Inside the Tardis: The Worlds of Doctor Who - Softcover

'I suspect it may well be the best overview of Doctor Who that I have ever read''If you're keen to understand why this wonderful show has been such a success and have it set in context, now is your chance to enter the world of academia and see Dotor Who from a new and rewarding perspective.' Andrew Pixley, Doctor Who Magazine, March 2006 'Chapman's approach is unpretentious, readable, solidly authoritative and self-consciously anti-theoretical.' 'Chapman's nook is an extremely good starting point for anyone wishing to think seriously about Doctor Who.' - Independent on Sunday 'A serious-minded "cultural history" which sets out to examine how the series "maps the shifting cultural landscape of Britain... Illuminating."' Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement 'Inside the Tardis is a sideways look at the history of broadcasting since the 1960s As the show skips from crabbit William Hartnoll to David Tennant, Paisley's first Time Lord, we see how changes at the BBC affected the show.' - Sunday Herald 'A genuinely worthwhile addition to the library-full of books about the series.' - Starburst 'James Chapman has written an absorbing, highly readable account of the series. This is an intelligent, well-balanced work that thanks to the BBC archives, brings something genuinely new to the party.' - SFX Magazine 'What really distinguishes Inside the Tardis from the scores of other histories of Doctor Who is the access Chapman was given to the BBC Written Archives in Caversham... allowing a fascinating glimpse into the minds and personalities of the various Doctor Who production teams.' - SFX Magazine

With the successful twenty-first century revival of an old favourite for a new generation of viewers, this is the time to look afresh at one of the great classics of British television. "Doctor Who" enjoys the distinction of being the longest-running science fiction series in the world. The adventures of everyone's favourite "Time Lord" and his many companions, as they battle it out with Daleks, Cybermen and many more intergalactic menaces, have become an indelible part of popular culture. In this new study of a television institution - the first to draw extensively on the full riches of the "BBC Written Archives" - James Chapman explores the history of "Doctor Who" from its origins to the present day. He shows how the series has evolved to meet changing contexts inside the BBC and in the wider culture, while all the time retaining its quirky, eccentric and distinctively British characteristics. And he demonstrates how the production history of the series has allowed it to renew and refresh its format in response to developments in the wider world of science fiction. Chapman writes from the perspective of a fan as well as a historian: this will be the essential text for all serious "Doctor Who" aficionados.