Wartime (home video)

Wartime (sometimes wrongly printed as War Time) was a short film produced in 1987 by Reeltime Pictures. Starring John Levene reprising his Doctor Who character John Benton and also featuring UNIT, it was the first independently produced (i.e. non-BBC) Doctor Who spinoff video. Under licensing rules, companies such as Reeltime (and BBV Productions from 1992 onwards) were able to obtain permission to use characters, races and concepts from their creators, except for those characters — such as the Doctor — that were wholly owned by the BBC.

A major difference between Wartime and the spin-offs that followed is that it was the only such production mounted while the original Doctor Who series itself was still in production. Most of the others were produced in the interregnum between the show's cancellation in 1989 and the 1996 TV movie.

Two versions of Wartime were released. A revised version issued in the mid-1990s added a voice-only cameo by Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier.

Synopsis
Benton and his driver, Private Willis of the Regular Army, are transporting through the peaceful wooded countryside outside Bolton a shipment of radioactive material to UNIT H.Q. by Land Rover. But the journey somehow takes Benton into his own past where he confronts the ghosts of his soon-to-be-widowed mother; his father, an army sergeant killed during the Second World War and whose approval he desperately wanted; and his younger brother Chris, killed in a fall from the high wall of a ruined tower when they were boys and whose death he feels guilty about. Benton must fight his way out of a nightmare world where past and present are one, before he is lost forever, and back to reality where an armed and dangerous criminal is intent on hijacking the shipment...

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * John Benton - John Levene
 * Father - Michael Wisher
 * Mother - Mary Greenhalgh
 * Chris Benton - Peter Greenhalgh
 * Johnnie Benton - Steven Stanley
 * Private Willis - Peter Noad
 * Man - Paul Flanagan
 * Soldier - Nicholas Briggs
 * Voice of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney (1995 version only)

Crew

 * Music - Mark Ayres
 * Graphics - Kevin Davies
 * Producer - Keith Barnfather
 * Director - Keith Barnfather

Story notes

 * Technically, the comedy video Myth Runner predates Wartime as the first independently made fictional story tied into Doctor Who. However Myth Runner was a simple send up with more of a connection to the real world actors featured in it than any sort of "Whoniverse" storyline, as opposed to Wartime which is a dramatic continuation of Whoniverse characters and concepts.
 * Benton's first name, John, is mentioned on-screen for the first time here; although in general fan usage during the 1970s, it was never actually used in televised Doctor Who.
 * Wartime was filmed in April 1987 but only released on VHS in 1988.

Filming locations
According to the credits, Wartime was shot entirely on location in Lancashire. The tower seen throughout the story is in Bolton, named The Pigeon Tower. It was built in the early 1900s.

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * This story likely takes place between PROSE: No Future and TV: Mawdryn Undead, given that Benton is still a Warrant Officer and the Brigadier is still in command of UNIT. In the latter story, the Brigadier states that Benton left UNIT in 1979, so this story has to take place prior to then at any rate (unless Benton later rejoined UNIT, of course, just as the Brigadier did).

Video, DVD and VOD releases

 * First released on VHS in 1988, only available as a mail order video.
 * In 1997, it was re-released with a selection of previously made fan-movies at the start of the video and additional material added to the main feature; there was also a 'Making of' feature on the video.
 * On 1 September 2015, Time Travel TV released Wartime on DVD and through Vimeo's video on demand service alongside an hour of newly produced supplemental content, as well as the previously produced making of. A new cover was designed by Martin Baines, which was doubled-sided and featured a version of Phil Bevan's original cover for the 1987 VHS release on the reverse.