Band to play gig in Doctor Who village East Hagbourne

BBC News

5 hours ago

"I suspect my childhood love of Doctor Who has had a huge bearing on where I've ended up living."Life-long Whovian Tim Masters lives just down the road from the picturesque Oxfordshire village of East Hagbourne, where Tom Baker's Time Lord once battled villainous aliens.Musician Tim is now organising a special live gig to commemorate 50 years since the filming of the four-part story The Android Invasion.He tells the BBC: "I thought, well, I'm in a space rock band, I live in the area, and it would be almost rude not to mark it in some way."
His band Lunar Kites, whose influences include Hawkwind, Muse, and Pink Floyd, will play Hagbourne Village Hall on Sunday.Tim, 60, formed the band in 2023, with other members hailing from Lewknor, Witney, Didcot, and Oxford."After I finished working I thought what am I going to do with my life now?" Tim explains."I thought I'm going to go back to what I loved doing as a teenager and form a rock band, and that's exactly what happened."
Tim's love of Doctor Who goes much further back. His "first proper memory" of the programme is of evil mannequins gunning down innocent shoppers in Jon Pertwee's Doctor Who debut."I was a very imaginative child and I think it absolutely clicked with me," he says."I just love the endless invention of the show, the way it can refresh itself and it can literally do anything, go anywhere, at any time."That is a format which is just gold, and there's no other show that can do that."
In July 1975 the human race was targeted again, as the monstrous Kraals touched down in East Hagbourne - named Devesham in the show - with a devious plan to replace all the villagers with robots.Filming took place around the distinctive Upper Cross monument, the Fleur de Lys pub, and outside the Post Office.The story featured a particular scene that terrified youngsters, as the Doctor's companion Sarah Jane took a tumble, revealing her true android face.
Tim, who lives in neighbouring village West Hagbourne, calls the filming location "beautiful". He adds: "I'm always struck by how gorgeous it is... it's almost unchanged from when it appeared in the episode, it's almost identical. "I think that's part of the beauty of it, it's a very timeless, archetypical English village."The site has since become a place of pilgrimage for dedicated Doctor Who fans."You will often see people walking around in long scarves, posing on the village monument, and hanging out in the local pub," Tim explains. "If you go into the Fleur de Lys today they've got photos up on the wall of Tom Baker meeting all the local kids."
Despite his fond memories of The Android Invasion, which averaged 11.6 million viewers half a century ago, Tim concedes quietly: "It's actually not that good.""The stories are all absolute bangers in that season so The Android Invasion does actually look a bit weak."But its first episode is amazing. I'd happily show that to any non-fan as an example of a really good Doctor Who story because it's full of mystery."
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