Who's The Doctor? A TL
- Thread starter DAv
- Start date
One final update concerning the Seventh Doctor before moving onto other things it is then?
Not sure to be honest, never could get into those movies.
I'm not entirely sure I quite follow your train of thought. Shall be doing an update on Seven next though, looking into his first series.
Goodbye Grade
Part Eleven: Shorn of Chaff:
“For two long years, we had Michael Grade looking over our shoulders, always on the lookout for that one excuse needed to lose our budget or even our time slot. It was tough at times, but when he was finally forced to jump after that incident with the Queen, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Some of us laughed as well if I'm going to be completely honest.”
- Extract from an interview with David Maloney, 2001
“Looking back, I suppose Michael really should have been more aware of his surroundings. He'd gotten so used to voicing his opinions freely at the BBC that he didn't know when to stop. We had been invited to the Royal Garden Party in 1985 I believe, representatives of the BBC and so on. Well, Michael wasn't paying much attention and was getting into my ear about Doctor Who once again. He was telling me that its success wasn't built on proper foundations and only sad forty year old men watched it. Sadly for him, he didn't realise that a fan of the show happened to be walking past and she took umbrage with his comments. He might have gotten away with it if that reporter from The Sun hadn't been nearby.”
- Extract from the unedited memoirs of Alan Hart, 1994
[Scene: A Royal Garden Party, various puppets are milling about as one representing Michael Grade is talking, the puppet of the Queen behind him.]
QUEEN'S BACKLASH AGAINST GRATING GRADE
- Headline from The Sun newspaper concerning the 'Grade-Gate' scandal.
With the scandal of 'Grade-Gate' going through the BBC, Michael Grade found himself deeply unpopular throughout the corporation and pressure from within, as well as a letter campaign from without, soon saw him forced to leave to become Director of ITV Central in 1986, becoming a huge influence upon the channel. The freedom from his threat of undermining Doctor Who was seen as a great relief by many on the cast and crew with the feeling now that they were able to focus on the show without being cancelled for the slightest mistake. With Jeremy Brett's end as his tenure as the Doctor, Alan Moore announced that he would be stepping down as head writer to return to writing in comic books while David Maloney retired a year into the Seventh Doctor's tenure after fives years as head of the show. Moore would be replaced a long-standing writer in Doctor Who, Chris Boucher while Martin Campbell was Maloney's replacement. The two would try to forge a new identity for Doctor Who, in the wake of the changed landscape of the show and its mythos, with mixed success.
- Extract from ‘Doctor Who: The Backstage Story’, 2008
“I think the problem with Alan was that he lacked vision and the ability to recognise that science fiction was a dead end for popular shows. Allowing the budget of the BBC to go to three series of that Tripods show while cancelling something with potential like Blackadder after only a single series of that just shows how skewed his priorities were. Sci-Fi is merely a niche that can only go so far. Now we exploited it on ITV as much as we could with Red Dwarf, it got all the resources needed and was as popular as it could have been. That's how to run things.”
- Extract from an interview with Michael Grade, 2004
The various incarnations of the Doctor can be seen as being defined as being reactions against their previous persona. The clownishness of the Second Doctor was a direct contrast to the First Doctor's own stuffiness. The Sixth Doctor was a lying chessmaster and warrior in comparison to the pacifist and open Fifth Doctor. In turn, the Seventh Doctor was perhaps the most naïve of all the Doctors. Robbed of his memories of the Time War and everything else, the Seventh Doctor was friendly, honest and humble while deferring to authority for a while before gradually coming to his own. Casting the youngest actor to play the Doctor at that date certainly played into it. He also stood out as being the first incarnation of the Doctor to have a northern brogue, one that would make him out from other actors who'd taken on the role.
- Extract from ‘Doctor Who: The Backstage Story’, 2008
- Still from a scene from the second episode of 'Falling From The Sky', the first serial of the twenty-third series of Doctor Who and the second to have Sean Bean in the role.
A rather short update but I wanted to devote an entire update to the twenty-third series and this seemed like a good way to drop off the series while focusing on other stuff for the next few updates.
Just to ask, how do the stories I've mentioned measure up to Doctor Who stories? Did they sound as if they'd fit the series and be any good?
“For two long years, we had Michael Grade looking over our shoulders, always on the lookout for that one excuse needed to lose our budget or even our time slot. It was tough at times, but when he was finally forced to jump after that incident with the Queen, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Some of us laughed as well if I'm going to be completely honest.”
- Extract from an interview with David Maloney, 2001
“Looking back, I suppose Michael really should have been more aware of his surroundings. He'd gotten so used to voicing his opinions freely at the BBC that he didn't know when to stop. We had been invited to the Royal Garden Party in 1985 I believe, representatives of the BBC and so on. Well, Michael wasn't paying much attention and was getting into my ear about Doctor Who once again. He was telling me that its success wasn't built on proper foundations and only sad forty year old men watched it. Sadly for him, he didn't realise that a fan of the show happened to be walking past and she took umbrage with his comments. He might have gotten away with it if that reporter from The Sun hadn't been nearby.”
- Extract from the unedited memoirs of Alan Hart, 1994
[Scene: A Royal Garden Party, various puppets are milling about as one representing Michael Grade is talking, the puppet of the Queen behind him.]
GRADE:
Of course, only complete scum-sucking morons are fans of Doctor Who, you can't deny that.
QUEEN:
But I'm a fan of Doctor Who.
GRADE:
Oh, oh! I wasn't talking about you, your most superb and lovely Majesty. No, I was talking about those idiots who think it's the highlight of programming on the BBC.
QUEEN:
I think it's the highlight of programming on the BBC.
GRADE:
Oh, I wasn't talking about you, my vision of perfection, fawn, fawn. I meant the imbeciles who watch such programming and laud it over such breathtaking programming as Eastenders.
QUEEN:
Eastenders is a bit rubbish though, isn't it?
GRADE:
… Oh piss off you old bat.
- Extract from a scene from the third series of Spitting Image, made in response to Michael Grade being made Director of Television for ITV Central, 1986Of course, only complete scum-sucking morons are fans of Doctor Who, you can't deny that.
QUEEN:
But I'm a fan of Doctor Who.
GRADE:
Oh, oh! I wasn't talking about you, your most superb and lovely Majesty. No, I was talking about those idiots who think it's the highlight of programming on the BBC.
QUEEN:
I think it's the highlight of programming on the BBC.
GRADE:
Oh, I wasn't talking about you, my vision of perfection, fawn, fawn. I meant the imbeciles who watch such programming and laud it over such breathtaking programming as Eastenders.
QUEEN:
Eastenders is a bit rubbish though, isn't it?
GRADE:
… Oh piss off you old bat.
QUEEN'S BACKLASH AGAINST GRATING GRADE
- Headline from The Sun newspaper concerning the 'Grade-Gate' scandal.
With the scandal of 'Grade-Gate' going through the BBC, Michael Grade found himself deeply unpopular throughout the corporation and pressure from within, as well as a letter campaign from without, soon saw him forced to leave to become Director of ITV Central in 1986, becoming a huge influence upon the channel. The freedom from his threat of undermining Doctor Who was seen as a great relief by many on the cast and crew with the feeling now that they were able to focus on the show without being cancelled for the slightest mistake. With Jeremy Brett's end as his tenure as the Doctor, Alan Moore announced that he would be stepping down as head writer to return to writing in comic books while David Maloney retired a year into the Seventh Doctor's tenure after fives years as head of the show. Moore would be replaced a long-standing writer in Doctor Who, Chris Boucher while Martin Campbell was Maloney's replacement. The two would try to forge a new identity for Doctor Who, in the wake of the changed landscape of the show and its mythos, with mixed success.
- Extract from ‘Doctor Who: The Backstage Story’, 2008
“I think the problem with Alan was that he lacked vision and the ability to recognise that science fiction was a dead end for popular shows. Allowing the budget of the BBC to go to three series of that Tripods show while cancelling something with potential like Blackadder after only a single series of that just shows how skewed his priorities were. Sci-Fi is merely a niche that can only go so far. Now we exploited it on ITV as much as we could with Red Dwarf, it got all the resources needed and was as popular as it could have been. That's how to run things.”
- Extract from an interview with Michael Grade, 2004
The various incarnations of the Doctor can be seen as being defined as being reactions against their previous persona. The clownishness of the Second Doctor was a direct contrast to the First Doctor's own stuffiness. The Sixth Doctor was a lying chessmaster and warrior in comparison to the pacifist and open Fifth Doctor. In turn, the Seventh Doctor was perhaps the most naïve of all the Doctors. Robbed of his memories of the Time War and everything else, the Seventh Doctor was friendly, honest and humble while deferring to authority for a while before gradually coming to his own. Casting the youngest actor to play the Doctor at that date certainly played into it. He also stood out as being the first incarnation of the Doctor to have a northern brogue, one that would make him out from other actors who'd taken on the role.
- Extract from ‘Doctor Who: The Backstage Story’, 2008
- Still from a scene from the second episode of 'Falling From The Sky', the first serial of the twenty-third series of Doctor Who and the second to have Sean Bean in the role.
A rather short update but I wanted to devote an entire update to the twenty-third series and this seemed like a good way to drop off the series while focusing on other stuff for the next few updates.
Just to ask, how do the stories I've mentioned measure up to Doctor Who stories? Did they sound as if they'd fit the series and be any good?
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I could actually hear Bean's Sheffield accent saying his first lines "How the bloody Hell do I drive this thing?!" from the end of "Parting of the Ways"
Makes sense, Bean although from Yorkshire was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in OTL from 1986 to 1989, and had started to get into TV.
Can't wait for the new series.
Makes sense, Bean although from Yorkshire was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in OTL from 1986 to 1989, and had started to get into TV.
Can't wait for the new series.
Interesting choice in Sean Bean. I'll have to look up the younger Bean's work. To be honest, I was wondering if you were thinking of casting a different Bean.
SEAN BEAN?!?
...
...cool!
Was that your initial guess?
Yeah, Bean was starting out at this time and his youth, as well as being physically different in many ways from his predecessors, just made him an ideal candidate for me considering the twenty-third series will have so much freedom.
Which Bean was that?
On the upside, I will no longer know him as Sean "dead in the first scene" Bean.
Unfortunately, I will not know him as Mr Sharpe.
Having just sat through the entire Sharpe series... The performances are the best stuff about it. Maybe I just found it too grim but it's probably not something I'll go back to watching again.
Was tempted to bring him up in some fashion as Blackadder has been cancelled.
Finally caught up.
Wasn't a fan of Denver Doctor but Brett was very good (as was Davidson as a companion)
Nooo!!
But seeing how bad the first series was I'm not surprised. Hmmm Rowan as the Master?....
Wasn't a fan of Denver Doctor but Brett was very good (as was Davidson as a companion)
Nooo!!
But seeing how bad the first series was I'm not surprised. Hmmm Rowan as the Master?....
Was the way I wrote the look back on Denver's time as the Doctor an issue? Or was it just the series and its direction that it took ITTL?
Hadn't regarded Rowan Atkinson as the Master to be honest. Never really seen him in a fully dramatic role so there's not much for me to look into for him.
Atkinson could do it fine. He did play the Master in Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. A parody, yes, but one of the keys to being a great Master is hamming it up; Atkinson can chew scenery as well as anybody,
Screwy, that was Jonathan Pryce. Rowan Atkinson played the Doctor (as did Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, and Joanna Lumley.)
Edit: On that point, what about Jonathan Pryce?
I am really impressed by the storytelling in this TL. This is quite something DAv!
fasquardon
fasquardon
This is a fine timeline and developing in logical but unexpected ways! I am loving all the side nods to things going on at the time