ADVERTISEMENT

Products

What was making Doctor Who like in the 80s?

What was making Doctor Who like in the 80s? You can find out in this month’s edition of Doctor Who Magazine, which explores the first season for the Seventh Doctor, as well as your favourite features!

Doctor Who Magazine Issue #565 is on sale from Thursday 27th May 2021. It is available to order as a subscription, either physical or digital, here.

Kate Easteal, who was Doctor Who's production secretary in the 1980s, talks more about how the producer, John Nathan-Turner, treated the show:

“John [Nathan-Turner] very much saw the whole Doctor Who crowd as a family,” recalls Kate. In March 1987 that family experienced a sad loss when Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor and a regular visitor to the office, died suddenly. He was good friends with John. John wanted to organise a wake at the BBC in celebration of Pat’s life. He spoke to the BBC about freeing up the TV Centre lounge and allowing them to use it. It was done in conjunction with Pat’s family, but it was mainly for the friends Pat had through Doctor Who – people like Nick Courtney and Jon Pertwee. I was quite surprised when I looked back at the guest list and saw Laurence Olivier on there. I don’t think he came, because I’d have remembered that.”

Read the full interview in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

Issue 565 also includes:

  • The story behind the discovery of Season 24’s previously unseen footage.
  • Margaret Toley describes her role as secretary to Doctor Who’s story editors in the 1960s and early 70s.
  • An in-depth preview of the new Season 24 Blu-ray box set.
  • Inside the comic-book sequel to the Season 24 story Paradise Towers, with comments from the original story’s writer, Stephen Wyatt.
  • Some of Doctor Who’s key visual effects designers reflect on their time working on the show in the mid-1980s.
  • Collectivity explores the miniature world of Dapol, the company that launched the first range of Doctor Who action figures.
  • A tribute to the late Frank Cox, one of Doctor Who’s first directors.
  • Apocrypha looks back at the 1989 comic strip Who’s That Girl!
  • The Fact of Fiction continues its analysis of 1970’s The Ambassadors of Death.
  • Sufficient Data crunches Doctor Who’s numbers.
  • Previews, reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser and more.

Don’t delay! Doctor Who Magazine Issue #565 is on sale from Thursday 27th May 2021. It is available to order as a subscription, either physical or digital, here.

ADVERTISEMENT.
PAGE CONTINUES BELOW

More on Products

Sorry there is no content available for your region.

more from the whoniverse

Explore

Show Info

Explore

Stories

Explore

Play

More From Read and Watch

Read 'Nine Minutes Past Four', an exclusive 'Tales of the TARDIS' prequel short story

23 Oct 2026

Two Doctors have an unlikely encounter in this prequel to the new 'Tales of the TARDIS' story collection by Beth Axford.

Tales of the TARDIS
Features

Soundtrack for 60th Anniversary Specials coming this Doctor Who Day

15 Oct 2026

Silva Screen Records bring the 2023 score to digital and CD from 23rd November, with original music from Murray Gold.

The Fourteenth Doctor and Donna
Product

Sophie Aldred on costuming and challenges of 80s Doctor Who

15 Oct 2026

The Seventh Doctor's companion reminisces on her experiences creating Classic Doctor Who...

DWM 635
Features

Christopher Eccleston and Carole Ann Ford to star in the Ninth Doctor's Big Finish Christmas special

8 Oct 2026

The Ninth Doctor and Susan bring Christmas to the Doctor Who YouTube channel in a new audio adventure...

Doctor Who: The Wash
Product

“At the time, it was seismic”: Revisiting 'The Satan Pit' 20 years on

7 Oct 2026

Twenty years since its onscreen debut, and with both a new Target novelisation out now and a celebratory screening coming to cinemas, Beth Axford speaks to some of the creative minds behind this chilling two-part Series 2 adventure…

The Satan Pit - Target Cover
Features

from the store

More from the store

Circuit Breaker 

Momento Mori

Coming 27.08.2026 to Doctor Who: Lost in Time

Not available in your area

Circuit Breaker Product 9
Circuit Breaker

Circuit Breaker 

The Doctor and the Three Witches

Coming 20.08.2026 to Puffin Books

Not available in your area

Circuit Breaker Product 8
Circuit Breaker

Circuit Breaker 

Don't Blink!

Coming 17.08.2026 to UNIT HQ

Not available in your area

Circuit Breaker Product 7
Circuit Breaker

Circuit Breaker 

Castling

Coming 06.08.2026 to Doctor Who: Lost in Time

Not available in your area

Circuit Breaker Product 6
Circuit Breaker