Dr Who goes to the Circus!

To celebrate 50 years of Dr Who, here’s a souvenir of the 7th doctor’s trip to the circus - the Psychic Circus, no less - in the 1989 adventure The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.


Now available on DVD, the four-part adventure is widely acclaimed by Who fans as one of the best to feature Sylvestor McCoy as the Timelord, and as well as a cast of creepy clowns we get to see McCoy perform a range of circus tricks from juggling to escapology.

Whether the scary setting made many young views want to visit the big top is debatable. Sidekick Ace (Sophie Aldred) begins the serial by announcing her fear of clowns and, by the end, the Doctor admits no longer likes them much either!

There’s a Dr Who connection to Circus Mania, by the way. When I was casting around for a title, my eye fell on a calendar featuring Dr Who’s big screen films of the 1960s. It’s title? Dalekmania!

The calendar also inspired my short story, My Dalek Days, which originally appeared in My Weekly with the first in-print mention of Circus Mania. You can read it here... while hiding behind the sofa if you wish!  

The headline says it all!
The World's Fair review of Circus Mania.

Oh, and don't forget to read The Greatest Show On Earth... In A Book! As Circus Mania was described in the fairground newspaper World's Fair!

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.