The Time when Doctor Who was nearly cancelled

 

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. 

 

The history of  Doctor Who is littered with skirmishes and battles, none of which involve Daleks, Cybermen or that jackanapes The Master.  Given the creative and financial challenges and the cross departmental involvement it’s a wonder much got made at all but often the end result was achieved only after considerable stress and trouble. Right from the early days, it was a controversial programme within the BBC, whether due to inter departmental sniping over who should take ownership of it or the fact that the first producer was a young woman with little experience. This was the world of the early 1960s; male dominated and union controlled. With so much at stake it’s perhaps unsurprising that the series seemed to endure rather a lot of `sixth floor` interference down the years. Ratings success with the Daleks may have ensured it’s shelf life exceeded the proposed thirteen weeks, but there were to be many instances when its content was the source of internal strife or public criticism. 

Once the series was established and Verity Lambert moved on, her successor John Wiles found himself unable to push the show in the direction he would have chosen. Historical stories were phased out and sci-fi stories were definitely in. When the Cybermen were introduced, there was an outcry. “The Cybermen? Quite amazingly scary, wouldn’t you say?” David Coleman possibly declared in an edition of Talkback featured young mites terrified by the metal meanies. By the late Sixties though  Doctor Who was facing its first big external crisis. The monsters and baggy trousers of the era had failed to light the ratings touch paper sufficiently so BBC bosses were seriously considering replacing the show with something new and dynamic. And in a way they did. The Doctor Who that emerged in 1970 is almost like another series with its’ earthbound settings and Havoc action sequences. Clearly inspired by The Avengers , producer Derrick Sherwin revamped the show and it was the charms of Jan Putrid and the Old Silurian that saved the day.

Though the series would enjoy it’s biggest success in the Seventies it was that combination of realism and horror that got it into trouble; first after `Terror of the Autons` saw questions being asked in the House of Commons and then, in 1976, the `Deadly Assassin` controversy when a shot of the Doctor drowning caused such a furore that Philip Hinchcliffe was `moved on` to another series. His replacement, Graham Williams, was told to cut out the gratuitous elements but he managed to do more than just that. If there was ever a man who saved the series it was Williams. Had his version of the show flopped it would surely have been curtains but by bolstering up content to a more studenty level, Williams chose wisely ensuring that rather than drop Doctor Who as they got older, viewers from the early Seventies went to University with their long scarves and revelled in the delights of the most alien, madcap Doctor of all. The theme till now has clearly been that whatever flak the programme attracted, however low things got or however fraught the production process was, Doctor Who sailed on because of the fondness for the show that developed within the BBC and the way it bounced back changing styles and lead actors and thereby capturing new generations of viewers. Unfortunately by 1985, it wasn’t like that anymore.

The Eighties had started off well enough. A new producer and script editor had again done a turnaround job, fitting the show up to face a new era and it certainly worked for a while. In subsequently casting Peter Davison as the Doctor the team had also successfully circumnavigated the problem of replacing Tom Baker whose lengthy tenure had made him the definitive Doctor for many. Davison has his own following which he brought to any programme he made; little wonder he was often filming two shows at a time. But he left the TARDIS after only three years and his following went with him. His replacement was Colin Baker whose Doctor's unpleasant manner portrayal and eye bruising costume did little to endear him to audiences while the stories took a darker turn. 

Inside the BBC, Head of Series Jonathan Powell had singled out 'The Two Doctors' for particular criticism  seeing it as an apt example of the series' decline even before it reached the viewing public. Powell had made all this clear to Turner during a private meeting but if the latter's DWM memoirs, published during 1997, are to be believed the latter did not see the inevitable until the storm hit. Twelve years later Nathan Turner was still running with the official explanation that Powell gave him when informing him that season twenty three would not go into production until 1986 at the earliest. He says he was told by Powell that the BBC needed to commit a large amount of money towards expanding it's daytime programming and that in order to fund this other programmes were being cut back or postponed until the following financial year. This is by no means untrue; many other series were affected; Juliet Bravo for example suffered a curtailed season, Pop Quiz and Crackerjack were cancelled and never returned. It would also be accurate to say that had Doctor Who been seen as an ongoing success it would not have been such an easy target.

'The Standard's story that day dwelt on the financial angle but added that the show was only being "rested" and would be back "next year". They also had quotes from the DWAS who were "shocked" and Levine who said 'Doctor Who' was "more than just a TV programme. For 22 years it's been a way of life" presumably speaking up for all those Time Lords resident on Earth!  The tabloids seemed to sense a fight and to stoke things up the paper reminded everyone how the BBC had been forced to back down over Dallas, the popular U.S soap opera that they'd hinted they wouldn't be able to afford to buy anymore until a tabloid led revolt made them think again, It was to be this precedent that leading fans would use as a benchmark for their actions in the next few days.

The floodgates were well and truly opened when the cancellation featured on that evening's news bulletins and the next morning, February 28, every national newspaper carried the story including the now renowned headline DR.WHO AXED IN A BBC PLOT. The subject was mentioned in several of that day's news and chat shows and it quickly became clear that the decision was unpopular with many people who worked at the Corporation. Lots of Who luminaries were wheeled out for a quote including an unusually outspoken Patrick Troughton ("He should stick to acting" fumed Michael Grade later) and Jon Pertwee who took the opportunity to suggest they brought each of the former Doctors back for a year, an idea that presumably delighted Colin Baker! By that afternoon the Doctor Who Fan Club of America had even offered to raise the money to pay for the BBC to make season 23 that year. Darker sources across the Pond even hinted that Grade could be `taken out` - and they didn’t mean for lunch.

The blanket coverage from the press was far from the spontaneous outcry that it appeared to be however. Ian Levine had spent the previous day working overtime to stoke up the tabloids with the help of John Nathan Turner who officially had nothing to say but was covertly directing the operation. Levine was convinced that unless there was a big enough backlash against the suspension the series would never return and he, Nathan Turner and BBC Press officer Kevin O'Shea pooled ideas to try and "suggest ways of getting the programme back in production sooner rather than later" as JNT put it in DWM.

In a 1992 DWB interview, Levine went into detail about the way this worked using the example of  journalist Charles Catchpole; "(JNT) told me that there were codenames within the BBC that Catchpole would know so I phoned him and said I worked on the sixth floor under Michael Grade and that my name was Snowball. I said that there was a plot to get rid of  Doctor Who." Assuming that the journalist's response wasn't a sarcastic "Well you'd better call UNIT then", Levine went on to detail how much money the show made for the Corporation from overseas sales and merchandise. The trio had realised that while the series' plight would make a big entertainment story it wasn't front page material unless it was given a wider angle and the notion that the affair was part of a wider BBC gambit involving finances was just the ticket. Stunts like Levine pictured smashing his television set also gave the fans a passionate angle even if the idea was JNTs and the set was found on a scrapheap. 

The most curious aspect of all is that it was Michael Grade who was blamed for everything. At the time it was easy to see why, especially as he had once said that if he were ever to become BBC controller he would scrap “tired old rubbish like Doctor Who”. Even DWB which was relentless in its attacks on the quality of the series at that time (something the officially sanctioned DWAS almost ignored) and seemed well informed as to what was going on, failed to identify Powell as anything other than one of a series of BBC execs to whom letters could be written. Grade, who despite that earlier quote, was far more ambivalent to the show than Powell (who was on record as hating the programme) got all the flak and was even pursued on a skiing holiday and for months afterwards to the point where cancelling Doctor Who is one of the best known things he supposedly did at the BBC. Some six years later he talked in `The Daily Telegraph` about his reasons for taking the show off air if only for a year; “All those low budget television effects made it look like something left over from the Seventies. It was as dull as ditchwater. I held it up for a year in the hope that it would put a bomb under the production team but it didn’t really work.” More recently analysis of anything Michael Grade says reveals contradictions aplenty.

On 1 March press coverage entered its second day as both 'The Sun' and the 'Daily Star' launched 'Save Doctor Who' campaigns and there was the emergence of what must rank as the most embarrassing  Doctor Who related project ever, an all- star (!) single the proceeds of which would go towards funding season 23 though it later became a charity record. After Band Aid these sort of records were become increasingly familiar but protesting against a TV show being taken off the air for longer than usual is pushing it as far as worthy causes go. Paul Mark Tams, a former DWAS exec member was the mastermind behind this idea, with Ian Levine as the producer. 

By that afternoon however the tide turned. The BBCs managing director Bill Cotton decided on some damage limitation and issued a statement to the effect that the show would be back in 1986 and was "definitely" not cancelled for good and would be returning to it's "traditional" 25 minute format. He even took time to phone up DWAS Co-ordinator David Saunders to tell him in advance of the statement, presumably to stop the fan network giving the press any more stuff for the next day's editions and it put out the fire as far as the national press were concerned. For the tabloids the statement was confirmation that Doctor Who was saved and the story had run out of mileage. In fact the BBC had said nothing new but the wording gave the impression of a compromise and allowed fans the satisfaction of having won. 

It was thus a strange situation for leading fans to find themselves in when they met on 3 March to discuss a crisis that had seemingly ended. Yet there was agreement to continue the letter writing campaigns, urge local groups to pursue publicity and write again to Bill Cotton to gain assurances. The meeting was attended by the DWAS exec, various genre magazine editors, DWB, Ian Levine and Paul Tams and it was to provide the basis for a period of reasonable agreement between the factions though an incident in which it was discovered DWB editor Gary Leigh was secretly taping the meeting was an indication that this truce was to be short lived. Many local fan groups continued their campaigns finding colourful ways to get themselves on local radio or television to protest the eighteen month gap. Fandom had a new word too- hiatus. 

As time went on  though fandom was split both by the way the response to the crisis was handled and by the content of the forthcoming season 23. The next few days saw the story fade from the national press though Grade was finally cornered and stressed the need for the series to appeal to a British audience suggesting that strong overseas sales were not considered of importance. He also poured scorn on fandom's noisy response to the situation describing them as a "small interest group" and the fuss in the papers as "a storm in a teacup".

The charity single was recorded on 7/8 March and despite Tams' earlier claims that a good proportion of the period's top pop stars would be involved, the low key celeb count actually amounted to  some (though not all) members of Ultravox and The Moody Blues, Rick Buckler, the ex drummer of The Jam, all of the artists Ian Levine produced (few of whom were known outside the dance music world) plus stars from the show including Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Anthony Ainley and Nick Courtney. To be fair, they had the best intentions but the song itself, 'Doctor In Distress' was a lamentably ordinary Hi NRG workout with awkward lyrics that betrayed a lack of copyright clearance. Released under the unfortunately appropriate moniker of Who Cares, the song was banned by the Radio 1 on the grounds that the lyrics couldn't be heard though it was probably for the best. “I felt faintly embarrassed by it” commented Colin Baker much later claiming he and other cast members were persuaded to take part by JNT. (Look out for a separate post on that particular pop nugget next month)

The seven days that shook the world of  Doctor Who were over but the aftershocks would go on for the next 18 months and beyond. DWB spent the time dreaming up ways of keeping the campaign going spurred on by developments they were the first to reveal,  in particular the next season's reduced episode count and Eric Saward's dramatic walkout. DWB's coverage ranged from accurate scoops to outright paranoia and a line of distinctly distasteful personal abuse. An article in the September 1985 issue is a typical example of the scattershot approach. "Season 23 will almost certainly be the very last" it announces proceeding to justify the statement with the fact that there were no Who repeats scheduled for that summer and that all protest letters about the suspension were being passed to JNT to answer. Most of all, scorn was directed at the DWAS for doing nothing in case they upset the BBC "The day will come" the article concludes menacingly "when questions will be asked and a lot of heads will be on the plate." Rumours that DWAS exec members took to travelling in bullet proof cars cannot be confirmed!

In truth the Society was in an awkward position and the accusation of being unwilling to upset the BBC that DWM's editor Gary Leigh often made was partly true though only because the Society had to look at the bigger picture. As it was now certain that there would be a season 23 in some form, the best option would surely be for fans to help promote it in the most positive way which is what the DWAS did. That does not mean that behind the scenes the situation wasn't being monitored and assessed or that there was no strategy; in fact the next year a plan was drawn up for use in the event of any future cancellation crisis. Apart from the sniping that it created the different approaches meant that fans were well served; they could rant and rave along with DWB while being sure that the DWAS was maintaining a dialogue with the production office. Yet at the time a lot of fans were frustrated by what they saw as the DWAS' lack of action and perhaps the most contentious issue was to be the episode count of the next season.

As early as April 1985 rumours had begun to circulate that season 23 would not contain the standard 26 episodes. At the DWASocial 5 event that month, during a panel that was fairly tense and edgy, Levine addressed the audience to claim that there would only be twenty episodes and urged them to renew their campaigns. The same day, John Nathan Turner denounced Levine's claims describing them as "rabble rousing". CT editor Dominic May then printed a review of the event describing Levine's speech as akin to a "Hitler rally" under the headline 'Who Do You Believe?' Nathan Turner was then upset by this inference that there was any doubt about what he'd been saying! The occasion was just as heated as it sounds and only Colin Baker's presence helped diffuse the tensions though it should be mentioned that some people applauded both Levine and Nathan Turner with equal enthusiasm! In a subsequent interview Levine claimed that JNT apologised for publicly denouncing him but said "I will decide when the fans know not you". It's also worth noting a letter published by CT and dated l7 April (after DWASocial 5) sees Jonathan Powell stating that the number of episodes that the next season will comprise of has "not yet" been decided. In fact it turned out that Levine's episode estimate had been optimistic. It wasn't until September 1985 that any further evidence was forthcoming thanks to a telegram sent to the series' American distributors Lionheart but received accidentally by Ron Katz, head of the American fan club which stated that there would only be 14 episodes. 

Meanwhile the rest of 1985 saw plans for next season being formulated although script editor Eric Saward later alleged that not a lot was done with the extra time. The radio play 'Slipback' was made and, true to form, Nathan Turner ensured that there were sundry photo opportunities and even a parachute jump to keep the press involved. In the autumn Michael Grade commented again on the show re-iterating his views on the weaknesses of last season and saying that the ratings for the next one would decide the series' future.  On 18 December the BBC finally announced the 14 episodes presumably hoping everyone was too busy 'doing' Xmas to be bothered protesting. 

The announcement on 23 January 1986 that Bonnie Langford was to be the next companion replacing Nicola Bryant halfway through next season caused further fan fury. At the time she was seen purely as a light entertainment performer and this seems to be what the show wanted her to do whereas she had the idea that perhaps this might be a breakthrough to more dramatic roles.  Bonnie was pictured zooming about on high wires with Col while 'The Sun' described her as "the last hope" for the series. Ian Levine denounced the casting as "the last straw" and severed all connections with the production office. In his DWM series Nathan Turner went out of his way to defend Bonnie whom he described as "a fine performer" who he said he'd cast due to her "enormous talent" as well as to gain publicity. Of course much later he would be proved right.  Her arrival was to turn the tide  though for many who'd supported JNT thus far and at a time when many were calling for Doctor Who to strive for the production standards of the likes of Robin of Sherwood showed how out of touch with modern television Doctor Who seemed to be becoming.  It has more recently become known that JNT by now was trying to leave the series but couldn't, a scenario that along with other aspects of this tale shows just how bizarrely run the BBC was at this time.

Work on the season was then complicated by the death of Robert Holmes, which left the last episode unfinished. Eric Saward had already left to return to freelance writing but having become friendly with Holmes and his wife felt obligated to return to complete the script. When he turned in a sombre offering that concluded with the Doctor and the Master tumbling into an abyss, the smiley showbiz instincts of JNT rejected the script.  The producer felt this was all too negative and that there should be a clear message that "the show was back in business" and handed the reins to Pip and Jane Baker and their catharsis of spurious morality. Colin Baker later described Saward’s version of episode 14 as “full of Eric’s personal angst….and his distaste for the programme”.  . The trial concept itself was quite liked by Michael Grade though not by Jonathan Powell (who hated 'Mysterious Planet' especially) but the show's dirty laundry was dragged back into the public domain when Saward was interviewed in 'Starburst' magazine and slammed recent developments going as far as claiming Nathan Turner spent script conferences looking out of the window; the producer later described this interview as "hurtful". Saward also stated that he felt Colin Baker had been mis-cast from the start, something which didn’t square with the script editor’s often pouring out his troubles to the actor at his home. “Eric was a complex character” Baker commented years later, “I hadn’t realised that…he wasn’t at ease with his job or what he was doing”.

Everything faded into the background when season 23  finally debuted on 6 September 1986. The DWAS held their PanoptiCon event that weekend and screened the episode live  with over 700 attendees became increasingly excited as 5.45 grew closer and just before the episode began hundreds of party poppers and streamers were let off. Dominic Glynn's re-working of the title theme was greeted by thunderous applause signalling the end of the eighteen month gap and the huge screen made the impressive opening model shot even more stunning. Of course you had to be there.  The episode was only actually brilliant for all of about fifteen seconds. Afterwards the euphoria persisted though with rumours that ten million people had watched it.

The truth was that the whole season was a ratings disaster. That first episode only got 4.9 million viewers and this dropped to 3.92 the next week. The highest rated was 5.94 for 'Terror of the Vervoids' part 3. Action was swift and in November Colin Baker was sacked, a move that the press had already anticipated speculating it was because he had been outspoken during the suspension but Grade claimed that three years as the Doctor was standard (?!). There was sympathy for the actor but his Doctor is nowadays generally seen as the least effective though he also had the highest proportion of poor scripts (and that garish costume)  to work with. Like Saward before him Baker made his grudges public, wittering to `The Sun` about Michael Grade ignoring him in the lobby and even speculating as to whether his ex-wife had something to do with it all! All of which simply added to the impression of the show in terminal decay.

As we know, Doctor Who (or classic Doctor Who as we now call it) actually lasted another three years, even staging something of a creative revival in its last two seasons and offering a far better choice for its final Doctor in the impish and unpredictable Sylvester McCoy. John Nathan-Turner lasted till the end; his annual resignation and re-instatement was taken as read by then and he cut an increasingly lonely, defensive figure especially when fandom gave script editor, Andrew Cartmel  the credit for the series’ new dark graphic novel direction. 

Oddly enough, soon after season 23 had finished, there was a rumour that only three more seasons would be made and then the show would be scrapped for good. Whether there was really anything in that is a moot point but conspiracy theories that the series was deliberately sabotaged would seem an unusually profligate method when they could have just cancelled it. Whatever was going on, the ratings failed to impress, despite an almost impossible scheduling against the then invincible Coronation Street` while the advent of  series like Star Trek- The Next Generation sounded the death knell for a homespun studio bound series like Doctor Who.

By the start of the Nineties, Doctor Who was now widely perceived as a tired property that would need a big budget and the hardware to compete with the glossy US shows. In the end, the classic series died an ignominious death without commemoration. Learning from the tactical errors of 1985, the BBC simply said they were looking for an independent programme maker to produce it. They weren't making it but neither was it wholly shelved. Forty years on with the hugely successful 2005 revival twenty years in the rear view we may be coming towards a similar junction with a declining buzz, shifting launches, increasingly critical fandom and longer gaps between seasons. The lesson of 1985 though is that whatever happens you can never write off Doctor Who completely.