Doctor Who Am I
It was in the summer of 1996 that the television movie titled Doctor Who was broadcast, first in Canada, two weeks later in Britain then two days later in the United States, a somewhat contrarian approach as it was that territory which was the principal testing ground for what was hoped would serve as a pilot episode for a new series of the long running show which had broadcast twenty-six seasons between 1963 and 1989.
Filmed in Vancouver, possibly explaining the Canadian premiere, that film is now seen as a stepping stone between the final years of the original series, bidding farewell to Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor, and the more dynamic format the show would adopt when it returned in 2005 under Russell T Davies who gave parity to Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler, but at the time it was poorly received, too eccentric for the American market whose backing would be needed to secure funding and too commercial for British fans reluctant to accept change.
Written by Matthew Jacobs, although many of the creative decisions which he was obliged to reflect in his script would have been made at executive and network level, it was his work which bore the brunt of much of the criticism, leading to his reticence to engage with the undeniably turbulent fandom of Doctor Who. His first appearance at the Gallifrey One Convention documented in Doctor Who Am I, its title reflects Jacobs’ own dilemma and the original concept behind his script, the amnesiac Doctor slowly introduced to the new audience as he finds himself and his purpose.
The other guests at the event including the Eighth Doctor himself, Paul McGann, and Daphne Ashbrook who played cardiac surgeon Grace Holloway (Yee Jee Tso appears briefly in a photoshoot but is not interviewed, and Eric Roberts who played the Master is visited at home with his wife Eliza who also played a supporting role, as is producer Philip Segal), despite his reticence Jacobs finds he comes to enjoy the experience, not least being paid for his autograph and for the chance to recall his own childhood visit to the set of The Gunfighters when his father Anthony Jacobs guested opposite William Hartnell in 1966.
The television movie seen by some as a missed opportunity, frustratingly so is Doctor Who Am I; directed by Jacobs and producer Vanessa Yuille it resembles nothing so much as rambling home movies, the encounters superficial as acquaintances greet each other after years apart but any subsequent discussions of depth not recorded; while there is a vicarious joy to be seen in Jacobs finding he has a place in the diverse and often fractious family of Doctor Who it is not a revelation so uplifting it requires a feature documentary, particularly in a field where the bar has been set so high by the ongoing Blu-ray release programme.
Former script editor Andrew Cartmel who shaped the path of the Seventh Doctor glimpsed on a panel yet never contributing, a conversation between him and Jacobs of their experiences would have been insightful and entertaining, yet the format is instead to present soundbites springing from the same talking points, what was perceived to be wrong with the movie on original broadcast rather than what was right or what has been re-evaluated over time, Doctor Who Am I somewhat wallowing in the past rather than learning from it.
Doctor Who Am I will be on limited cinema release on Thursday 27th October and will be available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download from Monday 28th November
