TLIAFD: The Doctor Is Who?
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Nope. Before my time, and after my parents, who I heard abut the others from.
Heavy
Banned
You should check them out - True Lies is easily the sixth-best Arnold Schwarzanegger movie and the fourth-best James Cameron one.
Heavy
Banned
I have an update which will be posted tomorrow morning.
After that, I think I will need to take a break for a few days at least, because I have quite a lot of work to get on with and need to concentrate on that.
However, this story is not finished yet. Of course, I need to include a New Who era. But it will need to wait slightly longer.
That is all for now, thank you.
After that, I think I will need to take a break for a few days at least, because I have quite a lot of work to get on with and need to concentrate on that.
However, this story is not finished yet. Of course, I need to include a New Who era. But it will need to wait slightly longer.
That is all for now, thank you.
7.1. "At Least We Brought Down the Government!": Into the Wilderness
Heavy
Banned
INTO THE WILDERNESS
(1992 – [REDACTED])
(1992 – [REDACTED])
"It was a very nasty shock at the time," Ben Aaronovitch admits today. Turning to his fellow Q&A panellists, he remarks cheerfully, "Though I suppose in retrospect, we were probably asking for it, weren't we?" His colleagues (Art Malik, Lisa Bowerman, Ian Briggs, Graeme Curry, Paul Cornell and Rona Munro) can't help but laugh and agree.
Then, Malik becomes serious and says, "But you know something? Much as I kicked myself over it 25 years ago, looking back in hindsight, I can't say I regret it." The audience applauds and its enthusiasm redoubles as the actor grins and proclaims (with all the righteous conviction characteristic of a Seventh Doctor speech), "After all, we did manage to bring down the government, didn't we?"
Malik's time as the TARDIS's pilot had characterised the Seventh Doctor as a forthright and uncompromising advocate for social justice, who solved (or, it must be conceded, talked about solving) real world problems and ranked human ignorance, greed, prejudice and corruption as equals to the Daleks, the Cyberman, the Rutans and the Master in his rogues' gallery of adversaries. [1] As his run progressed, as Ian Briggs was moved up to take over as producer, as Graeme Curry was appointed to replace him and as Norman Tebbit's Conservative government became increasingly unpopular in the country, this trend only intensified.
While Doctor Who continued to improve in the ratings and receive plaudits for "pushing the envelope" and "showing a real willingness to take risks", other critics (among them recently-departed co-producer Eric Saward [2]), whether out of caution or conservatism, pushed back, warning that despite its renewed success, the series remained one that the BBC could quite easily cut loose if the mood ever struck to do so. How prophetic they were. Still, the warnings went unheeded and Doctor Who continued as it had without any immediate repercussion since 1987. While its impact would not take effect upon the series until 1991, the breaking point for the eventual cancellation of Doctor Who was actually the broadcast in 1989 of a two-part Graeme Curry story entitled "The Happiness Patrol". [3]
Acknowledged favourably for its satirical tone, the story featured the Seventh Doctor's journey (now accompanied by a new companion in place of the departed Michelle Gomez [4]), the story was set on the futuristic human colony of Terra Omega, in a society where any positive feeling was forbidden, merriment stamped out and misery ruthlessly enforced by a scarecrow-like tyrant (played by Philip Latham) called the Norm. That the plot was a satire of the Tebbit government was obvious, and that said antagonist was a parody of the prime minister himself even more so. While the story passed muster with critics (who nonetheless commented that it was not a stand-out of the season), no one in the production staff realised just how much it infuriated the leader of the Conservative Party.
Tebbit, it should be remembered, had notoriously resented any and all parodies of his person since Spitting Image characterised him earlier in the decade as a sycophantic and stereotypically wimpy "whipping boy" who sucked up obsessively to the much more impressive President Bush character. [5] Precisely why an episode of Doctor Who prompted such particular attention is unclear; the political outspokenness and high public profile of Art Malik may have been a factor but this will likely never be verified. Although nothing came of "The Happiness Patrol" in the immediate aftermath of its broadcast, No. 10 assiduously filed it away for future reference.
The executioner raised the axe that was poised to deliver the programme's short, sharp shock was raised in the government's "autumn statement" in 1990, when what proved to be the penultimate season of the series was halfway through broadcast. When it fell the next year, there would be no Michael Grade (he had moved to Channel Four as its chief executive in 1988) to save Doctor Who this time. With occasional paragraphs delivered in song, the Chancellor of Exchequer, Peter Lilley, informed the House of Commons that the Treasury intended to seek "major savings" in the British Broadcasting Corporation in the following year in the interest of improving efficiency (amidst veiled references to the government's "refusal to continue to finance the subversion of popular institutions that broadcast sentiments which run contrary to the clear views of the overwhelming majority of people in the country"). A short time later, it was announced that a Tebbit loyalist, Dame Jill Knight, was to be appointed as Chair of the BBC Board of Governors with orders to "bring the Corporation into line".
At the time, what should have been ominous developments went more or less unnoticed on the set of Doctor Who (although it is unlikely that any attempt to change tone or direction at so late a stage in the game would have had any meaningful effect) and production would proceed apace for the 28th season, due to broadcast in September of 1991. However, wheels were turning behind the scenes, and the executioner's axe finally fell that summer when Ian Briggs and Verity Lambert were privately informed that the programme would not be returning in 1992; the BBC was to find savings, and what they had found (among several other, perhaps more justifiably expensive series) was Doctor Who. With a heavy heart, Briggs broke the bad news to the cast and crew, and worked with the writer's room to try (not entirely successfully, as most of the season's episodes were already in the can) tying things up. With no one sure whether the last episode scheduled for broadcast (Marc Platt's "Time's Crucible", due to appear on Saturday 14 December 1991, which at least managed to bring the season's "Timewyrm" storyline to a conclusion) would be the last Doctor Who ever to grace the small screen, Cartmel proposed ending on a melancholy but ultimately hopeful note, suggesting that the Doctor's adventures would never truly end. The final scene saw the Doctor and Bernice Summerfield walking back to the TARDIS as Art Malik brought down the curtain on his own Seventh Doctor along with the programme in a short monologue written by Cartmel:
"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Benny; we’ve got work to do!"
And, with that, Doctor Who was off the air.
As easy and as tempting though it may be to suggest that all the blame should lie solely and exclusively with the nefarious, scheming Conservative government of Norman Tebbit and his villainous cabal of allies (who almost certainly took breaks in between their usual activities of roasting infants on spits over fires to plan fiendish strategies to take Doctor Who off the air [6]) and as much as so straightforward an explanation may have comforted disappointed fans of Doctor Who, such an analysis would be a gross oversimplification of the facts of the matter. While it was undoubtedly true that Tebbit disliked Doctor Who for its politics and its portrayal of him in particular, it was by no means unique or even necessarily personal; his diaries record that he felt much the same way about even less charitable parodies which resided beyond his reach in the world of private broadcasting.
Furthermore, for all that the budget had been cut and for all that the programme's ratings had exponentially improved (and, it should be noted, for all that the series had started to make some small but serious inroads in syndication in America, with Art Malik becoming the default "Doctor Who" to American fans for many years to come), when it came down to raw numbers, the latter were still too soft to truly justify the former. Furthermore, for all that that acting and writing were acclaimed (and they were highly acclaimed), and for all that set designers did their best with what they had, the fact remained that Doctor Who still looked inevitably cheap, particularly in comparison to newly-imported, lavish-looking American science-fiction such as Star Trek: The Next Generation. [7]
Nevertheless, not everyone saw things that way, and blaming the government for "doing away with a beloved children's programme and destroying a staple of the British Saturday teatime" quickly proved a popular stick with which to beat the prime minister. Although the embattled government was widely judged to be facing an inevitably defeat, with Art Malik making a memorable appearance in-character as the Doctor in a party political broadcast for the Labour Party, Doctor Who became an unexpected cause celebre. In the general election of 1992, the Conservative Party lost its overall majority, resulting in the accession of a coalition of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.
Unfortunately, neither party had made "put Doctor Who back on TV" a manifesto pledge. The newly-elected Art Malik MP was probably too busy to reprise his role anyway. [8]
Rest assured, however, that the Doctor would return, but perhaps not in a manner anyone was expecting…
----
[1] In one of his most well-remembered speeches, the Seventh Doctor would claim that even "the Terrible Zodin could take lessons in cruelty from the worst of humanity" in a climactic scene in the Aaronovitch-scripted "Warhead".
[2] Whether or not Saward particularly cared about the tenuous position of the series or whether he necessarily agreed or disagreed with the content of its episodes is unclear; that he was no longer producing Doctor Who while his former colleagues were was likely reason enough.
[3] Originally pitched to Ian Briggs a year earlier for the 1988 season, Saward had ruled that it was a poor fit for the 25th anniversary year and delayed its production until the next year, by which point Saward was out and Curry himself had become script editor.
[4] Introduced at the beginning of that season and based on an idea provided by 22-year old writer Paul Cornell; the Seventh Doctor's second and final companion was Professor Bernice "Benny" Summerfield, an archaeologist from 26th century Earth played by Lisa Bowerman.
[5] The satirical puppet show typically portrayed George H. W. Bush (who served as president after the assassination of Ronald Reagan in in 1981 and was most well-known in Britain for ordering American intervention in Lebanon in 1983) as a tank-top and headband-clad Rambo-like character.
[6] Letters published in early 1992 issues of Doctor Who Monthly were uniformly interesting.
[7] Which starred an unknown British Shakespearean actor – Pete Postlethwaite – in the leading role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
[8] Malik would decline to seek a second term in the following general election, when it was won by another member of the Labour Party.
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Heavy
Banned
I have this idea that Dune was one of the big hits of 1984 here for some reason, so Stewart's career in America enjoys a boost a couple of years earlier and he is busy working on films (primarily action movies where he plays the requisite British villain; Stewart moves into television eventually and has a recurring role as Walter Skinner in this TL's version of The X-Files) when he would otherwise have been auditioning to play Captain Picard.
Really? I'm quite surprised because in my view it was just sort of okay.
Not one of the most difficult to write, though. That was the Sixth Doctor by some distance.
Artaxerxes
Banned
Conflicted about Postlethwaite... on the one hand the guy was amazing, on the other hand what will we do without him playing Sgt Hakeswill?
Very good TL anyway @Heavy loving it so far.
Very good TL anyway @Heavy loving it so far.
Heavy
Banned
I did have a long think about taking him out of Sharpe like that, but the guy was great and I guess I just love the idea of him captaining the starship Enterprise.
Obviously this entire story plays fast and loose with reality (because let's face it, it's basically "Fantasy Casting: The Timeline", isn't it?) but if I was pressed, I could sort of see Robert Lindsay playing Hakeswill in this TL. I feel like that would be an amusing in-joke, seeing as he played the CO in Hornblower and here he'd play the NCO in Sharpe. But maybe there's better suggestions. I'm not sure.
But does Norm have Bertie Bassett as his lord high executioner ?
I've always wondered what Maggie T thought of Helen A.
And the Doctor brings down the Government? "Don't you think he looks tired".
Edit:
I'm glad you kept that quote.
And I'd say that the Art Malik post is my favourite - I'm glad you went ahead with selecting him as the Seventh Doctor.
I've always wondered what Maggie T thought of Helen A.
And the Doctor brings down the Government? "Don't you think he looks tired".
Edit:
I'm glad you kept that quote.
And I'd say that the Art Malik post is my favourite - I'm glad you went ahead with selecting him as the Seventh Doctor.
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Heavy
Banned
You can assume the answer is "Yes" but only because it was fucking past midnight when I wrote that part and couldn't think of another popular confectionery mascot to sub in.
I did think about doing this Milky Bar Kid parody who'd have been a kind of stand-in Whizz Kid from "The Greatest Show In the Galaxy" but the fact is you can't top the Kandy Man.
Obviously, one of the (in?)famous things about Tebbit was that he enjoyed his "hard lad" caricature from Spitting Image a great deal. I thought, what if he was actually PM rather than being a step or two down from PM and he was the main target, so they decided to really piss him off? He might become less enamoured of satirical portrayals of his person in the media after that. He never struck me as having Thatcher's comparative aloofness.
Sorely tempted but thought it would be more amusing to leave it unsaid.
I think I used up all my clever-dickery on that Rivers of London pun from the last update.
And a great nod to what Andrew Cartmel said to JN-T in his real life job interview for the position of script editor.
Heavy
Banned
Haha, well-spotted!
When Cartmel, Aaronovitch, McCoy himself et al. came in and made a deliberate choice to add a political dimension to Doctor Who in the late 1980s, they had to do it very quietly. My idea was that while they still take over the series while it's in comparatively poor nick, they actually find it in a better position here than they did in real life, so they decide to be a bit more adventurous with it. Plus, they've cast the first non-white actor in the role so they probably conclude they've upset the right-wingers as much as they realistically can. Cartmel himself bemoaned that the political subtext he and his friends introduced in Doctor Who (though obviously the Doctor has always had a significant anti-authoritarian streak - it's one of the key features of his character) was never really noticed, and he felt it could have helped the show if it had been - here it is and it does, but only for a while until it backfires (or does it?). Saward's politics I do not know. I believe I read once that he is somewhere on the left. However, I put in the line about him denigrating the rest of them because my abiding impression of him (and Levine and a few others) is this documentary from one of the BBC DVDs (possibly "Attack of the Cybermen" - I don't remember because it was years ago) where he came off as a massive self-important prat. In my defence, I have endeavoured to make him a more successful figure here by giving him TV experience outside Who (he went straight to Doctor Who right out of his radio work and spent pretty much his entire television career there) including an opportunity to produce; I think he's a guy who had some interesting ideas but wasn't always the best communicator for them.
That said, I'm not entirely sure why I decided to make Briggs the script editor here. I guess it was just another "shuffling the deck" thing, even though the only other script editor I think I explicitly changed was Mac Hulke, who never held the role in real life but was nonetheless a very important figure in the early 1970s alongside Dicks, Letts etc. as far as handling the transition from Troughton to Pertwee and setting up the Third Doctor's exile on Earth went. In real life, Cartmel got the job despite having minimal prior experience purportedly because nobody else was seriously applying for it. I think I chose Briggs because he wrote my favourite Seventh Doctor story ("Fenric") and because he introduced Ace.
Fun fact for all you in-joke seekers: ITTL, Ace is introduced in a story written by Ian Briggs called "Planet of Ice" which also reveals that the Master [1] is (possibly) the Doctor's (potential) long-lost brother (maybe), which I attribute to Saward. IRL, Briggs introduced Ace in "Dragonfire" which is set on a planet called Iceworld, but the Master being the Doctor's brother was obliquely hinted at in a Peter Davison story (written by Grimwade, but with Eric Saward as script editor) called "Planet of Fire".
[1] Casting Miles Richardson as the Master on television rather than the more obvious choice - namely his famous father, Ian "Urquhart" Richardson - was quite deliberate. Can anyone work out why?
The idea that the Master was the Doctor's brother was also going to be hinted at in the episode The Final Game, which was going to be the final episode of the Third Doctor, but wasn't made due to the death of Roger Delgado.
I guess that you chose Miles Richardson to be the Master because he's played the part of Braxiatel, who is also supposed to be the brother of the Doctor.
Heavy
Banned
Yeah, exactly.
Call them the Wildness Years all you like but I think there was a lot of creativity between 1989 and 2005.
(A quare few authors obviously wanting to shag Ace notwithstanding.)