Some exciting news. Leanne and I are on the verge of setting up the website for Hickory Hippo, our first children’s storybook as a husband and wife team. Hickory Hippo will be a series of adventure stories for young readers, telling the tale of the titular Hickory, an anthropomorphic hippo who has a number of fantastical adventures with his friends. Inspirations included Carl Barks’ work on Uncle Scrooge and Alfred Bestall’s Rupert Bear books. We hope to have the website launch in March and begin taking preorders on the print edition of the first story in the series.
Watch this space!
Later this month, the BBC will air a special docudrama about the origin and production of the sci-fi series Doctor Who. Adventures in Space and Time stars David Bradley, as William Hartnell and recreates the 1960s era British Broadcasting Corporation behind the scenes. However, writer and long time fan, Mark Gatiss, is expecting a fan backlash and “howls of protest” toward what he has described as his “love letter” to the show. The script cuts some key moments and characters involved in the show’s beginnings such as script editor, David Whitaker. 
Gatiss chose to conflate Mervyn Pinfield and David Whittaker into one person. I understand the difficulty in time and narrative constraints, but actually merging two people together effectively blurs facts and changes history. While I am disappointed that this was deemed necessary, I am much more concerned about the portrayal of William Hartnell that has historically lacked a vital factual component.
Much of the criticism that exists about Hartnell comes from a small group of people who only knew him briefly. I am sick and tired of hearing Anneke Wills’ extremely finite view on Hartnell. Together with Michael Craze, she was the last co-star to work with Hartnell on the show. Considering everything that had been going on behind the scenes during the tumultuous tenure of John Wiles and Donald Tosh that directly preceded them, WIlls never had the full picture. She only recorded three serials with Hartnell before he was forced to leave the show, so her judgments on the actor have always been very narrowly biased all these years. 
There was a LOT of drama behind the drama, and my fear is that the comments by actors and people who came into the show fleetingly, or late during Hartnell’s era, never had the bigger picture. And today, their comments continue to provide only half truths about the man himself. It’s important, in my view, that something of this is addressed, even if it is simply the mention of his battle with a debilitating disease. I think it helps paint a much more heroic view of Hartnell than the often simplified one that has proliferated over the years.
Lou Scheimer has passed away. Scheimer is an unsung hero of American entertainment and animation. So often, people like Walt Disney steal that limelight, but Scheimer helped keep American animation alive through the 70s and 80s while other production companies turned to cheaper overseas studios. Scheimer had an imagination, a talent with voices, and the ability to lead and feed a team of dreamers and artists. Five years ago, I interviewed Lou over the phone several times for a book I was working on. Lou was warm, gracious and full of stories. I know he had been struggling with his health for some time. By strange coincidence, I have been re-watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and realizing that the man behind one of the most prominent voices in that show is now gone, a man so kind to me, is hard to take. He will be remembered by all fans of American animation as a visionary!
The story also gives us VERY strong female roles, in the form of Mary Peach as the female James Bond of the piece Astrid Ferrier. Astrid is easily a sex symbol, not only for her fashionable beehive and leather / PVC outfit, but the way in which she is never treated like a powerless victim. Instead, she is an emancipated heroine who retains her feminine qualities. She is a great model for future companions and would have made a great replacement for the terrified and out-of-her-league screamer, Victoria. Unusually for the period, a black actress is given a prominent role in the form of Carmen Munroe as the jaded and vengeful food taster, Fariah. She is one of the stars of the story, with her dialogue and performance hinting at her exploitation at Salamander’s hands. Both characters are delightfully interesting and real, but thankfully are not alone among this serial’s selling points.