The story so far…
My latest project is now available to buy from Audible, Amazon and iTunes. It’s a brand new audio sci-fi comedy/drama called ‘The Man from Venus’. I could say I’ve been working on this since last July, but I might also legitimately claim to have been working on it for 25 years! The idea of a full-length sequel to the Mervyn Robinson mockumentary ‘A Day in the Life of a Doctor Who Fan’ came about in 1994. While sinking a few pints with good friends Steve Roberts and Paul Vanezis, they persuaded David Harley (Mervyn’s co-creator and the man who plays him!) and myself to revisit the character.
I wrote the first draft of the script in early 1995. The project attracted the interest of Andrew Beech of Dominitemporal Services, who ran the main British Doctor Who Conventions at the time, and who had also just co-produced the ‘Downtime’ spin-off film. As ‘A Day in the Life…’ had been a popular Saturday night component of various conventions between 1990-95, he saw the potential in such a venture…
Furthermore, in 1996 I had a completed film script ready and was introduced by friend Richard Batsford to a potential producer. Unfortunately, due to the seemingly insurmountable challenges involved in trying to make an independent film, it never got off the ground. However, the would-be film producer and I have now been happily married for almost 21 years!
With the project having been shelved, conceivably forever – flash forward to 2018. While working with the voice actor, Mark Reynolds, and looking for an audio project to produce, I remembered ‘The Man from Venus’.
Having spent a couple of months adapting the script for audio, I set about assembling my brilliant cast including David Harley – the only person who can truly bring Mervyn to life – who was keen to revisit the character. My original casting idea for key character Tracy was Sophie Aldred, in 1995 best known for playing Ace alongside Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who. I got in touch with Sophie, who remembered enjoying ‘A Day in the Life of a Doctor Who Fan’ and, so, enthusiastically joined the cast. I approached Emma Campbell-Jones, best known to the Doctor Who community as Cass, the space pilot in the Paul McGann 50th Anniversary mini-film ‘The Night of the Doctor’, who is playing Vanessa. Mark Reynolds plays (among other parts) the shady medical man Dr Voorhaven, and Ray is played by Alex Edwards, a talented young actor who was nominated for Best Actor at the RTS awards for his role in the popular short film ‘Titanic Love’.
We also have superb mimic Stuart Grant on board. In his professional acting debut, he delivers an outstanding performance as Tom Baker.
With the project approaching completion, I’m so excited to make ‘The Man from Venus’ available for people to hear. Hopefully its blend of humour, drama and sci-fi will hit the right chord. After all, as Mervyn likes to say, “Time and tide waits for no fan!”.
Steve Broster, writer and director
themanfromvenusorg.wordpress.com 