Forty years ago, Doctor Who faced an existential threat that could take if off air forever. Or at least eighteen months. Yet thanks to a loose coalition secretly driven by the production office, the series lived on for another three years. This is the story of those tumultuous few weeks in 1985 when the Tardis doors could have been shut for good and what happened afterwards...
On Wednesday 27 February 1985 London's daily newspaper 'The Evening Standard' received a phone call from a never identified source at Thames Television repeating a rumour they'd heard to the effect that Doctor Who was being taken off the air "for at least 18 months". This was not a new rumour. Producer John Nathan Turner had already heard it himself the previous week from both lan Levine (his unofficial script consultant) and Robert Holmes (who'd been commissioned to pen a third Auton story) but he had, publicly at least, dismissed the idea. It's almost certain that the stories originated from one of many fans who were employed at the BBC and it was wishful thinking on the producer's part to ignore the signs of a television programme in crisis; signs that had been apparent for two months.
Episode 1 of 'Attack of the Cybermen' had garnered impressive ratings of nine million but they had dropped to seven million for the second part. By 'Mark of the Rani' part 1 they'd dropped alarmingly to around six and a quarter million; a fall of almost a third. This had been noticed by the press who were on alert for a cancellation/crisis angle, a situation heightened by rising complaints about the level of graphic violence in the season which had been voiced publicly in the 'Radio Times' and on Points of View. The casual viewer seemed to be turning off as the season progressed, frustrated by increasingly un linear storylines that baffled many, as did an increasing reliance on old motifs and continuity by the barrel load. In place of spectacle and dark corners came nasty violence epitomised by an unsympathetic Doctor whom kids simply did not like. At the same time the BBC was looking to re-route budgets to enable the launch of breakfast television and the expansion of daytime programming. Some senior figures saw this as a chance / excuse to axe their least favourite sci-fi adventure. So when the ratings for season 22 took such a dramatic tumble Doctor Who was already vulnerable.
