THE MAKING OF DOCTOR WHO AND THE MINES OF TERROR
Who’s your favourite Doctor Who? Everyone has a preference, and it’s not just about the Doctor per se, as the associated storylines, assistants and villains all come into play when people pick their defining era of the long-running BBC TV show. For many readers it will be the reign of Baker – Tom, not Colin, obviously. We don’t imagine the unfortunate sixth Doctor ranks highly on anyone’s list. His short tenure was plagued by behind-the-scenes issues that led to the show being put on hiatus for 18 months between March 1985 and September 1986. And it was during this troubled period, when there were genuine concerns that the postponement may become permanent, that Micro Power secured the rights to the show and started to create its most ambitious and costly game to date: Doctor Who And The Mines Of Terror.
Micro Power was formed in Leeds in 1980 and made a name for itself producing arcade clones for the BBC Micro. Its focus later turned to original titles with the standout being , an acclaimed arcade adventure programmed by Tony Sothcott for Micro Power, says, “I was asked to write around spring of 1985. I had just turned 18 and was in the final year of sixth form studying for three A levels. At some point Micro Power was in discussions with the BBC over the possibility of using the Doctor Who name. I was completely oblivious to this until I was told of the new direction for the game. I was just a kid working from home, so maybe Micro Power thought I didn’t need to know at the early point in development, until final contracts with the BBC had been signed.” When the deal was done, regenerated into . To capitalise on the licence, versions for other computers were prepared. “I was responsible for all the coding on the BBC Micro version,” says Gary, “while Tony Sothcott coded the Commodore 64 version. In retrospect, both probably could have been based on the same code base, but in those days, such coding practices in the games arena were not the norm.” Versions were also produced for the Amstrad CPC and Sinclair Spectrum.
