Actor and comedian Toby Hadoke has become something of a Doctor Who equivalent to a national treasure; for all that he enjoys a more-than-respectable career in both of the aforementioned fields, since outing himself as a fan in his one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf his name has cropped up in all kinds of Doctor Who-related media, whether in his acting roles on Big Finish audios, his comedy, his presenting work, his excellent series of podcasts, his contributions to the DVD and Blu-ray range as a presenter and commentary moderator, and indeed providing a guide to surviving Doctor Who this very week on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
His first DVD extra was a perfectly entertaining, if slightly frivolous, documentary about robots in which Hadoke more than demonstrated his ease in front of the camera. But it’s Looking for Peter (on The Sensorites DVD) that first properly exploited his particular fascination, a genuine interest in the people involved in making television (whether they be actors, writers or assistant floor managers), which, combined with a personable style and gentle honesty when speaking with and about the figures he is investigating, has given us privileged insights into a growing number of lives that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Looking for Peter starts with a simple enough concept: in the absence of any information beyond a name and a couple of contradictory sets of dates, is there anything at all that can be discovered about Peter R. Newman, the writer of an early story that is unloved almost to the point of being unnoticed? You get the impression that nobody had particularly high expectations of the enterprise: Hadoke jokes that he might at least discover what the ‘R’ stands for, and a bit of digging around for a death certificate feels like a literal dead end.
Also, how interested was anyone else in discovering more about Peter R. Newman? It wasn’t exactly keeping me awake at night. And this is where Hadoke has a knack of pulling something a little bit miraculous out of the bag, because he’s so authentic in his curiosity to discover more that he takes us with him – and thanks to some input from researcher extraordinaire Richard Bignell, he uncovers a surprising amount, manages to speak with relatives, discovers pictures and even a recording. It’s a fascinating and ultimately rather moving journey that does exactly what Hadoke expertly did in his series of Who’s Round podcasts and continues to do in obituaries: takes a name from a list of credits and fully fleshes out the person behind them. Would that we all had a Toby Hadoke to ensure that we would be remembered so completely and compassionately.
He has, of course, built on this early documentary, and a Hadoke special feature is always one of my first ports of call on any release. Whose Doctor Who Revisited is a favourite of mine and perhaps goes the furthest in unearthing Stories About People; his Weekend With Waterhouse and Living With Levene features capitalise again on his genuine interest in, and knowledge about, the people involved in the programme, giving us a really insightful look at two characters who one suspects not many people would be able to get this much out of. It is a little too easy to take for granted the care that has been taken to make sure that the personalities behind Doctor Who are being so thoroughly interviewed and remembered; that the results are presented so warmly and engagingly is the icing on the cake.
If you’re not already subscribed to Toby Hadoke’s trilogy of podcasts Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels… well, what on earth are you doing with your life?! In Happy Times and Places he provides an informed and positive commentary on Doctor Who episodes, in Too Much Information he is giving about as comprehensive a history of the series as you could hope for in podcast form (including more rare insights into the key figures behind the show) and best of all Indefinable Magic is a series of musings on the nature of Doctor Who, fandom and all kinds of associated topics: thoughtful, informative, engaging, amusing and poignant. Essential listening; you can also support these endeavours at Patreon.
Next: “the most unflattering colour on camera – it makes you look like a sausage…”
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