Jon Pertwee’s dandy was the incumbent doctor at the time of filming and two of the genre’s best writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin (the men responsible for the cult classic children’s serial Sky).

The plot still sees the good doctor stranded on Earth and working with UNIT (at the end of Patrick Troughton’s tenure as the Doctor the timelords banished the doctor to Earth), when an alien force puts the UNIT HQ under attack the Dr feels the pressure and calls in the Timelords for help - it’s decided to send in the previous two doctors (explained as lifting them out of their time streams). William Hartnell (who of course played the first doctor) was seriously ill when it came to filming time and was also suffering dementia - the crew worked around this by having Hartnells character confined to a sort of Vortex - only seen off screen - this enabled his scenes to be filmed in advance and for Hartnell to read his lines off of cue cards. Although not looking great Hartnell still turns in a fine performance of the crotchety first doctor. Troughton settles straight back into his cosmic hobo doctor as if he had never been away.

The Three Doctors is very indicative of the Pertwee era Dr Who, lots of gadgets, (the sonic screwdriver is well to the fore), dodgy cso camerawork and enormous fun. There is also a special bonus with this release a figurine of the Dr’s beautiful vintage car Bessie.

Extras: As with all the Dr Who releases from Roadshow the extras make the disc an essential purchase, full as they are with great bonus material. The Three Doctors is no exception, there's a fun commentary from Katy Manning (companion Jo Grant), producer Barry Letts and the Brigadier himself Nicholas Courtney, one got the impression that the trio hadn’t seen the production in a long time and were enjoying it immensely. There is a half hour long episode of midday chat show Pebble Mill at One (this was a very long running BBC midday entertainment show) which not only has an interview with a very playful and somewhat obstructive Pat Troughton but also features interviews with special effects guys. Then there is a long feature on Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning at Panopticon fan convention in 1993. Jon Pertwee then makes an appearance on Blue Peter in his futuristic hovercraft. Next up is a raft of trailers from UK Satellite channel BSB’s 1990 Dr Who weekend as well as the original 1972 BBC trailer and other trailers for repeat showings down the years. One of the best features is the chance to watch the serial with production subtitles offering background info on the show. There is also a photo gallery.

All in all a great release.

SPECIFICATIONS
Format: PAL Region 4Total Running Time: 178 minutes Certificate: PG