Graeme Harper

[Chris227]

Any thoughts on him? He's the only director to work on both WHO series. A participant in several older WHO stories (He was one of the faces of Morbius or the Doctor in BRAIN OF MORBIUS), He contributed a lot direction-wise to Warrior's gate and directed Caves of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks. While "Caves" is really the major classic of the three stories he was involved directorally in, there's no doubting that WG and ROTD had a cool style to them that set them apart from the regular WHO of old.

For the new series, he's done all the Cybermen stories so far, 42, Utopia, Planet of the Ood, Unicorn and the Wasp and the three episodes at the end of season 4. His work doesn't quite stand out as much in the new series IMO....but it's still good work.

 

[Stevil2001]

Somewhere I read a review of him that said he's been doing the same type of work all along-- but what was new and different in 1986 is a bit old hat in 2006. But still, he does some great work, particularly "Doomsday", "Utopia", and "Turn Left".

 

[ITL]

His work on modern WHO is fine, but not outstanding, IMO. But he gets huge props for The Caves Of Androzani - one of my all-time favourite serials (Shocking, I know!). He played a big part in making it what it was.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I love Graeme Harper. He's easily one of the best Doctor Who directors, classic or new.

 

[captcalhoun]

i think he's directed some good episodes. he strikes me as being ... workmanlike. he's not flashy John Woo-style, he just gets things done and done well.

 

[diankra]

i think he's directed some good episodes. he strikes me as being ... workmanlike. he's not flashy John Woo-style, he just gets things done and done well.

That's an interesting angle....
If you read the scripts for The Caves of Androzani, it's very obvious that what Graeme Harper did turned a good script into one of the half-dozen best stories of the original 26 year run.
On being workmanlike in the new series... yep, I can see what you mean - he's delivered some superb setpiece moments, but nothing with the auteur feel of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks.

BUT! The crucial difference is that on most of the old series, you were directing 'live', multi-camera. The recordings could be edited later, and inserts dropped in, but 80% of it happened during the takes. The producer could cut stuff, but it stood and fell on what the director had done on the day.
The new series is single camera, more like a US filmed TV series, so the style comes out of the edit. And that means the producers have far more of an input into the final result than they would have in a Harper-directed story from the original series (or, come to that, a Harper directed film).

 

[captcalhoun]

don't remember Caves. i was only about 6 or 7...

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Then get the DVD! It was one of my first Doctor Who DVD purchases.