school
English book and lost long ago. In 1991, I took a creative writing class
just to hone my skills and an examination requirement was a script for theatre,
film or television and story adaptation of the script. I resurrected The
Wintermen and made it a Doctor #7 and Ace story. This was two years after
the series was axed, of course. But I still had the copy from 1991 fifteen
years later and this time the adaptation can be compared to the original.
The format of Doctor Who back then, of course, was different. This story
fits the style of a four part serial with cliff-hangers rather than the
45 minute one off story we have now. That in itself makes it feel a little
different to the others which were written in the 2005 style. There are
some obvious changes. I set the story written in 1991 in the mid 1990s.
They have come and gone. The old Brigadier was still in charge of U.N.I.T.
in the 1990s. In the new version good old Benton has risen through the ranks to take his place. In the 1991 version there was a suggestion of a possible romance between Ace and Lenoir. But Rose belongs to The Doctor, so that goes out of the window. And I added in Jack and Hellina to the mix, mainly because Hellina could be the one who would try to fight back with the shotgun. Something Rose was not likely to do. It also allowed the scene in the café to be expanded in a way I had always wanted to do. The Doctor and Jack tackling knife-wielding motorists was an added piece of drama.
This is the original 1991 play and story in document format for comparison.
