Book Review: Doctor Who - The Key to Time by Peter Haining

Doctor Who: The Key to Time – A Year-by-Year Record
by Peter Haining [791.457 DocYh]

Doctor Who: The Key to Time – A Year-by-Year Record by Peter Haining documents the 1963-1989 classic British science fiction television series, from the arrival of creator Sydney Newman at the BBC on April 23rd 1963 through the premiere of Colin Baker’s first episode as the Sixth Doctor; March 22nd 1984. Each chapter of the book is devoted to a specific year in the show’s run, with dated entries interspersed by official photographs and fan art. Published to time with the show’s 21st anniversary, it is an interesting time capsule in genre media fandom and supplementary reference work.

Peter Haining (1940-2007), a journalist-turned-author/editor, specialized in anthologies and reference books devoted to genre fiction and other subjects such as horror, Sherlock Holmes, and the historicity of Sweeney Todd. “The Key to Time” was the second of six books focused on the original series of Doctor Who published between 1983 and 1999. The Lincoln City Libraries maintain the first four of these volumes.

Of Haining’s four books in the LCL catalog, I would recommend “The Key to Time” above the rest, due to the possession of an editorial focus that the rest of them lack. By concentrating on a chronological documentation of what happened when, it avoids the tarnished reading experience one gets when flipping through “A Celebration” or “The Doctor Who File”: chaotically lurching from topic to topic with smatterings of random photos and artwork. The Key to Time also has the advantage of covering the program’s first twenty years and the whole tenure of the first five Doctors. The promotional and production photographs break up the text nicely, and while the fan art varies wildly in quality, it also provides an interesting glimpse into a side of historical media fandom most don’t normally see outside the world of fanzines.

Another vintage text I would recommend in the LCL system is Doctor Who – The Early Years (1986, 791.457 qDocYb) by Jeremy Bentham. The Early Years focuses key stories from the first three seasons with first Doctor William Hartnell, and includes production insights, behind-the-scenes photos, concept art and model blueprints, in addition to summaries and stills of certain stories that had been deleted from the BBC Archives through the 1960s and 1970s.

[ Wikipedia page for the multi-episode Doctor Who arc The Key to Time ] | [ Wikiepedia page for Peter Haining ]

Recommended by Dave D.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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