TW talks to Doctor Who’s Anneke Wills

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors

She was the first companion to ever oversee a regeneration in Doctor Who, she epitomised the swinging sixties in the Tardis and she is still going strong today. The Time Warriors is proud to chat to Polly, Anneke Wills. She tells us about th day Patrick Troughton arrived, what she really thought of William Hartnell and how the seventh Doctor found her living on an island. With the Cybermen returning to Doctor Who this weekend, we thought we’d chat to the lady that saw them first time around…

TW: Anneke , thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule. Can I start by asking how did you get into acting?

AW: I went up for a part in a film when I was 10 years old. I didn’t know what an audition piece was – so I told the director to close her eyes and did an imitation of the Queen; her coronation speech which we all learnt at my village school it was 1951. From there I went to London Drama School and then to RADA.

TW: How did you land the role of Polly?

AW: My agent called and sent me up for an interview with Innes Lloyd (producer at the time) and (director) Michael Ferguson at the BBC. A few hours after I got home they called to say I’d got the part. But it wasn’t unusual as I more often as not got what I was sent in for! I was a BBC favourite!

TW:You were in fact the predecessor to Rose as Polly was the first companion to be grounded in reality. Were you aware of her cultural significance at the time?

AW:No! How could I know that 46 years, 6 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, I would be so remembered that I would be asked to the set of Mark Gatiss’ film!

It wasn’t unusual as I more often as not got what I was sent in for! I was a BBC favourite!

TW: You faced the first Cybermen, what did you think of them at the time?

AW:We thought they were marvellous. Revolutionary! Inspiring – frightening! They were Kit Pedler’s brilliant creation.

TW: Did you think they would be the next big monster?

AW: We had an inkling they may become popular- but nothing could replace the Daleks of course!

We thought they (the Cybermen) were marvellous. Revolutionary! Inspiring – frightening! They were Kit Pedler’s brilliant creation.

TW: Which version do you prefer? The more human ones in the Tenth Planet or the Moonbase Ones?

AW: We thought the original ones were more spooky, being closer to being human. The gaping holes for their mouths; their distorted voices were better then, I think.

TW: You were there for the first ever regeneration. What was it like on set that day? Was there a fear it wouldn’t work?

AW: Of course there was an anxiety about the Doctor being replaced but Mike and I so believed in Patrick that we were sure the public would love him. Filming the last episode of the Tenth Planet was tiring because we took ages to do the ‘bleach out’ from Bill to Pat and then we had to finish the rest of the story so it was very late at night. And we were exhausted when we finally done.

TW: You also became the first companion, along with Michael Craze, to bridge the birth of two Doctors. Was that daunting as it all depended on Ben and Polly’s reactions to the new Doctor?

AW: Not really; we just took it in our stride; relieved to be finished with grumpy old Bill and hoping to join up with funny sweet talented Patrick Troughton! Over the weeks of working with Bill, we had so much difficulty – stand ins- and having to take over his lines at the drop of a hat but hey, we were actors! We just got on with it!

Of course there was an anxiety about the Doctor being replaced but Mike and I so believed in Patrick

TW: You all seemed to have a lot of fun on set. What’s your fondest memory of Patrick and Bill?

AW: Fondest memory of Bill was saying goodbye! And too many of Patrick to recount. He was simply inspiring to work with! And we now know how much in his personal life was going on! It’s amazing with all that pressure he was under from all sides that he was able to be so sweet and kind and also filled with humour (something that had been absolutely missing in the last run of Bill Hartnell!). Mike and I knew we were privileged to be his supportive companions. And we all drank like fishes!

TW: What story remains close to your heart?

AW: Having just finished reading the ‘Highlanders’ for BBC audio – I loved this story – it really goes to show how funny Pat could be and the relationships between the characters really insightfully written. It was dark and funny, witty and gripping all at once.

TW: Your exit was badly handled. I feel it disrespected not only you as an actor but the audience who had emotionally invested in Polly and Ben. Did that leave a bitter taste?

AW: They thought I would stay on, after they let go of Mike. You can see in the Tomb of the Cybermen, Kit Pedler was still writing for Polly! So they rather got rid of us, but I was happy to leave. It had been my decision because I wanted to go on to other parts. In those days if you became too identified with a character you didn’t get work easily. It’s all SO very different today.

TW: How did you discover that fandom still loved the characters and wanted to meet you?

AW: Stephen James Walker of Frame magazine called me up on the tiny island I was living on in British Columbia and talked for an hour. Then he invited me back to the UK. I was absolutely astounded, having had no idea that the show was still so popular with the fans. I’d become a Star trek fan in the meantime!

TW: Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor) came to see you while they were filming the Doctor Who movie for his video diary. Was that a fun day?

I so enjoyed popping out of my shop in a mini skirt with ‘Oh Doctor! How wonderful to see you!’ and later of course I met the gorgeous Paul McGann.

AW: Hugely! I so enjoyed popping out of my shop in a mini skirt with ‘Oh Doctor! How wonderful to see you!’ and later of course I met the gorgeous Paul McGann. They took me out to dinner (the film producers). So kind.

TW: You of course came back for the Big Finish series of stories where Polly was centre stage. How did that come about? Is it a harder medium as an actor as the performance lies in the vocals completely?

AW: No, it’s lovely because you can focus entirely on the story and not have to worry about how you look! Wrinkles in HD! Oooer!

Also, of course, it’s wonderful to play Polly again and this time she’s empowered! In Charge! It was inevitable that I would be included in the astounding volume of work that Big Finish puts out and I have so enjoyed the Companion Chronicles and certainly hope to do more.

TW: Was an autobiography always something you wanted to write? Do you still have stories to tell?

AW: I had been thinking I did have a story to tell because what with one thing and another, I’ve had quite a life! So when the fans all cheered and said they wanted to read about it, on January 1st, 2007, I sharpened my pencil, lit a candle and began. And also because I wanted to tell my mother’s brave story, about my beautiful brother who was murdered and of course my lovely Polly who tragically left us when she was 18. So I was honoured to be able to write about their lives and share it with you all. Fantom Films are talking about bringing the two books out in a single hardback volume with up to date stories and lots of new photos! Coming soon! Watch out for it!

TW: Anneke, thank you for this. It s an honour for us here in Ireland.

AW: Love to you all in Belfast!

TW talks to Sam Witwer

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues from the archives originally carried out with FTN

Sam Witwer is a 35-year-old American actor who has pretty much featured in a lot of shows we love in the last few years. Appearing in Battlestar Galactica and Being Human (US) is bad enough, but when you also include the fact that he was in The Mist, directed by Frank Darabont and based on Stephen King’s short story, Dexter and CSI then he becomes something of an icon. Then you add on the fact that he’s been a zombie in The Walking Dead, is the voice of Darth Maul and the Son in Clone Wars and on top of that is a bona-fide part of the Star Wars universe with his portrayal of the apprentice, Galen Marek, in The Force Unleashed games as well as Supergirl and Doomsday in Smallville and suddenly you have an actor who has been on our list of ‘must interview’ for a long time now, so as you can imagine, it was our absolute pleasure to sit and talk to him…

TW: Sam, before we begin, I just want to tell you that we all at Time Warriors are really big fans of your work and this has been something we’ve looked forward to for a long, long time. Before you landed the role of Doomsday in Smallville, were you a Superman fan?

SW: Certainly. Of the Christopher Reeve movies, that is. When I was a little kid, the only way my parents could get me to put on a suit was if I could wear my Superman shirt underneath, cuz then I wasn’t wearing a suit… I was Clark Kent. As for the comics, I’ve read more now, post-Smallville, than I did before.

TW: Were you aware that Doomsday was the one that Killed Superman. Was that daunting in any way?

SW: I hadn’t read it, but yes I was aware and yes it was daunting. This stuff is beloved by a lot of people and you certainly don’t want to let anyone down. I knew the idea about giving Doomsday a human alter-ego was not going to be popular once announced, but if we did it well we might just come out looking good on the other side.

So yes. I was hired to mess with something that was very important to a lot of people, and somehow I got away with it.

TW: Were you worried about fan backlash when you killed Jimmy Olsen?

SW: I was. I was not happy with how the arc ended. It’s not that what they wanted to do was impossible, it’s just that we hadn’t earned it. We hadn’t created a character that would do what he did in the way he did it. I felt it was an artificially dramatic left turn.Having said that, TV is hard. Everything is done on tiny schedules and tiny budgets, and one moment the network/studio wants this, and the next moment they want that. I think the writing team did me far more credit than disservice.

On killing Jimmy Olsen: “I was not happy with how the arc ended… I felt it was an artificially dramatic left turn.”

TW: Have you watched the British version of Being Human and what did you think of it?

SW: I have. I love that show and recommend it unreservedly. It’s really wonderful.

TW: How did you approach bringing your own spin to the vampire mythology as Aidan in Being Human?

SW: When we started Being Human, we stayed away from the BBC original entirely. We had to make our own characters and seeing someone else’s take on similar material was only going to muddy the waters. When we wrapped season one, I bought everyone the boxsets and we became fans.

As for the mythology – Well, I originally turned down the audition. I read the word “Vampire” in the first three pages and immediately thought, “Oh man. Why do we need another one of these guys?” I then closed the script. Thankfully, a very smart friend of mine named Laura Terry shamed me into going back and actually reading the material. To my horror I saw a really cleverly told story about a drug addict trying to go clean. I loved that.

So my first task in approaching Aidan was to create a recovering drug addict. That’s what I think I’m doing. Everything else is just letting my mind run wild with what it must be like to be 260 years old, etc. I haven’t watched much Vampire stuff so I don’t know how other people are doing it.

TW: You were also in the movie adaptation of the Mist. It had one of the most shocking endings ever. Were you a Stephen King fan?

SW: I was a casual King fan. Funny thing is, my buddies back in Chicago had been complaining to me that no one had ever made a movie adaptation of the Mist… This was two years before I got the audition. How did I get the audition? A woman dropped a bag of stuff in the middle of the street and I helped her gather her things. She was a casting director and asked me if I wanted to read for something. She gave me 15 minutes with some pretty difficult material, put me on tape, and next thing I know, Frank Darabont hires me. It was very strange, and I’m damn glad I didn’t know I was auditioning for Frank.

What I value most from that experience is my friendship with Frank.

TW: You were a zombie in the Walking Dead. You’re a vampire. All you need now is to be a werewolf and you’ve completely the big three. Are there days when you wake up and as a normal person think, that is so cool?

SW: It is definitely a bizarre job. As for the “this is so cool” factor, that’s the Star Wars stuff. I was a huge fan when I was a kid, so it’s fun to now get to play around in that universe.

TW: You have done a lot of voice-over work for computer games etc. Do you find that a harder medium given the performance is all in the vocals?

SW: It’s getting easier. Some people say voiceover is easy… Well, I’d say that’s not true. If you wanna do anything really well, it’s difficult. There’s a lot to learn. The voice actors I’ve worked with are, quite honestly, better at that stuff than I am. Now, I may bring my own unique talents to it, but there’s a whole skillset that the best voice actors have to draw on, and I’m just trying to make a really good wrench… OK, maybe now I’m working on a screwdriver as well.

The only thing I have to fall back on is my taste and my dramatic sense. The vocal stuff is coming, and it’s getting a little bit easier.

TW: Galen Marek is honestly one of my favourite Star Wars characters, certainly in the EU, how does it feel to be such a strong and unique character in the Star Wars universe?

SW: Well there was another daunting role. To create a Star Wars protagonist for a project that had a budget more on the scale of a feature film, that was pressure. Star Wars fans are not shy about telling you when they think you got it wrong. So I worked hard. Very hard. Did a lot of homework. What homework? Well, I already knew the Star Wars stuff… but what I wasn’t maybe AS familiar with was Flash Gordon 1930s serials, Kurosawa films, 70s acting styles, Wizard of Oz, etc. I thought it was important to reflect on the influences that MADE Star Wars and not just Star Wars itself.

What did I learn? A lot of things, but chief among them? Star Wars is better when it’s bigger, performance wise. Subtlety doesn’t read, because it’s shot in masters and two shots like an old film. You have to fill that frame with personality. Also? If you’re gonna say it loud, might as well say it fast. The joke that people level at George Lucas is that he only ever gave the direction, “Faster, more intense” to the actors.

Well, guess what? Faster, more intense works quite well in a Star Wars movie. … Watch 1940s movies to get a feel for what I’m talking about.

TW: Galen’s Story was left open-ended at the end of Force Unleashed II. Do you think we’ll see him again?

SW: You never know with the Mouse now running stuff. If they crack the books and see what the biggest financial hits are, they’ll see Battlefront and Force Unleashed topping the list, so there’s always hope.

On Dave Filoni: “He is the real deal and I truly hope Disney understands what they have there in him. I wanna see him to get a shot at a live action feature.”

TW: When you were cast as Darth Maul were you as hesitant as the fans to embrace this character again? Obviously we love him and he’s been brought back to great effect but there was some worry…

SW: Well, it was Doomsday and Starkiller all over again as far as pressure. Here we were doing an idea that would not sit well with the fans – we were bringing back a character everyone was pretty damned sure was dead. It was George’s story. The only way we were gonna get away with it is if we did it really well… not just did it well… but told some deeper mythological elements of stuff like the force… ya know? How was this even possible? How could this guy who was cut in half survive?

Well, I approached it like, “Hey, if you saw Revenge of the Sith and ended it when Vader was cut up and burned to a crisp, you’d think it was impossible for him to survive too!” What’s the answer? Well, the Sith do not conceive of anything beyond their life. There’s no life after death. When Alec Guinness says, “if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine” that doesn’t make ANY sense to Vader. These guys hold on to what they have because, well, you can’t take it with you. Death? That’s it. That’s the end.

So these sick jerks use all of their resources and powers to unnaturally preserve themselves. In the case of Anakin, he kept himself alive when his body died. In the case of Darth Maul, he did something similar… But in his case, he’d been crawling around in the garbage for 10 years, long enough for him to go quite mad, and long enough for the dark side to cause pieces of garbage to stick to him, eventually creating these spider legs.

What does it all mean in the larger mythology? It’s Star Wars goes to hell. It’s showing the audience for the first time what the Dark Side really is, and it’s madness, despair and grief. What Darth Maul is on screen is what Darth Vader experiences underneath the mask and in his private moments.

So if you tell THAT story, the audience tends to forgive little things like, “but he was cut in half.” …And then you get an Emmy nomination.

TW: Because of the roles you play, do you worry about fandom and its reactions,?

SW: Always. Always. But the fans have been quite kind and generous in accepting these curve balls, which makes me wanna take on more challenges.

On the roles he plays: “the fans have been quite kind and generous in accepting these curve balls”

TW: In the Mortis trilogy you play the son, part of a trio of characters who really get to the heart of the Force. Being such a big Star Wars fan, did you know how massive the role was going to be? How did you feel on first reading the script?

SW: I really didn’t know until I got there and discussed the situation with Dave Filoni. The Son character was meant to be the ghostly embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force, so… no pressure. It was pretty intimidating to have to play an iconic element of that mythology… a theme really. I’d never played a THEME before… AND to be new to voice acting. The first day, I was a worried. We were doing the first episode and The Son didn’t have much to say. I asked Dave, “Are we worried this guy is gonna sound too much like Starkiller?”

Dave responded: “Well, Starkiller had a connection to the Dark Side, and this character IS the Dark Side, so he can sound a little like him.”

That got me thinking… If that’s the way it can work and we can hear some Starkiller in there, should we not hear ALL of the villains of Star Wars in there? Should we not dip into Vader, Dooku, Palpatine, Maul?

So I came back the next day to do an episode where the Son had a lot to say, and I started doing executing on this crazy theory. Filoni stopped the session and hit his talkback button: “I think I know what you’re doing.” … And I said: “Um… so should I do it less?” He says: “Do it more.”

Before I move on, a word on Dave Filoni. You work with a lot of people in this business. Some are competent, some are sadly not, and some have half the skillset but are sadly deficient in some ways. TV/Film is hard and it’s a miracle that anything at all turns out good. Having said that, I’ve found Dave Filoni to be among the most talented, most intelligent, most motivated people I’ve ever worked with. He is the real deal and I truly hope Disney understands what they have there in him. I wanna see him to get a shot at a live action feature.

“The Son character was meant to be the ghostly embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force, so… no pressure.”

TW: You’ve done them all at this stage, BSG, The Walking Dead, Being Human, appeared in a good Stephen King adaptation – directed by the legend that is Frank Darabont, played the man/creature that would kill Superman, owned the Darth Maul role and lived an integral Star Wars character in Galen Marek… is there anything left that you would really like to do?

SW: Indiana Jones. … Or a hard boiled 1940s private detective. …Or hey… Why not Corwin of Amber? I am now officially throwing that out there.

On roles he’d like to play: “Why not Corwin of Amber? I am now officially throwing that out there.”

TW: Sam, thanks so much.

SW: Thanks so much, man.

Adrian Baldwin’s The Snowman and the Scarecrow

By Owen Quinn

In THE SNOWMAN AND THE SCARECROW – the closest the author will ever come to writing a ‘family’ story – young Joe’s grandfather collapses as they’re building their traditional Christmas snowman. (Always a festive downer when that happens.)With Wilf in hospital, and as a way of coping, the boy searches for the now inexplicably missing ‘Mr Wonky’; it’s a small town, how far could he have gone? Before long, Joe runs into an out-of-town drifter who promises to help … but does the old vagrant have ulterior motives?

Get your paperback copy today at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snowman-Scarecrow-another-comedy-grown-ups/dp/1983060941/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+snowman+and+the+scarecrow&qid=1608604637&sr=8-1

Get your Kindle copy today at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snowman-Scarecrow-another-comedy-grown-ups-ebook/dp/B07DK23WGP/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1608604637&sr=8-1

Adrian Baldwin’s Stanley McCloud Must Die

By Owen Quinn

Death can be a real downer. Just ask Stanley McCloud. The ancient and inveterate gambler has just found out he hasn’t long to live. Refusing to believe his prognosis, though, Stan places a massive bet that he will reach his next birthday. Surely, his run of bad luck can’t last!Unfortunately for Stan the independent bookie he uses grows nervous as the big day approaches and decides to bump him off with one of her many fun, but ever-so-slightly fatal, high-odds proposition bets – aka Maggy’s Specials.Will Stanley McCloud make it, ruining Maggy McCulloch in the process; or will the heartless bookie have her evil way, ‘accidentally’ kill him, and save her business? Perhaps Stan’s womanising, alcoholic old pal Dougie can be of some help? Yeah, right! Good luck with that. Oh, and there’s a whole secondary storyline about The Head Honcho, a serial killer who leaves his victims’ torsos in one place, and their heads in another. Yikes!

Get your paperback copy today at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-McCloud-Must-Die-grown-ups/dp/198307487X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=stanley+mccloud+must+die&qid=1608603603&sr=8-1

Get your KIndle copy here today at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stanley-McCloud-Must-Die-grown-ups-ebook/dp/B07DJV4LKF/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1608603603&sr=8-1

Heroes of Doctor Who: Mickey Smith

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

We go back to the first days of new Who as we look at Mickey, the character who started as an idiot in Doctor Who mythology but finished up as so much more…

One of the most beautiful things about the new era of Doctor Who is that the characters have a real chance of evolution and we the viewer can share this journey every step of the way.

When we first meet Mickey Smith, played by Noel Clarke, he is a clumsy fool, deeply in love with Rose Tyler and he doesn’t trust the Doctor at all. To be honest I didn’t like the first Eccleston era episode especially the scene where Mickey is swallowed by an Auton wheelie bin and his duplicate is badly done.

It’s no wonder Rose legs it into the Tardis first chance she gets. The Doctor is very rude and dismissive of Mickey and when we next meet him he is a recluse having been accused of Rose’s murder especially as her mother Jackie has told the world exactly that. It’s a nice touch to see there are unpleasant consequences to those left behind when the Doctor takes someone out of their ordinary life.

Twelve months have passed and Rose and the Doctor barely seem sorry for what they have put him through nor is Jackie. However here we see the real Mickey take shape as he rescues Jackie from a Slitheen and is the only person the Doctor can rely on to fire the missiles that will destroy 10 Downing Street thus ending the Slitheen threat. The Doctor literally puts the fate of the planet in Mickey’s hands and he succeeds with flying colours. Having been separated from emotion for so long, the Doctor realises he has made a mistake in misjudging the young man and offers him a place on the Tardis which he initially refuses and asks the Doctor never to tell Rose. He is losing Rose to this alien he knows but still hopes she will return to him one day. Mickey has the foresight to see that life with the Doctor is a passing thing.

His journey continues when he travels to Cardiff in Boomtown to bring Rose her passport and ends up in a new fight with the Slitheen. He asks Rose to go to a hotel with him and pretends he is dating someone else to get a reaction. This is also the first time he meets Captain Jack and immediately christens him Captain Cheesecake. In Parting of the Ways he is the one who helps Rose return to save the Doctor from the Daleks by pulling the console apart with a yellow tow truck. He is the better man for letting her go.

Now of course Mickey decides to investigate any odd goings on and possible alien incursions. Maybe he thinks to himself that if he becomes like them he will reignite what Rose felt for him again. To that end, he becomes the eyes and ears of the Doctor and Rose in their absence. He brings them back to investigate strange happenings in the episode School Reunion. Here they team up with Sarah Jane Smith and K9 and as it progresses Mickey realizes the others see him as the tin dog. So he vows to change it by crashing into the school and rescuing the kids from the Krillitane. At the end he asks to stay aboard the Tardis as he wants to see what they see and discover what exactly Rose loves about this life. Rose’s reaction is less than pleasant.

He gets a spaceship on his first trip in the Girl in the Fireplace which delights him. He and Rose are left to fight off the clockwork robots from harvesting their body parts to fix the ship. But in the next story which saw the reintroduction of the Cybermen, we get two Mickeys for the price of one. Stranded in a parallel universe, Mickey meets his double, Ricky, Britain’s most wanted leader of a gang that knows something is wrong with the company Cybus and its leader John Lumic. They are right as he is stealing homeless people and turning them into Cybermen.

When Ricky is killed, Mickey stands up for himself when the others don’t really take any notice of him and assumes the role of leader when he leads the attack on the airship controlling the Lumic Cybermen signals. When everyone else tries to run from the exploding Cyber factory, Mickey forces the airship down to rescue Rose, the Doctor and Pete Tyler echoing the Doctor’s words in Parting of the Ways by declaring “Rose I’m coming to get you!”

One of Mickey’s greatest regrets is his grandmother dying by tripping on stair carpet and breaking her neck. In the parallel universe he finds her alive and well. He has a chance to put right something he feels guilty about. Knowing he has lost Rose to the Doctor, he decides to remain behind and fight the Cybermen alongside Pete Tyler. Mickey knows he will never see her again but he has finally moved on.

However, cracks in reality bring him back to our Earth to rescue Rose just as the Daleks escape from a sphere. He and Pete Tyler have taken over the other reality’s Torchwood and used the alien tech to help fight this new menace which threatens both worlds. Mickey is becoming more of a soldier and isn’t afraid of any alien menace shown especially when he faces Davros and the Daleks by putting him down where he sits.

He lives with the Tylers in the other universe, working for Torchwood and Rose’s steadfast friend. Alongside everyone else in Journey’s End he helps return the Earth back where it belongs before saying goodbye to Jackie. His gran lived her final days in a mansion and he has to start his life again back where he started. It is telling that he doesn’t say anything to Rose as he has said goodbye to her a long time ago. We see him walking off with Martha and Jack expecting him to turn up in Torchwood but things go differently as he ends up marrying Martha Jones. They become a two man army against alien invaders, last seen fighting a Sontaran in the End of Time.

Mickey is the epitome of being able to change for the better and being man enough to make those changes no matter what anyone thinks. Something tells me this story ain’t over yet.

TW remembers The Nightmare Man

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Back in the early eighties between a slew of Salem’s Lot, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Howling and The Thing, there was a drama on BBC that took the country by storm, The Nightmare Man. It came out of nowhere, adapted from a book called “Child of Vodyanoi” by Doctor Who supremo Robert Holmes who was responsible for some of the greatest Who stories of all time and direct by Douglas Camfield who also directed some of the most memorable Who stories including Terror of the Zygons.
Set on a remote Scottish island, an all star cast featured in a really disturbing sci if show. And it included the line made famous by Taggert, “There’s been a murder!” in that fantastic accent only the Scots can do.
It had all the elements of classic scare fests with the isolated island, wild open moors favoured by American Werewolf in London, fog sealing off the island, frightened dogs, animal attacks and murders where the victims were torn apart by some unseen force which leaves behind a radioactive trace. And oh yes, someone saw a flying saucer crashing and that’s when they find bite marks that don’t belong to a human. Every possibility is explored from alien monsters, satanic cults, serial killers, genetic experiments on humans and animals before the monster is revealed. The alien theory is reinforced when a mysterious blood stained craft is found on the beach.
Of course the viewer knew there was a monster on the loose with the creature’s point of view method where we hear a horrible gurgling creature stalking the moors with a blood red viewpoint which was genuinely frightening and even when I watched it recently after so many years, it was still quite freaky.
Everything came together with the direction, the writing, the performances and the terrified islanders realizing there is some sort of unknown sea monster on the loose. The dialogue has lovely touches that root it in reality with talk of Kojak, mending fishing nets and digging potatoes, a quick nip of whisky to beat off the cold and a map costs only 50 pence. Those were the days.
The cast includes Maurice Roeves (Doctor Who, STNG and Judge Dread), James Cosmo (Braveheart), James Warwick (Babylon 5 and Doctor Who) and Celia Imrie (showing she’s a serious actress as well as the matriarch in Acorn Antiques). There isn’t one bad performance in the show and they all help enforce the reality of it all. Even the Bill’s Reggie and Freddie Boswell from Bread pop up as ill fated coast guards.
Camfield is an expert at building tension and in the Nightmare Man he achieves it in abundance. Every monster attack is unnerving including the sheep attacks. One avid bird watcher is ripped apart in his tent on the moors while his camera takes pictures and the attack on the coast guard station shows just how effective and terrifying you can make a scene on a limited budget. The click of the Geiger counter is now a portent of doom and the only way the locals have to know something nasty is lurking in the dark. Such is the tension, you’re waiting for the monster to attack every time someone ventures outside into the fog which never lets up. Everything here is meant to terrify the viewers especially the scene where they manage to develop the bird watcher’s camera and listen to the recording of his death. We see a humanoid figure with what seems to be things growing out of its head, reinforcing the notion that this is not human, especially since the amount of radiation it generates would leave a human six feet under. The most chilling of all is the inhuman noise it makes when murdering; it is laughing as it rips its victims to bits.
As the police discover the attacks are occurring in a straight line across the island they take to the moors to try and track it but come across the mysterious Colonel Howard who has arrived for a holiday on the island, or has he?
When the reveal of the monster is finally done, it’s even more terrifying when the viewer learns the truth. They have had a dozen terrifying images running though their heads for weeks and none could have imagined what is really killing people.
There is so even a nod to the Thing when the creature runs burning into the night and the theme music is reminiscent of Salem’s Lot. Between them Douglas and Robert created a really frightening piece of television drama that has rarely been surpassed. Given their background, you almost expect the Doctor to come running in at any moment. This is a great example of how to create a tense drama on a budget; everything is so simple and evocative. Note when the search party go looking for the killer on the moors, the fog is so dense you’re on the edge of your seat screaming at them to go home.
Watched again thirty years later, the Nightmare Man has lost none of its scare factor. I got my copy off eBay which comes with a making-off booklet which shows the care and depths the team went to to make this classic. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

The Time Warriors’ heroes: Varran

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Copyright Owen Quinn Varran concept art drawn by Stephen Mooney

In a way writing characters is a bit like a friendship. Life has brought you together for some reason and you only grow to know that person by sharing good and bad times together. That’s when you both learn each other’s characters that deepen or break your friendship. Hopefully like your characters they become part of your life forever.

Science fiction and fantasy are full of time traveling heroes. It’s kind of hard to come up with an original angle without bringing some sort of comparison to something else in the genre.

To be honest Varran was the least developed character when I started writing the series. I knew who he was and what had happened to him. However I could only visualise him with white hair and beautiful sapphire eyes similar to the actress Meg Foster. He hated the military and possessed the most powerful weapon that once lead the Xereban armies. Varran is the typical scientist that has touched parts of reality that should be left alone; in this instance time travel. A genius ahead of his time from the planet Xereba, Varran’s break through is fully supported and funded by the government. Without his knowledge Varran’s work is being watched closely by General Solos. Solos is the most trusted military leader in the entire world. He has successfully saved their homeworld twice from invasion.Pretending to beforend Varran, Solos has him integrate this new temporal technology into his new battleship/space station, the Juggernaught. When Varran realises what Solos is really planning to do with his work, he goes underground on the run. When he is just about to complete the ultimate test of sending a person back in time, Solos’ squad tracks Varran down. A barrage of weapons fire short circuits the machine sending it out of control. Varran is plunged into a terrifying vision of the universe being consumed by a great darkness. the attack has also released a massive temporal wave that is aging the planet to death. When Varran wakes up he is aboard the Juggernaught with the last of the survivors.

Copyright Owen Quinn Varran concept art Varran’s Reflection in General Cade’s eye drawn by Stephen Mooney

Their home is gone. They have nowhere to go except the one place that Varran has seen in the temporal vision. They must find the third planet in a system of nine; a blue green world that is unknown to them, Earth. Saddled with the guilt of destroying his entire world, Varran leads the last of his people with only their faith that everything happens for a reason to keep them strong. Once they reach Earth the survivors blend in with the human populace leaving Varran to keep watch for the coming darkness. So far, Varran is unique as far as background is concerned but how else could I make him different?

Initially because of his being caught in a temporal explosion, I was going to make him immortal. Then I thought, how boring and limited is that. There is no drama in immortality. So I came up with the idea that what if Varran realised he wasn’t aging but did that mean immortality? As he tells Tyran at one point, he isn’t brave enough to throw himself in front of a speeding bus to find out. Additionally with the entirety of time and space at his fingertips, he was afraid of travelling to the future. His culture had no religion but were governed by the deeply held mantra that everything happens for a reason. For Varran, what if he discovered something in the future that changed his actions in the present threatening what should be. He reluctantly allows Michael to visit the 24th century in the Survivor and In Last, Will and Testament Tyran meets someone from Varran’s personal future that has fallen back through time.

A time traveller afraid of the future and carrying the blame for the destruction of his own world makes him a much more interesting character. he has several near death instances but we never get the answer to that question. he keeps the existence of the Juggernaught and his people a secret knowing humanity is not ready for the reveal. That said, he does make human friends across the years as seen in the stories The Moon Once More and Darkness in the World. In the former he sits at the bedside of his terminally ill friend helpless. The man with all the time in the universe desperately trying to give his dying friend just a little bit more.

Copyright Owen Quinn Cover Mentara drawn by Stephen Mooney

Copyright Owen Quinn designed by Eoin Quinn

The arrival of Jacke, Michael and Tyran bring out the fatherly side of him. At first he didn’t want them to be part of his solitary life but over their adventures together he mellows to the point they are his reason to keep going. Over the course of the first four books, Varran suddenly finds his family has quickly expanded. He is a grandfather figure to Michael’s daughter, Sarah and openly welcomed to the celebrations we have in every family.

In Tempest he discovers what happened the day Xereba exploded which changes everything. After that he loosens up a little trying to learn all about pop culture references and dressing a bit more stylishly. We learn he was engaged twice to both a man and a woman and fell in love with an Irish woman during the Famine who was murdered. In Red Water we learn his claim that he lived a solitary life during the first years of the Juggernaught’s arrival on Earth was a white lie. He walked the Earth to learn all about their new home and the place that would be the last battlefield between good and evil. He spent time with the Native Americans as we learn in Red Water where he rescued a Sasquatch child called Jacko. Having saved a vineyard’s crop in France he spent several months at the family’s estate home learning to dance, paint and ride horses.

He learns that the darkness he saw in his vision comes in many forms. He becomes obsessed with finding and stopping the Mentara after he stops a human harvest in Summer’s End. When he finally finds their home world in The Belbridge Mystery, he finds his steadfast beliefs shattered to the core. He realises their adventures have left him prejudice and assumptive much to his detriment.

So really my point is Varran grew through my stories. I learned who he was as he taught me when i took them to new worlds and new times. Any writers out there will tell you the same thing. Sometimes a character will guide you on what they want to be. You as the writer will place them on one road when all of a sudden they change direction to do something you never thought they would. A lot of the time it is for the better and is something that is a joy when writing a story. There’s an almost one on one relationship with these characters that live in your head. They travel to our world through ,my words and imagination gaining a life of their own. When those sudden twists happen you can see them smile and nod at you in your mind letting you know they are where they need to be in the journey you share with them. In a way writing characters is a bit like a friendship. Life has brought you together for some reason and you only grow to know that person by sharing good and bad times together. That’s when you both learn each other’s characters that deepen or break your friendship. Hopefully like your characters they become part of your life forever.

That journey is far from over because we have yet to feel the fallout from the events of The Belbridge Mystery but believe me when I tell you, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Zombie Blues: Elvis Impersonator Zombie

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Copyright Owen Quinn and drawn by Stephen Mooney

We meet the various zombies that appear in the Zombie Blues books and learn the story behind their inclusion. This time up is The Zombie that Left the Building.

Writers are inspired by so many different things and in this case the idea for an Elvis Impersonator Zombie came from this drawing my buddy Stephen sent me. He did the cover for The Time Warriors: The Belbridge Mystery and there’s more to come so this one came out of the blue during his brainstorming session.

The idea of an Elvis type zombie intrigued me and immediately my mind began whirring for ideas on how to approach the story. It was always going to be titled ‘The Zombie That left The Building.’ Nothing else was ever going to do for this story. So what angle could I take? At first I decided to go with a man who wasn’t very confident and crippling shy. He would be a slave to his low self worth. Secretly he was a huge Elvis Presley fan and like any other fan of something, he knew every single detail about the life of Elvis. He could sing and move like him, a passion inspired by his grandmother who was also a huge fan. His impersonation would be noticed by a neighbour who would push him to perform in public. Once shy guy hit the stage he found a confidence he had never known. It would be how becoming Elvis and lapping up the adoring fans was a mask that hid the real person behind. He could only be himself when he wore the guise of Elvis himself.

But what I like to do is make the zombie outbreak global so I took another approach. Diversity is hugely important but it can’t be shoehorned in to suit the PC brigade. It has to be organic and grow from the story. So I checked out videos of Elvis conventions and saw all the different nationalities inspired by the King himself. That’s when it hit me; this story had to be about racism and how one man can unite the planet through song. His music and lyrics bypassed colour and creed to bring out the best in people as they brought their love of him to the world.

Now I have to say at this point I never knew there really was a Maori Elvis impersonator. He is apparently the only one in the world. It is a pure coincidence believe me but it was a perfect fit. The reason behind choosing Maori was the show Sensing Murder. I was intrigued by the episodes where different cultures were involved. it showed me that racism affects so many more people than just black and white. The more I researched the more it spoke to me about the story’s themes of togetherness and rising above the darker aspects of humanity. Anyone can be anything they want to be, screw what others say. It’s actually one of my favourites of the book and one I’m particularly proud of.

You can judge for yourself in the upcoming Zombie Blues 3 when you can meet Elvis Tuhoe Presley for yourselves.

TW watches The Mandalorian Chapter 16

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Spoilers ahead

To be completely honest I was never a fan of this show until about four weeks ago. It was a sure fire thing that every Monday morning in work my buddy and I would disagree on how good it was. For me the Mandalorian never utilised its full strength and elements of Lucas’ universe. Poor episodes like the one where he defended a village against a chicken walker and the Tremors episode with the Tusken Raiders just frustrated me. Weequay are a species not the name of the bartender I argued and throwing in a cameo from R5D4 was just a crowd pleaser.

My buddy’s blind love for it sent me up the wall. They should be using the elements established previously to build upon and bring new dimensions on what we already know. Well, I think the writers probably heard me because suddenly things did a sharp turn and did exactly what I had been saying all along. It’s ok guys, I forgive you. Any jobs going in your writing staff? You know where to find me.

What a difference. The Empire carrying out genetic experiments to create Force powered beings, Boba Fett more than just a helmet to become a martial arts master, Thrawn, Ashoka, references to Anakin Skywalker turning bad are mere tasters for what was to come in this final episode.

Part of me thought the backstory of having to find the Child’s species was just an excuse to drag it out. However the reveal of a hidden history and that the Child was much older than it appeared only served to whet the appetite.

We seemed to be heading for an Empire Strikes Back season finale. Moff Gideon has the Child and experimenting upon him. The Mandalorian’s ship has been blown to pieces and Thrawn is waiting in the shadows. All seems lost but what an ending.

The assault on Gideon’s ship, stormtroopers falling like skittles, the Return of the Jedi like stealing aboard Gideon’s star destroyer using an Imperial ship and the legion of robotic Dark troopers coming at them like the Borg. We are treated to great fight scenes which are cinematic in nature.

But it is the ending that broke every fan in the world as Luke Skywalker arrives in full Jedi fighting stance to rescue Grogu. These scenes felt like the Darth Vader ones in Rogue One. Luke is now a skilled warrior and teacher far removed from the atrocity we saw in the Disney trilogy. The moment he pulls back that hood left me on the floor just as it did at the end of the Force Awakens. Seeing him in full black Jedi outfit was beautiful just as it did when he entered Jabba’s Palace all those years ago. What a fantastic blast from the past along with old reliable R2D2 at his side. Coupled with the farewell scenes between the now helmetless Mando and Gorgu it brought an emotional impact that is rarely seen in a television show. I had the same reaction at this as I had when I saw Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher together on stage at Star Wars Celebration in London a few years ago. Yep there was tears. It is like not seeing an old friend for many years yet the moment you do, you forgot how much they mean to you. It hits you like a punch in he face.

Now Mandalorian works for me as an intelligent show that uses its source material in a thoughtful way. The post credits scene of Boba Fett taking Jabba’s palace by gunning down Bib Fortuna was just the icing on the cake. I can’t wait to see what happens in season three.

The Time Warriors: The Voalox Horror out now!

Copyright Owen Quinn Cover by Bradley Wind

Join the Time Warriors in this second exciting volume as the race against their enemies intensifies.
The Family are revealed in the most unexpected place, Michael faces an impossible choice trapped in the 24th century, an old enemy returns, Tyran is lost on a planet of robots with a hidden agenda while a dark secret from Jacke’s past may be the only hope for an alien race.
In the Victorian England a new enemy emerges as the fight is on to stop the ghost of Jack the Ripper.
Remember, everything happens for a reason.

Get your Kindle copy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-Voalox-Horror-ebook/dp/B07DWGGCNX/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+time+warriors+owen+quinn&qid=1604865873&sr=8-2

Get your paperback copy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-Voalox-Horror/dp/1461154502/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1604865873&sr=8-2