Part II, Chapter XXXII: "Securing Your Future"
“Season twenty-six was my least favourite to work on. It wasn’t just the thought that we might be cancelled, it was the fact that I wasn’t allowed to go down the route I wanted. In fairness, that ended up being for the best, but it wasn’t a great feeling at the time, to try something new, then be told that that was jeopardising the show’s future.”
- Andrew Cartmel, taken from
An Adventure in Space and Time. [1]
If Season 25 had been a test for
Doctor Who, Season 26 was the final exam. While it didn’t have to deal with a completely new cast, the show’s reputation had been hurt greatly by the previous season, and word from NBC was that if the show’s ratings did not improve, they could be cancelled. As a result, the producers had decided to play this season much safer than before, staying true to the shows roots rather than taking it in the direction that Cartmel was wanting.
When promotion for the season began, it became clear to the fans that Siddig and Anderson shared a great deal of chemistry, and would make for an entertaining pair. Much as had been the case for Laurie, Crosby and Hanks, it was clear that the two were friends off screen as well as on-screen. [2]
Season 26 of
Doctor Who was first aired on Sunday 17th of May, 1992. It was the fifth season of the revival series.
List of Episodes of Season 26 of Doctor Who: [3]
- Battlefield (Part 1)
- Battlefield (Part 2)
- First Frontier (Part 1)
- First Frontier (Part 2)
- The Element of Surprise (Part 1)
- The Element of Surprise (Part 2)
- Time of Your Life
- Survival (Part 1)
- Survival (Part 2)
- The Left-Handed Hummingbird (Part 1)
- The Left-Handed Hummingbird (Part 2)
- No Future (Part 1)
- No Future (Part 2)
- No Future (Part 3)
- Birthright (Part 1)
- Birthright (Part 2)
- Down Comes the Rain (Part 1)
- Down Comes the Rain (Part 2)
- Lucifer Rising (Part 1)
- Lucifer Rising (Part 2)
- Last of the Magicians (Part 1)
- Last of the Magicians (Part 2)
- Indigo
- This Sceptred Isle (Part 1)
- This Sceptred Isle (Part 2)
- This Sceptred Isle (Part 3)
Cast of Season 26 of Doctor Who:
- The Eighth Doctor – Siddig El-Fadil
- Dr Rachel Vance – Gillian Anderson
- The Master – J.E. Freeman
- The Monk – Eric Idle
Season 26 of
Doctor Who was met with positive critical reception. Critics commented that Siddig’s performance had improved and that he worked much better with Anderson’s Dr Rachel Vance than he did with Teri Hatcher’s Isabella Gates. Ratings largely recovered, and it was clear that the American audience could deal with a Doctor that was not Hugh Laurie. [4]
The writing was also largely praised, though critics pointed out that it was clear that some of the episodes had been written with Hatcher’s Isabella in mind, but had had to be rewritten to accommodate Anderson.
NBC were pleasantly surprised by
Doctor Who’s rebound, though one critic described the season as a “dead cat bounce”. As a result, they greenlit two further seasons, and set about casting the Ninth Doctor. [5]
The production team of
Doctor Who, upon hearing this news, would collectively breathe a sigh of relief as they realised that their jobs would be secure for two more years. And Andrew Cartmel, the showrunner, would set about bringing his plans for
Doctor Who into motion once more.
[1] The Cartmel Masterplan is on hold, but it'll be back soon enough.
[2] As Ogrebear has said, I could see Siddig and Anderson working well together.
[3] I've used a few VNAs here. I've removed Ace from the ones that involved her in OTL, but I'm not writing full synopses anyway.
[4] Doctor Who is safe for now. Season 25 will be remembered much as Season 1 of TNG is. A bit of a weak season in an otherwise very good show.
[5] As I've said before, I have the Doctor, and now companions, cast up to the modern day. I'm interested in seeing who you think I might go for here though. I'll give you a hint: they were involved with science fiction around this time in OTL.