Special Features #5: The Firemaker

Given the ubiquity of producer John Nathan-Turner with Doctor Who throughout the 80s, his absence from the DVD range due to his untimely death in 2002 gave their behind-the-scenes features an immediately different feel. In the 80s and 90s JNT was visible in a way that other BBC production personnel just weren’t in those days, setting the template for the chatty showrunners of NuWho and becoming almost as familiar a face as some of the people working in front of the cameras (even, some have (not always charitably) argued, casting the Doctor in his own image). It was an association that continued well after the show’s cancellation, whether he was popping up for documentaries, BSB Doctor Who weekends, the fan convention scene or in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine (who commissioned his memoirs) – and he was a pioneering figure behind the scenes of Doctor Who in home media¹.

It’s a pity that he never lived for long enough to see how the Doctor Who DVD range ran with what he had started and, apart from a single interview for the Resurrection of the Daleks release, never got to contribute to it. Instead, the range gave us a chance to hear from what were once less familiar voices from the era – notably script editors Christopher H. Bidmead and Eric Saward, along with writers, directors, designers – all welcome contributors, of course, and they have given us some genuinely fresh takes, but to those of us who grew up with his familiar face never far from a Doctor Who documentary, John Nathan-Turner absence left a pretty sizeable gap². There is, of course, a great deal of archive footage of John Nathan-Turner discussing the show, always a welcome addition to features, but unlike him, those other voices have been able to record their thoughts from the vantage point of having seen a reinvigorated Doctor Who back on the television and vindicating an awful lot of the decisions that were made in the 80s. Aside from being denied the opportunity to say a big fat ‘I told you so,’ he has been deprived of the chance to talk about his Doctor Who with the optimism of knowing that he wasn’t ‘the man who killed Doctor Who’ but was actually ahead of his time in a great many ways. He was also denied the chance to see his contribution reassessed by a great many fans and given the credit he deserves for keeping the programme alive for as long as he did.

In the light of that, a proper retrospective of his life and work was definitely due, and Chris Chapman’s documentary Showman: The Life of John Nathan-Turner (on The Collection: Season 26 Blu-ray) more than measures up to the task. The DVD range has given us many fine tributes to those who have passed on, including the lovely Jacqueline Hill – A Life in Pictures, Roger Delgado – The Master, and Chapman’s own celebration of William Hartnell through the eyes of Jessica Carney in My Grandfather the Doctor. But Showman is in a different league; the running time alone is a statement of intent, giving the man the feature-length documentary warranted by such a fascinating and important figure. It means there is time to really delve into the detail; his education and early career gets a proper discussion with the insights of people who knew him, and his pre-Who career is rightly given plenty of time as well, supported by an excellent selection of clips and photographs.

Naturally there’s plenty of footage to accompany the Doctor Who years, including associated activities like the pantomimes he populated with his leading cast members. Given the medium it is wise that we don’t delve into the realms of controversy already covered by Richard Marson’s biography, but the documentary is not afraid of confronting JNT’s flaws, confident that his qualities will shine through in the reminiscences of those who knew and loved him. The frustration of the post-Who years is fully explored, and by the time we get to the footage of an ill-looking JNT answering questions for his only DVD interview it is a genuinely poignant sight – a man who achieved a huge amount early on but found himself trapped by his success and unable to build on what he had done. It makes for sometimes sad viewing, but whilst allowance is made for regret and even anger, overall it focuses on celebrating a man who absolutely deserves to be celebrated. When it was released, Chris Chapman said he thought it was the best documentary they had made to date; whilst the Blu-ray features since continue to raise the bar, this one still has the edge on them thanks to compelling storytelling, an unsentimental tone and a fascinating, complex central figure – one who I would challenge you not to love even a little bit yourself by the time the credits roll.

Next: “he thought the costumes were a little bit silly…”

1. They may feel a little perfunctory (even lazy) compared to what we have now, but the ‘years’ video range he produced was the first chance many fans got to see precious archive material and incomplete stories, he oversaw the release of soundtracks from missing episodes and he was the first of many people to offer a (sort of) completed version of Shada. My view of 60s Who was shaped by these products – how many of us watched Daleks: The Early Years over and over again for its invaluable glimpses of Skaro’s finest at their legendary best? ↩︎
2. This was particularly the case when he was not able to respond to a few of the less flattering portrayals he was subjected to. Saward’s antipathy towards John Nathan-Turner is famous, and there are moments where it felt as though he’d been given the last word. ↩︎