The decline of Doctor Who in the 1980's

Doctor Who is the world's longest running science fiction series. It began at 5.20PM on Saturday the 23rd of November 1963, it ended ( at least in its BBC London incarnation ) at 7.58PM on the 6th of December 1989, a total of 26 years. I aim to try and prove that the BBC caused the shows downfall by a series of blunders and carefully planned moves in the 1980's.







Originally Doctor Who had been aimed at children but as the years went on it turned into a family show, and a show that began to build up a substantial fan base. Initially the show had appealed to people because there was nothing else like it, but it wasn't the show that had initially captured the publics interest. Indeed the ratings for the first five weeks of transmission in 1963 had been decisively average compared to its immanent future, with the show pulling in an average of 6 million viewers per episode. However in the second Doctor Who story ( 6 weeks into the season ), something was introduced that would push Doctor Who ratings up considerably, The Daleks. By the time the 7 part Dalek story had finished the series ratings had almost doubled. Almost 11 million people tuning in. Doctor Who was now without doubt a resounding success. There were also several other factors that can account for the series success. The 1950`s had seen a tremendous growth in science fiction. Man had turned his attention to getting into space. This had captured the publics imagination and there was a huge demand for science fiction. In 1953 the BBC had taken the unheard of step of commissioning a six part science fiction serial by the name of " The Quatermass Experiment ", this serial was a huge success and the BBC commissioned a new science fiction serial nearly every year after that. Doctor Who followed on from this popularity, and the first Doctor perhaps looked more like a mad scientist than a Timelord from Gallifrey ( a fact that only came to light over ten years after the series had began ). Doctor Who also seemed to reflect a certain British way of life. The Doctor fought for what was right and his values seem to have been very British. This was emphasised by the way he dressed, for example the fifth Doctors Victorian cricketing clothes. Another reason Doctor Who was a success is defined by Tom Baker, in an interview in 1974.







" Doctor Who is watched at different levels in an average household. The smallest child terrified behind the sofa, or under a cushion. And the next one up laughing at him, and the elder one going ' shhh I want to listen ' and the parent saying isn`t this enjoyable. "







Tom Baker interviewed in 1974 taken from the BBC television programme, Doctor Who: 30 Years In The TARDIS.







As the years progressed Doctor Who became more adult in content as its audience grew up with the show. Children still watched it though and several scenes from the 1970`s era of the show were heavily criticised by Mary Whitehouse for being to violent and giving children nightmares. In 1971, she had complained about the Jon Pertwee story ` Terror of the Autons `. This had depicted a plastic substance that could be made into everyday objects, once activated by a radio signal this plastic would take on murderous qualities, such as plastic daffodils that, once activated, would spray plastic over the nose, and mouth ,of any person who got too close. At this time, many households had plastic daffodils and Mrs Whitehouse claimed that this gave small children nightmares. However her biggest complaint was to come in 1976. An episode of Doctor Who called ` The Deadly Assassin ` had shown the Doctor having a rather violent fight. At one point, the Doctors opponent was set on fire, and the episode ended with a shot of the Doctor drowning:







" One particular program , I can still see it in my minds eye. Where Doctor Who, the final shot, of the episode, was Doctor Who, drowning. These sorts of images, the final shots of the program, with the image that was left in the mind of the child, for a whole week "



Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewer and Listener Association taken from the BBC television program, Doctor Who: 30 Years In The TARDIS.







However, a future Doctor Who script writer would view the series`s portrayal of violence differently:







" Violence in Doctor Who is very difficult. The Doctor is involved in adventures that deal with violent people. and sometimes the only way to deal with violence is to, unfortunately, is to be violent in return "







Eric Saward taken from the BBC television program, Doctor Who: 30 Years in the TARDIS





In fact, Doctor Who in the mid-seventies was quite violent. This was partly to do with the fact that the Producer of the show at this time, Philip Hinchcliffe, actively encouraged more violence:







" The new, more adult style was welcomed and actively encouraged by Philip Hinchcliffe, who shared his script editors view that there ought to be, in tandem with the change of Doctor, a change of direction for the series as a whole: "







The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor







Doctor Who Script Editor of the day, Robert Holmes, would later defend the series in an interview by Jean Rook in the Daily Express:







" Of course its no longer a children's programme. Parents would be terribly irresponsible to leave a six year-old to watch it alone "







Robert Holmes interviewed by Jean Rook in The Daily Express, 11th of February 1977 taken from The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor







The Production team no longer intended to aim the show at children, as they felt that the show should move onwards. They wanted a more realistic show with a harder edge, and the shows broadcast time was also moved to after 6.00PM to prevent young children from inadvertently watching it, although as Mrs Whitehouse was quick to point out, this was no guarantee that young children would not be watching it. Holmes and Hinchcliffe were aiming for a suspenseful and almost Gothic style show. But the drowning scene in `The Deadly Assassin" had been the final straw. Mary Whitehouse won a written apology from the Director of the BBC, which was unusual as the BBC didn't usually like to talk about ,or even to her and her self appointed body of watchdogs. Eventually Hinchcliffe would be moved on and a new Producer would be brought in with a brief, to get rid of the horror aspect that had crept into the show.







As the years went by not only was Doctor Who a success in Britain but the BBC succeeded in exporting it to foreign countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and even America. The shows appeal was slightly different in each country. In Britain it had been the Daleks that had initially given Doctor Who the push it needed to sustain a good audience, and over the years it had sustained its audiences to a varying degree by becoming more or less of a viewing habit. Parents felt their children would be safe watching it, and they felt a bit of healthy fear may do them good. In America the show became a success on the nations various PBS ( Public Broadcasting Stations ) stations due to it being vastly different to the American science-fiction series such as Star Trek.







The format of Doctor Who was more flexible than any other Science Fiction Show. Over its 26 years on television it embraced all genres apart from the musical. Some stories were hard-core science fiction set in the future in space, some were murder mysteries set in the past on earth, and even full costume dramas with a science-fiction edge were all used. The best example of Doctor Who embracing different genres was a story called `Mark of the Rani`. This story was set during the time of the Luddite uprisings during the industrial revolution and used an open air museum as a location resulting in a feeling of very high production values. The story looks and feels like a high budget costume drama, but was actually relativity low budget science fiction. Most other science fiction television programs, such as Star Trek, cannot embrace as many different genres as Doctor Who could due to the Doctors ability to travel in time, as well as space.







As the years progressed Doctor Who had to change in order to stay popular. Some of the changes were more obvious such as the change to colour in 1970 but some were not. As time went on the role of the companion changed. The companion was still there for the younger viewers to identify with but now tended to scream less and use her brain more, this is reflected in the way a typical companion was originally outlined before casting took place:







" Glamorous young female intelligence agent newly attached to UNIT. Keen professional, lots of charm. Works with the Doctor. Needs to be involved in the story in an active way, not just as a screaming heroine or passing the Doctor's test tubes. Not a scientist, though with enough basic background to know what's going on. "







Original outline of the character of Joe Grant taken from Doctor Who: The Seventies.







The production team obviously wanted the companions to become more intelligent, but perhaps due to bad writing on the writers part they nearly always fell back into the, screaming helpless companion act, although the companions did generally become more assertive and intelligent. The screaming companion seemed to be an easy way out for writers who seemed hard pressed to think up an original ending to an episode. What easier way to end an episode than with the companion getting into trouble and then screaming such as Mel did during Terror of the Vervoids ( part of the Trial of a Timelord season ).







The companions even became aggressive as was exemplified by Leela in the mid seventies. But by the mid eighties the companions had again fallen into the trap of being helpless and screaming for the Doctors help. This may have proved potentially damaging to the show at a time when more and more professional women were entering business and may have made the show seem old fashioned. Over the years the companions costumes had always been, as John Nathan-Turner put it " something for the Dads ". In the early eighties, when Peter Davison was the Doctor, Nathan-Turner had at first decided that it would be better that the companions should be more covered up, due to the fact that Davison was closer to the age of his companions than any previous Doctor. However this soon changed and the companions again started wearing rather skimpy outfits on occasions. This did not change until around 1986 when Bonnie Langford came into the role of Mel. But what Mel lacked in skimpy outfits she more than made up for in screaming, and she became intensely unpopular with many casual British viewers and even fans as she seemed to confirm the stereotype of the companion who screams at every opportunity:







"As for Bonzo Langford, she was never popular before, during or after appearing in



doctor who ! What a mistake she was !!! (Sorry, Bonnie, you're probably a



nice girl, but steer clear of acting !) "







Simon R. Mills in an email







This would not be rectified until the introduction of Ace in 1987. Ace was a streetwise teenager from the 1980`s who didn't scream or wear skimpy outfits. Finally it seemed that here we had a companion who broke away from the stereotype and even became a well-rounded character in her own right, with several stories based around her, such as Ghostlight, where the Doctor takes Ace back to a house in 1883, that she had set fire to in 1983 in order for her to face her fear.







As the first new season of the 1980`s began, it became apparent that Doctor Who had changed considerably. A new producer had been appointed. His name was John Nathan-Turner and he was determined to make his mark on the show. In the late seventies he had been working on Doctor Who in the guise of Production Unit Manager and he had witnessed a large increase in the amount of humour in the show, which could partly be attributed to the fact that Douglas Adams had been the shows script editor for the 1979 - 80 season, and the fact that Tom Baker had been exerting more and more control over the shows content. However Nathan-Turner with the backing of his Executive Producer Barry Letts ( a past Doctor Who Producer himself ) ,cracked down on Bakers excesses. This would lead to Baker becoming increasingly unhappy with Nathan-Turner and would later lead to Baker asking to leave at the end of the season. In the meantime the new season looked vastly different to what had gone before it. John Nathan-Turner had commissioned a new title sequence and updated theme tune to make the show feel more up to data. He was also able to win a small increase in budget allowing him to give the show a more polished feel. Although the shows budget was still its major constraint as this would limit how many actors could be hired, how much location filming could take place, how big the sets could be and how many sets you could have, amongst many other things. Doctor Who had an audience that had ever increasing expectations regarding special effects. After the audience had seen `Star Wars` in the late seventies the publics awareness of what was possible had been raised. Doctor Who had to live up to these expectations, but since it was only a television program with a relatively small budget it had to do the best it could. However the video effects had advanced somewhat over previous years with the introduction of the Quantel video effects system that the BBC had purchased. This system would provide the video effects for Doctor Who right up until 1987. Nathan - Turner also introduced almost uniform like costumes for the Doctor and his companions. Instead of the companions wearing different cloths from story to story they now wore the same uniform-like cloths throughout their tenures. Even Tom Bakers familiar costume had been changed much to his displeasure. These changes in costume were implemented by John Nathan-Turner in order to give the characters more marketing appeal, in that the characters would have a more readily identifiable look. However, Doctor Who now had a problem on its hands, it had been pushed back by twenty five minutes to a 5.20 PM time slot and on top of that suddenly faced a glitzy high budget sci-fi show on ITV by the name of " Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century ". Doctors Whos ratings were appalling and dropped as low as 3.7 million viewers ,compared to the high of 16.1 million the previous season. This problem would not be resolved until the next season when the BBC would move Doctor Who away from its traditional Saturday night slot to a new twice weekly 7.00PM slot, proving at this stage they were still highly committed to the series.







" There is no law that dictates that when the Doctor regenerates, he shouldn't turn into a woman. I don't see any reason to suppose that the Doctor should always be played by a man "







John Nathan-Turner in an interview from 1980 taken from " The Doctors 30 Years Of Time Travel "







In fact John Nathan-Turner had no intention of casting a woman at all. He speculated that the new Doctor might be a women in order to gain valuable publicity, something that he used much of throughout his tenure as Producer. In actual fact Nathan-Turner had already selected Tom Bakers replacement, Peter Davison. Davison had already established himself as a well known actor in the BBC TV series All Creatures Great And Small. Davison had been selected by Nathan-Turner to give as larger contrast from the previous Doctor as possible. Davison`s Doctor would be a quiet and unassuming character. He would also be more vulnerable, which would allow writers to give the feeling that the Doctor might not always pull through and defeat the bad guys . Another Nathan-Turner innovation was having three companions aboard the TARDIS. In fact, the Doctor having three companions accompanying him was nothing new as this had happened as far back as 1963, but this had been more to do with the fact that the first Doctor ( William Hartnell ) was old and frail and hence couldn't do much running around, and therefore the companions had to more or less deal with any action required. However with Davison being only 29 this was not a problem and hence the casting of three companions was intriguing. All three companions were introduced towards the end of Tom Bakers tenure and indeed only two companions were supposed to be long term. John Nathan-Turner had intended the character of Nyssa to be written out fairly quickly. However Nathan-Turner soon found he had a problem on his hands, for Peter Davison had grown fond of the character of Nyssa and complained when Nathan-Turner first said it was time for her to leave:







" Sarah's [ the actress who played Nyssa ] was meant to be the first character to go, and she was meant to go fairly early. This is the influence that I've had on Doctor Who: I managed to keep her on for as long as possible "







Peter Davison interviewed by Stephen Collins in April 1983 for Zerinza Issue 30/31 taken from The Handbook: The Fifth Doctor.







However Nathan-Turner had other ideas, he wanted the character of Tegan to play the female lead companion but sought to appease Davison in the meantime by keeping the character of Nyssa on. The other two companions were Tegan and Adric. Davison was not particularly fond of either character and constantly showed this by expressing preference for the character of Nyssa in interviews:







" The character of Nyssa has been my favourite Doctor Who companion"







Peter Davison interviewed by Stephen Collins in April 1983 for Zerinza Issue 30/31 taken from The Handbook: The Fifth Doctor







There were several problems with having three companions in the TARDIS. It was difficult to keep all of them occupied in a story and therefore it was often the case that the stories narrative suffered because there was simply not enough plots in a story to go around. This resulted in the character of Nyssa, in ` Earthshock ` of spending most of the time waiting around inside the TARDIS whilst the Doctor and his two other companions were off in the thick of the action:







" With four people aboard the TARDIS, you can have two storylines going and you can have plenty of dialogue. Or you can have four storylines, with the regulars speaking only to non regulars. Its a useful device but, like everything, after a time it begins to bore. Keeping four characters on the air throughout the story can be a difficult responsibility "







John Nathan-Turner interviews in Starlog in 1982. Taken from The Handbook: The Fifth Doctor.







The character of Adric was eventually killed off and Nyssa left a few months later. Nathan-Turner had realised that the idea of three companions just did not work, and eventually returned to one companion after experimenting with two.







Davison`s first season did quite well in the ratings doing as well as 10.4 million viewers. The re-scheduling seemed to be a success, although the new twice weekly time slot could be said to have had possible damaging effects. In the 1960`s Doctor Who had run more or less all year round because the show had basically originally been designed to fill a gap between the end of `Grandstand` and the beginning of Juke Box Jury. What ever the BBC showed in the gap had to be popular and get good ratings all year round and so when Doctor Who filled this gap it was intended that it would run all year round. But it would prove impossible to do this due to the pressure of work on the actors involved, so the show only ran for 42 weeks in its first year. But with the introduction of colour in 1970 Doctor Who was cut to 24 episodes a year, for budgetary reasons ( colour filming cost a great deal more than black and white did ). When John Nathan-Turner took over in 1979 he managed to win an increase in episodes from 24, to 28 episodes. He did this so he could broadcast seven, four part stories. This was to avoid having to show six, for part stories and one, six part story. Nathan-Turner believed that the best length for a story was four parts. The episode count was reduced to 26 episodes for Davison`s tenure. But from 1970 - 79 Doctor Who had been on the air for 24 weeks a year, so it was in the public eye much more. But now the show was being shown twice weekly it meant that the public would only be exposed to the show for 13 weeks a year. This could be damaging as perhaps public awareness of the show may go down. Of course the twice weekly showings of Doctor Who just meant that the shows seasons were more concentrated, but being out of the publics eye for much of the year could only be bad for a show that was in a fragile state from its previous season and this situation would also have grave implications for later years.







Davison`s first season was reported on by the BARB Audience Measurement Service:







" Although only about one in seven of those reporting found the latest series of Doctor Who immensely appealing, the large majority reacted favourably and still enjoy the programme. The episodes in this series were considered well written and not too predictable "







BARB Audience Measurement Service. Taken from the Fifth Doctor Handbook







" Finally, the sample audience was asked whether they would welcome a further series of Doctor Who. They responded as follows:







Yes, very much: 36



Yes, quite: 42



Not particularly: 19



Definitely not: 3 "



BARB Audience Measurement Service. Taken from the Fifth Doctor Handbook







These statements prove that at this time Doctor Who was still mainstream entertainment at this time, it still had a public willing to watch it, and more importantly still enjoying it. Science Fiction as a genre often has difficulty in appealing to the masses as it sometimes offers concepts that are difficult for the average viewer to understand. Series of this nature can also become wrapped up in their own continuity, making it difficult for anybody who is not a fan of the series to watch:







" The desire for a new series of Doctor Who was strongest in those under 34 and weakest in the 55+ age group "



BARB Audience Measurement Service. Taken from the Fifth Doctor Handbook







Generally speaking it is young males who are interested in science-fiction, although since at this time Doctor Who was more mainstream, it was more of a family show. Parents were happy to sit their children down in front of it because they recalled themselves watching, and enjoying the series some twenty years previous.







Towards the end of Davison`s second season, he decided that his next season would be his last. He felt that the scripts of his second season had not always been up to scratch and had become increasingly frustrated with the programs budgetary problems:







" we ran out of money on lots of stories, and time. That was frustrating, because I don't think the programme is given enough time to do it "







Peter Davison interviewed by Jackie Marshall for Space Rat issue 7 published in 1984 taken from The Fifth Doctor Handbook







The 1984 season would be Davison`s third, and last. Storywise it was much stronger than the previous season and would also see the return of the Daleks. However the season was almost cut short even though filming had just got off the ground due to industrial action at the BBC, which eventually proved to not effect the series. Davison`s final season would also see foreign location filming on a larger scale than the series had ever seen. Doctor Who had twice before filmed overseas, once in Paris and once in Amsterdam but this time the actors and crew would be flying to Lanzarote. This was in line with John Nathan-Turners policy of trying to give the series a more polished feel. This was to try and make it look as if the show had high production values like its American counterparts.







The Davison era ended on the 16th of March 1984. In the ratings it had been a moderate success averaging out at about 8 million viewers per episode. However, the series had also began to show a few cracks around the edges by this time. It had shown that it could only be a success when placed in a less competitive time slot than Tom Bakers last season had been, and it had also shown that its budget had become increasingly stretched, which Peter Davison cited as one of his reasons for leaving. Davison actually began to regret his calling it a day mid-way through his final season. Suddenly he felt he had scripts he could work with, but by then it was too late. His successor had been appointed, Colin Baker. And the series would enter its most troubled time in its long history.







John Nathan-Turner again wanted to make the new Doctor, as different from the previous one as possible. Colin Bakers Doctor would be loud, abrasive and not generally be as agreeable as Davison`s Doctor. Baker was also issued with a garish costume, again to get away from the image of the previous Doctor. However Baker was to win few friends with his portrayal of the Doctor:





" The character of the Doctor comes over as unpredictable and unlikeable "







David J. Howe commenting on Colin Bakers first story: Taken from The Sixth Doctor Handbook







Towards the end of Davison`s tenure as the Doctor, something was to happen that would profoundly affect Colin Bakers first season. Davison`s story Resurrection of the Daleks was broadcast as two 50 minute episodes rather than four 25 minute episodes due to the fact that the Winter Olympics had interfered with the scheduling. However the Controller of BBC1, Alan Hart decided that the 1985 season of Doctor Who should be a run of 14, 45 minute episodes. John Nathan-Turner welcomed the development and said that he felt that the show " lends itself more easily to that formula ". But one of the Directors from the 1985 season did not think the same:







" I don't think Who was built for 45-minute episodes, with its emphasis on a kind of adventure shorthand, and rapid pace."







Doctor Who Director Pennant Robert's interviewed for Doctor Who Magazine Issue 122. Taken from The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor.







The ratings for the 1985 season were actually slightly up on the previous seasons, the best being 8.9 million, the lowest being in the region of 6 million. The show had been moved back to Saturday nights and was being shown at 5.20PM and was being shown against ITV's new series Robin of Sherwood







On Thursday the 28th of February 1985, the devastating news broke that the new season of Doctor Who, which was to start filming in a matter of a couple of weeks was cancelled.







" Televisions Time-Lord is to take a rest. The BBC have announced that Doctor Who will be off the air for eighteen months. But there`s already been an outcry from Doctor Who fans who called the news staggering. The controller of BBC 1 Michael Grade made the decision a month before the new series was due to start production. Doctor Who has been on the screens for twenty two years. Its being dropped to save money ".







BBC News, Thursday 28th of February 1985







"Doctor Who Is Axed In BBC Plot







Doctor Who was axed by the BBC last night, and furious fans claimed it was a plot to back up demands for a higher licence fee.



TV bosses say they cannot afford to make any new shows about the famous time - traveller for 18 months.



But even the BBC`s own men see the axing of the show - a hit for 22 years - as a cynical bid to whip up support for an increase in the fee.



One official said: ` This is absolute madness. Doctor Who is getting around 9 million viewers.



` Theres a strong feeling that the high - ups are using it as part of their propaganda campaign.`



Actor Colin Baker, who plays the Doctor, said: ` I was staggered. We were all geared up to start work on the next series.'



And sexy Nicola Bryant - his assistant Peri - was said to be ` very surprised and clearly upset. '



Colin said: ' I am contracted to the series, but the decision will mean the BBC probably having to pay off a lot of other people. It doesn't seem good financial sense.'



Patrick Troughton, 64 who was Dr Who in the sixties, said: ' I think it is just power politics at work. I`m sure the viewers will make their feelings known.`



BBC1 supreme Michael Grade claimed:` We intend to make a lot of new drama, and we cannot afford to do that and Doctor Who.`



But Beeb insiders say each episode of the sci - fi serial costs only £180,000 - against an average £220,000 for drama.



They claim dumping the Doctor will lose the Corporation money from sales to 54 other countries. It has a world - wide audience of 110 million viewers.



With just five new episodes left to be shown, fans were launching a massive campaign to save Doctor Who last night.



Jeremy Bentham, co-founder of the Dr Who Appreciation Society, said:' The public won't let it die.`



In America the shows 40,000 strong fan club pledged themselves to raise one and a half million dollars to keep the programme on the air. "







Taken from the Sun, Thursday 28th February 1985 written by Charles Catchpole







Many reasons have been suggested over the years as to why Doctor Who was put on a hiatus. The most important of these reasons were financial. In February 1985 the BBC had launched their new soap opera Eastenders. To get this series up and running required large amounts of money and the BBC would see no return of this investment for a good few years, until they could sell the show abroad. Another financial reason was that the BBC wanted to get their daytime TV service running before ITV did. These two factors meant that the BBC experienced a large financial shortfall in the 1985/86 financial year. As a result many other shows faced the axe such as Crackerjack and Pop Quiz. The BBC`s other science fiction show, Tripods, was also axed at the same time. One of the excuse's the BBC used for the show being put on hiatus was that the show had become too violent. Script editor Eric Saward defends the series:







" I`ve always felt, that if you're going to show violence you should show the horrific effects of it. If you hit someone, it hurts; it hurts your hand for one thing, and it certainly hurts the person you hit."







Quoted from an interview with Eric Saward, Doctor Who script editor from 1982 - 1986. Taken from The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor







Saward also seems to be very realistic as to his views on how violence should be portrayed:







" If you display violence, you should show it for what it is. I dont think you should dwell on it, but I think that when you do display violence, you should show it hurts. "







Eric Saward, taken from the BBC television program, Doctor Who:30 Years in the TARDIS







Saward goes on to attack Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers and Listeners Association:







" I`ll never understand Mary Whitehouse`s point of view. She seems to want a bland ,safe little world in which everything is quiet and ordered and the traditional class structure is completely in place. That`s simply confirming a stereotype and is an evil portrayal of society "







Quoted from an interview with Eric Saward, Doctor Who script editor from 1982 - 1986. Taken from The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor







Doctor Who had always had a degree of violence in it throughout the years. Indeed in the mid-seventies the BBC took action against the shows production team for depicting to much violence. Again the show was accused of showing to much violence. It could be said that the publics threshold to violence had come down as people such as Mary Whitehouse had made their feelings known. It is doubtful that the feelings of Mrs Whitehouse often reflect the publics opinion but it is a case of a minority getting their opinions heard. John Nathan-Turner was once quoted as saying that he sometimes prayed for Mrs Whitehouse to complain because it would put two million viewers on the shows ratings. Another factor relating to violence was that when the season was being made the production team had been told that the show would be going out at around 6.30PM, but it was actually aired at around 5.30PM. This would mean that there would be a slight rise in complaints about the shows content, perhaps due to small children inadvertently watching the show and their parents complaining, but surely the production team could not be held responsible for this. Of course there is the likelihood, which many fans suggest, that the whole violence excuse was dreamed up by the BBC after they had cancelled the show in order for them to justify themselves. This seems a strong likelihood as the majority of the 1985 season had perhaps been based more on humour than violence:







" Inevitably, with any program, there are complaints, every now and then, about the level of violence and I think that is something that has dogged the show right from day one "







John Nathan Turner taken from the BBC television program, Doctor Who: 30 Years In The TARDIS.







Many people have suggested that Michael Grade intended to axe Doctor Who altogether but was deterred by the massive media backlash created by John Nathan-Turner using an intermediary to contact the press. Had he not have done this then it has been suggested that Doctor Who would have been cancelled for good. The BBC launched a damage limitation campaign and immediately sent out a press release headed " More Doctor Who in 1986 - Another Miraculous Escape for Fiction Favourite ":







"As every follower of Doctor Who knows... You can't kill a Time Lord. Today Bill Cotton, Managing Director of BBC television, phoned David Saunders, Co-ordinator of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, to explain BBC plans.



He said: ` Doctor Who will air in 1986, as it is in 1985, and as it has been for each of the past 22 years.



`Instead of running in January 1986 we shall wait until the start of the Auterm schedule, and then Doctor Who will be a strong item in the mix.



` We are also going to go back to the old tradition and have 25 - minute programmes rather than the 45- minute version running at the moment. We think that is what the public wants. So does the Producer, and his team



` The 45 - minute series has been a good experience, but we need to get back to basics, and to established ways. It also means that with a 25 - minute length we can run the series for a greater number of weeks. ` "







BBC press release taken from The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor







At this time it seemed that Doctor Who would be returning in its old 25 minutes format with 26 episodes per season. But in a massive blunder, the BBC let slip their true intentions:







" A BBC TV boss`s blunder has confirmed Sun forecasts of Dr Who cutbacks.



Beeb chief John Harrison wrote a secret telex message to US distributors, saying next year` series will be trimmed from 26 shows to 14 25 minutes - episodes.But someone mixed up the telex numbers - and the message went to the American Doctor Who Appreciation Society "







The Sun Saturday 3rd of August 1985 - taken from The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor







At first the BBC denied this, but in December 1985 they confirmed it. There was no mention of an accompanying rumour though that said if ratings did not pick up the show would be cancelled altogether. But by this time the media interest in the story had declined. It was now the duty of the production team to make the best of a bad situation and get the show back on its feet. The script editor of Doctor Who at this time recalls:







" Im sure Jonathan Powell [ Head of series and serials ] hated the show. He was always very hostile at playbacks. Very indifferent whether the show was good or bad "







Eric Saward interviewed in The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor







Meanwhile draft ideas for the new season were already being drawn out as early as the 5th of July 1985. The season would have a continuous theme of the Doctor being on trial, which was intended to reflect the series own situation. Scripts were commissioned but some of them proved unsuitable and other writers were brought in. Again scripts were found to be unsuitable. One script had to be recommissioned a third time, this time to the husband and wife writing team of Pip and Jane Baker, they would only have 5 weeks to complete the full 4 part story. Long standing Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes had been writing the first 4 part story and the last, and most important part of the story. He had completed the first story, but part way through writing the seasons climax he became very ill and died on the 24th of May 1986. At the same time the Script Editor Eric Saward resigned from the BBC. But he did complete Holmes`s script, but then had a major disagreement with John Nathan-Turner over the seasons ending, resulting in Saward with-holding permission to use the script for the final episode of the season. Pip and Jane Baker were again commissioned at short notice to write a concluding episode for the season.







However when Doctor Who returned, it was soon apparent that the show faced massive problems. ITV had a strong Saturday night schedule in 1985, but in 1986 Doctor Who suddenly found itself against the extremely popular children's show - The A-Team. The A-Team started 10 minutes before Doctor Who at 5.35PM but still pulled in viewers in the region of 12 million viewers, which is quite high for that early in the evening, Doctor Who would again find itself in the position of receiving dismal ratings in the region of 5 million viewers. To make matters worse Doctor was was preceded by " Roland Rat - The TV Show " which only received in the region of 3 million viewers. With the A-Team starting 10 minutes earlier than Doctor Who and Roland Rat preceding Doctor Who, what chance did Doctor Who stand? The season dragged on, viewers undoubtedly deterred by the continuous 14 week story, which made it difficult for viewers to join mid-way through the season. The season ended with the ratings picking up slightly. There were mumourings at the top of the BBC. John Nathan-Turner had expressed his desire to leave the show. Indeed he had wanted to give up his post as Producer ever since Peter Davison had left. However in 1984, he had been talked into staying. The end of the 1985 season was hardly the most opportune time to choose the leave the series, but now he finally had his chance. Nathan-Turner went to Michael Grade and expressed his desire to leave. Grade told him he could, but he would first have to tell Colin Baker that his services were no longer required. Nathan-Turner, although unhappy ,telephoned Baker and broke the bad news.







` Michael Grade said publicly that the ratings for Season 23 were very disappointing. I wrote him a letter in which I said. " Given the fact that you had cancelled us for eighteen months, and given that we were again opposite The A-Team, which pulls in 30 million viewers and is the kind of whiz - bang violent programme that you don't want to make... We came on immediately after Roland Rat - The Series, which sadly pulled in only two million viewers. Then, halfway through Roland Rat - The Series, The A - Team started. To get the five million viewers that we did get, I actually thought was bloody good."



` I suppose we did also go out in the hours of daylight, with good weather. These of course are not the factors that people mention when they say the ratings are poor. So - scapegoat - change the Doctor! `



Colin Baker interviewed by Michael Sibley in May 1987 for The Colin Baker Interview







` I feel " unlucky " is the word that sums up my tenure, really. A combination of Michael Grade - who changed the schedules, changed the length of the programme, cancelled it in the middle, then put it on after Roland Rat - The Series and opposite The A - Team - together with the whole Eric Saward business, the upheaval that the BBC itself was going through at that time...all those things conspired to make it very difficult. In a way, it was more frustrating than anything else. If someone had said," Look we think you're awful and we're replacing you." I would have had to live with that. But when I know it was just a combination of circumstances, and I was powerless to do anything about it...`







Colin Baker Interviewed by Stephen James Walker, David J. Howe, Mark Stammers and Gordon Roxburgh in August 1989 for The Frame Issue 13







Nathan-Turner then returned to Michael Grade a few days later to tell him the deed was done, and could he now find a replacement for himself. Then Nathan-Turner was told in no uncertain terms that if he even tried to leave his post on Doctor Who, he would never work at the BBC again. John Nathan-Turner had no choice but to continue as Producer.







John Nathan-Turner now had to find himself a new Script Editor and a new Doctor. The choice for the new Doctor was Scottish entertainer/actor Sylvestor McCoy. At this point John Nathan-Turners motivation must have been at an all time low. He was being forced to continue in a job that he really no longer wanted and was increasingly unhappy in. Nathan-Turner was also increasingly unpopular with the fans of the series due to the way Colin Bakers Doctors character had been handled, and how he would handle the McCoy era:







" Finally as to the producer JNT, well mixed fealings really, I mean



should he perhaps have been shot after Colin Baker's attempt as the



Doctor or posted to the Foreign Legion after the shows cancellation,



either way they should have sacked him years ago.... "







An extract from an email from Neil Anderson







" He [ Nathan-Turner ]started off well by taking the show into 80s, and casting Peter Davison was good. He went too far though. It got tacky with poppy music and lost its



atmosphere and style."







An extract from an email from Colin Neal.







Nathan-Turner had contacted Colin Baker to try and get him to do a regeneration story. However Baker had refused as he couldn't commit himself 8 months ahead of filming. It is also probably true to say that Baker was pretty upset at having to leave. The series new script editor was Andrew Cartmel. After a season of settling in Cartmel would ,along with Nathan-Turner, considerably change the Doctors character. Cartmel and Nathan Turner decided that the show should take a step, back to basics in order for it to go forwards:







" Then, when Sylvester McCoy came on, they



decided to attempt a return to the show's beginnings, humour it up a



little, and add mystery to the Doctor's character. What they



unfortunately did was they made the stories simpler and less realistic. "







An extract from an email from Mike Huberty at The University of Wisconsin







Whilst it was the case that some stories from McCoys first season such as Time and the Rani were simpler than perhaps stories in the shows recant past this would not prove to be the case of the final two seasons, with stories such as Ghostlight that were so complicated that they needed several viewing`s to fully understand but still had a surface appeal.







The show also undertook other changes in McCoys first season. The 1987 season was also the first time computer graphics had been used in Doctor Who on a large scale. John Nathan-Turner had come into contact with a firm by the name of CAL Video who specialised in graphical animation's. Their first job for the McCoy era was to construct a new title sequence for the show. The title sequence, when finished would prove that, finally Doctor Who could have effect sequences and computer graphics just as good as any American production. But of course the shows budget was still as limited as ever and any computer effects still cost money, therefore they would be used sparingly. The 1987 season had a problem, not content with showing Doctor Who against the A-Team the previous season, the BBC now it was moved to a Wednesday night at 7.35PM against Coronation Street, which started 5 minutes earlier. Coronation Street could easily get 15 million viewers or more. Doctor Who stood little chance of getting more than 4 or 5 million viewers. Actually Doctor Who did surprisingly well in the circumstances gaining an average of 4.9 million viewers. This was quite good considering the 1987 season had been quite weak due to poor storylines and not enough development of the Doctors character. Perhaps the most important innovation of the 1987 season, was the character of Ace. She was a companion designed to finally do away with the old Doctor Who stereotype of a screaming, bimbo companion who wore skimpy cloths. This would be important for the series future. The role of women in British society had changed over Doctor Who`s 24 years on air ( to that point in time ), but sometimes Doctor Who had not moved with it. Intelligent female companions had sometimes proved to be unpopular,such as Liz Shaw, but in the early 1980`s the companions tended to be intelligent professional women. However sometimes, perhaps due to bad scriptwriting, they tended to fall back on the stereotype, no matter how well intentioned the design of the character was in the first place.







For the final two seasons, Script Editor, Andrew Cartmel was to introduce the concept of " The Dark Doctor". In McCoys second season ( 1988 ) this would make McCoys Doctor, much more mysterious than ever before. He would perhaps become a " cosmic manipulator ". This new development meant that rather than arrive at a place, find trouble and then solve it the new plots would suggest that the Doctor had manipulated events in order to bring them to a head. He would deliberately go looking for the trouble. This was a massive departure from the series`s original ideas. The Doctor would still represent good, but his morals would be brought into question. The first Doctor had been an old man who travelled around the galaxy, who would sometimes stumble across trouble and then solve it. The second Doctor even tried to avoid the trouble of having to interfere and sort things out. But now this new " Dark Doctor " was manipulating events, was this to much for the audience to take. On the face of it, no. The shows ratings were still good, despite the scheduling and the idea of " The Dark Doctor " seemed to perhaps go over the casual viewers head. It was only the fans who scrutinised the stories that questioned the Doctors morality. The 1988 seasons ratings were an improvement over the previous with a high of 6.6 million for the final episode of the season, which is still a record that hasn't been beaten in the same timeslot on a Wednesday night against Coronation Street, since. Indeed that figure is roughly twice what the BBC would generally expect from any other show, broadcast in that timeslot:







" And yet, it did pretty well against THE STREET, managing a regular four million viewers, as most programmes placed opposite THE STREET usually only manage three to 3,750,000. "







Written by David Metcalfe, taken from Timelines Issue 40







Obviously if the BBC did want to kill off Doctor Who by showing it against Coronation Street then this policy was failing. Even though the 1988 season had a slightly decreased budget it was much stronger than the previous season. Indeed it was the shows 25th anniversary and Doctor Who gained much valuable publicity. Publicity was also gained during the filming of Remembrance of the Daleks in London. One explosion the effects department let off proved to be too powerful and as a result set off burglar and car alarms. The Police rushed to the scene assuming there had been a terrorist bombing or gas explosion only to find a squad of Daleks emerging from a builders yard! This was afforded publicity in several daily papers, as was the fact the Daleks were coming back at all. The Sun reported on the fact the Daleks were back after a 3 year absence, due to the fact ( according to the Sun ) the BBC hierarchy had said that the Daleks were not to come back in the future, in 1985. However it has been difficult to add weight to this story, or indeed to even prove it. But the fact the Daleks were back was news, as was the fact so were the Cybermen, after all it was Doctor Who`s Silver Anniversary! The fact the old baddies were back probably helped push the ratings up, as did the publicity gained from the anniversary. However it was all downhill from here. At this point it can be ascertained that even if the BBC wanted to axe the show, they would not be able to justify it. After all, the 1988 season had been a record breaker in its scheduling position. If the BBC axed it now, they would be faced with another media storm, and they had already learned their lesson. A new series was commissioned for 1989. By now the Nathan-Turner, Cartmel relationship was getting into its stride. The scripts for the 1988 season had been strong. Now, for the new season they would build on the success of the previous seasons success of " The Dark Doctor ". For this season McCoy would request a change in costume to a darker jacket in order to reflect the Doctors new found personality. Now the Doctor became even darker, but the show still retained a sense of humour, which was emphasised by McCoys skills as a performer. This season would see the series look and feel more polished than ever before due to computer effects becoming ever more prevalent. The best example of a Doctor Who story being highly reliant on computer and video effects was the final Doctor Who story `Survival`. This story would require an hostile alien environment to be realised on location, a planet on the brink of destruction and linked symbiotically to its inhabitants. Doctor Who had always had the stigma of many of its location filmed alien environments looking like quarries mainly because they were, such as in Colin Bakers first story, ` The Twin Dilemma `. But John Nathan-Turner had wanted, wherever possible to get away from this image. Therefore common land was used for Survival with computer effects being used to occasionally give the impression of the planet having vast plains and mountains. The finishing touch was a sky tinted pink, not through coloured lenses being placed on the cameras, but by adding the effect in post production. This lead to some slight fringing of the skys real colour occasionally but nothing really noticeable. In some scenes explosions were shown in the distance to remind the viewer how unstable the planet was. All of these effects gave the impression of a very polished production on a very ambitious scale with the planet looking very convincing. All of this would mean that Doctor Who had overcome many of its previous limitations of its budget. Whilst the budget was still small compared to American productions, Doctor Who had at last realised a realistic looking alien environment that could rival any big budget American production. Now it looked as if anything was possible for the series. Previously the series budget had always been its major constraint. Although the budget was still constraining ,as computer graphics advanced, better effects were available for a relatively small amount of money. Unfortunately the stigma of the bad effects of the past remained because most of the general public had not seen post 1987 Doctor Who due to its scheduling and therefore the shows effects remained a source of amusement to some people. This was highlighted several times in my questionnaires. Many of the more occasional, casual viewers talk about Doctor Who`s effects looking cheap but the people who appear to watch the show more disagree, when asked in my questionnaire " What do you think Doctor Who were strengths" some people replied:







" Fairly good acting and special effects "







" Good ideas, good special effects "







But equally some people replied to the " What do you think its [ Doctor Whos ] weaknesses " question with opposite views:







" Low quality effects "







" Cheap special effects ( but not as cheap as Blakes 7 ) "







This seems to suggest that opinion is divided, or the more negative comments based on the fact that perhaps people did not see that many of the later Doctor Who's due to the scheduling.







When the 1989 season was broadcast the ratings were a disaster, probably due to a complete lack of advertising on the BBC's part. The ratings were only in the region of 3 and a half million viewers, and this looked particularly bad in the light of the pervious seasons high of 6.6 million viewers, despite the fact, for any other show the BBC would have been quite happy with those kind of ratings in that timeslot as it has been referred to as ` a dead timeslot `. This means that the BBC would not put an important or popular show on in this timeslot as they would get themselves into a no-win situation as Coronation Street is to strong to be overwhelmed. Even when Eastenders was once put directly against Coronation Street a few years ago, Eastenders came off much the worse for wear. With Doctor Who not even being advertised on the BBC then the show had little hope. Mid -season the BBC did hold a press conference to try and publicise the series and over the latter half of the season the ratings did rise to just under 5 million. But why did the BBC hold a press conference if they did intend to kill off the series. Did they still fear repercussions, or was it a genuine mistake on their part that they didn't publicise the series:







" I`d tend to blame a lot of the ratings loss for the final season on the staggering lack of publicity the BBC gave season 26 - if I recall my DWM correctly, they didn` even have a press launch for the season premiere "







Jon Blum writing in an Internet discussion on rec.arts.drwho







The results from my questionnaire tend to blame the scheduling against `Coronation Street `for the decline in viewing figures leading up to the shows demise. 29 people out of a total of 39 said that Doctor Who was damaged by the scheduling against `Coronation Street`. 24 people out of the 39 said that they always watched Doctor Who if it was on television. However to confirm the shows popularity 87% of those asked said they would welcome a new series of Doctor Who. This seems to prove that Doctor Who is still popular, but the scheduling damaged it. [ all figures and graphs can be seen in the Questionnaire Data and Graphs section in the Appendix ].







Did people really drift away from Doctor Who? Looking at the shows ratings over the 1980`s period ( as shown in the 1979 - 1989 ratings, section in the Appendix ) then yes people did seem to drift away. The 1989 season's average ratings seem to be about half of what the show was pulling in only 10 years before. However large drop in ratings can be seen from 1986 onwards. This was after the cancellation crisis of 1985 and it may be possible that some viewers never came back after it. At this point in time the television viewing figures did not take into account people who were watching one station and recording another using a video recorder. This could mean that whilst people were watching ` Coronation Street ` they were taping Doctor Who:







" A possible reason for the low figures could be that advent of VCR



technology. People would record a show and watch it later. (The rating



scheme didn't take this into account then as far as I am aware) "







An email from The Lost Wizard of Absolutely Nothing







In anycase this would prove to be Doctor Who`s 26th and final season in its British incarnation. When filming the final story, Survival, when on location the end of the script was redrafted to read the following:







" There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, the seassleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke, and cities made ofsong. Somewhere there's danger; somewhere there's injustice, and somewhereelse the tea is getting cold! Come on Ace, we've got work to do! "







Survival written by Rona Munro







This was done at the last minute before filming. The entire quote seems very final, with the Doctor and Ace walking off into the distance, but at the time people didn't realise this would be the last Doctor Who they would be seeing for 6 years. Indeed neither Sylvestor McCoy or Sophie Aldred ( Ace ) thought anything odd about the sequence until a few years later. As far as the public were concerned season 27 ( what would have been the 1990 season ) was going ahead. But before McCoy and Aldred were due to receive their scripts they were told by Nathan-Turner that the BBC had decided to delay the start of the new season. This happened again several times, and eventually several months later the BBC ` apparently ` held a meeting in which Doctor Who was discussed. It is reputed that at this meeting it was decided that Doctor Who, in line with government policy, would no longer be a BBC production but instead would be licensed out to an independent production company. However there is evidence to suggest the BBC had intended this at a much earlier stage. When the series was put on hiatus in 1985, it was a well known fact that most of the scripts had been completed, yet in 1990, with about the same amount of time between the supposed start of the season and the first delay, no scripts had even been commissioned for the 1990 season:







"If memory serves JNT had some suspicion that the show MIGHT end with



Survival hence the voice over ( there are worlds out there...), but I'm



sure he'll tell all in DWM later in the year. The Andrew Cartmell



interview for DWM suggests that Ace would have left during the 1990



season, and a new companion would be introduced. A female safe-cracker



who during a posh dinner would go upstairs break into a safe and find The



Doctor squashed up inside.His line was 'What Kept You?' and then into the



opening credits. As far as I recall Cartmel suggests there were no



scripts prepared by the time the series was cancelled. "





[DWM is Doctor Who Magazine]







Neil Oliver ,Sheffield UK writing in an Internet discussion on rec.arts.drwho







Another fact that the BBC never intended to make a 1990 season of Doctor Who was the rewrite at the end of Survival. It is likely that Nathan-Turner suspected the series would end. Whatever the BBC`s true intentions the show had now been put on hiatus ( while it remained on hiatus as opposed to being cancelled, the show officially counted as still running, hence the BBC can still claim today that the show has been running for 33 years ).







The BBC sells a considerable number of Doctor Who merchandise such as videos and therefore still wanted the revenue from the series. The BBC still wanted Doctor Who, but didn't want to go to the bother of making it themselves. So they tried to licence it out to an independent production company, so they could still reap the benefits of the show but have none of the hassles of making it:







" I recall a newspaper article in 1990, in which it was announced that the Government had decreed that in future the BBC must put a percentage of its programs out to tender to be made by independent production companies. One programme mentioned in the article was Doctor Who "







A letter from Stephen W. Collins.







This must have seemed like a gift from heaven to the BBC. Instead of axing the show altogether like they had tried to do in 1985, they could have all the shows benefits ( revenue from merchandise ) with none of the problems of making it.







The BBC were ultimately responsible for the downfall of Doctor Who through a mix of carefully planned moves and monumental blunders. Sometimes what they thought was best for the show affected it adversely such as the move to 45 minute episodes in 1985. During the Peter Davison era the publics exposure to Doctor Who became concentrated from 1 episode a week over 28 weeks to 2 episodes a week for 13 weeks. This would mean that the Doctor would only be on television for a 3 months a year ( but in a more concentrated form ) rather than the 6 months a year the series had before. When a series runs for 6 months a year it had a much higher exposure to the public. The BBC saw the twice weekly episodes as a step forward but this would again lead forward to an even more concentrated form, a double length, weekly episode. Again this reduced exposure to the public, the violent streak the show had gained and a Doctor, who was referred to as `unlikable` proved to damage the show with Michael Grade using it as an excuse to put the show on hiatus in 1985 for eighteen months. The excuse the BBC used for putting the show on hiatus was dubious. They said it was to violent. But when the show had been reprimanded for showing to much violence in the past, it had not been put on hiatus, but instead the BBC gave the show a new Producer who had a brief to cut down on the violence and bring in more humour. However in 1985 the BBC didn`t change the Producer, or really give John Nathan-Turner, any detailed instructions as to how they would like to see the show proceed. The eighteen months off of the air would prove damaging to the show and when the show did come back the BBC management had cut the show back to just 14, normal length, 25 minute episodes, again reducing the shows exposure to the public. And indeed the public had begun to forget a show that had now been placed against the popular ITV television series, ` The A-Team`. Colin Baker was then sacked by the BBC management who decided that they would use him as a scapegoat for the poor ratings. This was terrible judgment on their part as it was plainly obvious that it was the scheduling doing the damage to the show. After a shaky first season Colin Baker had become more popular as the series writers began to improve his Doctor`s character.The BBC management also forced the shows Producer to stay on against his will, a Producer who's motivation must have been at an all time low. It was ironic, as The Producer wanted to go but the Doctor didn`t, and the opposite happened. The BBC then put the show on against `Coronation Street`, which could either be cited as a major blunder or a carefully planned exercise. I think my research has proved it is the latter. Doctor Who was no longer popular with the BBC management who saw it as a liability. They had tried to kill off the show in 1985 but then failed, now they would kill the show off slowly using the poor ratings the show would inevitably get against `Coronation Street` as the excuse. Probably much to the BBC`s management's surprise the show did quite well in its first season against `Coronation Street`. The 1988 season was not an opportune time to axe the show since it was Doctor Who's 25th anniversary and there was a large amount of surrounding publicity, resulting in quite high ratings. Therefore the BBC gave the final season of Doctor Who very little publicity and the ratings were unsurprisingly low, and the BBC used that excuse to take the show off of the air, after five years of messing around with it. The final decision to axe the show was taken in 1990, when the Government handed the BBC an opportunity on a plate to get the series out of their hair ,and therefore the BBC decided to say that they would be holding back a new series of Doctor Who for a couple of months, but the season was still going ahead, in order to keep the fans happy. The BBC had learnt it lesson in 1985. The BBC axed Doctor Who in 1990 because the show had been a victim of an over zealous BBC Management in 1985, which had crippled the show, due to viewers not returning after the eighteen month hiatus. The scheduling didn't help either and the BBC put Doctor Who on against `Coronation Street` to serve two purposes. 1 - to push the series out of the way and, 2 - To use the poor ratings Doctor Who would get as an excuse not to make the show themselves any longer.