Benjamin Cook
@benjamincook.bsky.social
Writer • Journo • TV/video/podcast editor. Business enquiries: ninebrassmonkeys@gmail.com
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
FUN FACT: This news makes The Sea Devils* officially the most oft-repeated Pertwee story on 'terrestrial' television, ahead of Spearhead From Space**, The Daemons*** and The Green Death**** (3 repeats each).
*1972, 1974, 1992, 2025
**1971, 1999, 2006
***1971, 1992, 2007
****1973, 1994, 2006
*1972, 1974, 1992, 2025
**1971, 1999, 2006
***1971, 1992, 2007
****1973, 1994, 2006
November 14, 2025 at 4:39 PM
FUN FACT: This news makes The Sea Devils* officially the most oft-repeated Pertwee story on 'terrestrial' television, ahead of Spearhead From Space**, The Daemons*** and The Green Death**** (3 repeats each).
*1972, 1974, 1992, 2025
**1971, 1999, 2006
***1971, 1992, 2007
****1973, 1994, 2006
*1972, 1974, 1992, 2025
**1971, 1999, 2006
***1971, 1992, 2007
****1973, 1994, 2006
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Lorne Balfe is having such a great time. Missions Impossible, Wallace and Gromit and now the Sea Devils soundtrack. Blimey
#DoctorWho In An Exciting Adventure With The Sea Devils is getting a 'special re-edited' repeat on Sunday 7th December at 7pm on BBC Four.
The 90-minute 'blockbuster special' (we just called them omnibuses in my day) will feature new sound design by Mark Ayres and additional music by Lorne Balfe.
The 90-minute 'blockbuster special' (we just called them omnibuses in my day) will feature new sound design by Mark Ayres and additional music by Lorne Balfe.
November 14, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Lorne Balfe is having such a great time. Missions Impossible, Wallace and Gromit and now the Sea Devils soundtrack. Blimey
“I always find that violent exercise makes me hungry.” I’ve edited a thing. 7 DECEMBER! – 7PM – BBC FOUR (and iPlayer from 6AM, for early risers/sadists)…
THE SEA DEVILS. 🌊😈⚔️🥪🚤🔥👹 A brand-new 90-minute blockbuster edit of one of the maddest DOCTOR WHO stories EVER! www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
THE SEA DEVILS. 🌊😈⚔️🥪🚤🔥👹 A brand-new 90-minute blockbuster edit of one of the maddest DOCTOR WHO stories EVER! www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
November 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
“I always find that violent exercise makes me hungry.” I’ve edited a thing. 7 DECEMBER! – 7PM – BBC FOUR (and iPlayer from 6AM, for early risers/sadists)…
THE SEA DEVILS. 🌊😈⚔️🥪🚤🔥👹 A brand-new 90-minute blockbuster edit of one of the maddest DOCTOR WHO stories EVER! www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
THE SEA DEVILS. 🌊😈⚔️🥪🚤🔥👹 A brand-new 90-minute blockbuster edit of one of the maddest DOCTOR WHO stories EVER! www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-fea...
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Buy magazines.
Many editors and writers have brought their love for Star Wars to the pages of Star Wars Insider magazine in its various incarnations, and deserve much thanks for their amazing work – but, sadly, in this instance,…
https://downthetubes.net/star-wars-insider-comes-to-and-end-but-to-go-out-blazing/
https://downthetubes.net/star-wars-insider-comes-to-and-end-but-to-go-out-blazing/
November 11, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Buy magazines.
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
A look at why every Doctor Who companion is metaphorically Carole Ann Ford's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and every Doctor is William Hartnell's grandfather, the First Doctor. / #DoctorWho
A look at why every Doctor Who companion is metaphorically Carole Ann Ford's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and every Doctor is William Hartnell's grandfather, the First Doctor. / #DoctorWho
A look at why every Doctor Who companion is metaphorically Carole Ann Ford's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and how that's impacted the show.
dlvr.it
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A look at why every Doctor Who companion is metaphorically Carole Ann Ford's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and every Doctor is William Hartnell's grandfather, the First Doctor. / #DoctorWho
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Today’s post 1/2
November 7, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Today’s post 1/2
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Enjoying @benjamincook.bsky.social's detailed and footnoted interview with Carole Ann Ford in Doctor Who Magazine 623, now out; I'm very aware at the moment of how the loss of a generation means the loss of context which had been taken for granted and there is substantial memory-collecting here.
November 8, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Enjoying @benjamincook.bsky.social's detailed and footnoted interview with Carole Ann Ford in Doctor Who Magazine 623, now out; I'm very aware at the moment of how the loss of a generation means the loss of context which had been taken for granted and there is substantial memory-collecting here.
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
WAC wrong-headedness
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
WAC wrong-headedness - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Some of you will know that I have been very involved over the past months with attempts to reverse the wrong-headed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre (above, with...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
Huge thanks to @paul-hayes.bsky.social, whose ridiculous good Pull to Open book was the most useful interview prep imaginable, and to @davidbrunt.bsky.social, whose Doctor Who Production Diary: The Hartnell Years is an invaluable resource on this era. I recommend both very, very highly.
“Go back, Grandfather!” In the new Doctor Who Magazine, on sale TODAY, you can read my epic 27-page interview with CAROLE ANN FORD – now 85 and still defiantly, magnificently Susan! Also, I take a look at the near-Susans lost to the show’s turbulent pre-history.
🧵 Quotes to follow…
🧵 Quotes to follow…
November 6, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Huge thanks to @paul-hayes.bsky.social, whose ridiculous good Pull to Open book was the most useful interview prep imaginable, and to @davidbrunt.bsky.social, whose Doctor Who Production Diary: The Hartnell Years is an invaluable resource on this era. I recommend both very, very highly.
“Go back, Grandfather!” In the new Doctor Who Magazine, on sale TODAY, you can read my epic 27-page interview with CAROLE ANN FORD – now 85 and still defiantly, magnificently Susan! Also, I take a look at the near-Susans lost to the show’s turbulent pre-history.
🧵 Quotes to follow…
🧵 Quotes to follow…
November 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM
“Go back, Grandfather!” In the new Doctor Who Magazine, on sale TODAY, you can read my epic 27-page interview with CAROLE ANN FORD – now 85 and still defiantly, magnificently Susan! Also, I take a look at the near-Susans lost to the show’s turbulent pre-history.
🧵 Quotes to follow…
🧵 Quotes to follow…
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Ooh, another monster Ben Cook interview with a major Who figure. Hook it to my veins.
“I want to come back! I want to meet Daleks again – or be in a Christmas Special. All-singing, all-dancing.”
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
November 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Ooh, another monster Ben Cook interview with a major Who figure. Hook it to my veins.
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
“I want to come back! I want to meet Daleks again – or be in a Christmas Special. All-singing, all-dancing.”
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
November 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
“I want to come back! I want to meet Daleks again – or be in a Christmas Special. All-singing, all-dancing.”
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
“I want to come back! I want to meet Daleks again – or be in a Christmas Special. All-singing, all-dancing.”
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
November 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
“I want to come back! I want to meet Daleks again – or be in a Christmas Special. All-singing, all-dancing.”
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Hello. I’ve done a little 27,000-word thing for the new Doctor Who Magazine – on sale this Thurs! It’s CAROLE ANN FORD’s most in-depth, introspective interview ever!! Let’s go!!!
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
So much fun putting together this cover for Doctor Who Magazine pulling all the elements together across time (and space!) Read the fantastic interview of Carole Ann Ford by the brilliant @benjamincook.bsky.social when it hits the shelves soon!
November 4, 2025 at 5:21 PM
So much fun putting together this cover for Doctor Who Magazine pulling all the elements together across time (and space!) Read the fantastic interview of Carole Ann Ford by the brilliant @benjamincook.bsky.social when it hits the shelves soon!
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
NEWS: Toby Hadoke Podcast
Toby Hadoke, plus a host of Doctor Who luminaries, have recorded a very special podcast about missing episodes. Fantasy Film Cans (Part One) is, as Toby states: ‘Pure fantasy: a parlour game turned into a podcast.’ But what great fun!
x.com/tobyhadoke/s...
Toby Hadoke, plus a host of Doctor Who luminaries, have recorded a very special podcast about missing episodes. Fantasy Film Cans (Part One) is, as Toby states: ‘Pure fantasy: a parlour game turned into a podcast.’ But what great fun!
x.com/tobyhadoke/s...
November 1, 2025 at 10:43 AM
NEWS: Toby Hadoke Podcast
Toby Hadoke, plus a host of Doctor Who luminaries, have recorded a very special podcast about missing episodes. Fantasy Film Cans (Part One) is, as Toby states: ‘Pure fantasy: a parlour game turned into a podcast.’ But what great fun!
x.com/tobyhadoke/s...
Toby Hadoke, plus a host of Doctor Who luminaries, have recorded a very special podcast about missing episodes. Fantasy Film Cans (Part One) is, as Toby states: ‘Pure fantasy: a parlour game turned into a podcast.’ But what great fun!
x.com/tobyhadoke/s...
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Why the BBC WAC should remain bigger on the inside. An absolutely boffo column from Doctor Who mensch @tobyhadoke.bsky.social about the very silly decision by the BBC to cut off independent and exploratory research at its Written Archives Centre. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Defending the WAC: ‘Bigger on the Inside’ Doctor Who Archives by Toby Hadoke
It’s always bloody Doctor Who isn’t it? The show about the police box that’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. There is so much in the rich history of BBC drama that requires scrutiny…
cstonline.net
October 31, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Why the BBC WAC should remain bigger on the inside. An absolutely boffo column from Doctor Who mensch @tobyhadoke.bsky.social about the very silly decision by the BBC to cut off independent and exploratory research at its Written Archives Centre. cstonline.net/defending-th...
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
"The BBC has clanged their doors shut on those histories, those stories, those lives and ways of working that are revealed through the joint industry of the historian and the archivist." @helenwheatley.bsky.social on the devastating decision to limit access to BBC archives. tinyurl.com/y4tnyw9a
Defending the WAC: All the things I haven’t (yet) written by Helen Wheatley
People following the last few weeks of the Critical Studies in Television blog will have seen my brilliant colleagues discussing the essential work that they have been able to do thanks to the…
cstonline.net
October 19, 2025 at 6:06 AM
"The BBC has clanged their doors shut on those histories, those stories, those lives and ways of working that are revealed through the joint industry of the historian and the archivist." @helenwheatley.bsky.social on the devastating decision to limit access to BBC archives. tinyurl.com/y4tnyw9a
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
To donate to 'Film Is Fabulous!', a charitable trust, please follow the link below
filmisfabulous.org.uk/the-film-is-...
filmisfabulous.org.uk/the-film-is-...
October 13, 2025 at 11:59 AM
To donate to 'Film Is Fabulous!', a charitable trust, please follow the link below
filmisfabulous.org.uk/the-film-is-...
filmisfabulous.org.uk/the-film-is-...
Here’s what happens when three BRILLIANT guests are paired with the PERFECT interviewer (👏🏻 Tim) for a deep dive into a subject most of us don’t know as much about as we think we do! 👀 @filmisfabulous.bsky.social on archive TV, the human side of film collecting, and (ok, yes!) missing Doctor Who. 🎞️
3 key members and trustees of the Film is Fabulous! team joined Tim of the 'Missing Episodes Podcast'
Film collector John Franklin, De Montfort University’s Prof Justin Smith & Sue Malden, renowned former Head of Broadcast Archives at BBC
YouTube Link
youtu.be/CK02j_Mi6iE?...
Film collector John Franklin, De Montfort University’s Prof Justin Smith & Sue Malden, renowned former Head of Broadcast Archives at BBC
YouTube Link
youtu.be/CK02j_Mi6iE?...
October 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Here’s what happens when three BRILLIANT guests are paired with the PERFECT interviewer (👏🏻 Tim) for a deep dive into a subject most of us don’t know as much about as we think we do! 👀 @filmisfabulous.bsky.social on archive TV, the human side of film collecting, and (ok, yes!) missing Doctor Who. 🎞️
Which production is this from, please? It’s Carole Ann Ford, but in… what?
October 12, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Which production is this from, please? It’s Carole Ann Ford, but in… what?
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
If you read one thing this week/month/year make sure it’s @benjamincook.bsky.social interview/in depth feature on Jodie Whittaker and her time as the 13th Doctor, including a mega interview with Jodie herself and with Chris Chibnall in this months Doctor Who Magazine. More Jodie More 13th Doctor ❤️❤️
September 27, 2025 at 6:54 AM
If you read one thing this week/month/year make sure it’s @benjamincook.bsky.social interview/in depth feature on Jodie Whittaker and her time as the 13th Doctor, including a mega interview with Jodie herself and with Chris Chibnall in this months Doctor Who Magazine. More Jodie More 13th Doctor ❤️❤️
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Obviously as a staff member it is not appropriate for me to comment on this. But it is an interesting read.
The actions leading up to the campaign to restore access to the BBC Written Archives, from Ian Greaves for CST: cstonline.net/is-the-bbc-a...
Defending the WAC: Is the BBC a fit and proper keeper of its own paper archive? Ian Greaves on Defending the Written Archives Centre (Part 1)
When the creation of the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham was agreed, at a meeting of the Board of Management on 17 November 1969, it was done so with a view to history. Kenneth Lamb…
cstonline.net
September 19, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Obviously as a staff member it is not appropriate for me to comment on this. But it is an interesting read.
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
The actions leading up to the campaign to restore access to the BBC Written Archives, from Ian Greaves for CST: cstonline.net/is-the-bbc-a...
Defending the WAC: Is the BBC a fit and proper keeper of its own paper archive? Ian Greaves on Defending the Written Archives Centre (Part 1)
When the creation of the BBC Written Archives Centre in Caversham was agreed, at a meeting of the Board of Management on 17 November 1969, it was done so with a view to history. Kenneth Lamb…
cstonline.net
September 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
The actions leading up to the campaign to restore access to the BBC Written Archives, from Ian Greaves for CST: cstonline.net/is-the-bbc-a...
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
Pride of place on the cover for my beloved Pting, I love it. When is Pting’s 23 page interview scheduled to run?!
September 11, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Pride of place on the cover for my beloved Pting, I love it. When is Pting’s 23 page interview scheduled to run?!
Reposted by Benjamin Cook
I will always love Thirteen! 💙💙 #DoctorWho
September 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM
I will always love Thirteen! 💙💙 #DoctorWho