In 2002, The OFFSTAGE Theatre Group decided to branch out into something completely different! The 40th Anniversary of the popular BBC TV series ‘Doctor Who’ was fast approaching (it began in 1963) and weekend conventions were still being held every year, up and down the country (and in USA and Australia), with attendances of 300 fans and rising. So, OFFSTAGE brought their comedic approach to the stage for a series of plays, sketch shows, mini-plays, and parodies to celebrate this iconic television series.

Les Hollis, of ‘Vortex Events’ booked OFFSTAGE to write and perform a full-length comedy play called ‘DÉJÀ VU OF THE DOCTORS’ (script-edited by Robert Shearman, writer of BBC1’s revival of ‘Doctor Who’ in 2005, and Jacqueline Raynor, editor and writer of the BBC ‘Doctor Who’ Books range). As a test run, a warm-up sketch show called ‘ARRANT NONSENSE’ was performed in Barking, London. These shows were followed by the two-part 'BEYOND THE SOFA', which had the distinction of a guest narrator in the form of Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor).

Dave Price, a thoroughly splendid fellow and our continuing webmaster, booked OFFSTAGE for his ‘Dimensions On Tyne 2’ convention, in Stockton On Tees. Not content with the ‘ADVENTURES IN TYNE & SPACE’ sketches throughout the weekend, he commissioned a 30-minute one-off anniversary story to be performed at the Opening Ceremony. ‘ME & MY SHADA’ was the highlight of the weekend’s performances.

The ultimate accolade for OFFSTAGE (apart from the Dimensions gigs!!) was their invite to write and perform for the official BBC-backed 'PanoptiCon 40' convention in London; with an attendance of nearly 2000 fans. '40 YEARS IN 40 MINUTES' was booked for one performance, but was eventually performed three times (due to popular demand).

‘DALEK RE:PLAY’, a full-length tribute to the Daleks (the best enemy of the good Doctor), was performed at the Liverpool event 'Dr Who & The Daleks'; proving such a success that OFFSTAGE were booked to return to Liverpool with a new show later that year.

The popularity of OFFSTAGE on the ‘Doctor Who’ convention circuit has been extremely rewarding and kept them very busy. They returned to the scene of their very first sketch show within 12 months of performing it for the popular ‘Invasion’ one-day events in London, with a new show called appropriately ‘FULL CIRCLE’. This was followed by a return to Liverpool with an experimental visual/audio show called ‘WHO AM I?’ for ‘Dr Who & The Daleks II’.

After a short break, in which time a new BBC1 series of ‘Doctor Who’ returned to Saturday evening television schedules and won huge audiences, The OFFSTAGE Theatre Group returned too with a spoof of the 1996 TV Movie - starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor’ - for a convention in Cardiff, Wales (the home of the new ‘Doctor Who’ series production company). They then reprised a re-written version of this play for a return to Stockton-on-Tees and the 2006 ‘Dimensions’ convention, for their last UK appearance. Finally, to leave the audiences still wanting more, they decided to bow out with their last ‘Doctor Who’ spoof – the full-length comedy play ‘The Ten Doctors’. This debuted in Los Angeles, USA, for the ‘Gallifrey 2007’ convention (our fifth and final year of original Timelord comedies, if you count the year we began writing them!) and was definitely the most emotional (and arguably the best) Doctor Who production OFFSTAGE have written, produced and performed. It’s been a laughter-filled journey through space and time, and we have enjoyed seeing young and old Doctor Who fans leave every performance with a huge smile on their face. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Use the links below to read performance reports from all the OFFSTAGE Doctor Who productions to date.