The Legacy Collection

Shada:
It's impossible to judge how good Shada as a TV story could have been. You have to give John Nathan-Turner marks for attempting to complete it as best he could with the footage that was completed before production was abandoned due to the yearly BBC strike with narration by Tom Baker. But by the time you get to episode 6, there's less footage and more narration. When I first saw it I thought the whole thing was a bit boring and sadly my opinion hasn't changed. To me the definitive version of Shada will be Gareth Robert's novelisation (and, off topic slightly, can't wait for his novelisation of City of Death!).

The documentaries on the Shada discs are a lot better. The one about Shada's production and eventual cancellation was fascinating. Not only do you get Tom Baker but also a number of the production team, such as production assistant Ralph Witton and director's assistant Olivia Balzgette (the tale of how she met husband - actor Daniel Hill who played Chris Parson - while filming Shada is lovely). And there's a documentary of how industrial action affected the production of Doctor Who with a very interesting tale of how Mrs Thatcher came to the conclusion that the TV industry was overstaffed (because the companies used to roster on extra whenever she made a broadcast in case something went wrong - oh, the irony!).

More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS:Has it really been twenty years since this first aired? Back in the days when Doctor Who had been out of production for about fours with no prospect of it ever returning. I remember when I first saw it and marvelled at all the behind the scenes footage, clips of Doctor Who in other shows... all the stuff that's now common fodder for DVD extras, but was a total revelation at the time.

The other thing that struck me watching this again was how many people who appeared in it that we've lost over the past twenty years: Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Verity Lambert, John Nathan-Turner. And how sad it is that they weren't here to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th anniversary (but at least Liz, Nick and Verity lived long enough to see it return in triumph).