July 8th, 2011 53 comments

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Doctor Who – Paradise Towers DVD

Doctor Who DVD – Paradise Towers

According to the sales brochure, Paradise Towers is a utopian blueprint for community living, with its fabulous architecture and state-of-the-art facilities.

The perfect place for Mel to take a leisurely swim, in fact.

But when the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor and his companion discover that the futuristic tower block has fallen into ruin, and a series of unexplained
disappearances have the tenants living in fear.

As gangs of teenage girls run wild in the hallways, a squad of bureaucratic Caretakers struggle to retain control.

To keep the citizens of Paradise Towers safe, the Doctor must confront the resident evil lurking in the basement…

Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Richard Briers, Howard Cookel, Clive Merrison, Brenda Bruce, Elizabeth Spriggs, Julie Brennon, Judy Cornwell, Annabel Yuresha, Catherine Cusack & Joseph Youngl Astra Sheridanl Simon Coady

Special features…

*Commentary with cast and crew
*Documentaries and behind the scenes footage
*Photo Gallery
*Digitally re-mastered picture and sound quality

Original VHS cover and information

Paradise Towers starring Sylvester McCoy
by Stephen Wyatt

“A visitor? Well it must be a long time since the Tower saw any of those.”

Built towards the end of the twenty-first century, Paradise Towers is a massive lousing block, stretching up towards the sky.

With its beautiful decor, smart apartments, fantastic facilities and high standards of maintenance, it is hardly surprising that the architect, Kroagnon, won many professional awards.

Mel wants to go swimming and as the TARDIS pool has been jettisoned due to a leak, Paradise Towers seems to fit the bill. However, when she and the Doctor arrive, instead of the bright squares and charming cloisters the brochure promised, they find dark, rat-infested corridors full of uncontrollable cleaning machines, undisciplined street gangs and over-worked and belligerent caretakers, some of whom are disappearing in mysterious circumstances.

What has caused such terrible decay? How could such perfect accommodation have become so run down and dangerous?

And why do the street-wise Kangs, apathetic caretakers, sinister Rezzies and Pex – the self-appointed warrior who puts the world of Paradise Towers to rights -all fear whatever terrible force dwells in the basement? Only the unpredictable Chief Caretaker knows what is down there – and the real secret behind the disappearances…

Paradise Towers refined the Seventh Doctor’s costume. The braces disappeared, a different umbrella was used (although the familiar fed question-mark handle did not appear until Delta and the Bannermen) and a paisley scarf replaced the tartan one from Time and the Rani .

Actress Elizabeth Spriggs, who plays Tabby in Paradise Towers, was originally cast as Chessene, the villain in the 1985 story The Two Doctors, but had to pull out due to other commitments.

The only location recording for this story was for the swimming pool sequences, which took place at Elmswell House in Buckinghamshire.

The story was written before Sylvester McCoy had been cast as the Doctor and so Stephen Wyatt wrote for the character as loosely and generally as he could, allowing McCoy to strengthen his characterisation during production.

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