A NEWLY PUBLISHED special edition in Doctor Who Magazine‘s just-launched Legends series celebrates the work of Survivors creator Terry Nation.
As would be expected, the principal thread of the 84-page, full-colour magazine is on Terry Nation’s contributions to the world of Doctor Who.
However, there are some interesting snippets along the way for the Survivors aficionado.
As well as a few familiar BBC publicity shots and screencaptures, Nation’s work on Survivors is discussed briefly in extracts from a previously unpublished interview with him by Simon Shaw from 1991.
There is also a brief discussion of Nation’s work as the Survivors show creator and series one script writer as part of a broader appraisal of his work across the 1970s.
Especially interesting is a new interview with Nation’s daughter Rebecca and son Joel, who reflect on the experience of growing up with their scriptwriting father.
Rebecca recalls their home life at Lynsted Park in the early 1970s, when Terry Nation was taken with the idea of testing out the pleasures and pitfalls of self-sufficiency. A process that reflected his growing preoccupation with the themes of survival and human adaptability that would culminate in his work on Survivors.
This experiment in low-tech husbandry and hands-on animal care was not one that his wife Kate particularly warmed to, but it was clearly an opportunity that their children took some pleasure from.
But it is the world of Doctor Who that this first issue of DWM‘s ‘Legends’ principally focuses upon.
“Terry Nation is the first member of what is essentially Doctor Who Magazine‘s hall of fame,” DWM editor Marcus Hearn explains. “We think a tribute to Nation is long overdue, because he’s probably the show’s most influential and underrated writer. Everyone knows he gave us the Daleks, but he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being the first person to unleash the full potential of Doctor Who.”
“He devised the format for the most successful stories, and it’s still the blueprint, more than 60 years later,” Hearn says.
Doctor Who: Legends – Terry Nation is available to buy in-store and online for £9.99, and will be available in digital format from pocketmags.