I’m liking the parallels with OTL’s Cartmel Master Plan.
This is a fascinating thing to do, probably the most interesting time to change Doctor Who when it had hit its peak and was about to begin its downfall. I like what you’ve done in changing the mood, the costume, the character to something akin to the McCoy years but I wonder what else. Is JNT still producer? I’m not one one of his detractors; my views are more nuanced. But he was “persuaded to stay” several years too long. No one should have stayed in the producer’s chair as long as he did.
How about Saward as script editor? I tend to find him overly fond of antiheroes, ‘80s cynicism and dangling plot threads and not sufficiently fond of the Doctor as a character or what he stands for. I’d get rid of Saward ahead of JNT.
Beyond the show itself there’s still Michael Grade, who still hated the show, and the fact that something had to give to fund the embryonic EastEnders. Will you change anything at the level of the Beeb itself? Bear in mind it’s not just Michael Grade at the upper echelons of the Been who hated the show; as the sole remaining show in the archaic format of 26 episodes per season, a series of serials, it was seen as very old fashioned.
So many ways this could go. Count me in!