Without doubt the best thing about DOCTOR WHO is its format. The premise of a space craft being able to visit any time period or any planet means the possibilities are limitless . However it`s a series often ridiculed and no television show is producer proof , a fact that shows up in the late 70s and 80s
Created in 1963 by Sydney Newman the first producer was Verity Lambert a woman who would later become a legend of broadcasting in the 70s up till today. Lambert`s talent shines through in the early episodes with William Hartnell as the Doctor. True it`s got a budget of sixpence and the sets are as big as a cupboard but the production has excellent writers and is treated with absolute respect most of all from the actors who always manage to suspend our disbelief with convincing acting , especially William Russell who plays Ian Chesterton . Ian plays the typical heroic figure to Hartnell`s atypical antihero, and it`s intresting to note the antagonistic approach towards the early tardis crew. Also interesting to note that each SF story was followed by a historical story . Strangely the SF ones have dated very badly
By the time Patrick Troughton took over as the Doctor , Dalekmania , antagonism between the changing tardis crew , and historical stories had disappeared and in it`s place we had more formuliac and scarier stories in their place. Unfortunately the BBC junked most of this eras mastertapes so we only have a brief taste of this era, but Troughton never gave a bad performance and his assistants were sexy
Jon Pertwee , colour , and an entirely Earthbound format was introduced in 1970 . I`m not alone in saying this was the best era and was when I first started watching the show aged about four years old though I had to watch it behind the couch. Every Saturday afternoon was the highlight of my life , all my friends watched it as the viewing figures climbed. Alas the Pertwee era hasn`t aged very well as I found out watching the repeats over 20 years later.
Tom Baker had an era of two halves when he took over from Pertwee. Coinciding with the change of actors we had a change of producers as Barry Letts gave way to Phillip Hinchcliffe who took DOCTOR WHO to even greater heights 14 million viewers would tune in as the show became more adult and terrifying , concerned mothers and viewers pressure groups would bombard the BBC with complaints about the horror on show which meant when Hinchcliffe was replaced with Graham Williams in 1977 and with it ended the programme`s most acclaimed period. It probably wasn`t William`s fault but DOCTOR WHO soon started becoming very silly , the monsters were laughable and Tom Baker seemed to be taking the p***.
In 1980 John Nathan Turner took over the producer reins and when Baker left the following year he cast Peter Davison as the Doctor. The early Davison episodes were certainly an improvement on the latter Baker era , KINDA for example features a guest appearance by Simon Rouse of THE BILL fame and gives the greatest performance in the show`s history , while THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI often wins fan polls as the greatest ever DOCTOR WHO story but the cracks were starting to show as Nathan Turner started introducing more and more old foes and when Colin Baker was ( Mis)cast as the Doctor in 1984 his whole first season featured old enemies and anorakish references to the past. This led to the BBC putting the show on hold for a year
The show returned in 1986 worse than ever and now cut to 14 episodes a year, Colin Baker was sacked and replaced by Sylvester McCoy who was an even bigger disaster than Baker and by the time the show was axed in 1989 it only had something like 3 million viewers. As a fan I`d describe it as a mercy killing.
So ended a once great television series . It has become a fondly remembered legend and there`s often rumours of a Hollywood remake , but as the American 1996 TVM showed megabuck budgets can`t enhance a poor script. DOCTOR WHO works best as a memory
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