Reeltime’s latest 2-disc release whisks us back to the 1960s and the early days of Doctor Who (the focus here largely being on the time of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton) and once again offers us the priceless opportunity to see many of the show’s early movers and shakers – sadly no longer with us – discussing their work on the series (and often much more beyond) with the ever-affable Nicholas Briggs.  As usual with these likeable collections, the real ‘meat’ can be found on the first disc. Here Shaun Sutton, former head of drama at the BBC, interviewed in the late 1990s, talks not only about his own fascinating career but his close involvement with Doctor Who. We’re reminded that, even though the show, even in its “classic series” prime, was never a massive ratings banker for the BBC, it was always a unique and popular property, an important cornerstone in the Corporation’s Saturday night schedule and Sutton, like many of those curating the series in the 1960s and 1970s, respected both the show and those working on it. Perhaps the most interesting piece here is an interview with writer Victor Pemberton, culled from two separate chats. Pemberton scripted the almost legendary 1967 serial ‘Fury From The Deep’ (frustratingly missing from the archives but recently animated) and worked both as an actor and script editor for the show but cult TV fans will also find his recollections of writing for the 1970’s brilliant ITV kids’ serial Timeslip and the later Ace of Wands of interest. He is also amusingly dismissive of the then-recent 1996 TV Movie starring Paul McGann. Disc One is rounded off by an interview with producer Derrick Sherwin who guided the show through its troubled waters at the end of the 1960s and into a popular new era in the 1970s. A no-nonsense figure who famously refused to suffer fools at all, let alone gladly, Sherwin is on warmer form here as he chats to Briggs about his experiences working on TV in general and, of course, Doctor Who, in particular.

Disc Two is the usual grab-bag featuring convention footage from 1986 with Pemberton, producers Innes Lloyd and Peter Bryant and actor Michael Craze (Hartnell/Troughton companion Ben Jackson) and two ‘Flight Through Eternity’ features turn the spotlight on a string of supporting performers – Beryl Braham, Anthony Colby, Martin Cort, John Greenwood, George Layton and more – culled from a 2007 Convention appearance. Most of them are baffled to find themselves in demand to talk about brief TV appearances from decades earlier and, unfortunately, most of them can remember very little about their time on Doctor Who but they all are rightly proud of the little place in TV  history they have earned, albeit by accident.

Reeltime continues to delight with these archive releases, little time capsules that allow us to spend some time with many of the long-gone architects of Doctor Who whose work lives on as Doctor Who itself powers in rude health towards its sixtieth anniversary.