Dr Who has in recent years had a resurgence in popularity with the new BBC episodes showing every year. Back in the 80’s, there was a demand to see Dr Who games – but not that many were actually ever released.
One such game that was planned for the C64 was a conversion of the BBC Micro text adventure, Dr Who and the Warlord. The game was scheduled for release in the summer of 1984 but never quite made it for reasons we are yet to discover.
The game was based on a completely new plot written by an ex-producer and came in two parts covering around 250 locations. The first part takes place on an unknown planet where, to find the Doctor, you must outwit lurking androids and King Varaga’s Blood Guards. The second part has you transported back in time to the Battle of Waterloo, whre you must defeat Napoleon and the evil Warlord himself.
The game featured real time, a help facility and the ability to save your last position and stop the clock if you need a tea break. The game was to use Novaload to ensure loading of saved games was as fast as possible.
In addition to the C64 version, a Spectrum version was also under way – and had the same fate befell it. Did the BBC company decide to pull out and show support purely for their own BBC Micro platform?
Contributor Strident reveals that sadly the producer passed away in 1990, but revealed who programmed the BBC Micro edition. Maybe they were also involved on the C64 conversion? The game was also later re-released via Acorn User magazine as “The Warlord”, with all references removed.
We were informed also that Meyer Solomon sadly passed away in November 2013, after rellocating to USA in 1988.
We would be interested to find out more, and see if this even got started. It would be a great find if we could find it, maybe as important as finding a lost Dr Who episode!
Contributions: Strident
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Meyer Solomon, BBC Software Editor relocated to the USA in 1988, and passed away in November 2013.
Hi Marisa, I’m very sorry to hear this. Thank you for letting us know, I will update the page to reflect this.
Graham Williams, the Doctor Who producer that was involved with the game, sadly died in 1990.
Peter Voke programmed (and presumably also co-designed) the adventure. The BBC micro version of the game got a second release, with all the Doctor Who references removed, as The Warlord, through Acorn User.
Thanks Strident, have updated the entry credits and added a bit more detail based on your comments.