John Levene

A look at the making of the Doctor Who story, The Time Monster.

In Conversation was a series of Doctor Who Blu-ray interviews, released as part of The Collection box sets. Each are hosted by Matthew Sweet, where he interviews Doctor Who celebrities about their lives and careers in and outside of Doctor Who.

In the early 1970s, the BBC decided to launch a series of exhibitions featuring monsters and props from Doctor Who. Over the next three decades, untold thousands of children (and adults too!) were thrilled by a mix of innovative, exciting and stunning extravaganzas! For many fans, these exhibitions were their first and only real chance to get close-up to their favourite TV programme … and the memories they share in this innovative documentary series are bound together by interviews with experts and people who actually worked at them! The museum re-opened in 2021 after extensive restoration work and we tell the story of that opening … and the incredible journey that led to that memorable day!

Cast and crew look back at the making of Terror of the Zygons.

In April 1983, Roger Stevens and James Russell were given “Access All Areas” passes to the BBC’s Doctor Who celebrations at Longleat. Armed with a Ferguson Videostar camera they set out to record as much of the event as they could. While the BBC’s official footage amounts to only a few minutes for news broadcasts, James and Roger recorded several hours, and their material includes interviews with both Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker. Some of this material has been used in other productions by both Reeltime Pictures and BBC Video, but the original tapes were thought to be lost forever – until rediscovered earlier this year. So now enjoy another chance to take a trip to Longleat in 1983. The sound may not be perfect and the pictures come from ageing VHS tapes – but the atmosphere is unmistakable. So avoid the queues, and get to the front of the line with a trip down memory lane!

This is the definitive set of interviews with the team of actors who brought the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who to life! This documentary includes the best in-depth interviews with Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) and John Levine (Sergeant Benton) ever undertaken.

Homicidal maniac Marc is constantly driven my demons buried deep within his soul while his estranged sister Wendy is Marc's polar opposite and lives life fast and hard without a second's thought to the consequences. Their separate paths will eventually cross, but will it be on the road to salvation or the highway to hell?

The life and work of respected director Douglas Camfield is remembered in this documentary.

Intrepid comedian and Doctor Who fan Toby Hadoke heads to Salisbury to spend the weekend with one of the show's most unusual actors. John Levene played Sergeant Benton on-screen for nearly a decade, but these days is a very enigmatic figure. Now Toby has 48 hours to get to know the man, and figure out what makes him tick.

It was a operation worthy of UNIT itself… bringing The Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney), Captain Yates (Richard Franklin) and RSM Benton (John Levene) back together again at Chicago TARDIS. In this production we tear through the red tape to cover the convention and also talk to Katy Manning, Jon Pertwee, Terrance Dicks, Gary Russell, J. Jeremy Bentham and many more about the secret behind UNIT’s success.

Somewhere in the distant future, The Girl is alone. She is the last of her people, the others having died in a generations-long war that the girl continues to fight with the assistance of a group of antiquated robot helpers and soldiers.

Philosophical Time Travel

A look at the subtle (and not so subtle!) links to the show's past and future contained within the story of The Five Doctors.

Will was a vegetarian pacifist trying to forget his flesh eating past. But when the citizens of this small town pushed him too far, he went CanniBallistic!

Set in the lovely village where the Doctor Who episodes titled "The Dæmons" (#059) was shot, this documentary takes place in 1992 shortly before the death of Jon Pertwee, and is hosted by classic series regulars like Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin, John Levene, Director - Christopher Barry, and the current voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs. The documentary features interviews with actors, the director, local residents, and crew. All of the locations used in the episode are reviewed, and include archival footage shot during the original shooting in 1971.

A spoof of Blade Runner, built around bloopers and outtakes from the Myth Makers series of videos, featuring interviews with actors from the Doctor Who TV series.

While on a seemingly routine delivery run for the Brigadier, Benton finds himself close to his childhood home, where ghosts from his past have never rested easily… Trapped in a nightmare world where past and present are one, will he be lost forever or can he fight his way back to reality, where he is desperately needed?

On the eve of May Day, dark elemental forces begin to disturb the village of Devil's End as the Master summons the demon Azal: unexplained murders, a stone gargoyle come to life, and a nigh-impenetrable infernal energy dome. With the Master fully prepared to destroy the Earth, the Doctor and UNIT - aided by a benevolent practitioner of witchcraft - battle the wicked rites of a secret science wielded by an alien from another world.

Western intelligence agents try, by all means necessary, to prevent a Communist-bloc defector from leaving the West in his bid to return home to lead an uprising.

Professor Emil Keller has created a machine that can pacify even the most dangerous of criminals. But when the Doctor and Jo arrive at Stangmoor Prison for a demonstration, things start to go horribly wrong - especially when they discover that the Doctor's old enemy the Master is responsible for the machine.

The heir of a mysterious estate must unveil its secrets and discover its treasures before a scheming doctor and his seductive sister can steal what is rightfully his.

The Third Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find it has been evacuated because dinosaurs have appeared mysteriously. It turns out the dinosaurs are being brought to London via a time machine to further a plan to revert London to a pre-technological level.

The newly-regenerated Doctor helps UNIT battle a sentient robot being manipulated by a corrupt scientific organization.

The blue crystal that the Doctor took from Metebelis III in a previous adventure is desperately sought by the Eight Legs, a race of mutated spiders, as the final element in their plan for universal domination. With help from an old mentor, the Doctor realises the only way to foil the plot is to make the ultimate sacrifice. The Doctor must risk death to return to the cave of the Great One and save the universe.

The Master, an old adversary of the Doctor, has arrived on Earth to destroy humanity with the aid of the Nestene Consciousness and their army of Autons and killer plastic daffodils - unless the Doctor, joined by new assistant Jo Grant, can stop them.

Astronauts rescued from a mission to mars are kidnapped when they arrive back on earth. They seem to have been irradiated, and can now kill people merely by touching them. But the Doctor discovers the astronauts have been replaced with Alien ambassadors who are being forced to behave in a hostile manner. With The Doctor traveling to the alien mother ship, and Liz kidnapped, The Brigadier is left wondering who to trust.

Time itself is in peril! The Time Lords and UNIT find themselves besieged by a mythic figure from the Time Lords' past hell-bent on destruction. The only way to defeat him is to break the First Law of Time and let the Doctor help himself — literally...

UNIT is providing security cover at an experimental drilling project at Eastchester, designed to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a previously untapped source of energy. Soon, however, the drill head starts to leak an oily green liquid that transforms those who touch it into vicious primeval creatures with a craving for heat. The Doctor is accidentally transported "sideways in time" by the partially repaired TARDIS control console into a parallel universe where the drilling project is at a more advanced stage. Thwarted by his friends' ruthless alter egos, he works to save both universes.

Guerillas time-jump back from the 22nd century to assassinate Sir Reginald Styles - a diplomat working for World Peace, The Doctor discovers they are from a future where the Daleks have invaded the Earth (Following wars precipitated by Styles's destruction at the peace conference). With the Daleks desperate to maintain their version of history, The Doctor and Jo find themselves in a totalitarian future, where they must discover who really happened and prevent it.

The Doctor and UNIT investigate a deadly infection lurking underneath the Welsh mining town of Llanfairfach. It's an adventure that will change Jo Grant's life forever...

The Master, in the guise of Professor Thascalos, has constructed at the Newton Institute in Wootton a device known as TOMTIT - Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time - to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but proves to be uncontrollable.

The Doctor and Sarah return to Earth in the present day to find a strangely deserted village and woods stalked by white-clad figures.

A group of gold-skinned aliens known as the Axons land on Earth and offer wondrous technology in exchange for fuel. The Doctor, however, isn't fooled, uncovering the Axons' true nature and once again facing his archenemy the Master...

A gang of young people call themselves the Living Dead. They terrorize the population from their small town. After an agreement with the devil, if they kill themselves firmly believing in it, they will survive and gain eternal life. Following their leader, they commit suicide one after the other, but things don't necessarily turn out as expected...

When the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry arrive in Scotland, having received an urgent request for assistance from the Brigadier, they discover that the mysterious force which has destroyed three oil rigs has left giant teeth marks on the wreckage. The mystery deepens, leading them to the shores of Loch Ness where they find that the legendary monster really does exist – and is the murderous tool of the Zygons, aliens intent on overpowering the planet. The Doctor, his companions and UNIT must find a way to defeat the deadly Loch Ness Monster and its controllers, but the Zygons have the terrifying power to change shape. The Doctor's life has never been in more danger, as the line between allies and enemies is tested to the very limit...

Dennis Potter used his own background as a Russian language clerk in the War Office when writing this play for ITV's SATURDAY NIGHT THEATRE series. At the time of the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Russian invasion of Hungary, Private Bob Hawk reports to the London Intelligence Office where the strength of Soviet troops is under scrutiny.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe return to Earth and become embroiled in the schemes of Tobias Vaughn. They meet up with an old friend, Colonel (now Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart, and some old enemies, the Cybermen.

The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a cobwebby substance in space. It arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti. The time travellers learn this crisis was precipitated when Professor Travers, whom they first met in the Himalayas some thirty years earlier, accidentally caused one of the Yeti to be reactivated, opening the way for the Intelligence to invade again.