Biography on 80’s Doctor Who Showrunner Reveal “Hanky Panky”

British tabloids are abuzz over a biography on the producer who oversaw Doctor Who during the 1980’s to it’s first cancellation. While the biography is about John Nathan-Turner’s whole life, the tabloids’ focus is on claims of his sexual activity, which include: Making advances on male teen fans (who Turner dubbed “Doable Barkers”), a wealthy Who fan keeping Turner in male escorts in return for access, and an actual situation in which the author, former Doctor Who Magazine editor Richard Marson, said he was propositioned in a bar by Turner at age 17. The next year, he was invited to the office only to be sexually assaulted by Nathan-Turner’s partner Gary Downie; Marson hid in a closet ready to defend himself with an actual Who script.

The allegations come out less than a year after revelations of child molestation by BBC presenter Jimmy Saville surfaced. Marson does not consider Turner “predatory,” and says there’s no evidence of child molestation. Age of homosexual consent was 21 at the time, but any offense that is now legal is disregarded. Turner died in 2002 and Downie in 2006.

Read the book review with details at the Guardian.

John Nathan-Turner doing a PBS Pledge Break: