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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2011 - 9:53 AM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Who's That Girl? the autobiography of Elisabeth Sladen is due to be published in the UK in April.
The 320 page hardback book will tell the story of the woman behind one of Doctor Who's most enduring characters, Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen first took on the role of in 1973, playing opposite Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, a role she is still playing today in the hugely successful Sarah Jane Adventures. The book tells the story of her remarkable career: giving a unique, insider’s view of the world’s longest-running science fiction series; and of British television yesterday and today.
The book is published by Aurum Press Ltd on 25 April 2011 and will be priced £16.99
WHO’S THAT GIRL? - The Autobiography of Elisabeth Sladen
When Elisabeth Sladen debuted as journalist Sarah Jane Smith in the Doctor Who story ‘The Time Warrior’, she had no idea the character would become one of the most enduring and popular in the series’ history. The coming years would see Elisabeth traverse time and space alongside classic doctors Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, whilst a generation of children crouched behind the sofa, terrified but transfixed as their tea-time heroine found herself menaced by Daleks, dinosaurs, Cybermen, Sontarans, Egyptian mummies and even the Loch Ness Monster.
Her decision to quit the TARDIS made front-page news, but it wasn’t the end of Sarah Jane. Elisabeth has reprised the role many times, toured the weird, wonderful world of Doctor Who fandom and regularly tops polls of fans’ favourite companions. Now Elisabeth Sladen tells the story of her remarkable career: a unique, insider’s view of the world’s longest-running science fiction series; and of British television yesterday and today.
Elisabeth Sladen plays companion Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. She has also appeared in Coronation Street, Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em and Z-Cars.
Publishers Aurum have also announced that their biography of Terry Nation, The Man Who Invented the Daleks, will be published in May.
The book, which was first reported last July, looks at the life of the man behind Blake's 7, The Survivors and The Daleks.
THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE DALEKS - The Strange Worlds of Terry Nation by Alwyn W. Turner
Terry Nation was one of the most successful and prolific writers for television and radio that Britain ever produced. His vision of a post-apocalyptic England, Survivors, has been re-made thirty years on, Blake’s 7 endures as a cult sci-fi classic, and his most famous creations, the Daleks, ensured, and at times eclipsed, the success of Doctor Who.
But while those alien ‘pepperpots’ remain at the core of his appeal, Nation also had a role to play in the early days of radio and television comedy – as part of the legendary Associated London Scripts, he wrote for Spike Milligan, Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd – and he became a key figure in the internationally successful adventure series of the 1960s: The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders!
This is the first serious, mainstream account of Terry Nation’s life and contribution to British television and will shed light on a fascinating melting pot of ambitious young writers, producers and performers without whom British culture today would look very different.
http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2011/01/dwn260111010312-elisabeth-sladen.html
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We’ve received further details about the new biography of Terry Nation, The Man Who Invented the Daleks – The Strange Worlds of Terry Nation, by Alwyn W. Turner…
Previously reported on last summer and again in January, the book tells the story of Nation’s early career and his impact and influence on international television through shows such as The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders!, and of course Doctor Who.
Terry Nation was one of the most successful and prolific writers for television that Britain ever produced. Survivors, his vision of a post-apocalyptic England, so haunted audiences in the Seventies that the BBC revived it over thirty years on. Blake’s 7, constantly rumoured for return, endures as a cult sci-fi classic. And his most fearsome creations, the Daleks, ensured and at times eclipsed the success of Doctor Who.
Indeed, almost half a century after their first appearance, new additions to Dalek mythology continue to top the Saturday-night ratings, while the word itself has entered the Oxford English Dictionary, passing into the language as the name of the most famous race of aliens in fiction.
But while his genocidal pepper pots brought him notoriety and riches, Nation played a much wider role in British broadcasting’s golden age. As part of the legendary Associated London Scripts, he wrote for Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd and an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock. And as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the Sixties – including The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders! – he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export.
Like Arthur Conan Doyle before him, Nation was frequently bemused by the appeal of his most famous creations, and similarly cavalier toward them. Now, The Man Who Invented the Daleks explores their curious and contested origins, and sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers, producers and performers without whom British culture today would look very different.
Alwyn W. Turner is the author of a number of acclaimed books on modern British culture, including Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s, Rejoice! Rejoice!: Britain in the 1980s, Halfway to Paradise and The Biba Experience.
Set to appear on shelves on May 25th 2011, The Man Who Invented the Daleks: The Strange Worlds of Terry Nation by Alwyn W. Turner is published by Aurum Press and has an RRP of £20 – however you can pre-order from Amazon for just £12.69!
http://www.kasterborous.com/2011/04/terry-nation-biography-release-date/
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Posted: |
May 26, 2011 - 12:12 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Review of Terry Nation: The Man Who Invented The Daleks.
To be clear from the outset; this is not strictly a biography of Terry Nation. Whilst it does examine his life to a large degree and contain a fair amount of biographical detail, it is more of an examination of his work in context of the times, both social and political. And whilst the book’s approach is not always linear and often groups together Nation’s work for better comparison, in doing so it takes an honest and objective approach to the subject.
Unlike the previous book on Terry Nation, Bignell and O’Day’s very disappointing Terry Nation (Manchester University Press 2004), this admirable tome covers the whole spectrum of Nation’s work, across the media on TV, Radio, film and his two novels, rather than just his three main SF creations. So we travel from his tentative early radio work to his final few pieces for American television. Obviously there is much coverage of Nation’s SF work and in particular the Daleks. Not surprising, given the importance of their creation and reappearances in Nation’s life, but the book also gives a detailed examination of his work on ITC series (The Saint, The Champions, The Persuaders and the like) and the final series of the original The Avengers.
As I mentioned earlier, the book is not a detailed biography of Terry Nation. At times it is rather brief on some personal details. His wedding to Kate and the birth of his son Joel are only mentioned in passing. Whilst the birth of his daughter, Rebecca, is not mentioned at all! In fact you would only know that he had a daughter, because of the book that he wrote for her: Rebecca’s World. But Turner is accurate in his belief that it is one of Nation’s best pieces of work.
It was good to read the details behind Nation’s 1972 Drama Playhouse episode The Incredible Robert Baldick. A programme that I have always viewed as ‘the one that got away’, as it had series potential, and it is good to see that Turner agrees. The format of a gentleman adventurer travelling Victorian England, investigating the supernatural was sadly ahead of its time and is ripe for rediscovery.
Whilst Turner is correct in championing Nation’s legacy and that his three big creations (Daleks, Survivors, Blake’s 7) all enjoyed a renaissance after his death, he is a little anti the new Survivors, which is odd given what producer Terence Dudley did to the original series after Nation’s departure. His assertion that in the second series of the remake “there was little left resembling Nation’s original work” is rather sweeping. I personnally felt that the second series was more coherent as a whole and that it did contain some Nationesque themes. Particularly, the fourth episode wherein Tom and Greg are put to work in a mine by feudal overlord Henry Smithson (Christopher Fulford); a scenario that would have fitted in with Nation’s original first series perfectly.
As Turner observes, the great tragedy of Nation’s life is that having moved to America in 1980, he was to spend the last seventeen years of his life caught up in the studio system and sadly only notch up four writing credits.
In such a work, there are always likely to be a couple of mistakes or omissions. Such as in the précis of Nation’s second series Blake’s 7 episode Countdown, where he has Blake, rather than Del Grant defusing the bomb with Avon.
Also, in covering Nation’s desire that the Daleks did not become figures of fun (goodness knows what he would have made of his agent’s u-turn since 2005), Turner details the one exception to this: The ‘Pakistani Daleks’ sketch in Spike’s 1975 Q6 series. Although he is correct that Nation allowed it as a favour to Milligan, he somewhat surprisingly omits mention of the fact that Milligan was initially turned down by Nation’s agent and it was only when Milligan personally wrote to Nation (and reminded him of how he had helped the younger, struggling Nation) that the sketch went ahead. This is a very surprising omission given the sheer amount of research that Turner has done and the information on Nation’s work that he does include.
As these are the few examples of what is wrong with the book, they certainly do not detract from what is one of the best books concerned both with Doctor Who, and British television in general, published for many years.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone either with an interest in Terry Nation or television production from 1960 to 1980. And although you might not always agree with Turner’s comments, they are strongly put. One final thought: In nearly 300 pages of text (plus a thorough list of Nation’s writing credits), there is not one mention of Terry Nation’s predilection with the name Tarrant. Refreshing!
http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2011/05/terry-nation-man-who-invented-daleks.html
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Fantom Films have announced that Terry Nation: The Man Who Invented The Daleks, the biography of the writer by Alwyn W. Turner, is being released this month on audio, narrated by David Troughton:
Terry Nation - The Man Who Invented The Daleks (Credit: Fantom Films)Terry Nation - The Man Who Invented The Daleks
The Biography
Written by Alwyn W. Turner
Narrated by David Troughton
The Daleks are one of the most iconic and fearsome creations in television history. Since their first appearance in 1963, they have simultaneously fascinated and terrified generations of children, their instant success ensuring, and sometimes eclipsing, that of Doctor Who.
They sprang from the imagination of Terry Nation, a failed stand-up comic who became one of the most prolific writers for television that Britain has ever produced. Survivors, his vision of a post-apocalyptic England, so haunted audiences in the Seventies that the BBC revived it over thirty years on, and Blake’s 7, constantly rumoured for return, endures as a cult sci-fi classic. But it is for his genocidal pepperpots that Nation is most often remembered, and on the 50th anniversary of their creation they continue to top the Saturday-night ratings.
Yet while the Daleks brought him notoriety and riches, Nation played a much wider role in British broadcasting’s golden age. He wrote for Spike Milligan, Frankie Howerd and an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock, and as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the Sixties – including The Avengers, The Saint and The Persuaders! – he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export.
In The Man Who Invented the Daleks, acclaimed cultural historian Alwyn W. Turner, explores the curious and contested origins of Doctor Who's greatest villains, and sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers, producers and performers without whom British culture today would look very different.
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2013/10/terry-nation-091013123008.html
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