DWM 167

The 167th issue of Doctor Who Magazine was current from 1 November through 28 November 1990. The first Brief Encounter story appeared. This series of extremely brief short stories ran frequently in the magazine until issue 214.

Articles

 * Those Radio Times by Brian J Robb in the first of this series, gives a detailed account of William Hartnell's years as covered by the Radio Times. Including a listing of coverage by Andrew Pixley.
 * Incidental Moments Philip Newman talks to Dominic Glynn, Keff McCulloch, and Mark Ayres about their recent contributions to Doctor Who incidental music
 * A Licence to Sell John Nathan-Turner talks to former BBC Merchandising Manager Julie Dixon about marketing Doctor Who
 * Stripped for Action (1 of 2) Paul Travers looks behind attempts to launch a Doctor Who Newspaper Strip
 * An Open Book: Peter Darvill-Evans With the series of novelisations coming to a natural end Gary Russell talks to W.H. Allen & Co's Books Editor about upcoming releases including large format books and a New Adventures series of fiction.

Comic content

 * Darkness Falling
 * Comic Assassins: The Curse of Fenric by Kev F & Stanton

Fiction

 * A Brief Encounter by John Lucarotti and illustrated by Colin Howard. Though untitled in this issue, it gained the title The Meeting from its reprint in the 1997 Doctor Who Yearbook. Because the feature debuted in this issue, and readers were unfamiliar with the prose masthead, some contemporary readers thought that Brief Encounter was the title of the story, a name by which this particular tale still is referred.

Archives

 * None this issue

Interviews / Profiles

 * Waris Hussein (Director) talks to John Bowman about his work on the first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child.
 * Graham Williams: A Tribute by Stephen James Walker with contributions from those that knew and worked with him.

Previews / Reviews - Off the Shelf (by Gary Russell)

 * NOVELISATION: Survival by Rona Munro (Target Books)
 * VIDEO: The Dominators (BBC Video)
 * VIDEO: The Web Planet (BBC Video)
 * ‘TARDIS Fillers’ by David Howe and Paul Travers offer an overview of Doctor Who merchandising output in 1990

Page Pin-ups

 * Romana, K-9 and the Fourth Doctor from The Stones of Blood

Also featuring

 * Matrix Data Bank (Questions and Answers)
 * Beyond the TARDIS (Who is doing what by Dominic May)
 * Gallifrey Guardian (News)
 * You on Who (Letters)
 * Data Coils (now incorporating pen-pals and events listing)
 * 'Doctor Who?' by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett (comic strip)
 * 'Nix' by Nick Miller (cartoon)
 * Dont quote me on this ... (mentions of 'Who' in strange places)

Random quote
“For you the sentence is harder ... you have to live"
 * Taiyn, Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer

Credits

 * Editor: John Freeman
 * Design : Gary Gilbert / John Freeman
 * Tony Hancock Impersonations: Dan Abnett
 * Production: Mark Irvine
 * Advertising: Jane Smale
 * Advisor: John Nathan-Turner
 * Magazine Group Editor: John Freeman
 * Managing Director: Robert Sutherland
 * Excelsior: Stan Lee

Additional details

 * Priced £2.25 (UK), this bumper fifty-two-page issue included a special tribute feature to the late Graham Williams; Brief Encounters was the start of a new short prose series and a free flexi-disk with the track ‘Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer’, composed by Dominic Glynn, Martin Smith and Andy Grant was selotaped to the cover (a big black square).
 * Colin Howard provides the cover illustration of the Daleks anew.
 * The comic strip Darkness Falling is a three page special prelude to the upcoming The Mark of Mandragora story.
 * Next issue DWM 168 is trailed as "New format: More pages: More Who every four weeks!"