In STARBURST Magazine issue 456 we spoke to Mark Worgan, Editor of an ambitious upcoming publication entitled The Unofficial Doctor Who Annual 1972, designed to fill in the aggravating gap in Doctor Who fans’ collections of the classic World Distributors Annuals which were published between 1965 and 1986 but with no annual published for 1972. Mark was determined to create a book which would, as far as possible, emulate the style of the original annuals and he has curated a massive 184-page volume full of thrilling text stories, exciting comic strips, features and puzzles.

The Unofficial Doctor Who Annual 1972 is now available at last and the Press Release explains that the book “transports readers TARDIS-like back to the very early 1970s when Jon Pertwee had just finished his second series in the title role and the show was mostly Earth-bound, with the Doctor assisting the military organisation UNIT as its scientific adviser. A whole host of star names from the show signed up for the project, including Katy Manning, who played companion Jo Grant, John Levene (Sgt Benton) and Richard Franklin (Capt Mike Yates) – the surviving members of what became affectionately known as “the UNIT family”. They and the large number of Doctor Who fan writers and artists have been joined by visual effects wizard, model unit supervisor and author Mike Tucker plus renowned artist Alister Pearson and Wayne Howarth – the son of Walter Howarth, who was the main illustrator on some of the original annuals. And this is a truly bumper edition. The official annual for 1971 offered 96 pages, while the 1973 annual had 80 pages, but this one comes in at a whopping 184 pages! The project was launched in September 2017, with people working on it in their spare time for free, and the hardback annual is packed with stories, puzzles, features and TERRAQUEOUS DISTRIBUTORS more, emulating and evoking the style, tone and quirkiness of the 1970s annuals, which were allowed a freer rein as regards their relationship to the programme than those later in the run.”

Mark Worgan says: “It’s been hard work for everybody but I’m beyond delighted to be bringing this out, especially as 2019 is the centenary year of Jon Pertwee’s birth. The annual means a great deal to me. I was particularly thrilled to get all the surviving UNIT family on board for the annual, and I’ve been knocked out by the enthusiasm and talent of the contributors. In 1971, when the official annual would have been published, the Doctor had been forced into exile on Earth by his people, the Time Lords, but the series’ production team still managed to take the show away from the confines of this planet and I was keen to do the same in the annual. The challenge was laid down and the contributors rose to it in style, so we’ve got a great balance of adventures in space and time. The official 1972 annual may well have been lost in the time vortex – like the Doctor himself has been known to – but we hope fans agree that our version makes up for it and is worth the long wait.”

The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1972 is published by Terraqueous Distributors and available from Lulu at the print-on-demand price of £39.20 plus shipping costs (NB: VAT is not payable on books). None of the money paid by purchasers goes to the publisher or to any of the contributors. Visit Lulu’s website to order the annual.

Enter the code LKAB317CD to receive a 15% discount on the cost of the book

But what of the years 1987 to 1989 for which – once again – no official annuals were forthcoming despite the show still being made before it was cancelled until its one-off return in 1996, the last outing of the classic era? “There’s been a terrific amount of interest in this project, including a great many calls to complete the run of annuals for the classic era, so I’m pleased to say that I’m now going to be turning my attention to an unofficial annual for 1987,” say Mark. “After that, who knows?!” Contributors and proofreaders, as well as an administrator for the Facebook page, are now being sought for The Unofficial Dr Who Annual 1987. Please contact Mark via [email protected] if you’re interested in taking part.