❉ Ten Acre Films has acquired three of Miwk Publishing’s out-of-print titles, and are making them available again for a limited time…
Above The Law: The Unofficial Guide to Star Cops
“Highly recommended warts-and-all account of the making of the amazing TV series that should have been a legend. An incredible labour of love. Buy it!”
– Ian Potter (Big Finish Writer – Star Cops)
Star Cops was a BBC detective drama series set in space. Creator and writer Chris Boucher had honed his science fiction skills on Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 and his detective skills on series such as Shoestring and Juliet Bravo.
With Star Cops he created something new and ahead of its time, something which challenged the BBC’s capabilities in 1987. With Moon Bases, anti-gravity sequences and space walks, Star Cops stretched the BBC’s resources to breaking point, ultimately ending after just nine episodes. But Star Cops lived on, becoming a cult show with loyal followers and even winning several awards.
Above the Law traces the journey of Star Cops from Boucher’s childhood radio influences and first submission to the BBC, through to its transition as a television drama and successful 2018 audio re-launch. Looking at both fact and fiction, script changes and production difficulties, writing, effects, editing and music, this book will take you back to the studios of Television Centre and the making of a cult classic.
The author’s profits from the sale of this book will be donated to Alzheimer’s Society.
2021 Reprint. 324 pages in black and white, plus 16-page colour photo insert. £16.99. THIS IS A PRE-ORDER. EXPECTED DISPATCH DATE: FEBRUARY 8
Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-89
Script Editor Andrew Cartmel’s inside account of the final years of classic Doctor Who returns for a limited reprint.
‘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.
2021 Reprint. 222 pages in black and white, plus 32-page colour insert. RRP £14.99. THIS IS A PRE-ORDER. ANTICIPATED DISPATCH DATE: FEBRUARY 8
The Worzel Book: 40th Anniversary Edition
When a former Time Lord swapped time and space for the mysteries of the countryside, one of children’s television’s most unusual personalities was born…
Jon Pertwee’s portrayal of the anarchic scarecrow Worzel Gummidge won him a new generation of viewers and would become his most enduring character.
The Worzel Book traces the journey of Scatterbrook’s scarecrow, from the days of early radio and the novels of Barbara Euphan Todd, through to the fondly-remembered ITV television series and its revival in New Zealand, and now the exciting new BBC adaptation starring Mackenzie Crook.
This is the untold story of a much-loved TV classic, featuring dozens of interviews with cast and crew, including Una Stubbs, Geoffrey Bayldon, Jeremy Austin, Bernard Cribbins, Barbara Windsor, Lorraine Chase and Sean Pertwee, illustrated throughout with over 400 photographs in black and white and colour, and includes a foreword by Sherlock creator Mark Gatiss.
2020 Reprint. 386 pages in black and white, plus 16 pages in colour. RRP £16.99.
❉ All available to order from https://tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/
❉ News source: Ten Acre Films.
❉ We Are Cult is not responsible for the content of this news release.
