Delta and The Bannerman looks silly, with cameos by Ken Dodd and the Hi Di Hi set in a 1950s holiday camp, and a rock and roll soundtrack. But it actually has a really important underlying theme about genocide and genetics. It is actually a very charming story which bears a second look from those who are sceptical.

10/10

Commentary

Commentary is by Sylvester McCoy, Sara Griffthis who played Ray and Chris Clough, director, and Andrew Cartmell, script editor. Sylvester sets the mood as entertaining and fun. They pay tribute to both Ken Dodd and Stubby Kaye, two comic geniuses of yesteryear and explain the purpose of a real police box among other things. It is an enthusiastic group chat among friends about a very fun time making this episode. Of course there were some issues with location shooting, shortage of budget, effects disasters, but mostly they remain positive about the episode.

10/10

Extras

But First This - Andy Crane (mistakenly billed as Andi Peters on the leaflet inside the DVD case, introduces a series of interviews, clips and behind the scenes material from the making of Delta and the Bannermen. It compares quite well with one of the Doctor Who Confidentials from the new series.

10/10

Interview Rushes include some of the interviews not use in But First This and extended versions of the ones eventually broadcast.

9/10

Wales Today is a local TV news article about the filming at Barry Island. It seems a little ironic now that the new series it almost entirely made in South Wales, even returning to Barry Island once, but the local news were very excited about the coming of the series to Wales an interviewed cast and crew.

10/10

Episode One – First Edit is an original cut of the first episode without music or special effects. The cuts are subtle and difficult to pinpoint. Battle scenes with just the sound of squibs going off seem strange but it does give an interesting insight into the way an episode evolves even after filming is complete.

7/10

Hugh and Us is an extended interview with Hugh Lloyd who played Goronwy the bee keeper. Hugh was a massive TV star in the 1960s, in a show called Hugh and I alongside Terry Scott. His career was obviously mostly behind him when John Nathan Turner cast him in Delta and the Bannermen. The effect is like listening to a favourite old uncle telling his war stories – a little dull, yet impossible to ignore and you come out of it knowing something you didn’t know before. Hugh died in 2008, so it stands as a nice little tribute to a stalwart of British TV.

10/10

Clown Court is a series of outtakes from Doctor Who, especially Delta and the Bannermen, presented as a comedy sketch in which Noel Edmunds tries Sylvester McCoy for wasting time on endless retakes. Not a bad idea, but it does prove what a lot of tosh went on TV in the 1980s.

8/10

Stripped for Action is a documentary about the Seventh Doctor era in comic strips including interviews with the editors and writers from Doctor Who Magazine at the time. I, personally, don’t read the magazine, which always seems written by and aimed at 30+ men, so I found it dull, but fans of the comic strips might enjoy it.

6/10

Trails and Continuity is as usual a waste of space. They pay far too much attention to Ken Dodd’s cameo role and forget the main plot. With references to Hi Di Hi and other nonsense, the continuity announcers manage to make the story look like a comedy parody of Doctor Who.

8/10

Photo gallery is a mixture of black and white and colour pictures including screen shots and promotional pictures. Fairly run of the mill stuff.

7/10

This is a very nicely packaged DVD with plenty of interesting extras. The only let down is the comic strip documentary which is frankly boring.

9 out of 10