Life on Earth (documentary)

Life on Earth was a 2|entertain DVD documentary about the making of the Doctor Who serial, Terror of the Autons.

As a general overview of production, it covered many topics. It concentrated however on two themes: the reconfiguration of Doctor Who by grounding the Doctor on Earth as an adjunct to UNIT, and contrasting the series' storytelling of the early 1970s with that of the modern BBC Wales era.

The title of the documentary, "Life on Earth", reflected both themes. In addition to the obvious reference to the Doctor being exiled to Earth, the examination of how technology, social mores, and television story telling have changed since the early 1970s paralleled the 2006-2007 BBC drama series, Life on Mars; the opening titles to the documentary played up the similarity, being a blatant parody of Life on Mars opening titles sequence. One of the key characters discussed is the Master who, in the BBC Wales era, is portrayed by Life on Mars star, John Simm; his character on the latter series, Sam Tyler, was named by series creator Matthew Graham's daughter in homage to then-current companion Rose Tyler.

Booklet synopsis
A new documentary about the making of Terror of the Autons. Actors Katy Manning and Richard Franklin, both of whom made their debuts in this story, recount the production with the help of Jon Pertwee (through an archive interview), Script Editor Terrance Dicks and Producer Barry Letts who, along with new series Producer Phil Collinson, discuss how the series' production regimes differed between the new series and the old.

People interviewed

 * Barry Letts, Doctor Who Producer 1969-74/Director, "Terror of the Autons"
 * Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who Script Editor 1968-74
 * Katy Manning, "Jo Grant"
 * Jon Pertwee, "The Doctor" 1970-74 (1995 BBV Interview)
 * Richard Franklin, "Captain Mike Yates"
 * Phil Collinson, Doctor Who Producer 2004-08

Crew

 * Archive footage & stills courtesy of - BBC Television, Bill Baggs, Richard Bignell
 * Music - Kevin MacLeod
 * Graphics - Michael Dinsdale @ Farmergeddon
 * Camera - Steve Broster, Mark Gill
 * Colourist - Jonathan Wood
 * With thanks to - Peter Ware, Derek Handley
 * Executive Producer - Dan Hall
 * Producer - Ed Stradling
 * © 2010 2|entertain