Andrew Cartmel’s recollections of his days as Script Editor of the Seventh Doctor era, published as Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986- 89, is to be reprinted next month.

This is a limited reprint run, with a new cover and interior photos, published by Ten Acre Films.

It was last printed as a hardcover in 2014, then a paperback in 2019, from Miwk. In our interview with Cartmel, he recalled the reactions of cast and crew he’d written about inside:

“People seemed pleased with the book, and I think they felt that it brought the period back to life fairly vividly (at least, I felt that). Though it has to be said most of them just went through it to see what I said about them!”

This Script Doctor is announced at the same time as the announcement of Season 24, McCoy’s first season as the Doctor, coming to Blu-ray for the first time.

Here’s the blurb for the new edition of the memoir:

‘There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace – we’ve got work to do!’

Andrew Cartmel was the script editor on Doctor Who from 1986 to 1989. During his time on the show, he introduced the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) and oversaw 42 scripts written by eight writers new to the series.

With a clear mission to bring proper science fiction back into Doctor Who, he formulated what was later termed ‘The Cartmel Masterplan’, reintroducing the mystery to the character of the Doctor as the series celebrated its 25th anniversary and beyond.

Script Doctor is his memoir of this time, based on his diaries written sometimes on set and sometimes not even in the diary itself but on the backs of script pages.

With an introduction by modern-era Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, a foreword by Sylvester McCoy, and an afterword by Sophie Aldred, this book is illustrated with 32 pages of photographs, many never published before. It is a vivid account of life in the Doctor Who production office in the late eighties.

This reprint has 222 pages in black and white, plus 32-page colour insert.

Pre-order Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986- 89 now from Ten Acre. It’s expected to be released on 8th February 2021.