Doctor Who: Revisitations review (DVD) ★★★★★

First let’s get the swivel-eyed fan reviews out of the way. A lot of people are very, very annoyed that these DVDs contain stories that have already been released. They are saying it’s not worth the money, it’s a swindle, whatever. Guys, if you already have the stories and are happy with your copies, don’t buy it. OK?

People new to these tales are due an absolute treat in two cases and a good attempt plus fascinating extras in the third. Briefly, The Talons of Weng Chiang is one of those great Robert Holmes stories with Tom Baker. The Doctor and Leela arrive in Victorian England in the last story to be produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. They find a series of women being murdered, shenanigans near a theatre, some delightful supporting characters (particularly Jago and Litefoot) and more Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde references than you could normally fit into six episodes. It’s seamless, it’s gothic and atmospheric and its only flaw is the bloody awful giant rat. In the extras the designer says he was assured it wouldn’t be shown in close-up. It was, and it shouldn’t have been. But that’s only brief; the story, the performances, it’s an all-but flawless story. The “making of” documentary suggests people knew they were doing something good when they made it, and they were right. It would be a while before the series was this good again.

Come to think of it, it probably wasn’t as good until the next story in the set, The Caves of Androzani, being Peter Davison’s swansong and another from the pen of Robert Holmes. Once again the story is marred by a second-rate monster, which isn’t even necessary to the plot. Once again, get over it and note that the (then) innovative camerawork and the superlative performances by every single member of the cast is why it’s no surprise that it was this story rather than one of the modern version that was voted the all-time best Doctor Who by the readers of Doctor Who Magazine last year. Again the enthusiasm for the piece has stayed with its makers, whether it’s director Graeme Harper remembering how much he learned on this and how frustrated he is now by some of the angles he thought were so good then or Peter Davison recalling his slight resentment at the presence of the new Doctor waiting in the wings. He admits this is absurd as he left voluntarily but his continuing fondness for the show is a joy, and the show more than earns the plaudits.

The flaw in this gem of a set, in many ways, is the final story, the one-off TV movie with Paul McGann. The Doctor arrives in San Francisco in the shape of Sylvester McCoy and is shot in a gangland incident he lucks into. He regenerates and gets involved in a confusing story involving a newly-American Master played by Eric Roberts, an atomic clock, the millennium...er...well, McGann’s quite good as far as it goes. The accompanying documentary explains a lot. This feels like and indeed is Doctor Who by committee, taking a tortuous route to the cameras and culminating in an ending that the BBC didn’t like, the networks didn’t like and producing a pilot that the networks didn’t pick up. As a film it’s an interesting glance into what might have been, although I’m pleased we ended up with the modern Doctor Who instead. As a package it’s wholly redeemed by a full and frank interview with producer Philip Segal and a whole load of others who were involved about how it ended up in the shape it did, a cracking doco on the “wilderness years” when the fans effectively kept the programme going in the absence of any broadcasts and a look at the 8th Doctor in the press and in the comics. McGann himself contributes to the commentaries this time around, which he didn’t for the first release.

Everything’s remastered and shiny for this new release and there are many new extras – other than the ones mentioned I loved the featurette in which Tom Baker is reunited with producer Philip Hinchcliffe and they reminisce about their time on the show. As a whole package, if you haven’t already got the stories (and I’m guessing there’ll be plenty who haven’t as some of the original releases are ten years ago or more) it’s a superb gift set; if you can get a good discount then the extras probably make it worth a few quid even if you’ve already got the originals.