39 years ago, writer Steve Parkhouse and artist John Ridgway together changed Doctor Who comic strips forever with the mythical, ethereal VOYAGER. We reunite the two creators to talk lighthouses at the end of the world, talking penguins, vengeful gods and coal-fired time machines.

Steve Parkhouse - “I knew nothing about the new Doctor, so I employed my usual method of introducing characters who orbit around him. In the case of Frobisher, I had read an article about the technical manoeuvrings of a space capsule."

Steve continues - "Astronauts refer to something called a ‘whifferdill’, meaning an unconventional manoeuvre. I also had an image in mind of a frozen sailing ship at the South Pole. My unconscious mind struggled to make connections between these elements and came up with a penguin. Don’t ask me why”.

John Ridgway - “The episodic nature of this storytelling was a factor in its genesis, too. You must remember that the story was in monthly episodes, so, while working on a month’s episode, I didn’t know what was coming next. As such I could have no idea, that it would form a graphic novel or that my work would have much impact. Throughout my period on Doctor Who, there were those who loved Frobisher and those who hated him.”

John continues - “It’s all a long time ago, but I remember that there were several occasions on which I had only telephoned notes to work from rather than a script and no idea of the dialogue. The success of these stories was as much about visual interpretation as plotting, whether from phoned-in details or lengthy descriptors. I knew that the Voyager had to be a powerful, dark mysterious figure. He followed on from that”.

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