What's Wrong With... Rose

And so we come to the revived series, which we might have to call something else as and when the programme returns in two / five / ten (delete as applicable) years.

I was very much in two minds whether or not to continue this thread after the TV Movie, as I felt there's a lot less to mention in brisk 45 minute stories, but we'll carry on for now.

One of the concerns people had about Rose back in the day was that too much emphasis was going to be placed on the companion, and not enough on the Doctor himself. This grew out of the way in which Ace had been developed back in the last two seasons of the classic era (a name we definitely won't have to reconsider in two / five / ten years...).

The biggest problem here is the Nestene plan. They've previously tried to take over the planet using Auton shop window dummies, and it failed, so why attempt it again - especially if you're going to activate them in the middle of the night when the streets aren't going to be as busy as, say, a Saturday afternoon.

Previously, the dummies had merely been used as a diversion, to throw London into a panic whilst the real weapons - the life-like facsimiles did the actual work. Here, they only copy one real person to locate the Doctor - and then do it really badly. Surely their techniques should have improved with time, rather than gotten worse. How Rose could fail to notice that Auton-Mickey wasn't the real thing is anyone's guess.

On their two earlier invasion attempts, they had to use a human(oid) agent to establish a bridgehead, and take control of a factory before they were in any position to begin their main plan. There's no sign of anyone here carrying out the Master / Hibbert role.

How did the Nestene set up its base and manufacture its Autons without the help of some human agency?

Why did it previously go to the bother of creating a body for itself if it could simply inhabit a vat of plastic?

A question that goes back to the Pertwee Nestene stories - is Nestene plastic specially made, and only it can be manipulated by them, or can the Nestene weaponise any existing forms of plastic? It definitely looked like the former in the two earlier stories and, if that's the case, how could they possibly have created and installed their wheelie-bin outside Clive's house in such a short space of time - especially with Mickey sitting in the car in sight of it? The suggestion is that they have taken over a normal bin and used it as a weapon - which goes against the "special Nestene plastic" business.

We live on an increasingly polluted planet - but the Nestene could get the same chemicals they're after, naturally occurring, from lots of uninhabited worlds with little or no risk.

Going back to the beginning of the episode, setting aside the fact that if the sun is reaching New York then it can't possibly be 7.30am in London in March, we have the business in the department store basement. The Autons have powerful guns in their hands, so why do they wake up so slowly - giving Rose plenty of warning? Why not simply chop her down or shoot her?

Likewise, why do they fail to shoot her and the Doctor instead of chasing them out of the building.

If they've activated because of the presence of the Doctor in the building, why don't they know he's planted a bomb? If instead they've activated because of Rose's presence, then why not for the Doctor - who they know all about?

If a bomb goes off on a street such as this one, which we'll assume to be Oxford or Regent Street (relatively narrow with tall buildings either side), the blast would shatter windows for miles around - certainly the ones opposite where Rose is standing. She'd have been blown off her feet and through one of those windows.

A big shop blows up in the centre of London, and prompts little response from the authorities next day? Hardly likely.

The Doctor traces the plastic arm to Rose's flat the following morning, presumably because it still poses a danger - so why did he let her walk off with it in the first place?

She gets the arm in the West End, and lives in the Camberwell area, so why did she wait to get all the way home before binning it?

For the N159 bus to be running it has to be after midnight, which is a very odd time to do late night shopping. I know this as I used to use it at least once a month. As it's 10.30pm when they begin their run across Westminster Bridge (as clearly seen on Big Ben), then it must take them at least 90 minutes to get across.

It's not a huge difference, but going to the Golden Jubilee footbridge at Embankment rather than to Westminster Bridge to cross the river would have saved some time, if you're in a hurry to save the planet.

Presumably the footbridge is the route the Autons used, for the TARDIS to already be in the base before the Doctor and Rose got there?

In the UK, late night shopping usually refers to up to 8pm, or 10pm at the very latest, and even then numbers of shoppers are low. Not as busy as the scenes we see here.

How fortuitous that the Thames happens to be so low at this time for them to spot the secret entrance to the base. Low tides at the end of March usually come around 10pm and then again after 3am, so they're too early for the first, and a long time must pass between arriving on the South Bank and spotting the entrance.

Everything suggests that "anti-plastic" is supposed to work like a toxin or virus. Why then does it cause the base to explode?

And surely the collapse of a huge chamber beneath the London Eye would have some impact on the surface.

We'll later hear that the authorities know all about the Doctor and the TARDIS - enough for the words "blue box" to trigger an alarm. With CCTV covering the West End, and all along both the Embankment and the South Bank - sites of several major tourist locations - then they ought to have seen the TARDIS and its occupants.

This ought to have gotten the attention of UNIT. (This will be even sillier once Torchwood comes into play).

It also makes a nonsense of the business about Mickey being suspected of murdering Rose. They would have seen a woman matching her description with the Doctor during these events.

Then there's Clive. I can imagine noting a figure standing on the grassy knoll watching the JFK assassination might pique some interest for a conspiracy theorist, but was he really so equally interested in the eruption of Krakatoa and the sinking of the Titanic to have spotted the same figure in different images relating to those events? Everything in his shed seems to point towards a specific interest in astronomy and UFO's, rather than general conspiracy theories or famous disasters.

It is suggested that these events all took place before this episode - yet the Doctor's only just now noting his appearance in a mirror, as though only recently regenerated? I doubt very much he would have gotten dressed up as an Edwardian gentleman without seeing himself in a mirror.

Incoming: TARDIS Logs

Quite a few years ago now, I began a series of posts titled "TARDIS Travels" which petered out during Capaldi's tenure (no pun intended). I was never entirely happy with them to be honest, as they ended up as quick "went from A to B" posts.

Now that my story reviews have caught up with the series - and we're unlikely to see any new Doctor Who for a number of years - I'm going to revisit this idea.

Rather than a straight catalogue of journeys, however, I aim to go a little more in depth. As well as the journey itself, I'll be looking at where - and when - the TARDIS travels to, plus what new information we have gleaned about the ship on that particular journey. 

I'll also be looking at what might have been going on behind the scenes regarding the TARDIS as well.

The first post doesn't actually feature a journey. It all starts in a junkyard...

Inspirations: Knock Knock

A fairly straightforward one this, as it's another attempt to do a "haunted house" story in the series. There had obviously been an element of this previously in Blink, and more so in Hide. 

Specifically, what inspired writer Mike Bartlett were those odd creaks which people hear in the middle of the night, or when you are supposedly all on your own in an empty building... 

Promoting the series Doctor Foster, Bartlett had mentioned that he was a Doctor Who fan, and this was noted by the series' script editor - Lindsey Alford - who then mentioned it to her husband, who just happened to be its executive producer Brian Minchin.

Steven Moffat assumed that the writer would be far too busy to submit anything as his own series had a second season commissioned, but Bartlett insisted he would make the time.

Sent away to think of an idea, he hit upon creaking floorboards, and pondered if these were caused by something within the very fabric of a house. There would be something hidden in the attic, and the walls would move.

Always a fan of exploiting a common fear for the show, Moffat was pleased with the concept.

Thoughts about the housing crisis led him to plot a story about a group of people forced to move in and share - only to be picked off one by one by whatever lurked within the house. When given details about new companion Bill, who was to be a university student, it made sense to have the sharers a group of her student friends moving in together.

Bartlett had once lived in a big Victorian house in Yorkshire as a student, which had a basement that looked like a dungeon.

The menace in the walls would be giant insects, and Bartlett named these Dryads - after the wood nymphs of Greek mythology.

"Drys" is the Greek word for oak, and it was initially believed they were specifically spirits of those trees. Tied to a particular tree, they died when it died, so they weren't immortal. Their appearance changed with the seasons.

Two notable Dryads were Daphne - who was transformed into a laurel tree to avoid the unwanted attentions of Apollo - and Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, whom he tried to bring back from the Underworld.

Bartlett envisioned actors Mark Rylance or Stephen Rae for the Landlord - a mysterious man in a brown suit. In the end, he would be gifted David Suchet, famous for his long-running TV role as Poirot, which ran from 1989 to 2013. (Peter Capaldi had featured in the third season story Wasp's Nest).

Suchet accepted the part without even asking what it was, so pleased was he to appear in the series.

The look came from a man who used to visit his parents, but the brown suit fits with the general colour palette of the episode. It was intended that the house would have wooden doors and wood-panelled walls.

The thing in the attic would prove to be a wooden woman - inspired by The Sandalwood Girl. This 1985 children's novel was written by Sheila K McCullagh, and Bartlett had been reading it recently to his son.

In the first draft, the house would give up all its victims at the end - going back every 30 years, to 1937. The Doctor would offer to get them all back to their own times in the TARDIS. The first disappearances, according to the second draft, were in 1927.

Until late in the day, the house was to have been restored at the end of the episode, but this was changed in order to explain why Bill would be back staying with her foster mother again later.

One of Bill's new flatmates is named Harry, and it was originally intended that he would be the grandson of former companion Harry Sullivan. It was decided that this was too obscure a reference and was dropped - despite Harry being referred to fairly prominently in Inversion of the Zygons only the year before...

Harry was then going to become an ancestor of one of the colonists from the earlier episode Smile.

At one point the Doctor talks about "going up the wooden hill" - meaning up the stairs to bed. (The full saying is "up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire"). He had previously used this phrase to Ace in Ghost Light, which Bartlett considered another inspiration.

The building is described by student Shireen as a "Scooby Doo house", as in the spooky mid-1970's cartoon series featuring a Great Dane and a bunch of teenage mystery solvers. 

Larry Nightingale had described Wester Drumlins in the same way in Blink - and the same location was used both in that story and in this, though a different section of the building.

David Suchet would be surprised to discover that his family had rented the property for a holiday a couple of years before.

Telling the students about the time he helped out musician Quincy Jones, the Doctor mentions that he had a Klarj Neon Death Voc-Bot for a bassist - presumably a reference to the ones seen in The Robots of Death.

Next time: The Suits get you every time. Bill encounters zombies - in space. The Doctor turns a blind eye...

Episode 215: The Mind Robber (1)

Synopsis:

The TARDIS is on the 'Island of Death', on the planet Dulkis. A volcanic eruption has been triggered, and the Doctor and his companions see a mass of molten lava flowing rapidly towards them...

The TARDIS is soon engulfed as the Doctor struggles to dematerialise due to the rising temperatures - the fluid links overloading. He decides to employ a seldom-used emergency unit and fits it to the console - only to hesitate. This component takes the ship outside normal Space / Time, to a dimension which is little understood and potentially dangerous. 

Fearing they will certainly perish if they stay where they are, Jamie makes up his mind for him and forces him to activate it.

The TARDIS dematerialises, though they notice that it sounds different this time.

The Doctor explains that they are now nowhere - in no time and in no place. The readings are all at zero, and the scanner is blank.

Zoe is intrigued to know what lies outside, despite the Doctor's warnings.

He goes through to the ship's power room to check on the systems, advising his companions that the component has a built-in safety system. An alarm will sound, warning them when they have to leave. It is too dangerous to stay where they are for any longer than is necessary.

Jamie goes to freshen up, suggesting Zoe does the same. 

Later, she goes to speak to the Doctor in the power room, and he sees that she is still curious about what lies outside the ship. He warns her again of the dangers which lie there.

Jamie is alone in the console room when he sees an image begin to appear on the scanner. As the picture clears, he sees the Highlands of Scotland.

Zoe enters and the image fades.

He tells her what he saw, but she refuses to believe him. As he studies the console for confirmation to back up his claim, Zoe then sees an image form. This is of a futuristic city, however - her home.

By the time Jamie looks up, the scanner is blank again. Each has seen their home, and thinks the other is mistaken in what they saw.

Jamie decides to go and tell the Doctor about this.

Zoe once again sees the City appear on the scanner. Coupled with her desire to know what lies beyond the TARDIS doors, she opens them and goes outside. Beyond the doors lies only a white void, which soon swallows her up...

In the power room, the Doctor is alarmed to learn that both of his companions saw different things on the scanner - in each case their home. Someone, or something, clearly wants to tempt them outside.

They return to the console room and see the doors lying open. The warning on the emergency unit sounds its first alarm. Before the Doctor has a chance to stop him, Jamie rushes outside to look for Zoe.

He too disappears into the white void.

The Doctor then hears a strange vibration, which gets louder and louder, penetrating his mind. He sits down and concentrates on fighting it.

Zoe is wandering lost in the void when she hears Jamie and guides him towards her. They realise that they do not know the way back to the TARDIS as there are no landmarks to follow. 

They decide to remain where they are and call out for the Doctor to guide them both back.

Alone in the TARDIS, he is still fighting the mental assault but can hear their distant shouts.

Jamie and Zoe get the feeling that they are being watched. They are indeed being observed - by White Robots.

She sees the City once again, but moments later Jamie has seen Scotland through the mist. They agree that they cannot both be seeing these things as they can't just vanish like this.

They suddenly find themselves surrounded by four of the robots, and see an image of themselves, dressed all in white, beckoning them to come towards them.

The Doctor witnesses this in his mind's eye. A voice urges him to rescue his companions while there is still time.

He decides to leave the ship and find them as the final warning sounds. 

They, meanwhile, are being subjected to a form of hypnotic ray, emanating from chest-mounted weapons on the robots.

The Doctor finds the pair, still clad in the white versions of their outfits. He pushes them towards the TARDIS - now also white - as the robots use their rays once more.

The Doctor shoves his companions into the ship, where they appear to be back in their normal clothing.

He closes the door, then listens - pointing out the vibration, now faint.

He tells Jamie and Zoe that they have been subjected to mental images - pure imagination.

As he studies the console, Jamie elects to have a nap. The Doctor notes that they are using more power than they have stored, and decides to use the power-boost component.

Jamie is having a troubled sleep. He wakes up and tells them of a dream he has just had, of a charging horse with a horn in the centre of its forehead. Zoe tells him this must have been a unicorn.

The vibration begins to get louder, and now all three can hear it.

The Doctor urges them to concentrate - but the TARDIS suddenly breaks apart.

Jamie and Zoe find themselves clinging to the console, in the midst of a black void.

She screams as she sees the Doctor spinning slowly away from them.

The console then sinks down, disappearing into a strange mist...

Data:

Written by Derrick Sherwin (uncredited)

Recorded: Friday 21st June 1968 - Television Centre Studio TC3

First broadcast: 5.20pm, Saturday 14th September 1968

Ratings: 6.6 million / AI 51

VFX: Jack Kine & Bernard Wilkie

Designer: Evan Hercules

Director: David Maloney

Additional cast: John Atterbury, Terry Wright, Ralph Carrigan, Bill Wiesener (White Robots)

Critique:

The Mind Robber, as a story overall, is credited to Peter Ling, but this opening instalment was entirely the work of script editor Derrick Sherwin.

Sherwin, Terrance Dicks and Ling all worked on the Midlands-based motel soap Crossroads for a time, and often commuted by train between London and Birmingham together. Ling had co-created Crossroads. During one of these journeys, Ling told the others of how many viewers treated the soap characters as though they were real people. It was also the case that hundreds of people wrote to 221B Baker Street every year, asking Sherlock Holmes for advice - such that the business based closest to this fictitious address employed a worker to answer the volume of letters.

Ling's talk of people confusing fact with fiction stayed in Sherwin's mind and, when he later approached him for a story idea, this formed the basis. 

Ling had been resistant to writing science-fiction, but came up with a visit to the Land of Fiction, where characters from novels and fairy tales were real. This was presided over by a figure known as the Master, who was based on Charles Hamilton. Under his pen name of Frank Richards, he was the creator of Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, who appeared for over three decades in boys' adventure publications including The Magnet and The Gem.

(Doctor Who had gotten into trouble with Hamilton's estate over the character of Cyril in The Celestial Toymaker due to the obvious similarities with Bunter - the one story which just happens to be the closest the classic series ever got to a story such as Ling's).

Ling's proposal was titled "The Fact of Fiction", and would run to six episodes. This was then refined to become a story titled "Man Power" (sometimes written as "Manpower"), which was a four-parter.

"Man Power" opened with the TARDIS in flight, with Jamie still upset at the departure of Victoria and not warming to new companion Zoe - a name devised by Ling which the production team accepted. They pass through a magnetic storm which causes the TARDIS to break up - sending each of the time travellers off in different directions. The Doctor finds himself falling towards a light. He ends up in a dark forest where he is being observed by a monster - a faceless brain creature which uses its hands to sense its surroundings. It is joined by other similar creatures, who transform into soldiers and report back to a control centre. The Doctor then meets a man in 18th Century garb - a traveller from 1726. Two of the soldiers interrogate the Doctor with a series of puzzles, which allow him to restore Jamie from being a cardboard cut-out. Together they rescue Zoe from a huge glass jar in a forest of words, but are then given away by the traveller. They are shepherded by the soldiers into a night zone, where they are menaced by a unicorn.

Sherwin gave feedback to Ling, suggesting that the Doctor come under some sort of mental attack from the Master before the TARDIS breaks up, and that the soldiers be kept back for the end of the episode, with a group of children now delivering the riddles for the Doctor to solve. It was his idea that the traveller - actually the title character of Gulliver's Travels - should only speak words given to him in the book by its author Jonathan Swift.

Sherwin also suggested that the TARDIS interior and the Master's control centre should be filmed at Ealing instead of in the recording studio.

Ling revised the soldiers to be specifically clockwork toy ones, of early 19th Century appearance, with a light built into their shako hats. Gulliver's identity would be held back to the second episode.

If you've been reading these "Episodes" in order, you'll know what happened next...

The Dominators was reduced to five episodes, its latter half heavily rewritten by Sherwin and Dicks. Rather than see the season lose an episode, Sherwin decided to write a new first instalment for Ling's story, which would bridge the gap from events on Dulkis but mean that "Man Power" would not have to be restructured too heavily. He elected to do this as a "staff submission". Script editors weren't usually allowed to commission themselves, but could step in if it was an emergency as they knew the series and could develop something quickly. His experience of writing short half hour plays would prove invaluable. (One of these plays would have a direct bearing on this story, as you'll see below).

Ling's opening script would now become Episode 2, following Sherwin's contribution - which would enable him to add some of his recommendations to Ling like the mental attack. He also added small continuity points such as the use of the mercury fluid links and the power-booster element for the TARDIS.
He would have no budget to speak of, so relied on existing sets and the regular cast. Other than the console room, Sherwin requested only white and black voids, using relevant cycloramas in a bare studio, and the TARDIS power room - which would have banks of storage cells and meters.

He also introduced a set of robots, which would replace the clockwork soldiers in some of the later episodes. These would come from stock - see Trivia below.

The director chosen to helm these five episodes was David Maloney. He was already familiar with the complexities of the series having worked as a Production Assistant during the Hartnell era - on The Rescue, The Romans, The Chase, The Time Meddler, The Myth Makers and The Ark.

Special effects were to be handled by Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie, the founders of the BBC's Visual Effects Department. Wilkie had previously contributed to The Ice Warriors, but both had offered advice to designers on Doctor Who since the very beginning, including the development of the Daleks. Kine managed the department, whilst Wilkie handled more practical matters.

Back in 1963 they had initially refused to service the programme unless given more staff and resources - hence the use of outside contractors like Shawcraft Models. The department only took over with The Evil of the Daleks. Despite the earlier problems with Shawcraft on The Faceless Ones, Kine and Wilkie elected to use them again on this story, but under strict supervision.

This would be designer Evan Hercules' only Doctor Who story - a great shame as he comes up with some suitably imaginative sets in this story.

Model work took place at the Puppet Theatre in Television Centre over Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th June. This included the use of the one third size TARDIS being engulfed by lava - that Doctor Who VFX staple of fire fighting foam - as well as a smaller model which would be seen to break up and fly apart. Also filmed was a small model of the console, with figures of Jamie and Zoe lying across the top of it. Unfortunately these figures can clearly be seen to have disproportionately long arms.

Filming for the opening instalment of The Mind Robber began at Ealing on Thursday 13th June, for scenes set in both the black and white voids. Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury were taken out of rehearsals on The Dominators to film the sequence of their characters beckoning in white versions of their costumes, to be used as an insert and to be superimposed over a shot of Troughton during the episode. They then filmed the sequence where they lie across the TARDIS console, against black drapes. Padbury wore a distinctive new outfit - a sparkly blue catsuit which had its zip at the front for ease of costume changes. She liked the outfit - until the zip broke whilst she lay on the console. She had suffered similar wardrobe malfunctions with her Dulcian outfit.

Troughton had been horrified to learn that only he, Hines and Padbury were to carry this entire episode alone, thinking this to be far too much of a strain - especially for himself and Hines who had been working on the series almost continually for nine months, since the location filming on The Abominable Snowmen. 

The star had only had a couple of weeks holiday in that time. He protested the burden being imposed on the trio, and even threatened to go on strike or demand more money as the programme was saving on other actors. He was placated somewhat when informed that the plan was to reduce the episode lengths down to roughly 20 minutes. This episode has a runtime of 21' 27". Episodes 3 - 5 will be under 20 minutes, with the final one becoming the shortest in the series' history.

Rehearsals for the final story of the fifth recording block began at St Helen's church hall on Monday 17th June. On Wednesday 19th, during a readthrough of the third episode, Troughton and guest artist Emrys Jones recorded "thinks" tracks - voiceovers for the mental assault in this episode.

It had originally been intended that this episode would be recorded at Lime Grove Studio D, but Maloney and Hercules argued that the first two instalments needed the bigger space of Television Centre to achieve what was planned, and so TC3 was used instead.

Maloney was able to secure the services of the BBC's best camera team, who were more used to recording prestige dramas. They knew the director from his Production Assistant days and were happy to oblige when he pointed out that this would be a more imaginative - and fun - assignment for them.

The robots were repainted shades of yellow and grey to appear white on screen. Hexagonal weapons had been fitted to the chests, with triangular perspex panels which opened out from a central barrel.

Maloney did not realise that these were reused costumes.

Recording began with a reworking of the closing scene of the previous episode. 

For the first time ever, no writer credit appeared on screen.

Hines and Padbury wore their costumes from The Dominators in scenes set in the TARDIS, which now included photographic blow-up walls. Props including an orrery and the wooden chest seen in The Wheel in Space dressed the set, along with a chair that had previously been used in The Chase. 

Smoke was used to indicate the mercury vapour as the fluid links overheated. 

A large power meter dial was added to the console, as well as a socket for the Emergency Unit to be plugged into.

When the TARDIS dematerialised, the screen whited-out. It was originally going to go negative through camera overexposure (as with the Dalek extermination effect), which Maloney felt suggested the ship and its occupants becoming "fictionalised".

The first recording break allowed for Hines and Padbury to change into their new costumes.

The TARDIS power room housed our old friend the "Morok Freezing Machine" prop - last seen as the X-Ray laser in The Wheel in Space.

Stock images of a Highlands scene and a futuristic city were shown on the scanner, or superimposed over the faces of the actors. Sherwin had suggested a photograph of Brasilia for the City.

Outside the TARDIS was the plain studio with white floor and cyclorama. When someone went out through the doors, an inlay effect made them appear to vanish.

Two further recording breaks allowed for Hines and Padbury to change into white versions of their costumes, then back into the normal ones. 

The hypnotic ray fired by the robots comprised concentric circles from a spinning light box, superimposed over their weapons or their victims.

The white Police Box prop was one of the dummies used in The Celestial Toymaker.

As the Doctor pushed his companions back inside the TARDIS, we see part of the end credits on the scanner - Producer Peter Bryant's. The Doctor and his companions really have been fictionalised... (And is this why the White Robots look like ones from a couple of BBC dramas?).

For the episode's conclusion, Troughton sat against black drapes on a revolving podium.

"If we move outside the TARDIS, we step into a dimension about which we know nothing. We should be at the mercy of the forces outside Time and Space as we know it".

This episode has obvious parallels with the story The Edge of Destruction, in that it had to be written as an emergency submission by the series' script editor, and he had little or no budget for sets, costumes or guest artists. The action therefore takes place mostly within the confines of the TARDIS, featuring only the regular cast. There is a white void to be seen outside when the doors are open - but we do get to see a new area of the ship we haven't seen before. The Doctor and companions come under some form of psychological attack, and the TARDIS scanner throws up images of places which aren't actually outside the ship.

As with David Whitaker's episodes, the end result is remarkable. The Edge of Destruction is an oddity, but The Mind Robber (1) is one of the greatest single episodes of the classic era.

Many actors and behind the scenes staff have commented on the way in which the series continually rose to the challenge of scarce resources, using imagination and skill to overcome the lack of time and money. 

Other than some extras in reused costumes, this story relies entirely on the three regulars, mainly based in the TARDIS console room, with a brief visit to a plain white void. Other than the robots, the threat is all psychological - the Doctor's unease about where they may be, and the odd sounds.

Much of this is expressed entirely through Troughton's performance.

The episode climaxes, however, with the shocking image of the ship apparently blowing apart. Zoe and Jamie are left clinging to the console, rotating in darkness whilst the Doctor appears to drift away from them. The TARDIS has always been a place of safety, a sanctuary only very rarely ever violated up to now.

Sherwin was blessed here, in that the following four episodes were to have taken the Doctor and his companions into a realm of fantasy. 

When you consider what he had to play with - remembering also that this episode had to link in with the ending to the previous story - then he does a wonderful job. Apart from the White Robots, there is no visual connection with the rest of the story - and yet it works. It never feels like a standalone episode, tacked on to another story.

Though not made specially for this production and being merely man-in-suit robots, the White Robots have a distinctive look. There's something proto-Cyberman about them, with their head mounted handlebar and chest unit. If indeed it is the case that everything which follows is just a dream, then the robots may be a manifestation of the Cybermen from the minds of the Doctor and his companions, as all three have encountered them. However, some argue that they represent Daleks, and the clockwork soldiers whom we'll meet next week are the Cybermen.

Their reputation has come to exceed their actual impact in the programme thanks to their inclusion in the first Weetabix Doctor Who promotion, just like the Quarks. Unlike them, however, they wouldn't get to feature in their own comic strip adventures.

As well as Troughton's excellent performance, the companion actors naturally have a lot to do this week. Zoe's scientific curiosity gets the better of her, after already signposting her desire to know what lies beyond the TARDIS doors - despite the Doctor's warnings. 

Jamie is proactive in getting the Doctor to operate the Emergency Unit, and characteristically rushes out to rescue Zoe when she wanders outside the ship.

Despite their desire to travel with the Doctor, there's the suggestion that they have a subconscious longing for home as that is how the Master choses to entrap them - despite Zoe coming to realise that her childhood in the City had been corrupted through mental conditioning.

We get some humorous interplay between her and Jamie as he describes her ragged appearance as a "wee mclarty" or ragamuffin. We use the word "clarty" in Scotland to mean dirty or muddy, but McLarty is actually a clan name that Jamie would be familiar with as they were kinsmen to the MacDonalds and Lords of the Isles. 

Jamie takes a nap, despite everything that is going on at the time - something which we'll see him do on other occasions this season.

Trivia:

• The ratings so far for Season 6 had not been very strong, but here we see a rise of more than half a million viewers on the previous week's instalment. The appreciation figure only just manages to stay about the 50 mark.
• From October, ITV would be pitching their new Gerry Anderson series against Doctor Who - Joe 90.
• The episode was praised at the BBC's weekly programme review meeting on Friday 20th September. Shaun Sutton thought it one of the series' best ever scripts, though attributing it to Peter Ling.
• Younger viewers seemed to like it as well, according to Junior Points of View that same day, with one person asking for the episodes to be twice as long, whilst another thought it should be on for "six hours a day, eight days a week".
• As mentioned above, the White Robots were pre-existing costumes which had already appeared twice on TV. The first time was in The Prophet, an adaptation of an Asimov story (Reason) for the Out of the Unknown sci-fi anthology series, which was broadcast in January 1967. Designed by Richard Henry and built by Jack and John Lovell, numbering nine in all, the robots were dark in colour, with identification codes painted on the chest. In December of the same year, at least one of the costumes was reused in Metal Martyr, an instalment of Thirty Minute Theatre, which featured Barry Jackson (The Romans, Mission to the Unknown and The Armageddon Factor). This was written by Derrick Sherwin - so he would have known all about the existence of these costumes. Sadly both these dramas were wiped, and we only found out about the robot's appearance in the latter play when the photograph below turned up.

The Prophet

Metal Martyr

• Radio Times had its usual feature on the new story, accompanied by a photograph of David Cannon as Cyrano de Bergerac, who only appears very briefly in the final episode:

Story 319: Wish World / The Reality War (& Postscript)

In which the Rani visits a peasant family in the forests of Bavaria in 1865. A new baby has been born - the seventh son of a seventh son, who was himself the seventh son of a seventh son. She abducts the child after transforming his family into flowers and animals. The baby is actually a reincarnation of Desiderium - a god who can make wishes reality.

On 23rd May 2025, John Smith and wife Belinda, along with their child Poppy, wake to another bright and sunny new day...

Broadcasting to the nation, as he does every day, is Conrad Clark who is reading the adventures of Doctor Who and the Time Lords. He is ensconced in the Bone Palace - a massive skeletal structure which looms over London - held in a room with Desiderium. The child projects his idealised version of reality - a world which conforms only to his own personal ideals and attitudes.

At breakfast, Smith sees a mug drop through the solid wooden table and smash on the floor - but thinks nothing of this. Indeed, mugs fall and smash all the time, and the cupboard is full of identical new ones.

There is a knock at the door and a young woman is there - Ruby Sunday. She insists he is the Doctor, and does not have a wife or child. Belinda telephones the authorities to inform them that there is someone at their house who is expressing doubt, and Ruby hurries away.

Smith sets off for work, stopping to say good morning to neighbour Melanie Bush, who is throwing away smashed mugs in the bin. They pause to marvel at the massive Bone Beasts which wander across the city's skyline.

He is employed at UNIT Tower - the Unified National Insurance Team, managed by the dowdy Kate Stewart.

Conrad continues to read his story, which states that the Doctor wasn't the only Time Lord to survive. There was another - a lady - who knows a secret from the earliest history of their people.

Belinda's mother arrives at the house, and they talk about Poppy's birth - but Belinda cannot recall this. As she begins to harbour doubts, another mug smashes.

At UNIT, everyone stops to watch as a figure flies through the sky on an air-bike, heading for the Bone Palace. This is the Rani. When she arrives, Mrs Flood informs her that the level of doubt in the world is increasing, which pleases them both. Mrs Flood is then sent to take food to Conrad. She is subservient to her later incarnation.

Ruby meets a homeless woman in a wheelchair - Shirley Bingham - and they note how the Bone Beasts do not physically interact with their environment, as though they are not actually there at all.

Shirley recognises that Ruby, like her, has doubts about the reality of this world and so invites her to meet some like-minded people. All are from marginalised groups, including the disabled and neuro-divergent. They all know that something is wrong, as Shirley is homeless yet owns an expensive wheelchair. They have a theory that this is due to Conrad failing to even notice people like them. They aren't part of his idealised world, so aren't affected by him in the same way as everyone else.

Shirley and Ruby decide to check out the Bone Palace that night.

That evening, Smith sees a man appear on his TV screen, warning him that this world isn't real and pointing out the issue with the mugs. Though he doesn't recognise the man, it is Rogue.

Belinda wakes to the sound of breaking crockery and sees the Doctor demonstrate that mugs drop through solid tables. She calls the authorities to report her husband having doubts. The police arrive - led by Mrs Flood - and take Smith away. Belinda then finds herself arrested as well.

Smith is taken to the Bone Palace to be confronted by the Rani, who begins to jog his memory as to who he really is. Belinda is brought in and is told that her family life is false. Smith is taken to see Conrad and the baby, and told about how together they have created this world. Desiderium is the greatest of all the Gods of the Pantheon. His powers, harnessed through the Vindicator, sustain Conrad's wished-for world.

Whenever someone has doubts about this reality, it fractures the world. The doubts of a Time Lord should be enough to shatter it completely - unleashing the Underverse. There is someone there whom the Rani wishes to find - Omega.

She takes Smith to the balcony and he watches in horror as the city collapses in on itself, revealing a hellish alternative version. This is witnessed by Ruby and Shirley. His memories returning, the Rani traps the Doctor on the balcony which she then jettisons from the Palace.

As he plunges towards the ground, he remembers that Poppy really is his daughter...

Before the balcony can hit the ground, a door opens behind the Doctor and Anita Benn appears. This is a door into the Time Hotel.

In London, the clock strikes midnight and Time resets itself. Ruby and Belinda wake up to May 23rd 2025 once more. In the Bone Palace, the Rani and Mrs Flood now have the information they seek to locate Omega.

Anita has been tracking the Doctor's life through the hotel doors. They go to Smith's house and bring Belinda and Poppy into the hotel, where her memories return. They then go to UNIT Tower and use the hotel to free the minds of Kate and the others from Conrad's influence. The Vlinx and Rose Noble appear, who were never part of his vision of this world. A signal is sent out to chips embedded in the brains of all UNIT staff, designed to prevent mental takeover. Soon Ruby, Shirley and Mel all arrive.

The Rani has Conrad search his world for the Doctor, and he is traced to the tower.

She teleports there.

Confronting the Doctor, she explains that she never saw herself as his enemy. She wishes to locate Omega in order to revive the Time Lords using his biological material. The Doctor points out that Omega was banished to the Underverse for a reason, as he had become a mad god.

When Mel asks why the Doctor and Rani cannot repopulate their species, they respond that the Time Lords became sterile. This is why Poppy is so special. The Rani dismisses Poppy as a half-breed, and only pure Time Lord DNA will do. The child will vanish once Conrad's world collapses anyway. She teleports back to the Bone Palace to begin freeing Omega - sending the Bone Beasts to attack UNIT as a diversion.

The Doctor has Susan Triad build a Zero Room in which Poppy can be placed to preserve her from the collapse of this reality. Belinda will remain inside with her. The Doctor then has Kate give Ruby the Project Indigo device - a personal transmat - so that she can go to the Palace and confront Conrad, whilst he will travel there by air-bike to shut down its defences and give her access.

The Rani and Mrs Flood actually convince the Doctor that there may be a chance for the Time Lords if Omega is freed. A huge metal hatch bearing his seal is set up in the Palace control centre.

When this is opened, however, the Doctor's previous warnings about him prove to be true. He appears now as a gigantic skeletal creature, insane and impossible to reason with.

He snatches up the Rani and devours her, whilst Mrs Flood flees - activating the Time Ring she had been using the track the Doctor and Belinda. The Doctor uses the Vindicator to force Omega back into the Underverse.

Ruby confronts Conrad, but finds that he remains unmoved and unrepentant. She picks up Desiderium and then wishes him a happy life, and he vanishes. She and the Doctor take the baby into the TARDIS and travel to UNIT Tower. They make one final wish - that there should be no more wishes.

Opening the Zero Room, they find Poppy still present with Belinda.

Conrad's world has been replaced with the real one. He is now working in a fast food take-away.

Desiderium is taken to Carla Sunday's to be fostered. The Doctor, Belinda and Ruby convene in the TARDIS, planning to travel together. A cot has been set up for Poppy. As they talk, Ruby notices Poppy vanish - but the Doctor and Belinda don't acknowledge this. She argues that they saved the child so must find a way to bring her back, making them remember her.

Everyone at UNIT agrees. The Doctor heads off alone in the TARDIS to try to alter the universe very slightly, so that Poppy will have a place in it. The Thirteenth Doctor appears to try to talk him out of doing this, as it will mean him sacrificing regeneration energy to accomplish.

However, she relents as she comes to realise that this is something he must do - so begins to help him plan how he will achieve this. He channels regeneration energy into the Temporal Vortex, and the TARDIS materialises at Belinda's home. Instead of being a working nurse, sharing a flat, she is now a single mother bringing up Poppy. This is why she had been so desperate to get back to May 24th 2025 - to get back to her child. They make their farewells and he departs, materialising the TARDIS by the star which had once been Joy Almondo. He begins to regenerate, taking on a familiar form - that of his previous traveling companion Rose Tyler...

Wish World and The Reality War were written by Russell T Davies, and were first broadcast on Saturdays 24th and 31st May 2025.

They bring the 15th season of the revived series to a close - but do so in a deeply dissatisfying manner.

In fact, they pretty much kill the entire series off...

There are only two real problems with the story: everything we see on screen, and everything that was going on behind the scenes.

We'll start with the latter, as this informs much of what happens in the story itself. The deal with Disney was for three 60th Anniversary Specials, 16 standard episodes, plus a couple of Christmas Specials and a five-part spin-off series centring on UNIT. Any decision on extending this deal to a third series was reliant on how well the standard episodes did, as the Specials always attracted bigger than usual audiences anyway. 

Production on Series 14 had been delayed and its schedule amended due to the availability of Ncuti Gatwa, who was making a name for himself in films. Many fans thought that he would not stay in the role long because of this - naturally wishing to take on more lucrative roles and capitalise on this recent success.

Disney are notorious for keeping viewing figures secret, but we know from the BBC ones that viewing numbers were not good, with some of the lowest ever audiences for the series (falling well below 2 million for some episodes).

Concerns grew when Disney and Bad Wolf claimed that any decision on a third series would only come after the first two had aired and, as time passed, this began to look increasingly unlikely. If Disney were happy with what they were seeing, wouldn't they have simply pushed ahead so that another series would be ready for the same time next year? Disney themselves were in some difficulties, with a number of projects failing to take off - including Star Wars vehicles - and they were under pressure from more successful streaming providers. 

Gatwa then made the decision to quit, though this wasn't publicly announced. His departure meant that RTD2 had to significantly restructure what he intended for the Series 15 finale. To do this, the ending had to be dropped entirely and a new one written to tie up the series arc, and bring the Fifteenth Doctor's story to a close.

In terms of the actual episodes themselves, we have issues. 

Wish World is built purely on the idea that all the regulars are playing alternative versions of themselves. That's the joke. The Doctor is insurance broker John Smith, who dresses in pinstripe suit and bowler. Mel's the housewife who lives next door. The UNIT gang are mostly rather dull office workers. We get the set-up, and it's interesting and a little bit funny. But then it turns out that this is pretty much all we are going to get for the whole of the episode. It marks time, waiting for the rapid build-up to the climax - but we're pretty bored by this point.

The idea that this is all leading to the return of Omega fails to excite anyone - as we'd seen RTD2 do exactly the same thing last time with Sutekh, who turned out to be a huge disappointment as he bore no relation to the story which had made him such a great villain in the first place. Unlike last time, we don't actually get to Omega yet, and instead see London being turned inside out as the Underverse is revealed. This looks great - but we know that there's going to be a big reset the very next week.

And it turns out to be a literal reset, as Time automatically goes back a day at midnight and this has been going on every 24 hours for a while. The Rani's plan is to generate doubt - enough of which will fracture a deliberately manufactured reality, and the increasing use of disinformation in politics and society is one of the things which RTD2 is trying to highlight. It's all rather reminiscent of The Lie of the Land, however, with people being arrested for "thought crimes", challenging the new norm. He is also trying to highlight society's blind spot towards marginalised groups like the disabled.

Mrs Flood's role in the episode is quite redundant, Anita Dobson being kept on purely because RTD2 liked working with her it seems. She's reduced to a servile role - which was never the relationship between any of the Doctor's incarnations with each other. I assume Davies was looking to Urak in Time and the Rani - an obsequious servant of the Rani modelled on Uriah Heep.

Other problems include the fantastical way the Rani deals with the baby's family - just a bit too fairy tale.

The episode ends with the Doctor acknowledging that Poppy really is his child, but this doesn't go anywhere...

Even if we didn't know that this was to be the end of the Gatwa era, it has a finale walk-down feel. Lots of elements from his two series and specials are re-introduced. The Doctor is saved at the beginning of The Reality War by the sudden reappearance of Anita from Joy to the World. She has been using the Time Hotel to dip in and out of his history, allowing for a Dalek cameo as she witnesses his interrogation by them in Day of the Daleks. From the same story, the Doctor's regeneration takes place as the TARDIS orbits the star which Joy turned into. 

Conrad returns as the guiding force behind "Wish World" and Desiderium is the latest of the deities of the Pantheon of Discord, who have been the main enemy since The Giggle, but owe their appearance to an incident in Wild Blue Yonder.

Poppy, from Space Babies, plays a significant role in proceedings, and Susan Triad is back from Series 14, now working with UNIT (and their tea lady in the Wish World version). 

Last - and definitely least - is a cameo by Rogue.

The final episode sees the Doctor back to his usual self - even paying attention to how he looks by adapting his suit into a pinstripe kilt affair. The companion is supposed to be Belinda Chandra, but you wouldn't think so looking at this story. In the first half she is the alternate version of herself, and it is Ruby who is the independent one investigating what is wrong with the world. In the second half, Belinda is shoved into a Zero Room - preposterously cobbled together by Triad in about half an hour - and left there for most of the episode, having no role to play in the actual adventure.

She then goes from being an independent career-minded woman to being a single mother, which some have argued is a backward step. It was Conrad who, in his idealised world, thought that the only role for women was to be good wives and then good mothers.

It is Ruby who fulfils the companion role in The Reality War, being the one to confront Conrad and finally defeat him. She had also been given that substantial role in his introductory episode - Lucky Day - and you have to wonder why RTD2 even bothered dropping her and introducing a new companion in the first place, especially if there was always a question mark over any third series.

Belinda has to be one of the least developed companions ever, never really making an impact on the series.

If Belinda has little role to play, we also get reappearances by two of the most pointless characters in the series - Rose Noble and the Vlinx. Rose has been wheeled out before to no apparent purpose, and the Vlinx simply looks like a waste of VFX budget as it never seems to do anything Shirley can't do just as well.

The big disappointments, before we get to that ending, are Omega and the Rani. The latter, because Archie Panjabi has been quite wasted in the role. She is killed off rather too quickly, whereas it really ought to have been Mrs Flood who was the one to perish - allowing for the new Rani to make return appearances had the series continued. When we do see her, at least they have managed to make the character out to be different to Missy, which was always going to be a danger. She does flirt a bit with the Doctor and claims to have loved him, but not to the extent of the warped relationship between Missy and the Twelfth Doctor.

As for Omega... Well, we all saw how RTD2 screwed up the return of Sutekh as a big CGI monstrosity, and he does it again. The new Omega is a huge CGI zombie who bears no relationship to the character created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, and who was played by Stephen Thorne and then by Ian Collier. The only nod to the past is the name, and the fact that the seal on his vault is based on a design element of the Arc of Infinity Omega, a chest plaque which bore the initials of prop and costume maker Richard Gregory. 

The Doctor here states that Omega was expelled by the Time Lords for being insane - which goes against his established history, where he was accidentally thrown into the universe of anti-matter, and the Time Lords didn't even know he'd survived until he started attacking them in The Three Doctors.

Sutekh was only a god in the minds of superstitious ancient Egyptians, and Omega simply thought he ought to have been treated as a god by the Time Lords. Neither were ever actual deities.

RTD2 might just as well have created his own new unique monster as spoil the memory of an existing one. If you're going to change an old monster beyond all recognition, then what is the point of bringing them back?

And so we come to the ending. Ordinarily this would have simply been yet another poor anticlimax, but its reputation is going to be sunk even lower by what will happen next...

As mentioned, Gatwa had decided to quit, and I'm going to make the assumption that RTD2 was already aware that Disney weren't happy and a third series was becoming increasingly unlikely - even if this wasn't actually confirmed to be the case. Therefore we can say that events weren't entirely within his control. Presented with the need to make a drastic change, we should have expected better than what we got.

I've already talked about how disappointing the conclusion to Belinda's story arc was. The Rani and Omega are both despatched all too quickly and easily with almost half the episode still to run, so we get an extended conclusion based around Poppy, who seems to have no connection whatsoever to the character we saw in Space Babies.

The Doctor has regenerated saving his companions, or saving the entire universe, but here he gives up his life for a child who wasn't even supposed to exist. He is helped in his decision-making more by Ruby than Belinda, and by a previous incarnation. Whilst it was nice to see Jodie Whittaker get a chance to come back, it really ought to have been the Fourteenth Doctor who fulfilled this role, as he was the bi-generation one who was there when this incarnation was born. That would really have brought the Fifteenth Doctor's story full circle.

Then there's the role of Susan. What role, you may ask? Exactly. After re-introducing her in The Interstellar Song Contest, and leading everyone to believe she is going to have some significance for the finale, Carole Ann Ford gets one tiny glimpse - seen on Smith's TV. We know that she was supposed to feature properly in at least one full new scene, as she has told us so. A sequence of the Doctor and Belinda dancing in a club was recorded, which we know about as the BBC released a publicity photograph of it in advance of the broadcast. This scene was supposed to have been observed by Susan and Poppy, with the former calling the child "mother" as they slipped away after watching the pair dance. This would have been the ending had RTD2 not had to shoehorn in a regeneration.

Everyone agrees that getting Billie Piper in for final shot was purely as a form of click-bait, to get people speculating. Little more than a stunt by a desperate showrunner, really.

Overall, boring first half, dreadful second half. Even without the cobbled together ending, this was hugely disappointing. It may not have been the cause of what was announced in June 2026, but it will now be seen as the coup de grace for an entire era of the show, embodying many of the things which went wrong with the revived series in its final two years...

Things you might like to know:

• Nods to the more distant past of the series include the use of a Time Ring - first introduced in Genesis of the Daleks and seen again in Revenge of the Cybermen.
• The Zero Room was an area of the TARDIS seen in Castrovalva, though the Doctor says they are not unique to TARDISes as he recalls one under the Junior Senate Block on Gallifrey.
• Mel had previously encountered the Rani in Time and the Rani, where the Time Lady had impersonated her.
• Jonathan Groff filmed his cameo as Rogue back when making his original episode in Series 14.
• As well as a scene from Day of the Daleks, we also see Anita observe the Doctor playing Live Chess in The Wedding of River Song, and dancing with Rogue.
• There are clips of all the previous Doctors as John Smith starts to remember his true identity. The Hartnell one is actually the Abbot of Amboise (The Massacre) rather than the Doctor - presumably a recoloured clip from The Time Meddler, turning his monk's habit white.
• Project Indigo was first seen in The Stolen Earth, when used by Martha Jones to escape the destruction of UNIT's New York base, and to travel to Germany and to the Dalek Crucible.
• Conrad's "Doctor Who" books are written by I.M. Foreman. If I have to tell you that name's significance then you really must be new to the series. The book titles refer to actual Doctor Who episodes, such as "Doctor Who and the Pandorica", "Doctor Who and the Big Bad Wolf" or "Doctor Who and the Timeless Children".
• All of Shirley's group were played by people with disabilities. Amongst them was YouTuber Thomas Harries, who vlogs as "Tharries".
• On the collapse of Conrad's world, the real world has some slight discrepancies from the one we know - such as the border between Sweden and Norway differing by a few miles, and actor Ernest Borgnine still being alive.
• Whittaker wore a blonde wig for her return as she had long dark hair at the time. The code used by the production team for her surprise appearance, which Gatwa didn't know about until the last minute, was "Petrol" - a name RTD2 had considered for a companion.
• The Doctor sets up his initial meeting with Belinda by throwing her star certificate into space for it to be found by the Robots who will later come to abduct her.
• Anita tells the Doctor that "the Boss" sends his regards. This character was first mentioned by the Meep in The Star Beast, then again by members of the Pantheon. It was clearly meant to have some later significance, but obviously won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Postscript:

"It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..."

Shortly after the broadcast of The Reality War, RTD2 announced that the Doctor would return in a Christmas Special where the questions about the regeneration would be answered - though fans would have to wait until December 2026 to find out.

The final Disney co-produced episodes were broadcast in December 2025 on the BBC - the five part The War Between the Land and the Sea, which pitted UNIT against the Sea Devils. Six months later, at time of writing, Disney appear to have no appetite to show this spin-off series. This might suggest that the Disney+ viewing figures really weren't very good at all. 

(By now, most non-UK people who might have watched it will either have used a VPN to access it, or will have bought it on physical media if they have a region free player).

It was then confirmed in October 2025 that Disney would not be renewing their partnership with Bad Wolf - something which came as no surprise to fans. The Special was still going ahead. Lindsay Salt, Director of Drama at the BBC, was quoted at the time as saying "... and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas Special for 2026."

As time went by, however, fans started to become concerned when there were no signs of any production work going on for this festive episode, though composer Murray Gold stated in an interview that he knew of several different versions of the script.

On 10th June, 2026, it was then announced that not only was the Christmas Special cancelled, but the BBC were putting the series out to competitive tender. Bad Wolf and Davies would no longer be involved in its production - and he claimed that there had never been a Special. 

This had been announced purely as a placeholder statement whilst they worked out what they were going to do next - proving that the deal with Disney was already dead back in June 2025. It also makes the BBC's Director of Drama out to be a liar, or someone who has been lied to.

The only project still on-going is the proposed animated series for younger children.

The series is therefore at worst cancelled, and at best on an enforced hiatus until someone else is prepared to take on what has become a failing property. The earliest we might see any new Doctor Who would be 2028, though many think the programme really needs to be rested longer than that - and something like 2030 - 25th Anniversary of the revived series - or even the 70th Anniversary might be a more likely, and preferable, relaunch date.

So what went wrong? Much of the blame is naturally being placed on Davies, for giving us a series which the general public had no interest in, and which the fans disliked. However, he had been brought back to rescue a programme that was already failing - so we really have to go back to Chris Chibnall's time in charge. After a lacklustre first season, which ignored old favourite aliens and presented a Doctor who was far from proactive in her own series, Chibnall decided to go heavy on continuity. Rather than build on what was already established, which could be accommodated within the existing narrative of the series, he elected to meddle with its very foundations. As any good builder or architect would tell you, you don't mess about with the foundations unless you really know what you are doing and the structure is stable. Doctor Who was perfectly fine as it was - the tale of a mysterious old man who fled his home planet with his granddaughter Susan, whom we first met in a junkyard at No.76 Totters Lane one evening in November 1963. We would later find out that he was a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey. That was the foundation of the series for the next five and half decades, and we were perfectly comfortable with it. Even the general public knew this much about who the Doctor was.

Chibnall clearly felt that he couldn't simply act as caretaker of the series, as a good showrunner should. He felt he had to make his mark by doing something new with the series. He decided that not only was the Doctor an immortal being from another universe and not a Time Lord at all, but there had been lots and lots of other Doctors before the one played by William Hartnell. 

To the casual viewer, this was of no interest whatsoever - but to the fans this was a heresy. Not only was there no reason to introduce this, and it failed to fit with everything we had seen before as far as the Time Lords were concerned, but it also looked rubbish in practice as we only ever got to see the one incarnation turning up every so often - one that the Doctor isn't even supposed to remember.

Apart from the odd appearance of the Fugitive or mention of his orphan status, the whole concept has virtually been ignored ever since anyway - so what was the point? All Chibnall achieved from his three years in charge was, in the end, the undying hatred of the fans.

He jumped, or was more likely pushed (would someone claiming to be a fan really quit just before a big anniversary?) and the next thing we knew was that Russell T Davies was coming back - which certainly looked like he was being brought in to rescue the series. His tenure after the series returned in 2005 had been generally well regarded and the reaction to his return was positive. The programme couldn't get any worse, was the general feeling...

Things started well enough, with news that David Tennant would be back with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, in a trio of special episodes for the 60th Anniversary. The first of these was an adaptation of one of the best-loved DWW comic strips, whilst the third would see the return of the Toymaker, before the relatively unknown Ncuti Gatwa took on the role as the on-going new Doctor.

There was some absolute nonsense concerning the numbering of the series, just to keep the House of Mouse happy - but then came Space Babies... 

It was farting Slitheen and burping wheelie bins all over again.

But it's really what happened in the often overlooked middle anniversary special which would prove to be a contributory part of the series' downfall, however.

In Wild Blue Yonder, on a spaceship on the border between two realities, the Doctor resorts to an old superstition involving salt. The Toymaker, as a pre-existing figure, didn't need any excuse to be brought back, but Davies used this incident to introduce a whole pantheon of deities, characters who were usually presented as camp and over the top personalities. Any notion that the series had scientific credentials went out the window as magic became the norm. In the past, magic had always been explained away as only looking like it, but actually having an alien / scientific basis - The Daemons being a prime example.

With his new gods to play with, RTD2 pretty much dispensed with returning monsters other than one he had himself created in the Midnight entity, until it came to the series finales. I've already said above what I think went wrong with this last one, and you can find my opinion of Empire of Death elsewhere. The failings of both are very similar, because he pretty much followed the same flawed formula for both seasons (see below).

One significant complaint, as far as some fans were concerned, was the use of the series as a soapbox. Doctor Who has always had a political edge, covering ecological issues as far back as Planet of Giants for instance, whilst the Daleks have always been a warning of the dangers of Fascism and racial hatred.

From Chibnall onwards, the messaging in the series was becoming more overt, to the point that the audience was actually being lectured at, rather than to. Davies seemed content to continue this trend, albeit sometimes with more subtlety. There are those - and here I exclude myself - who think there is no place at all for politics or the promotion of certain personal or ideological agendas in a family adventure series, which should stick to telling good old-fashioned story-telling. Davies would argue that you can - and should - do both. If done well, where the messaging is properly integrated and relevant to the overall story, I'd agree with him - provided the story comes first, otherwise the tail is wagging the dog. Viewers just don't like being harangued, which is all some stories like Orphan 55 managed to achieve. If you want to get a message across, don't do it in such a way that people feel insulted and stop watching. (I've always argued that we Doctor Who fans are an enlightened bunch anyway, so they were simply preaching to the converted. The people they might have wanted to reach weren't watching).

We also have to look at the Doctor himself, both as a character and as a performance. Whittaker is a very good actor, but was badly served by scripts. I've no doubt that Gatwa will go on to become a very fine actor, but at present he simply hasn't demonstrated the range I would look for in a great one. He has tended to play the same sort of role which aligns with his own personality. He's playing himself most of the time, and failing to inhabit the character.

The Fifteenth Doctor never worked for me as he was too shallow, vain and fashion-obsessed, and failed to get across any genuine emotion. Bursting into tears at the drop of a hat is okay if the audience at home are feeling the same way. (We weren't). The one time we do get some real emotion from him, it's all negative - as he threatens then tortures Kid, who has been driven to extremes of terrorism out of what happened to his planet. If we're supposed to be seeing a darker side to the Doctor's nature, it is badly handled.

There was never the sense that this was an old man in a young man's body, in the manner achieved so successfully by Matt Smith.

With only eight episodes per season nowadays, it certainly doesn't help when the Doctor hardly features in some.

We've also had a run of poorly developed companions, supposedly the audience identification figures - another victim of the shortened seasons. They really ought to have stuck with Ruby for the duration. Just look how Millie Gibson carried 73 Yards and Lucky Day.

As for UNIT, well it's become a travesty of the original intention. An Avengers rip-off HQ and seemingly infinite amounts of technology which simply shouldn't exist in a contemporary setting. It's interesting to note that the Sea Devil spin-off dispenses with all of this. When the series returns, they really ought to get back to basics with UNIT and strip them of all these plot-convenience devices. Scrap the Vlinx and, if you really must have Rose Noble show up, for goodness sake give her something meaningful to do, beyond play the part of the token Trans character (because that's exactly what it feels like).

Lastly, one of the main problems I think hamstrung the RTD2 era was the way in which the two series were produced. Look at the production dates and you can see that Series 15 was being made a year or so before it was broadcast. I think that Bad Wolf and Disney knew there were problems back in 2024, but it was too late to change course and make the necessary changes for the second year. They were already committed to more of the same as it was already in the can, as it were, when they realised that people were critical of Series 14. 

Just look at the series' structure to see how RTD2 was sticking to a formula:

(1) Outer space romp, (2) recent historical setting with a member of the Pantheon, (3) Space soldiers on hostile alien planet with an element from the past (Vilengard / Midnight), (4) Ruby-centric folk horror tale which doglegs into something political, (5) a story in which the Doctor's current ethnicity is a factor, (6) a story inspired by current popular culture (Bridgerton / Eurovision), and (7 & 8) a finale which ineptly handles the return of a big villain from the series' past, now shoehorned into the Pantheon.

For the story arc, just have the same mature woman show up in a different guise every week.

Personally I do think, for some of the stand-alone episodes at least, that Series 15 was the better of the two, if only because we were spared a sequel to Space Babies.

There were other problems with the last two series, but for me these have been the main ones.

To sum up: was what has just happened inevitable? I'd say it was. The series has been mucked about with over the last few years and run into the ground, and by professional fan writers who really ought to have known better. I'd much rather that the series was rested than have it turn into the joke it was back in the second half of 1980's.

I was there in 1985 when the series was placed on an 18 month hiatus. I was there in 1989 when it was cancelled. I was there in 1996 when we had the false dawn of the TV Movie. I've experienced the wilderness years. I survived. We survived.

The BBC may not always be honest, but they are telling the truth when they say that Doctor Who is important to them. It has an infinitely variable format - which is why sticking to one thing like pantheons of gods, or any sort of formula, is a really stupid idea. If done well, it has proven itself time and time again that it can be popular. It has also proven, on more than one occasion, that sometimes it needs to lie fallow and, well, regenerate.

It will be back, of that there is no doubt. It's just a matter of Time.