TV Annuals 2022

As was usual, I produced some absurd TV annual covers for the festive season. They were done over a period of months so I probably would've ended up posting them one at a time had I been updating the blog then.

This is all of them together in one place:

This is The Pact. A classy little BBC workplace drama from Doctor Who writer and doyen of the classic series Blu-rays, Pete McTighe. A group of workmates are apparently responsible for the death of their boss and attempt to cover it up leading to conflicts and secrets being revealed. Not exactly annual material but an ideal subject for one of my covers...

Line of Duty came to a thrilling climax at the start of the year. A tour de force cast with a brilliant Jed Mercurio script turned out not to be everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps the stand-out character from the series was little 13 year old Ryan Pilkington played with deadly acid by Gregory Piper in the first series. He created a bit of a storm when he returned as not only an adult... but a copper... and a VERY bent one at that. He really should have had a spin-off series but (quite rightly to be honest) got his come-uppance in the final series. Who could forget his series one catchphrase... "Bent bastard!" 

The annul itself is based on a design used by NetworkDVD for their release of the cosy late 60s police drama 'Parkin's Patch'. 

Russell T Davies' It's a Sin told the story of the AIDS crisis seen through the eyes of a group of young people. Despite the subject matter and many harrowing scenes, it was also a joyous celebration of life... and what it means to hold onto it even if the most harrowing of times. The annual design is a reflection of the positivity that comes from Davies' pin sharp script and is based on the design style of an 80s Look-in annual. 

Last year I created a Chris Witty annual. Maybe it was going a bit too far picking out an individual to represent the global pandemic. Having said that, it's one of the journals that has sold a few copies on RedBubble. Some shyster even pinch the design and put it on their RB store... This year I did something more generic and used the 1980 Blake's 7 annual as my inspiration. Quite pleased at my attempt on the logo! 

This is one I should've done ages ago - a period-style annual for Endeavour. Not specifically based on any published book or series although it does take elements from the World Distributors annuals. (I think I may have put a non-contemporary logo on it!) The police car is actually a publicity still from 60s Z Cars. Russell Lewis "liked" this when I tweeted it.

When season two of 'Star Trek Discovery' ended, I was one of those who quite rightly saw that a Captain Pike spin-off was the most logical outcome of his appearance in the series. I even did a few period book covers and designs showcasing the concept. It took Paramount and CBS a year or so but they got there and the series debut in a few short months. This is just a design using what few images were available of the main cast in their correct costumes (and haircuts). The image of the USS Enterprise is a bit of a cheat as it's actually a commercially available scale model... but they did that on the original Star Trek series didn't they?

The Covid 19 and It's a Sin annuals are available as journal and notebooks on RedBubble. Follow the link.

If you've enjoyed these designs, show your appreciation with a coffee purchased via my Ko-fi page. Follow the link.

The Years and Years Annual 2020 and a couple of pages too!

It'll soon be that time of year when the 2020 annuals start to trickle into WHSmith to gather dust until the January sales. 

And it'll also soon be time for me to present my own selection of annuals that aren't available through the normal channels.

In the mean time, I've done one already and, as an added bonus, provided you with two pages that will no doubt provide minutes and minutes of fun for all the family provided you can find some counters and the spare dice you last saw at the back of that kitchen drawer a few months ago. 




If you liked this post (or indeed, any of the 400 odd others I've done over the years), why not buy me a coffee at my Ko-fi profile. The link is here

 

Jeremy Thorpe - Danger Man!

Wasn't A Very English Scandal a brilliant piece of telly?

There are those of us who remember the pre-scandal Jeremy Thorpe as a regular fixture of sixties television. Who can forget his weekly exploits in Danger Politician? 

No?

Well, here's some stuff to jog your memory...

Three New Classic Doctor Who Action Figure Sets from B&M

Twitter has been all of a buzz (as they say) with news that the cheap homeware retailer, B&M will be releasing not one, not two but four sets of Doctor Who figures - including a Jon Pertwee with his TARDIS on a flat black plinth (as seen in Spearhead from Space). And a set featuring the Brigadier (Spearhead from Space), Auton (Spearhead from Space) and er... fourth Doctor (Talons of Weng Chiang). 

Oh what japes we'll all have trying to find a store that has them all in stock later this summer. 

Anyhow, here's a selection of the sets that didn't quite make it...

A Few Cult TV LPs of Faith

Here's a selection of LPs that will provide spiritual comfort to those cult TV fans who need it... 

Or something like that...

Revisiting the Eccleston Target Book Covers...

Christopher Eccleston's first series as the Doctor was my starting point at producing 'new' Target book covers. I should point out that it wasn't my original intention to do one for EVERY televised story. I was off work on extended sick leave and needed something to do instead of mindlessly devouring the BBC's daily pescription of Homes Under The Hammer and Bargain Hunt. So I started this blog - originally with the aim of reproducing some of the funny stuff what I wrote for some Doctor Who fanzines back in the 90s which I still considered a bit amusing. I had also dabbled in Photoshop during 2013 - producing a selection of six or so fake pieces of vintage DrWHO merchandise - including William Hartnell's Book of Outer Space and a DrWHO promotional box of Kellogg's Porky Pops. These were all cobbled together and posted intermitantly on the blog that I'd decided to call "Andydrewz's Pages" for no other reason than I quickly needed a name and a varient on my ancient email address seemed like a quick solution. 

I'd always admired the early Target book covers - especially the ones that marked the introduction of the gate logo (that's the diamond logo without the diamond). These were the more cartoony and dynamic covers that were done originally by Chris Achilleos and later Peter Brookes.  The first one I did was one for the Matt Smith story Cold War. I've no idea why I picked that one. It was crap anyway... and has not seen the light of day ever since it was consigned to a file on my old mac. Crude is too kind a word for it. (The one on the blog currently is NOT that version.) Anyhow, I decided to do the Eccleston adventures. There was 13 of them and I had access to all the press stills from them.

The results were variable and can still be seen here. The End of the World was a parody of Achilleos' Revenge of the Cybermen whilst The Unquiet Dead was plain risible and was changed several times before it was finally posted on the blog. I still hate that cover. I also condensed the two-parters into single volumes which, in hindsight, was a mistake. 

I received some nice feedback about them via the blog and decided to embark on the following series... taking breaks now and then to produce some silly might-have-been merchandise. The blog blossomed...

Flip forward to today or rather last Monday. Someone asked me to do a new cover for one of the Eccleston stories. I had offered them my old cover from three years ago but, looking at it, I realised how crude it looked. So I redid it... And it came out quite well. 

So I've spent this week going back to 2005 and completely re-doing the Eccleston covers. Some of them are similar to the originals (well, the one for Rose is at least!) whilst others are completely new. And I've taken the opportunity to do covers for ALL thirteen episodes as opposed to doubling up the two-parters into single volumes. 

They're all here now. I hope you like them. If nothing else, the whole exercise has reminded me of how awful the publicity stills for series one were - especially The Empty Child.

A Few Favourite New Series Doctor Who Episodes...

Further to the Peter Capaldi Doctor Who covers I did a few weeks back I also picked out five of my favourite pre-2014 episodes and gave them the same treatment. 

Don't worry, I'm not going to spend my time doing every episode.

Doctor Who Collectors Table Lamps - now available!

The current issue of the UK TV listings magazine "What's On TV" has an ad on page 36 for a Star Wars table lamp. 

The stem is made up of three light sabres and there's some delightfully old-fashioned artwork from the first film on the shade. You couldn't make it up...

So I did.




Presenting the Official Doctor Who Collectors Table Lamp Collection...