Fiona said: "In the case of Doctor Who, for instance, the original series was produced by the BBC, as was a spinoff story. These are generally accepted as canon. However, there are also a number of spoofs, parodies and sendups, ranging from "Curse of the Fatal Death" through to sketches by Lenny Henry and the League of Gentlemen. These were also produced by the BBC, and yet anybody attempting to claim them as canon would be laughed off the stage."
Don't you believe it. Dr Who magazine ran a debate in its letters column about whether Curse of the Fatal Death and the crossover one with Eastenders should be regarded as canon, and it has been seriously debated at Dr Who conventions.
Fiona said: "I'm still interested to know what was said to make them canon, other than their being made by the BBC (see above for why this need not count)."
That was it really. The over-riding argument that makes them canon is that they are official BBC Blake's 7 productions broadcast over the BBC network.
I see on a later post that Una claims the Curse of the Fatal Death to be canon - doesn't that mean we have now run oput of doctors.
-- cheers Steve Rogerson http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson
Redemption 03, 21-23 February 2003, Ashford, Kent The 25th Anniversary Blake's 7 Convention The 10th Anniversary Babylon 5 Convention http://www.smof.com/redemption