Blue Box Boy (Audible Audio Edition) Matthew Waterhouse What Noise Productions Books
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As a boy Matthew Waterhouse loved Doctor Who he watched all the episodes and read all the novels and comic strips. What starts as a heart-warming story, of a boy growing up with Doctor Who as his trusted friend, engaging the listener with memories and nostalgia that will be familiar to any Doctor Who fan, takes a sudden twist when he is thrust into an alien and adult world - cast as Doctor Who's youngest ever travelling companion - for two of the series' most inventive seasons. Matthew's sense of wonder with his dream job and his love for the show are palpable; as is his shock at genuine hostilities between cast and crew members and considerable tensions on set, which are counterpointed with poignant reminders that he is just a boy, and still a fan, who finds himself in the absurd, comic world of minor celebrity. What follows is a story-by-story memoir of his time on the show, peppered with glimpses into Matthew's personal life, tales of conventions, DVD commentaries, and some revealing anecdotes about everyone from fellow actors to Doctor Who's more high-profile fans.
This memoir holds nothing back written with honesty, warmth, a rapier wit and a good dose of self-depreciation, the book is essential listening for any "Doctor Who" fan. Finally, we get to hear Matthew's side of a story which has been told and embellished and imagined by fans and fellow actors for years. This affectionate and darkly humourous memoir is a record of what it was like to make Doctor Who, and to work for the BBC in early '80s, and is proof that you can take the actor out of Doctor Who, but you can never quite take Doctor Who out of the actor...
Blue Box Boy (Audible Audio Edition) Matthew Waterhouse What Noise Productions Books
I've been a Doctor Who fan for 30+ years--finding the show on my local PBS station about the time Matthew Waterhouse was being cast in the part of Adric. For me, Adric is the most memorable of characters. I wanted to name my first-born after him, but I was (perhaps wisely) vetoed by his other parent. Every once in a while I wonder "whatever happened to...." so in one of these moods, I stumbled across this book. I'm glad I did. Matthew (I feel I can call him that since that's how he refers to himself in the third person narrative style writing), gives us charming peeks into his childhood obsession with the show, his thrill at being cast, anecdotes of behind the scenes interactions with his co-workers, and his time on the convention circuit. There are a lot of references to obscure (to me) British shows that made me glad that apparently only the best shows ever made it "across the pond" to the U.S. Matthew does a lot of name dropping of personalities I do not know, but when he mentions a name familiar to me, it was like having my own celebrity sighting. The story is not always told linearly, but some of these deviations were a little like time travel so I didn't mind. This book is definitely for a narrow reader niche, but I found it fun.Product details
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Blue Box Boy (Audible Audio Edition) Matthew Waterhouse What Noise Productions Books Reviews
It brought back fond memories of growing up watching Tom Baker as my first Doctor. I'm not sure I would have gone the third person route, but that's just me. It's your story Matthew, tell it the way you want to. Thank you so much for playing Adric.
It starts out a little dull, with all sorts of details about Dr. Who shows and books. I skimmed that part. He writes in third person and I also don't like that. But once he gets to the parts about being a Dr. Who actor, it gives a good description of what that experience was like and also tells about other caste members. In spite of the third person format you do get an idea of who Matthew Waterhouse is. I thought his evaluations of people to be fair and thoughtful. At times he was philosophical and I found his ideas interesting.
What a sad book this was. Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric on Doctor Who in the early 80's, starts off describing in detail his love of the show growing up in the 60's and 70's, as well as many of the cultural artifacts surrounding Doctor Who fandom. Novelizations, promotional product tie-ins, fanzines, and how the show was perceived by others are all covered. Mostly it's about how zealously obsessed he was with all things "Who" growing up.
About 40% into the book he starts leading the reader through his start at the BBC which eventually led to his experiences working on Doctor Who. The book contained several fascinating anecdotes about different things that happened during the show's production as well as stories about the other people involved, especially as they related to him.
After that you'll read about his guest appearances at conventions, more about how he felt the show was perceived by the general public, his participation in the DVD commentaries, occasional run-ins and reunions with others who worked on the show and what they were up to, and eventually his thoughts on the 2005 relaunch.
The tone starts out with the wide eyed wonder of a young devoted fan. The vibe shifts dramatically throughout the entire second half of the book. Starting with his time at the BBC, he came across as snide, cynical, and bitter. Some people he recalled with respect and kindness, but mostly just the women and gays he had worked with. Almost everyone else was fair game for his skewering resentment. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward suffered the most at his sharp pen, with the general fan culture close behind.
If you're a huge fan of classic Who generally, and Tom Baker in particular, you have to have thick skin to get through this. I pretty much take what he says with a grain of salt. Matthew comes across as a jaded, resentful, slightly bratty kid. The warmth the book starts out with evaporates completely and you're left with almost nothing but petulance punctuated by fascinating observations of Who culture and production from the 80's to the present day.
4/5 stars. Poor Adric, so mistreated, so misunderstood, poor kid to have his idyllic view of Doctor Who and the people involved shattered by the realities of a cut rate show made by an overworked staff on a shoestring budget under sometimes appalling conditions and the stifling confines of the BBC's political climate.
If you're on the fence about Classic Who, don't read this. It's a vitriolic slash piece that won't endear you to the show at all. Or it might, if you can read between the lines and marvel at how charming the show actually was despite the humble circumstances surrounding the show's run in the 80's.
It's because of this rare insider's look, skewed as it may have been, that the book earns 4 stars. This is only because there are so few books like it.
I've been a Doctor Who fan for 30+ years--finding the show on my local PBS station about the time Matthew Waterhouse was being cast in the part of Adric. For me, Adric is the most memorable of characters. I wanted to name my first-born after him, but I was (perhaps wisely) vetoed by his other parent. Every once in a while I wonder "whatever happened to...." so in one of these moods, I stumbled across this book. I'm glad I did. Matthew (I feel I can call him that since that's how he refers to himself in the third person narrative style writing), gives us charming peeks into his childhood obsession with the show, his thrill at being cast, anecdotes of behind the scenes interactions with his co-workers, and his time on the convention circuit. There are a lot of references to obscure (to me) British shows that made me glad that apparently only the best shows ever made it "across the pond" to the U.S. Matthew does a lot of name dropping of personalities I do not know, but when he mentions a name familiar to me, it was like having my own celebrity sighting. The story is not always told linearly, but some of these deviations were a little like time travel so I didn't mind. This book is definitely for a narrow reader niche, but I found it fun.
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