Who and Me: The Memoir of Barry Letts, Doctor Who Producer 1969-1974

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2175900.html

Letts needs no introduction to Who fans; he was producer of the show for the entire Pertwee era, plus a story or two either side. Apart from the usual set of anecdotes of personalities (including quite a shrewd dissection of Jon Pertwee), He includes detailed accounts of how making a TV programme at the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s actually worked, linked with his own career progressions from actor to director to producer. His heart was clearly in directing, and it's there that we get the most vivid descriptions of what he was doing; in particular, it's surprising to read his low opinion of The Enemy of the World, the first Who story that he worked on - I have always found it interesting enough, show more and Philip Sandifer calls it "an absolute triumph". (I'll note that another story Letts feels particularly unhappy about was The Ambassadors of Death, also a David Whitaker script.) He also writes about his attachment to Zen Buddhism, managing to convey his deep personal commitment to it though not quite so much what it is all about.

Very sadly, this book is only half the story, taking us up to the end of Letts' second of five seasons as producer of Doctor Who. It looks rather as if there were no notes, and Letts reconstructed it from memories cross-referenced with other sources, so presumably there is little or no primary material for the second half of the story to be told. But it's good that he got the first half done. show less

I was inspired to read this volume of memoirs after watching the documentary on Barry Letts's life on The Daemons DVD. It was clearly designed to be the first of two volumes of memoirs, as it only goes up to The Daemons (though with a few digressions to later periods, e.g. Planet of the Spiders and producing the BBC classic serials in the later 70s and early 80s). However, he sadly passed away just after it was completed. It's easy to read, though with relatively few insights into the author's life and retelling a host of anecdotes, many of which will be familiar to Doctor Who fans who will surely make up the bulk of this book's readership. I hadn't realised before watching the documentary and reading the book, though, quite how show more significant a TV actor he was in the 50s before going behind the scenes. 3/5 show less