Nope, I can’t bring myself to revisit Timelash, but luckily Phil Pascoe has watched it so that we don’t have to. For every classic there’s a dud, and hooray that even those popularly considered to be the runts of the litter still find a corner of fandom where they can be loved. 7/10

Nick Joy

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