Back in the day, when I was known as Elaine Bull, when the Doctor Who fan market was rife with a variety of fanzines, it was very easy to become inspired and involved in it all. Of course, fandom didn’t just stop at printed text fanzines - oh no, it even made its way onto cassette tape and, in some cases, VHS. And so the Tapezine was born.

I'd had the very good fortune of contributing to a small selection of fanzines, either writing articles, stories or doing the odd cartoon under the title A Load Of Ole Bull. So, when I was asked to contribute to Nick Goodman’s tapezine Rayphase Shift or RPS for short, I jumped at the chance of doing articles and the occasional piece of cover art.

There were a lot of very witty and imaginative people working on RPS and I never really felt I was quite up to their standard. However, it was good learning ground and I enjoyed recording again, having caught the bug as a small child and progressing to ventures on tape with my good childhood friends, Helen Green and Deborah O’Reilly - the latter having the production title of A Load of Bull and O’Reilly and consisting of drama and song.

Finding myself getting into this whole world of Fan Audio, I decided in the early 1990s to have a go at making a tapezine myself. However, I felt that unless I could come up with a totally original angle for mine, it might not be different enough from the other Doctor Who tapezines in the ever-growing market. So the idea of making a cult TV tapezine came to mind and seemed the best option. Of course, back in 1987, the Sonic Waves Media Magazine had appeared, but I was totally unaware of this production until much later, as I had only really got into fandom that very year.

Spotlight arrived at a time of change: Doctor Who was no longer on TV and fans were more open to wallow in programmes other than Who. Prior to Spotlight arriving, another tapezine covering TV in general was in the pipeline, Power, which was being devised by my now husband, Keith Musselwhite. However, this ultimately never saw the light of day and so in December 1992/January 1993, Spotlight was born.

The tape cover of Issue 1 depicted a Cyberman waiting in the Casualty department of Holby City - Doctor Who would never be far away from my tapezine. I had the fortune of having a good number of contributors, some of whom had worked on RPS and others for whom Spotlight was their first experience of working on a tapezine. Even my young nephews made the occasional appearance.

The back covers of each issue would sport some text which would reflect the content of that issue. For instance, Issue 4 proclaimed that listeners should “boldly go and plug yourself into Issue 4. It’s incredible Captain!” and Issue 6 stated that “you are invited to 90 minutes of fun. A stranger lies dead at Arlington Grange, but that’s their problem…”

During its three year, fifteen issue tenure, Spotlight covered a wide variety of television programmes, including The Changes, Henry’s Cat, Sapphire and Steel and Top Of The Pops to name just a few. It was also a platform for home-made dramas and stories including Nick Goodman and Paul Chandler's Sutton Park, Prison In The Sun, Andy Ching’s story, The Last Experiment and a couple of short stories based on Blake’s Seven by my good self! The majority of the contributors were based around the UK and in America, so it wasn’t always feasible for us to get together during the week for the recording of each issue. However, the articles would be sent in by post and I would then set to work putting the articles together with links and fillers on my 'Super Dooper Woofer' in my then-bedroom of the family home. Occasionally, the tapezine would get a holiday and be recorded in exotic places around England - even the Sixth Doctor, actor Colin Baker, appears on one of the issues and claimed he listened to each issue whilst driving his car.

Issue 15 was not the intended ending for Spotlight. Issue 16 had already gone into production, but 1996 saw a lot of changes in my personal life and other priorities had to come first, and so, Issue 16 was never completed. A few times over the years, I have considered doing a proper finale for Spotlight, but felt that maybe it was best left alone. However, I could be wrong!

And so, Spotlight came to an end in April 1996. Happy days and times. I’d like to thank those who inspired me, contributed and supported Spotlight during its run. So, thank you…You know who you are…Yes, back in the day… What a day that was…..lasted just over 3 years!!!

Elaine Musselwhite, Editor, Spotlight

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