At last! It has finally happened. My book on the classic TV serial The Quatermass Experiment, 36 years in the making, will finally touch down on May 12th. It is published by Ten Acre films – the limited edition hardback has sold out but the standard edition is available for pre-order here. It will launch twice – first in Manchester on May 11th at 53Two, with a Q & A hosted by Abby Cook from Blue Peter. There are a few tickets still available for this so get them here. Then it’s off to London on May 19th and the BFI, where, despite them moving to a space twice the size, I am afraid it has sold out. This book is the result of years of research, including writing to cast and crew and delving into archives, and is essentially my life’s work. There’s a little trailer here.

In fact I feature on the both current Doctor Who physical media releases because I also present Remembering/Forgetting The Savages, a deep dive into one of the least well-remembered Doctor Who stories. Producer Stuart Denman has done an amazing job on this – and it’s longer than the story itself! Amazing! This will feature on the forthcoming animated recreation of this lost story: it’s premiering at the BFI on the 28th February (I’ll be there) and is released on 24th March 2025. I also host the commentary, chatting to actors Kay Patrick, the late Robert Sidaway and Peter Purves, as well as floor assitant Julian Aston, about their work on the story.

On location for The Savages

.My Radio 4 Extra show Surviving Doctor Who:  An A-Z  is now available to buy on physical media! And it bears the legend “Presented by Jo Whiley & Toby Hadoke”.

Oh, and there are some more Thomas & Friends in the can, so Toby the Tram Engine will ride once more.

My monthly comedy night – Testing, Testing – at the fabulous 53Two venue in Manchester City Centre, has been going great guns. We never announce who is going to turn up but so far we have had Sarah Millican, Justin Moorhouse, Colin Hoult, Gary Delaney, Nick Doody, Amy Gledhill, Rob Rouse, Daliso Chaponda and many more pop in. There are some great line-ups coming up too: TV names aplenty.  It will showcase the very best circuit acts trying out their new material in a friendly environment on the last Sunday of the month. As ever with the stuff I do it is accessible, low cost and friendly. The 53Two website is here – follow the link for tickets. 

With Jonny Pelham, Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney at Testing, Testing. It’s a new material night in Manchester which I will compere on the last Sunday of every month.

XS Malarkey – my award-winning, Manchester-based comedy club – continues to provide great value laughter for a very small entry fee.  It is now based full time, and every Tuesday at 53Two. We’ve had a great year this year and are even doing a New Year’s Eve Show with Phil Ellis, Josh Jones, and Bethany Black. We have some fantastic acts coming up, including Harriet Kemsley, Stuart Goldsmith, Athena Kugblenu, Lucy Pearman and many more. Find out more about the clubhere. 

With Colin Hoult, Hayley Ellis and Joe Lycett at XS Malarkey (on the road!)

My podcasts are going strong – and I did some special eiditions to tie in with the broadcast episodes of the latest series. They were written in a very small time window but have had some excellent feedback. They have clocked up over 500, 000 downloads across 350 episodes which I am told is very good! They are all about Doctor Who : there’s Too Much Information (a fact-filled, episode-by-episode breakdown), Indefinable Magic (whimsical vocal essays inspired by some random aspect of the the show), and Happy Times and Places (commentaries with the aim of positivity). They are released under the blanket title of Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels. The podcast version is now also on You Tube and all the usual podcast places. My You Tube channel is here. My Podbean podcast page is here. My Patreon Page is here.

 

And here’s the general stuff about me if you’re interested (which I’m guessing you might be as you are here, so thanks!):

My one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe before embarking on a national tour, international dates and a West End run. The radio version was released on CD by the BBC and was nominated for a Sony Award. The follow-up – My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver –  joined its predecessor for a double bill at the Garrick Theatre in 2013. My radio work includes afternoon plays, a Fright Night presentation and topical comedy and has been nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award. For TV I have written for children’s series Biff and Chip.

I am a regular performer at the Comedy Store, Manchester and was the Wednesday night MC at the 99 Club Leicester Square for a decade, and have been resident compere at the award-winning XS Malarkey comedy club for 27 years.

I also like old TV and can spot a character actor in a crowd from space. I have written about such passions for national newspapers and magazines, and spoken about them on documentaries and TV news programmes. My podcast, Toby Hadoke’s Who’s Round, has run to over 250 episodes, and my latest effort, Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels, has hit 300, 000 downloads.

But I’m an actor really. I have appeared in Holby City, An Adventure in Space and Time, Phoenix Nights, The Forsyte Saga, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Casualty 1907, the 2020 feature film Six Minutes to Midnight and dozens of radio plays.