John Freeman on the Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen DVD

[Phil Friel]

I've always been a huge fan of the classic Doctor Who series, but I'm one of those die-hards who would prefer to think that the old series actually ended when Peter Davidson left the show, and who considers the entire Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras, with the exception of a handful of stories, to be a complete abomination, and that that entire period of Doctor Who's history is such a dire and diabolical embarrassment that it should be erased from living memory (why oh why can't crap like this be among the fabled "missing episodes", rather than all of those missing gems from the Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell eras?).

Now you certainly won't catch me buying any DVDs from this sad period of Doctor Who, but I have to admit that I've just spent a pretty enjoyable evening with a mate, perusing the extra features on his latest Doctor Who DVD acquisition, Delta and the Bannermen. A Sylvester McCoy story it might be, but I have to admit that the extras on the DVD aren't half bad, my favourite among these extras being a piece covering the Doctor Who comic strips of the 1980's.

And you'll never guess who pops up in the middle of that one. Yes, our very own John Freeman, giving it the old yakkity-yak about his time on Doctor Who Magazine, and the comic strips therein. It's nice to see and hear John in living, breathing action for the first time (well, the first time I've seen him), and in the best feature on the entire DVD, no less.

Needless to say (so why am I saying it?), I watched all the features, but didn't even bother putting on the main story. Why ruin a perfectly good evening?

Phil

[Adam Grose]

;))

[Phil Friel]

As for you not looking at the camera, I just assumed that whomever you were actually talking to (i.e.: not necessarily the camera) was sitting/standing in the direction you were looking at.

[Phil Friel]

John - 'flopped'? What do you mean? Mirror imaged?

As for the good cut stuff, I'd like to hear more about that.

[John Freeman]

Ha! Anyone who does watch this may wonder why I don't seem to be looking at the camera: the truth is, my entire session was 'flopped' during the editing - lucky my beard is symmetrical and my tie hid my shirt buttons, eh? Unfortunately a lot of good stuff about Richard Piers Rayner's Evening's Empire got cut...