John Nathan-Turner was always an iconic figure for me, rebellious, pompous, cheeky. There is many ways to describe the late producer of Doctor Who from 1980 – to the shows end in 1989 (Before continuing in 2005) John, (along with Russell T. Davies) was always an inspiration for me and the main reason i got into media and am on the course i am today. I was always fascinated to learn behind the scenes facts about TV and producing Doctor Who and especially the highs and lows of the show’s turbulent time on TV in the 80’s and especially was fascinated at how John single handedly kept Doctor Who on the air when no one else would.
So, when it was announced that on the new Season 26 Blu-Ray boxset a new feature length documentary on the life of John Nathan-Turner was to be made and a feature on the new set, i was thrilled, i was excited to be able to learn about one of the most important figures in Doctor Who’s 57 year long history and the show’s longest serving producer, so, did Showman live up to the hype? Well, let’s find out.
Showman starts off by telling us about John’s early life, using brand new pictures that some have not seen before which are a nice change to some of the famous ones used all the time. We see some brand new shot interviews with starts of Doctor Who Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Janet Fielding and co- workers on the show script editors Andrew Cartmel, Eric Saward and Christopher H. Bidmead.
The film although focusing heavily on JNT’s time as the head of Doctor Who doesn’t shy away to the frankly sad time JNT had when the show was axed in 1989. Struggling to find jobs, being blacklisted by the BBC as the man who ‘killed’ Doctor Who, and feeling ‘trapped’ by Doctor Who.
Unfortunately, due to Nathan-Turner’s untimely death in 2002, we don’t know the specifics of his life but thanks to many talking heads ranging from actors on Doctor Who, to the talents behind the show, we can fill in the gaps and with audio from his memoir spliced in between the talking heads where John explains his experiences at the BBC, his life beforehand and after the show and archive material of interviews with the man himself, that help us to piece together the life of JNT. But it’s left to the talking heads to fill in some of the subsequent fall, once Nathan-Turner peaked (effectively in his own words) a few years into his Who run. He describes the highlight of his time being the 20th anniversary celebrations for the show, and a celebration event at Longleat that took place. It’s an event that’s infamous in classic Doctor Who circles and where John wanted to leave his position as the producer while he was on a high and move and hand over to someone else and move onto new things, but the BBC thought he was too good and kept him on until the shows end in ’89
Director / Producer Chris Chapman does a wonderful job of telling the story at such a great pace that leaves you wanting more, leaving with tears and ultimately a smile on your face. This documentary also goes touches into the life of his partner Gary Downie whom he was together with for over 30 years until John’s death. Showman tells us how John got Gary a job at the BBC while he was working as producer and some of the troubles that got him into as John always had Gary at his side and how much people didn’t like that as they wanted to speak to John and had Gary in his shadow. Showman also shines light on some of the scandals of JNT’s life as the film touches upon how John was single handedly keeping Doctor Who alive when no one else wanted to in 1985 and the strain that took on him.
This is a diligent and respectful piece of work, that deserves more profile than one line of text on the back of a Blu-ray boxset. There’s been a clear effort to make sure this is a fair, measured telling of a man’s story, that scratches beneath the surface in doing so. with love and effort clearly put into this that makes me thankful for his time as producer and am very happy to say continues to be an inspiration to me even to this day.
I give Showman: The Life of John Nathan-Turner a 9.5/10.
John Nathan-Turner 1947-2002
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