The Making of Doctor Who

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Slick for BBC video release of Silver Nemesis

The Making of Doctor Who was a special produced by the New Jersey Network, and which first aired on NJN on 19 November 1988.

The 60 minute special went behind-the-scenes during the production of Silver Nemesis in June and July 1988. It was produced by host Eric Luskin and directed by Freddie Chisholm, and featured on-location interviews with the cast and crew of the 25th anniversary special.

Making of a Scene on WTVS; Detroit Free Press, 24 Nov 1991
Conversation With... shown on NJN; Rutland Daily Herald (Vermont) 24 June 1994

NJN repeated it on 2 December 1989, 27 March and 8 May 1993, and 5 March 1994.

It was screened by a number of other US stations, often as a filler before or after the anniversary story, while some aired edited-down versions, such as KTEH in April 1991 where it was split in half with the two segments airing a week apart.


Unused footage and additional material that was filmed at the time was edited into a series of shorts running from 5 to 25 minutes, to be shown during Pledge drives or as filler after "omnibus" editions, so the scheduled timeslot ended on the hour or half hour. We have found listings for the following items:

  • "Making of a Scene", with the description "Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred rehearse" (shown on WTVS in November 1991 and WYBE in May 2001)
  • "Behind the Scenes" (possibly the same as the above, shown by WLIW on 14 April 1990, and New Jersey Network on 24 October 1992)
  • "Conversation with Chris Clough", a 25-minute interview with the director of the serial (seen on various stations, including New Hampshire Public Television in June 1990, April 1991 and January 1992, and also on NJN in June 1994)


A slightly-edited version of the special (with clips from Eric Saward scripted episodes removed due to clearances issues) appeared as an 'extra' on the April 1993 BBC video release of Silver Nemesis. (Further rights issues prevented the special from featuring at all on the Silver Nemesis DVD, released in August 2010.)

The Bergen Record, Nov. 18, 1988