Review: Doctor Who – The Vault / Author: Marcus Hearn / Publisher: BBC Books / Release Date: Out Now
Unless you have lived under a rock over the past few months, you will know that Doctor Who celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year, so what better way to get in on the act than with a mammoth coffee table book which commemorates the series through tons of ephemera and merchandise?
Like Hearn’s earlier Vault book on Hammer Films, this isn’t full of “pull-out-and-lose” replica mementos. Instead, we get page after page of photographs of various iconic and memorable items. Presented in a year-by-year format, there are numerous publicity stills, script pages, props and toys. Each year gets a brief overview of what was happening off-screen and on. There may be little here for the die-hard fan who has already devoured every bit of information about the show that they can, but for the newer or more casual fan, it’s an interesting and revealing read. It is not meant as an episode guide either, although there are listings of the stories aired in each year.
Those who do know it all may still enjoy the wealth of rare photos and mouth-watering displays of old merchandise and tie-ins. Turning the pages to discover some long-lost relic of one’s childhood is a fabulous bonus of this type of book. So, seeing photos of the old Weetabix cards, Top Trumps games and the Dalek’s Death Ray ice cream wrapper (this reviewer can still taste the minty chocolate goodness of all those E numbers) certainly helps get the nostalgia juices flowing. Put it on your Christmas list, you will not be disappointed.
