Derrick Sherwin

CD93

04-12-2014

Never afraid to put the boot in, Derrick Sherwin interviews are often a refreshing read. I managed to miss his recent DWM one

Quote:
“I've watched some of the recent ones, and what they're doing now I find pseudo-cerebral, in that you overlap stories. Moffat irritates me. All that happens is you get to a stage where to get out of it, he pulls out some computer graphics.”

Quote:
“Well I don't think he's very clever, he gets on my tits frankly, the way he constructs stories. It moves so fast that audiences can't actually follow it. I know would never write for him, because I would write :'So-and-so-and-so-and-so. Pause. A moment to think.' He wouldn't have that. I'm sure he wouldn't.”

Quote:
“I set about re-designing the format of the series which, in my opinion had become bogged down in stories about jelly-like blobs from outer space – crazy and unbelievable sci-fi creations which children and hardly adults could even believe in as the basis for a story. I decided that slowly “Dr Who” should be ‘brought down to Earth’ and to assist in this and to give some relief to the main actors I invented an Earth-bound group called “UNIT””

CELT1987

04-12-2014

I take it then that Sherwin thinks plastic dummies breaking out of shop windows as being realistic.

adams66

04-12-2014

Well worn gripes really.
Sherwin produced the show 45 years ago.
All TV has moved on since then.

CoalHillJanitor

04-12-2014

Those titles that are just someone's name always scare me ...

Glad he hasn't died.

Batmannequin

04-12-2014

Originally Posted by CoalHillJanitor:
“Those titles that are just someone's name always scare me ...

Glad he hasn't died.”

This, very much, haha.

I've always been fond of Sherwin, bless him.

He's a cantankerous old sod, and I disagree with him 90% of the time, but he's one of Who's true characters, weirdly impossible to dislike despite all the odds, and I'll always be more willing to give the time of day to somebody who expresses what he thinks even if he know's it's unpopular than to people who throw out the same old "everything was wonderful and the people were great and blahblahblah" false platitudes in interviews without ever saying anything.

Michael_Eve

04-12-2014

Originally Posted by Batmannequin:
“This, very much, haha.

I've always been fond of Sherwin, bless him.

He's a cantankerous old sod, and I disagree with him 90% of the time, but he's one of Who's true characters, weirdly impossible to dislike despite all the odds, and I'll always be more willing to give the time of day to somebody who expresses what he thinks even if he know's it's unpopular than to people who throw out the same old "everything was wonderful and the people were great and blahblahblah" false platitudes in interviews without ever saying anything.”

Go along with that! He's a very entertaining interviewee and his two credits as Producer, The War Games and Spearhead From Space, are terrific IMO. And didn't know he wrote the sublime first episode of The Mind Robber.Call myself a fan.

Assume Wikipedia is correct there? He can be as stroppy and off message as he blinking well likes just because of the above as far as I'm concerned.

Edit: Good point above about just a name in the thread title! Won't do that again. Could've really worried all the Kelly Monteith fans on the UK TV sub forum. Weellll, I like him anyway. (sorry, tad off topic there!)

Irma Bunt

05-12-2014

Originally Posted by adams66:
“Well worn gripes really.
Sherwin produced the show 45 years ago.
All TV has moved on since then.”

None of which means his opinions are invalid.

And I'd rather watch his stuff than Moffat's any day of the week.

chuffnobbler

05-12-2014

Originally Posted by Irma Bunt:
“None of which means his opinions are invalid.

And I'd rather watch his stuff than Moffat's any day of the week.”

Seconded. In fact, I no longer watch Moffat's stuff, and have just bought Sherwin's book.

adams66

05-12-2014

Originally Posted by Irma Bunt:
“None of which means his opinions are invalid.

And I'd rather watch his stuff than Moffat's any day of the week.”

Absolutely - his opinions are perfectly valid, and personally, I agree with much of what he's said.
It's just not something that we haven't heard many times before - eg: criticising modern Who for an over-reliance on CG effects. Yes, fair point, but that's true of nearly all modern TV. And that's simply what programme makers do these days. Things are very different from Sherwin's heyday.

I agree with you, Irma and Chuff, I too get more enjoyment from watching 40+ year old Doctor Who than I do from the current series. But I suspect that's partly a product of getting older and less susceptible to new things. Things might not be any better, or worse, now than they were in Sherwin's day - they are just different.