Doctor Who, as an on-going series in continuous production, ended on the 6th of December 1989.
After defeating the Master for the 19th time, the Doctor and Ace wandered back to the TARDIS - to enjoy further adventures which we were never destined to experience, on TV at least.
Apart from an ill-conceived attempt in 1996 to bring the series back by way of an Americanised TV movie pilot, the programme would not be back as a popular, on-going series until 2005.
Back then, there was a tiny minority of fans who claimed for one reason or another that they were not going to watch Russell T Davies' vision for the series. For them, Doctor Who died in December 1989.
This was partly due to homophobia - there was much mention in the gutter press of a "gay agenda", whilst others simply thought that it would only be a shadow of its former self, with 45 minute stories, no cliff-hangers, and more style than substance. Eccleston was a good actor, but he was going to be accompanied by a minor pop star.
We've seen something similar recently, with a sizeable minority of fans claiming that, for them at least, the series ended on Christmas Day, 2017, when Peter Capaldi bowed out. In this instance, the reason was clearly down to the casting of a woman as the Doctor. However, once people actually got to see the Chibnall series, a lot more of them retroactively decided that the series had ended (or at least been paused) with Twice Upon A Time.
No doubt there are those who welcomed a female Doctor, and aren't happy to see them revert to being male - though the fact that Gatwa is a young gay black man, who came to Scotland as a refugee, should help them get over it.
But long before notions of gender identity, general wokery and populist dumbing-down, fans had been bemoaning the death of Doctor Who.
It all started when William Hartnell collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS and transformed into Patrick Troughton. Some at the time could not relate to this clownish new Doctor, and switched off - though most would have tentatively come back to check on the new guy and found he was really rather good.
A similar thing happened in 1969, when the programme underwent an even bigger change than that of three years before. After the longest break in its history, the programme returned in colour and with the Doctor exiled to Earth - no longer travelling in the TARDIS. The whole structure of the programme was changed, and we hadn't even had the chance to see how the old Doctor had become the dandyish new one. Nor was there a companion to help bridge the transition, save for an army bloke who we'd only seen a couple of times ages ago.
The change was so great, that some doubted it could really be the same programme. This was something else, just using the same name. Doctor Who was dead (again).
Jon Pertwee was the Doctor for longer than his predecessors - five years compared to their three years each, during which he took the programme to new heights of popularity - but he was then replaced by another clownish one, whom viewers didn't warm to straight away.
The programme hadn't died, however, as everyone was comfortable with the idea of regeneration by now.
The next big change came not with a new Doctor, but with a new Producer - one determined to stamp his mark on the show in as many ways as possible.
There was a big switch-off - or rather a big switch-over, thanks to the exploits of a frozen astronaut waking up in the 25th Century, rather than dissatisfaction with JNT's changes. These were mostly cosmetic to begin with anyway. Style over substance once again.
Viewers slowly wandered away throughout his reign. Things weren't helped by the BBC upper echelons openly turning against the series. It never really recovered from the whole "hiatus" controversy.
Ironically, the series was improving as the audience fell, until we got to Season 26's record low (Battlefield).
Rather than cancel the series, as they had tried to do in 1985, the BBC managed to simply allow Doctor Who to die quietly - going out with a whimper rather than a bang.
A similar situation could easily have happened recently. As well as the large numbers who had given up following JW's casting, as mentioned above, and then the poor quality of Chibnall's first season in charge, the audience slowly but surely dropped episode by episode. The Timeless Child was the final straw for a great many.
In previous years, numbers may have roller-coasted over the course of a season, but under Chibnall they literally dropped with each successive story.
Legend of the Sea Devils manged only 2.2 million overnight viewership. It could so easily have been Season 26 all over again.
However, the BBC had a plan. Chibnall was given the heave-ho (despite what everyone says about "three seasons only then leave"), and RTD was invited back to save the programme. His first master stroke - the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, albeit for three nights only. Then we go straight into Gatwa's tenure, sure to begin with the return of the Christmas Special. There are to be no more gap years, and they're going to film Series 15 straight after Series 14 - so Gatwa can go off and do Shakespeare or Barbie II if he wants to, without leaving the rest of us twiddling our thumbs for a year.
Doctor Who won't Die Another Day - not for a long time yet. Under RTD, it's more a case of No Time To Die...
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