A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEHIND THE SOFA

by Mark Iles

In the beginning was Sci Fi Soc or, if you prefer, the Bristol University Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. This had been running for several years with varying degrees of success. In 1991 one of the society's members, Ross Parish, a Dagenham-born first-year Biology student who had up until now been providing the society with obscure Doctor Who videos, decided that there was a slight gap in the market, and took it upon himself to create a breakaway society completely devoted to Doctor Who.

In early 1992, armed with a list of about forty people who were interested in joining the society (the required number to form an affiliated society under Students' Union rules), he approached the Union. They gave him the go-ahead, and in the Summer term of 1992, the society began showing videos on Tuesday and Thursday nights to anyone who wanted to turn up. The first stories to be aired were the surviving Cybermen stories ('Tomb' was not yet available at this point) - BEHIND THE SOFA had been born.

The original committee at this point (and for the next year) were:

Interesting facts about the original committee:

  1. Two of the committee members, Andy and Bex, never actually turned up to any meetings. This was because Ross had just draughted in his friends to fill vacant positions on the society's committee.
  2. Bex, although supposedly the Editor, had nothing to do with the production of the first issue of the society's magazine, 'Nestene Intelligence' (or Inteligence, as it said on the cover!). It was, in fact, produced by Andy and Ross, working solidly over one weekend on Andy's PC, with Sprint Pizza breaks every few hours. Leo tried to help with some photocopying, but the copier 'gave him hassle'.
  3. Leo's father is none other than Dave Martin of 'Claws of Axos' (and many others) fame - one of Doctor Who's most prolific writers.
  4. Nick was co-founder of the fondly-remembered, if short-lived, Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things. Their activities included a meal out in full dinner jacket regalia at Flipper, a local greasy spoon cafe; a trip to a famous tree in the middle of nowhere (they stood around for a few minutes, then trekked back home); and a tour of the local carpet shops.
  5. Ross eventually ran for Union President, but unfortunately for the society's annual grant, didn't get elected.
The next year carried on swimmingly and the first issue of Nestene Intelligence was produced, including a Tom Baker Retrospective, 1001 Things to do with your Dalek, Shada - the Unfinished Story, Doctor Who Visits Bristol, and Kevin Anorak Says 'Did You Know...'. Lots of new first years joined, among them the future committee for 1993-94. They were:

When they (we) took over, the society was looking a bit shabby. No magazine had been produced since the first one, and none of the committee bothered turning up anymore. Fresh blood brought new impetus, however. The committee vowed to produce a twice-termly magazine (four were issued that year) and they got in contact with publishers Titan and Virgin, who agreed to send review copies of new Doctor Who books whenever possible. The Union grant given to the society increased, and membership went up by thirty percent. Nestene Intelligence even garnered a favourable review in DWB (now known as DreamWatch) issue 130:

"Nestene Intelligence, a Bristol University fanzine with a few too many in-references for external consumption, but a nice line in French covers", followed by a photo of our Edition Francaise, L'Intelligence de Nestene, le magazine de Derriere le Divan, le societe de Medecin Qui.

Some interesting and little known facts about this committee:

  1. Gareth has, in fact, met Peter Davison, Mark Strickson and Terrance Dicks, when he won a Target Books competition to visit the set of Doctor Who, and saw them filming 'Warriors From the Deep'. Terrance Dicks gave him a couple of signed Target books over lunch.
  2. Mark used to live down the road from Patrick Troughton, and would often see him in the post office, picking up his pension. He looked pretty scruffy and lived above a petrol station, overlooking a park, fact fiends.
  3. Mike is Welsh.
  4. Dave owns all but three of the Target novelisations.
The reigns of the society were handed over the next Easter to the exciting, and slightly smaller, new committee:

Riveting facts about the committee for 1994-95:

  1. Ian managed to produce only one issue of Nestene Intelligence before getting bored, and not bothering to do any more.
  2. Wiggy left after being insulted in the magazine by Ian. He was replaced by Dave, who thus became the first person to have been on the committee two years running.
  3. Dan Salter can fly planes, and his dad was almost in a Bon Jovi video.
  4. Dan's middle names are Gwynne and St.Clair! He apparently goes weak at the knees if the words 'Zoe Heriot' are whispered softly in his ear..!
A pretty successful year followed (despite the lack of magazines), including a meal out (at the society's expense) at the Spaghetti Tree. At the end of the year, Mark Iles and Dan Salter also set up a page for the society on the World Wide Web (that's this, folks!). Dan had the bright idea of transcribing scripts of missing episodes from the audio copies and putting on the web page, and within months the society's page had become a major site on the Internet for the missing Doctor Who scripts.

At the end of the year, the society was handed over to a new, and even more exciting than ever before, committee:

Facts about them...

  1. Amy almost appeared on Channel 4's "The Crystal Maze", and her grandad once played cricket with W.G.Grace.
  2. Huw is Welsh, and isn't actually a student at Bristol University (shhhh!) His beard once went white overnight and he had to shave it all off.
  3. Richard was also almost on "The Crystal Maze", and can recite every episode title of Red Dwarf. He became "famous" with an appearance on Turnabout last year, and will soon be a contestant on Chain Letters.
  4. Colin promised himself never again, not in a million years. Unfortunately, we nobbled the voting so that he couldn't escape quite that easily.
Membership of the society increased by 20% for this year - mainly thanks to Amy and Leon persuading all their flatmates to join! The video evenings and web page also continued to go from strength to strength, and at the AGM on March 7th, 1996, the committee for the next year were elected. These then are the lucky souls who are now running the society:

Ever more fascinating facts about this lot...

  1. Amy thus becomes the first female President in the society's 5 year history. She apparently is the first President to wear a skirt, although we do wonder about some of her predecessors...
  2. Simon is also a closet Welshman, thus keeping up a worrying trend on the committee. He also claims 'Jo Grant is a top babe', 'McCoy was underrated', and 'Dudley Moore would have been a brilliant Doctor.' That Welsh ancestry coming out again...
  3. Colin, however, is just a Welsh closet. His spare time is spent up the rear end of horses. (Pantomime variety!)
  4. John has floppy hair, but we don't hold it against him.
The future of the society is in their hands. Feels different this time...