Doctor Who, as a series in continual production, ended in December 1989. The BBC elected not to actually tell anyone about this - preferring to simply drag out some "planned return", in the hope that fans would give up and go away. They clearly failed to understand those fans - learning nothing from the 1985 hiatus controversy.
The series continued in comic form in the pages of DWM, and soon they were joined by a range of original novels from Virgin Publishing - the New Adventures. Conventions continued to take place several times a year.
After five years, rumours strengthened that the series was finally making a comeback, courtesy of a production partnership with the Americans. One American in particular was mentioned - Steven Spielberg.
The very mention of Americans had already got fans worried - we want your money, but don't like your casting ideas and think your writing's inferior. (We've seen those Star Trek spin-offs - the ones that are rubbish until Season 4).
Then it was rumoured that the new series was going to be a reboot, and that Spielberg was only interested in remaking certain stories, like The Web Planet or The Web of Fear.
But first there was "The Dark Dimension". The BBC were actually going to produce another 90 minute special, this time for the 30th Anniversary. Unfortunately, no-one knew how to add up and the finances were a mess, and so the project collapsed. Doctors 3,5,6 and 7 didn't like the scripts anyway, as 4 got all the best bits - forgetting that 4 was the one fans most wanted to see (and not them).
Eventually, we got a single 90 minute made-for-television movie. It was so bad, no-one even knows what it's called. Paul McGann was good, however, but he was destined for a future on audio only, and in the odd cameo every ten years. An up-and-coming writer named Russell T Davies joked that the Eighth Doctor didn't actually count, in the final episode of his break-out drama Queer as Folk.
The Eighth Doctor took over the book range and the comic strip, and other books were now coming out featuring all of the first seven Doctors.
Big Finish were producing audios that featured only Doctors 5 - 8, as they were the only ones who were (a) interested in reprising their role, and (b) not dead. The choice of companions caused problems for continuity as only some of them wanted to come back / needed the work. (The Fifth Doctor had to have lots of stories with Nyssa on her own, or with Peri on her own, and they even shoved an entirely new extra companion in between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani - despite the whole impact of the regeneration being that the Doctor is sacrificing his life for someone he doesn't even know... They may love stories, but they know sod all about drama).
The 40th Anniversary now loomed, and news arrived that a new series was in the pipeline - an animated one starring Richard E Grant as the Doctor. However, no sooner had this been trumpeted it was already obsolete. That Russell T Davies was bringing back the real McCoy (but without the Sylvester McCoy) sometime in 2005. News dripped out over time - 45 minute episodes, mostly self-contained, so no cliff-hangers. A story starring David Beckham as his Madame Tussauds waxwork, leading an Auton attack on Downing Street. David Jason / Helen Mirren as the Master. Daleks on / Daleks off / Daleks on again... We were all happy to hear that Christopher Eccleston was going to play the Doctor, less sure about a pop star as the companion. Jimmy Vee kept getting photographed in costume, as he was forever outside having a fag.
Heady days.
Any worries that may have lingered were then dispelled when we got to see our first proper look at what was to come. A trailer was broadcast, which featured that sequence of the spaceship flying over Tower Bridge, along with some clips from the earlier episodes.
RTD was a fine writer, and we now knew that the look of the show was going to be great.
We could all relax, and accept the Ninth Doctor's offer of a trip of a lifetime...
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