"When one starts a new series, there's always that possibility it's going to run and run. I felt a little bit secure when it got commissioned for a second series and pretty confident when it got a third. Little did we know that ITV was going to put
Doctor Thorndyke against us? There was a fourth series, but too many people had lost the habit of watching us. I suppose it's not a bad run.
"Typecasting wasn't too bad but I was delighted when I got invited to do a
Jackanory and once I'd done one, I was on the call-back list and did one every couple of years. Of course, it was there that I got spotted and then offered the role of a lifetime. So thanks,
Doctor Thorndyke. By derailing my career a little, I got to play The Doctor."
- Colin Baker, What We Used To Watch: The Brothers, BBC2 1998 [1]
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There really isn't another story like
The Six Doctors. There are multi-Doctor stories before and after it. There's at least one, at the time of writing, feature-length regeneration story after it. There's one other story after it that ends with the new Doctor in-costume and giving us an idea of his persona so the next series can start as a soft relaunch. But
The Six Doctors is the only feature-length, multi-Doctor, regeneration story that ends with the new Doctor in-costume and giving us an idea of his persona so the next series can start as a soft relaunch. What is more, it's the only story credited to two producers. It's a unique collaboration between outgoing and incoming production teams.
On the one hand, it reminds us just why the Fifth Doctor was so wonderful. Calm, methodical and above the comic exchanges between his other incarnations. But it also reminds the Fifth Doctor of who he used to be, mercurial, witty and avuncular.
It fully deserves the dual producer credit. George Gallaccio demonstrates his style was right and Colin Cant shows why a return to an earlier approach will be refreshing, without running down his predecessor. The last few scenes make an appeal to the fans on behalf of both production teams as the first four Doctors give their approval to both the Fifth and Sixth. It calls to mind the transition between the more traditional Socialism of Jim Callaghan and David Owen's "Programme for Change". Both Prime Ministers frequently pictured together smiling, acknowledging each one's approach was right for their time however different it was from his own.
- Andrew Barbicane, The Complete Fifth Doctor
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"I had a whole plan for what I wanted to do with The Doctor. I wanted a black costume, which I got and I wanted to explore the darker side of the character, which I very much didn't get. I asked the producer why I wasn't going to get to play a spikier Doctor and his reply took me aback. "I cast you because you're lovable". Lovable! Me? But he assured me that was always a twinkle in my eye and he wanted to use that.
"Don was dressed as the Great British Eccentric with his tweed jacket, large bow ties and pink trainers, but he played the part against that type. I saw that I'd been cast as the opposite of that and it was then I realized that I could play with the role. Instead of darkness or having The Doctor be unpleasant, I thought about pain. Someone who's lived that long must have seen some terrible things. My Doctor is trying to keep people at arm's length, so they can't hurt him. He dresses in black, he tries to be aloof, but his enthusiasm for life keep showing through."
- Colin Baker, DVD Extra, The Time Centre
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"I was pulled in all directions when I became producer. I'd been sought out because of my work with the BBC Children's Department, but some people in the Drama Department were unhappy because they thought they might lose
Doctor Who to the Children's Department. I managed to get a brief meeting with Alan Hart and asked him what I was meant to be doing. He told me they were thinking of giving
Doctor Who an extra push in the export market. He said my job was to 'make the best drama you can that can keep children as part of the audience'. I think I had a lot of practice at doing that.
"Some shows in the BBC were seen as prestige assignments, some were nightmare assignments,
Doctor Who was the black sheep of the whole department. It was a cheap children's show that somehow pulled off effective productions and attracted some fairly impressive guest stars. I think Peter Hammond's approach to the stories onscreen leaked into the ethos behind the cameras. The
Doctor Who production office was a terrible mystery from beyond time. You'd pass some famous face in the corridor dressed like a pirate from the planet Flange and ask a colleague 'how the hell did they get so-and-so?' And the reply would be 'it's
Doctor Who, they do things like that'. I do wonder if Alan put me in there to demystify it. [1]
"I don't think I was brought in to appeal more to the US market and I certainly don't believe I was brought in to fix anything George had done wrong. George's ratings were exactly what you'd expect for that timeslot and his AI [2] numbers were pretty enviable.
"I know I came from the Children's department, but I think I was brought in because of my experience with dramas for the older end of that demographic. I don't think I was brought in to sell toys.
"I'm not going to second guess Alan, but I think it was the 20th anniversary that influenced him. When he moved it to weeknights and had George in charge,
Doctor Who had been in the same place in the schedules for 18 years. It was at risk of vanishing due to over-familiarity. As plans were being made for the 20th anniversary, I think a lot of us at the BBC took another look at it and realized just how deeply people felt about it. George told me that the clippings he was being sent had started to refer to the show as a 'British institution'. So I think the powers that be thought it was a good time to give it an extra push. Put it back on Saturdays and make sure it appealed to the whole family.
"But George was not a caretaker producer. He had kept the show fresh when it easily could have gone stale."
- Colin Cant, DVD Extra, The Time Centre
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Alan Hart has somehow ended up with a poor reputation among
Doctor Who fans and it's one of the most wrong-headed things in fandom.
The fact was that that the producer and lead actor were stepping down, a natural time to consider any changes to the direction of the show. While that was happening, the US fandom was expanding and it was clear that the Fourth Doctor's stories were the most watched. It's sensible to take that into account. Also, I doubt Hart took all the decisions entirely by himself. His job first and foremost was to manage BBC1. Director of Television Bill Cotton will have had a great deal of input.
Alan Hart was the man who put things in place for the more mature, early-80s stories. If he changed course in the mid-80s, broadening the shows appeal and putting it back on Saturday nights, maybe it's because he recognized the show had different needs than it had at the start of the decade. But there are still people who'll have you believe he ruined
Doctor Who.
- Supreme Power: BBC Management and Doctor Who, Doctor Who Magazine, 2002
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The Six Doctors and Season 21 are the point that
Doctor Who became acutely aware of its own past and started to look inward and backward.
The new agenda the BBC forced on the show was clearly an attempt to return to the days of the Fourth Doctor, with a more ebullient and upper-class Doctor than we'd had in Seasons 18-20. This, as well as the lighter tone and change of format to 13x50min were something of a selling out to the US TV industry.
Not only that, but the approach was applied inconsistently. Season 21 gave us a "soft relaunch", in which we are introduced to a situation, the companion and The Doctor in that order so as to acclimatize new viewers to the show. If that was the plan for Season 21, how absurd is it for Season 22 to feature a backward looking story called "The Four Doctors"?
- Why You're Wrong About Doctor Who's Second Golden Age, Banana Split fanzine
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"Well, yes and no. I've read both articles and Alan Hart was a nice man, but BBC1's fortunes declined on his watch. I don't want to get all finger wagging, I'd better watch what say given where I am, but…well. Present company excepted, shall we say,
Doctor Who fans too often see the history of the BBC in terms of
Doctor Who.
Doctor Who muddled through in the early 80s. It was a bit isolated from some of the office politics because the production office rarely kicked up a fuss. It was a steady stream of ratings and income and people enjoyed working on it."
- Andrew Barbicane, Convention appearance, 2003
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[1] In Richard Marson's biography of John Nathan-Turner, he details how IOTL
Doctor Who was seen as a problem show, with many tales of behind-the-scenes nightmares. But ITTL, there isn't the matter of Tom Baker arguing with directors or Philip Hichcliffe's overspend. I think a certain snobbery will ensure the show isn't beloved by the BBC execs, so a show that's relatively smooth-running has to develop another reputation. Doctor Who is made by weirdos.
[2] Appreciation Index, a measure of how much the viewers enjoyed the show, rather than how many watched.