Editorial

Exclusive interviews have of late become a semi-regular feature of TSV (due to good fortune and initiative on the part of certain highly valued TSV writers rather than design!), but this issue's subject is unique. I'm very proud to publish what is the first ever interview with Andrew Cartmel which covers his time as script editor on Doctor Who. It is fair to say that Cartmel was largely responsible for dictating the direction of the Sylvester McCoy era on television. Those three seasons challenged our perceptions of the Doctor's character and background. The programme gradually took on a darker, less predictable style. Cartmel's contribution to Doctor Who provided the spawning ground for the ever-expanding exploits of the Seventh Doctor in the pages of the New Adventures novels.

We held off publishing this issue for two weeks whilst the interview was prepared. Thank you all for your patience; I'm confident you'll agree it was worth the extra wait. Now you've got to look forward to TSV 41 - for which articles would be extremely appreciated!

Paul

One third of this issue is devoted to the interview with Andrew Cartmel. Because it is the first time he has consented to be interviewed about his time on the programme, we decided to run the whole interview in this issue rather than split it into two or three parts. We would like to thank David Bishop who arranged, conducted and transcribed the interview, and of course Andrew Cartmel for giving his time to talk to TSV.

Felicity