Downtime – The Lost Years of Doctor Who

 was a reference book published by Obverse Books in 2017. Uniquely, the book covered the detailed history of the spin-offs of Doctor Who which appeared near the end of the original run and continued up into the 2010s, starting with Wartime in 1987. The book notably covers the history of countless relatively obscure stories in heavy detail. While heavily relying on interviews available at the time, the book also features information produced from new interviews with over 40 people involved in these specials at the time.

Publisher's summary
During the interregnum between the Seventh Doctor’s final adventures in 1989 and the relaunch of the series in 2005, BBC One broadcast only three new Doctor Who stories – a TV movie and two comic versions raising money for charity. Elsewhere, books and comic strips (and eventually licensed audios) kept the flame alive, but it seemed the BBC had little interest in reinvigorating the franchise on television.

Meanwhile, seemingly almost forgotten, some of the Doctor’s friends, enemies and legally dubious clones continued their adventures in the direct to video market and their own spin off audio adventures, written by and starring many of the cast/crew who had worked on the original series, and several who would work on the relaunched version.

Downtime – The Lost Worlds of Doctor Who combines archive interviews and articles along with over forty new interviews conducted by the author in order to tell the story of these dramas and their impact and influence, and to celebrate the dedication and ingenuity of fandom.

Downtime is written by Dylan Rees who has previously contributed articles to Celestial Toyroom, You and Who Else and “Breakin’ Point” Magazine. Outside of writing he is a freelance Production Manager and Producer within the film and TV industry.

Subject matter
Downtime features in-depth retrospectives on the subject of many semi-liscensed stories created since 1989, including those created by BBV Productions, Reeltime Pictures, and Magic Bullet Productions.

Notable features
to be added