Childhood pals create 'love letter' to Doctor Who

Two Doctor Who fans who started making films 20 years ago in their back gardens have now produced a £11k indie feature with a premiere attended by former cast members of the show.

Mark Bray, 28, from Bristol, produced Doctor Who: Outlander with fellow fans of the long-running BBC sci-fi series; it took two years to come to fruition.

Bray spent his childhood honing his film-making skills with his friend, Tom Skinner, 33, from Bath, who acted as script supervisor on the project.

The first episode, Chapter One: The Minute that Changed America, has premiered in Cardiff, with the second due to be released before the end of the year.

Many scenes in the film, set in America around the time of John F. Kennedy's assassination, were shot in Bristol and Bath.

"It's set in the 60s, so we tried to make it not look too modern, but we did have the chance to film down the Hotwells area near the harbour, and a couple of bits and bobs in Filton," said Bray.

He said he had been touched that people came from "far and wide" for the film premiere.

"We had some former producers show up and some cast and crew from Doctor Who, which made it feel a bit more than just some sort of average fan project," he said.

Bray, who studied film and television at Bath Spa University (BSU), said Doctor Who had always been a part of his life and the project had "deep connections" to his childhood.

"I don't know if it's a curse or whether I'm very fortunate, but I grew up with a grandfather that had all the VHS tapes of the original run from the 60s, 70s and 80s," he said.

"For the better part of 20 years this month, when I was eight years old, me and my next door neighbour [Skinner] just started making kind of silly little Doctor Who videos in our gardens."

The friends made about 60 episodes in total, many of which survive.

Bray said the latest film - produced by the independent, non-profit company MB and Homeland - was a collaboration between school, college and university friends, as well as professionals already working in the industry.

"A huge amount of the talent involved comes from Bristol and across the South West," he said.

"It's been a slowly evolving project, but we're now kind of working with camera operators from Rivals or working with people on the Batman franchise."

Tom Skinner, who also studied at BSU, said the Time Lord had an enduring appeal.

"What I love about Doctor Who - whether it's the BBC versions or our own - is that it's this human story of human loss, human sacrifice and human victory," he said.

"Those are the elements, then I try to weave in, or allude to, philosophical or theological reflections or just enjoy certain themes that are very easy to bring out from the template that Doctor Who is."

Skinner added that he believed the creative team of Outlander had contributed "something of value" to the franchise.

"We would love the idea that they would see it and go, 'wow, that's a cool story', but also we recognise that we're doing our little thing and it's our love letter to Doctor Who more than anything else," he said.

Second assistant director, Neel Patel, 26, said the project would help fill a hiatus after the BBC announced in June that the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special would not go ahead.

"We don't know where the original show sits at the moment, or if there's a future for the show," he said.

"But what we're trying to do with this film is to keep the Doctor Who spark alive."

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