February 11th, 2025 8 comments

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Script Doctor 20th Anniversary Edition

Available to order from www.tenacrefilm.com

A special edition hardback to mark 20 years of Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel’s bestselling memoir Script Doctor, limited to 250 numbered copies.

* Signed by the author
* New Pop Art cover illustration by Paul Burley
* Six-page colour Happiness Patrol prequel comic strip, originally published in SFX
* Andrew’s 1987 Notes to Writers, included for the first time

‘There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace – we’ve got work to do!’

Andrew Cartmel was the script editor on Doctor Who from 1986 to 1989. During his time on the show, he introduced the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) and oversaw 42 scripts written by eight writers new to the series.

With a clear mission to bring proper science fiction back into Doctor Who, he formulated what was later termed ‘The Cartmel Masterplan’, reintroducing the mystery to the character of the Doctor as the series celebrated its 25th anniversary and beyond.

Script Doctor is his memoir of this time, based on his diaries written sometimes on set and sometimes not even in the diary itself but on the backs of script pages.

With an introduction by modern-era Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, a foreword by Sylvester McCoy, and an afterword by Sophie Aldred, this book is illustrated with 32 pages of photographs, many never published before. It is a vivid account of life in the Doctor Who production office in the late eighties.

Casebound Hardback: 156mm x 244 format; 230 pages in black and white, plus 38-page colour insert

Categorised under: Books, Reference books