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paul-hayes.bsky.social
Writer and BBC employee. Author of the books "Pull to Open", the story of how Doctor Who was created in 1963, and "The Long Game", the story of how it came to be recommissioned in 2003. https://notanovelistyet.blogspot.com/
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A pointless fact I have accidentally learned this evening - BBC East managed to make, and flog to network, the same documentary about Walsingham, under the same title, twice, just 11 years apart in 1976 and 1987.

submitted 36 minutes ago • 0 comments

Now that autocue has finally moved back into the gallery, someone has also decided to shift the sign that was formerly on the side of its temporary booth out in the office. I can't help but feel this may alarm some visitors wanting to use the facilities!

submitted 4 hours ago • 0 comments

Something slightly melancholy about walking past Anglia Television earlier while heading up to the station to travel from the Norwich office of the BBC to the Cambridge office of the BBC. An East Anglian media landscape which it will one day seem amazing ever existed.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Visiting some friends before they move home...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Opening up the pod and it’s just Katy Perry and five empty seats.

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

New blog entry - a little background about my piece, 'Cloud Nine', in the new Doctor Who Magazine special celebrating 20 years of the Ninth Doctor. #DoctorWho

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Brand new on Dirty Feed: an analysis of the two different edits of the controversial Marion & Geoff special 'A Small Summer Party'. Did you know Hugo Blick took the time with the DVD version to seriously reconsider the final scene of the show? WELL NOW YOU DO. www.dirtyfeed.org/2025/04/a-sl...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

I do quite like the fact that even one of the most powerful and distinguished writers in the British television industry just bungs a couple of books under the stand as monitor risers! #DoctorWho

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Have they always been this big on blurring logos on Unleashed? Did I just not notice last year? #DoctorWho

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I've got a copy of that same faux #DoctorWho comic cover that Russell does. My friend Anna gave it to me for my birthday one year. #DoctorWhoUnleashed

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Ted Kotcheff was there when the worst possible thing that could happen in a live production happened. On 30th Nov 1958 during transmission of Armchair Theatre - Underground - actor Gareth Jones died. This superb Oliver Wake piece recounts what happened. www.britishtelevisiondrama.org.uk/?p=4313

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

For those who missed the news last week, we're excited to be publishing The Quatermass Experiment: The Making of TV's First Sci-Fi Classic this May, an in-depth history of the landmark serial from @tobyhadoke.bsky.social. Order now from tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/ 🚀

submitted 7 days ago • 6 comments

Oh go on, then. Here's a new, short post about a silly little production oddity in Red Dwarf VI. www.dirtyfeed.org/2025/04/mixe...

submitted 8 days ago • 7 comments

There's a new broom sweeping in at the BBC in Norwich...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

20 Years Of The Ninth Doctor Doctorwhonews.net

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I'm very honoured to be in this - it's a terrific look back at a time I think many of us look back at with great fondness. A wonderful time capsule of that era, with some interesting fresh insights, too.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

OTD in early British television: fter an hour or so’s coverage of the Boat Race on the morning of Saturday 1 April 1939, that afternoon Alexandra Palace offered the television premiere of Michael Powell’s 1937 feature film The Edge of the World. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

We're pleased to announce that @tobyhadoke.bsky.social's long-awaited history of the The Quatermass Experiment will be published in May in trade paperback, along with a limited edition hardback with special cover artwork by @roberthack.bsky.social. Order now from tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com

submitted 16 days ago • 19 comments

#OTD - 29 Mar 1037 - "The Fun of the Fair". A local Outside Broadcast from #AlexandraPark featuring the fun fair, with #LeslieMitchell as commentator. Audio is from an original 78rpm recording of the television sound. Producer: #DHMunro

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

I will forever be grateful to Julie for all the fun we had on TQ. Particularly at this time five years ago, when she really threw herself into the 'virtual' format we came up with to keep it going during covid, which I think meant a lot to a lot of people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

This is a fascinating and brilliantly researched work, and full of joys. Hugely recommended.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

It's 20 years today since #DoctorWho returned to BBC One. But how did it happen? My book The Long Game tells how the show went from the TV Movie in May 1996 to a full recommission in September 2003, and is available now from @tenacrefilms.bsky.social: tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/the-...

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

It's exactly 62 years today since four people sat in a room at BBC Television Centre to come up with the first ideas for what became #DoctorWho. But why were they there, and what happened next? My book Pull to Open tells the story of the show's creation: tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/pull...

submitted 21 days ago • 2 comments

A superb book that cleverly tells the history of a decade or so of the BBC, through the lens of Doctor Who’s journey back to Saturday nights.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Just a tremendous book. Talked about it with the author Paul Hayes on Radio Free Skaro. Keenly recommended.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Fantastic book. Essential reading not just for Doctor Who people but anyone wants to understand the mess “reform” had created at bbc drama by 1996.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Such a great book! Exhaustively researched and very well written.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment