Doctor Who: The Cancelled Years - The Definitive Edition | Part Two: The Eighth Doctor Era

The year is 1991, Doctor Who’s 28th year on air. The past few years had been a troublesome & chaotic time for the program. From narrowly avoiding being cancelled twice, audiences growing tired of the same old show, viewing figures declining & the BBC themselves viewing the show as an embarrassment which was long past its prime, it was no wonder that many people thought that they were finally witnessing the show's last stand.

As Season 28 approached its transmission date, the pressure was on for the new Doctor Who team, composed of incoming Producer, Ian Fraser, & his new Doctor, Richard Griffiths, to make the show a success it had once been. Now, more than ever, the show needed to work & prove it had a lasting power, or else this could well & truly mark the final end of Doctor Who…

 

SEASON 28 - 1991

Doctor Who had narrowly avoided death with Season 27, & the promise of a new Doctor & new producer earned the show another chance to prove itself, with a new season being greenlit for 1991. However, the show was far from out of the woods. This time, there could be no excuses for laziness & staleness.

Fraser met with current script editor, Ben Aaronovitch, & the two set about crafting their first series together. Both men wished to retain a few elements from the previous era, while also wishing to return the show to some of its darker & gothic roots, similar to that of the Philip Hinchcliffe era.

The most important thing they had to establish, however, was the Eighth Doctor. Discussing potential ideas with Richard Griffiths, it was agreed that the Eighth Doctor would be a return to the grandfatherly figure of the first Doctor. He was envisioned as a grumpy grandfather figure, but still possessing the wonder, curiosity & twinkle in his eye that the Doctor has always had. When it came to the new Doctor’s costume, it was decided to return the Doctor’s outfit back to its basics, after over a decade of loud, strange clothing choices with question mark collars. The new Doctor would wear a basic white shirt & red tie, with a black jacket, waistcoat, trousers & shoes. Much like Pertwee, it was decided that he would have varied costumes in later seasons, such as swapping out the waistcoat for a jumper as well changing the colour of his clothing, while making sure the Doctor kept his basic silhouette.

One detail that Griffiths was keen for his Doctor to wear were his glasses, which he would always wear. Fraser agreed with the idea & gave it the go-ahead, feeling as though it completed the look of Griffiths Doctor.

The new Doctor wasn’t the only thing that was changing. With a new Doctor came a new title sequence. However, in order to save costs, it was decided that the new titles would be a new variant of the 1987 titles. This time, the nebula was changed to a dark blue, the nebula was flipped, Griffiths’ face would instead appear in the titles & the logo was given a recolour to a more pink-ish colour. Going alongside these new titles would be a new arrangement of the Doctor Who theme, once again done by Keff McCulloch, who offered something more harsher & alien sounding than his previous attempt.

(CLICK ME TO VIEW THE SEASON 28-29 TITLE SEQUENCE)

With all these new changes & a new team, both in front of & behind the camera, in place, all everyone could do was pray & hope that this season would work…

 

THE LAST OF THE DALEKS

WRITTEN BY: Ben Aaronovitch
DIRECTED BY: Michael Kerrigan
PARTS: 4

The Last of the Daleks would’ve been set onboard a mining vessel named the Wintshore. The story would begin, however, onboard the TARDIS, where we see the new Doctor getting used to his new body & picking out his outfit, with Raine unsure if she can trust this new Doctor. The TARDIS then arrives on the Wintshore, where the Doctor & Raine are arrested, as they are believed to be off-world spies.

They’re then taken to the bridge to meet with the Captain, where, to the Doctor’s horror, he finds his assistant to be a Dalek. The Doctor tries to warn the Captain about the Dalek, but they think he’s mad, as he reveals that the Daleks are their servants, created by their top scientists. He’s then taken to meet with this scientist, who, as the Doctor might’ve guessed, is Davros.

The Doctor tries to warn the crew about Davros, explaining who he is, what the Daleks are & the possible outcome of the current situation. But, still believing the Doctor & Raine to be spies, the Captain has the two of them locked up in the brig.

In jail, the Doctor & Raine make a Bond with one of the inmates, Walters, who reveals himself to be a real spy, who also knows that the Daleks are evil. Together, the group form a plan to expose Davros’ true intents to the crew of the Wintshore & stop the Daleks before they can reach Earth, as Walters reveals that the ship is returning home. Agreeing to help the Doctor, Walters kick-starts a riot, which gives Raine the chance to escape the brig & disguise herself as a crew member.

Raine begins to search the ship, looking for anything that would expose Davros as evil. She then turns a corner & bumps directly into a crew member. Initially, she thinks she’s been caught, however, the crew member doesn’t even acknowledge her & continues to walk on. Raine tries making contact with the woman but gets nothing. Expecting the worst, she decides to tail her, which leads her to a closed off sector of the vessel. She follows the woman inside this sector, passes the security tape & into a dinghy lit room. She looks around in horror & astonishment, as she discovers a Dalek processing factory. She sees tons of crew, which she discovers to be hypnotised, constructing makeshift Dalek cases & growing Dalek mutants from old Kaled DNA.

With that, Raine then breaks the Doctor & Walters out of prison by tampering with the brig’s power & initiating a power out. The Doctor & Walters then have 2 minutes to break out & disguise themselves, before the backup generators activate, which they’re successfully able to do. Raine then shows the Doctor the room where the Daleks are being created, where the Doctor un-hypnotises the woman who Raine followed.

The Doctor is able to break the hypnosis, which causes the woman to turn mad, as she screams in abject horror & dashes out of the room as fast as she can. The Doctor, Raine & Walters are able to catch up with the woman, who they find to be called Comet, who is then put to ease by the Doctor. He then has Comet take him & his group to the captain, where he exposes Davros’ secret lair & successfully convinces the Captain that Davros is a danger to the human race.

Realising that his plans have been exposed, Davros activates his intercom & orders his Daleks to exterminate the crew. We then cut away, as we see the new Daleks rolling out into the corridors & picking off the crew one by one. We then see the Doctor, Raine, Walters, Comet & the Captain working together to try & stop Davros.

The Doctor, on the verge of an idea, asks the Captain what the vessel was mining for. He proceeds to list a bunch of minerals, with the Doctor exclaiming at the mention of a mineral named Varganium, which he explains can be turned into a gas which is deadly to all life forms from Skaro. With that, the group travel to the nearest laboratory, where they begin crushing down Varganium into its gas component.

The Doctor makes contact with Davros over a communications channel, where the two exchange brief conversation, with Davros saying he approves of the Doctor's new face. The Doctor gives Davros an ultimatum: Stand down or else he will die. Davros laughs disgustingly, before telling the Doctor that his threats are empty. The Doctor then tells Davros that he did warn him; he gave him a chance, before telling Raine to activate the ventilation. Raine flicks a switch & we see the Varganium gas being pumped into the ventilation. We see Daleks begin to spew out green liquid, as they spin around frantically.

We then see Davros also beginning to cough up the green liquid, demanding the Doctor to tell him what he’s done. The Doctor reveals his plan, before saying “Goodbye, Davros. & hopefully for the last time too” before switching off the television. We then cut back to Davros, where he slowly makes his way into an escape pod. Davros, with the last of his energy, presses the main button, which shuts the door & launches the escape pod.

The story then ends with the Captain pardoning the Doctor, Raine & Walters of their crimes, with the Daleks being ejected into a nearby sun. We then end with the Doctor & Raine back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor putting on his new glasses, having become fully comfortable in his new incarnation, & Raine realising she can trust this new Doctor.

 

NIGHT THOUGHTS

WRITTEN BY: Edward Young
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Mallett
PARTS: 3

Night Thoughts would’ve been primarily set in a Scottish mansion in the year 2006. We begin with the Doctor & Raine arriving in a forest at night during a rainstorm, where they're offered shelter by a group of academics in their house. There, we’re introduced to the supporting cast, including Major Dickens, the leader of the group, a bursar named Bartholomew, Sue, a seemingly troubled housemaid, who prefers to communicate through a stuffed rabbit toy named Happy, O'Neil, a Doctor in English Literature, The Deacon, a chaplain in the British Army, & Joe Hartley, a taxidermist. At first, everything seems seemingly normal. However, things take a turn for the worst, as the group of academics are slowly killed off by a murderer within the group.

The Doctor is forced to investigate the murders. However, during his investigation, he uncovers a device named the Bartholomew transactor. Confronting the remaining academics, the Doctor discovers that the group are experimenting with time with the Bartholomew transactor in order to send a message back in time to their past selves, to warn them about a girl named Edie O'Neil who, several years ago, they misdiagnosed with Gravonax poisoning & accidentally killed in that very house.

Their plan works & they’re successfully able to communicate with their younger selves. However, the interference with the timeline causes Edie to be transformed into a zombie-like state of limbo. This causes the Doctor to realise that the misdiagnosis had never been genuine, & that the whole series of events were part of a time experiment conducted by Dickens, as he wanted to be famous for bringing someone back to life.

Intending to correct the academics' mistake, the Doctor travels back in time to undo the damage & expose Dickens. However, he is unable to bring himself to kill Edie & continues to allow the Zombie-Edie to exist in the present. Then, Returning to the present, the Doctor discovers that most of the academics, bar O’Neil & Sue, are now all dead. The Doctor also notices that Edie’s body has now collapsed. He then theories that the zombie-Edie was responsible for the deaths & was keeping herself "alive" through her own use of the transactor. We end with O’Neil & Sue heading off together, before the Doctor & Raine also leave.

ILLEGAL ALIEN

WRITTEN BY: Mike Tucker & Robert Perry
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Mallett
PARTS: 3

Illegal Alien would’ve been set in London in 1940. The story sees the Doctor & Raine meeting Cody McBride, a private detective, & working with him to track down a serial killer known as the 'Limehouse Lurker'. After some investigating, the Doctor then discovers a Cybermat, which leads him to suspect the Limehouse Lurker to be a time-travelling Cyberman that has been damaged by a bomb from the Blitz & is seeking blood plasma to heal its damaged organic components.

While the Doctor tinkers with the Cybermat, as this Cybermat is a design he has never seen before, Raine & McBride investigate the factory of Dr Peddler, a murdered businessman. There, they discover a small group of Cybermen, who go after the two of them. It’s here we’re introduced to a new Cyberman design, with this new design harkening back to their classic designs. Raine & McBride split up, & we see Raine being pursued by the Cybermen.

She then takes shelter in a bar, however she’s attacked by a swarm of Cybermats, which she’s able to fend off, before she takes shelter in a house belonging to George Limb, a politician. This would be intercut with the Doctor & McBride continuing to investigate, where they eventually discover that the factory is being used to create Cybermen & Cybermats. They also discover that Wall, Dr. Peddler's assistant, has partially converted himself into a Cyberman. It turns out Peddler & Wall found a group of dormant Cybermen & began research into them at the factory, but Peddler became horrified when he discovered the Cybermen's true nature, & so he was killed by a Cybermat. We also learn that it was the murder of Peddler that McBride is investigating.

Meanwhile, Raine discovers that Limb has been sheltering the Lurker, before it attacks her. Then suddenly, Captain Hartmann, a Nazi officer, turns up & destroys the Lurker, while also kidnapping Raine & takes her to his Nazi base in Jersey. It’s here that George Limb is revealed to be the mastermind of the cyber-operation, having given cybertechnology to both the British & the Nazis to kick-start a technology race. We then see the Doctor recover the Lurker's cyber command unit, a mobile computer that directs the Cybermen. He then travels to Jersey & uses the command unit to seize control of the Cybermen & sets them against Limb & his Nazi allies.

A Nazi captain damages the control unit, & all hell breaks loose, as the Cybermen can no longer be controlled. Limb flees the area using the Cybermen's time capsule, however the primitive device can't cope & time is slowed down. The Doctor is then able to resist the effect & pulls Raine free. Together, they escape the factory, with the cyber control unit exploding & destroying the factory. The Doctor assumes Limb to have been shredded through time & space, before he & Raine leave in the TARDIS.

 

LUNGBARROW

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: Chris Clough
PARTS: 4

Lungbarrow would’ve been set on Gallifrey. The story sees the Doctor arriving home, where he's accused of murdering one of his cousins. In order to save his life, he must uncover dark secrets from his past in an attempt to clear his name from within his ancestors home, the house of Lungbarrow, with the Doctor discovering that the real killer was another one of the Doctor's cousins, Glospin.

The story would've revealed a lot more about Gallifrey's history & reveals that time lords aren't born but are created via looms due to an ancient curse set upon the people of Gallifrey a long time ago. The story also begins to properly hint at the Doctor's back story, where we learn that the Doctor is somehow connected to one of Gallifrey's founding fathers named The Other. We never learn how but all we know is that The Other is closer to the Doctor more than anyone knows.

In the end, Glospin is killed & the House of Lungbarrow collapses over a cliff. The Doctor is pardoned by the high council & is allowed to return to his travels in time & space

 

CONCLUSION

Season 28 ultimately proved to be the success the show needed. Reviews & viewing figures were more respectable, as many people took to Richard Griffiths’ Doctor, & his friendship with Raine Cunningham, straight away. It was generally agreed that the gamble had paid off. The new direction the show was heading down seemed to be the right call.

Seeing the success of the new Doctor & production team, BBC One controller, Jonathan Powell, ultimately decided to greenlight the show for a Twenty-Ninth season in 1992. Doctor Who appeared to be safe… for now. The show had proven it could work. Now it had to prove it had staying power & wasn’t a one-hit wonder.

SEASON 29 - 1992

The pressure was on for Fraser & Aaronovitch. Season 28 had proved to be the right decision at the right time. Now, they had to prove that their new direction for the show had staying power.

With a more comfortable production team, work on Season 29 quickly commenced. Fraser & Aaronovitch looked back at what worked in Season 28 & decided to run with it. However, in an attempt to avoid quick staleness & getting too comfortable, also decided to try a few new things in places.

 

BATTLEGROUND

WRITTEN BY: Ben Aaronovitch
DIRECTED BY: Alan Wareing
PARTS: 4

Battleground would’ve been set on a parallel Earth in the 11th century. The story sees the Doctor & Raine accidentally arriving on this alternate Earth & finding themselves trapped, as the power of the TARDIS has dropped & will take a while to recharge.

 The Doctor goes off to explore this world in search of anything that could help him in his current situation. However, things take a turn for the worse when he’s mistaken as a sorcerer & is sentenced to death. However, the Doctor realises that something an even bigger event is going on, one that concerns his own past, as he finds himself confronted with none other than Morgaine & her son, Mordred. That’s when the Doctor realises what’s about to happen. The Doctor realises that now is the time he must become Merlin & banish Morgaine from this universe in order for his younger self to do further battle with her & the Destroyer in her future.

The story acts as a prequel to Battlefield, with the Doctor essentially setting up the events of that story, as well as acting out events which he’d only heard about in the past, such as becoming Merlin, fighting alongside King Arthur & setting things in place for his previous incarnation. We would also see Raine becoming a part of the established history, with Raine becoming The Lady of the Lake.

At the end of the story, the Doctor fulfils his destiny & everything is set in place for Morgaine’s return. She & the destroyer are defeated, Ancelyn has been told to be prepared to encounter the Doctor’s younger self & King Arthur is dead. The Doctor & Raine say their farewells &, with the TARDIS now fully ready, return to their correct universe.

REVOLUTION

WRITTEN BY: Rona Munro
DIRECTED BY: Chris Clough
PARTS: 3

Revolution would’ve been set in America during the Revolutionary War. The story begins with the Doctor & Raine arriving in America in the year 1892. However, the two realise that something is seriously wrong with this time. The country possesses technology & weapons which are several decades ahead of its time, most (if not all) people are British & America isn’t called America, but instead West Britannia. Through some more research, the Doctor deduces that someone or something has interfered with history, changing the outcome of the Revolutionary War, resulting in the British winning & America never being founded.

With history needing to be corrected, the Doctor uses the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits to take him & Raine to the year 1776, which the TARDIS has detected as the most likely moment where history was set on a different path. However, upon arriving in 1776, the Doctor & Raine are caught in some crossfire & taken prisoner by the American army. The Doctor is then taken to one of the American leaders who, to the Doctor's shock, is none other than The Master.

It turns out that the Master is responsible for altering the timelines. We learn that through hypnosis & telepathy, the Master has made himself a leader for the American army, while also replacing George III with an android duplicate. He plans to manipulate both armies into a position where American resources are dropped significantly, as well as giving the British the advantage they need to take down the opposition & win history.

The story sees the Doctor escaping the Master’s captive & working within the British Army in order to keep history on its correct path, as well as finding a way to get rid of the Master. The Doctor is eventually able to find & rescue the real King George, who was being held prisoner by the Master, & shut down the android duplicate. The Doctor then discovers that the android contained an in-built perception filter, which prevented people from ever questioning him. He then uses the perception filter to interfere with the Master’s perception filter, which exposes him to the Americans.

At the end of the story, the Master’s plans are foiled & history continues with America winning the Revolutionary War. We end with the Master being hunted down by the Americans & the Doctor & Raine dashing back to the TARDIS before they get caught in the crossfire again.

NIGHTSHADE

WRITTEN BY: Mark Gatiss
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 4

Nightshade would’ve been set in a fictional village named Crook Marsham in 1968. The story sees the Doctor & Raine arriving in Crook Marsham, where the Doctor appears to be in a pensive mood, with him reconsidering his self-appointed role as guardian of the cosmos.

The Doctor wishes to try & find some peace, however he’s soon thrown into action, when he & Raine find that the villagers are slowly being killed off. We then see the Doctor & Raine working with a washed-up actor named Edmund Trevithick, who was most well known for playing the lead character in a 1950s BBC Sci-fi show named Nightshade, to find & stop the killer.

It turns out that the killer is an ancient sentience, simply known as The Sentience, that lived inside the Earth, focused under Crook Marsham. We learn that it feeds on human energy, however it can’t feed on humans directly & needs to latch on to strong memories, such as regrets & desires. The Sentience would then create individuals from the memories & try to interact with the target. The stronger the belief in the memories was, the more powerful the copy was & the easier the Sentience could feed.

In the end, the Sentience is defeated when the Doctor tricks it into feeding off a supernova, which creates a black hole, & the Doctor traps the sentience in said black hole. At the end of the story, the Doctor has been snapped out of his pensive mood, having been convinced by Raine to keep being the Doctor, & he & Raine return to the TARDIS.

 

NETWORK

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: Chris Clough
PARTS: 3

Network would’ve been set in the University of Advanced Education in 1991. The story sees the Doctor investigating the College, after receiving reports from UNIT, led by Brigadier Winifred Bambera, about traces of Artron energy from within the college.

The story sees the Doctor taking on the disguise of a professor, with Raine as his assistant, as they attempt to trace down the source of the Artron energy. Further issues are raised when they discover old reports on students vanishing without a trace.

After some investigating, the Doctor traces the source of the Artron energy to the University’s Vice Chancellor, who reveals herself to be the Rani. The Doctor discovers that the Rani has been kidnapping the most intelligent students & wiring their brains into a Gallifreyan machine, which she wants to use to re-engineer Chaos theory. So far, her results have had very little results. However, she now plans to complete her experiment by connecting the Doctor’s mind to the machine.

The story then relies on Raine & Bambera, who, with less knowledge than the Doctor, must find a way to defeat the Rani. The Rani is then eventually defeated when the Doctor breaks free of the machine’s will & uses his mind to create a computer virus that releases her subject from its control & self implodes on itself. The Rani is then captured & imprisoned by UNIT, with the Doctor using the Rani’s Stattenheim remote control to dematerialise her TARDIS. We then end with the Doctor & Raine saying goodbye to Bambera, before returning to the TARDIS.

 

CONCLUSION

While this season wasn’t considered as strong as its predecessor in hindsight, Season 29 would’ve been considered another successful year for Doctor Who. By now, Griffiths & Ormond had been widely accepted by the show's audience, with Griffiths now being considered the best Doctor since Tom Baker. Viewing figures & reviews remained respectable & mostly consistent throughout the series, thus cementing the show's current direction as a success.

With another win under its belt, Doctor Who was greenlit for yet another year; & this time it was a big one: 1993 - Doctor Who’s 30th Anniversary. Hopes were high for the show as 1993 rolled round.
It was around this time that another key event was under way. Jonathan Powell had recently resigned from his role as Controller of BBC1, with the role now being handed over to BBC2 controller, Alan Yentob, who had big plans for Doctor Who…

 

SEASON 30 - 1993

Unlike his most recent successors, Alan Yentob had a lot of respect for Doctor Who & always saw the potential in it. By the time he was appointed as controller of BBC1, Yentob wanted to make Doctor Who as successful as he could.

Not only did he permit a slightly better budget, but he was also able to increase the episode count from 14 episodes over 4 stories to 20 stories over 6 stories, resulting in 2 4-parters & 4 3-parters. Not only that, but he gave the greenlight for the Doctor Who production team to produce a 90 minute special to mark the 30th Anniversary of the show. With all these upcoming changes, 1993 was shaping up to be a big year for Doctor Who.

However, more radical changes were soon to follow. After having played the character for 3 seasons, Julia Ormond announced her departure from the role of Raine. With this, Fraser & Aaronovitch saw the potential of a ratings boost, as they devised a plan to introduce a new companion mid way through the season, with Raine departing in the following story.

It was decided that instead of creating a new companion, Aaronovitch & Fraser would ask the writers of Season 30 to include a character which could potentially go on to become the next companion. The potential characters were: a descendant of the Brigadier in episode 1, a new Time Lady in episode 2, an archaeologist from the 26th century in episode 3 & a nurse character in episode 6. Ultimately, the character that was chosen was the archaeologist, Bernice Summerfield. For the role of Bernice, Fraser ultimately chose actress Lisa Bowerman, who’d previously played a Cheetah person in Survival.

Richard Griffiths chose to remain on as the Doctor beyond Season 30, despite initially considering bowing out after the 30th Anniversary Special. For his third year in the role however, Griffiths convinced Fraser to allow him to grow out & keep a beard for his Doctor.

With Griffiths new look, & feeling the time was right, Fraser commissioned a brand new Doctor Who title sequence, as well as a new logo & title music. The new title music, arranged by regular composer, Mark Ayres, harkened back to the original Delia Derbyshire & 1980 Peter Howell arrangements, while still retaining some of the harshness & alien-ness of the 1991 Keff McCulloch theme.

(CLICK ME TO VIEW THE SEASON 28-29 TITLE SEQUENCE)

Finally, the last noteworthy change was a new Police Box prop. This new one, designed by Mike Tucker, harkened back to the original Peter Brachacki prop, while retaining elements of the Tom Yardley-Jones prop.

 

TRANSIT

WRITTEN BY: Ben Aaronovitch
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 3

Transit would’ve been set in London in 2109. The story sees the Doctor & Raine landing on a Stellar Tunnel, an interstitial connection which could be used for interplanetary or interstellar transport, where they’re instantly thrown into danger, as the TARDIS, with Raine still inside, is hurled to the end of the line, somewhere in another station. The Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself with a woman named Kadiatu, a descendant of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, & works with her to find out what is threatening the Sol Transit System, a big interstellar transport system that’s linked to multiple worlds.

The Doctor soon realises that the STS hasn't been invaded by an outside intelligence, because it’s structured in the form of a complex neural network & has evolved its own intelligence. However, the System was invaded by a competing intelligence from another dimension, which the Doctor nicknames Fred, which has breached the system where reality was thin along the Tunnel's path. We learn that Fred is the ruler of a standalone dimension, which is separate from our universe & complete with its own laws of physics.

The story sees the Doctor working with Kadiatu to get Raine back, as she has become possessed by Fred, & stop Fred from entering their universe & destroying the STS.

Soon, the group make their way to Fred's own dimension, where Fred attempts to assimilate the Doctor’s form. However, Fred is defeated when Kadiatu takes the form of a fierce black leopard, which gives the Doctor a chance to remove Fred from Raine’s mind, resulting in Fred being devoured by the Leopard.

The story then ends with the group returning to their universe, with the gateway to Fred's universe closing off. The Doctor then clears up any remaining loose ends before he & Raine return to the TARDIS.

 

THE KINGDOM OF LIES

WRITTEN BY: Russell T Davies
DIRECTED BY: Stuart McDonald
PARTS: 3

The Kingdom of Lies would’ve been set on Gallifrey. The story begins with the TARDIS being summoned back to Gallifrey by the Time Lords. The Doctor is put on trial by the new president of Gallifrey, Kalien, played by Jane Asher, who states the Matrix predicts that the Doctor will be responsible for the destruction of the Time Lords &, in order to do so, must stop the Doctor. The Doctor, Raine & Romana, who is defending the Doctor, plead innocent & say that the Doctor is incapable of such crimes, however Kalien states that the Doctor is a known criminal & has proven himself countless times of such dangerous powers, which results in the Doctor being found guilty & to be sentenced to death in two days.

The Doctor is confined to a cell, however Romana & Raine are allowed to remain free. The two agree that while the Doctor does have a habit of interfering, he would never go as far as destroying Gallifrey. Knowing that they must save the Doctor, & suspicious of Kalien knowing more than she lets on, the two decide to investigate.

It turns out that Kalien faked her evidence of the Doctor’s future crime & has been sentencing other Time Lords to death for similar crimes which, upon investigating, none were guilty of. Not only that, but it turns out Kalien has faked & manipulated her way into power at every possible turn & should never have become Lady President of Gallifrey. We discover that Kalien is killing every Time Lord which could oppose her plans, which involve her abolishing the non-interference policy & going to war with the universe.

We then see Raine & Romana exposing Kalien’s plans & getting the Doctor set free. The group & a handful of Time Lord guards trap & corner Kalien. However, before she can be arrested, Kalien takes Romana hostage & teleports away to the escape shuttles, where she throws Romana aside & attempts to free Gallifrey in an escape pod. However, Kalien is defeated when the Doctor hacks into the pod's flight controls & reprograms it to return to Gallifrey, where Kalien is ultimately trialled & arrested.

The story then ends with the Doctor & Raine saying goodbye to Romana, before she realises that the planet has no President. The Inquisitor suggests that the Doctor could re-run as a candidate, before the Doctor quickly suggests Romana as a candidate. Romana says she’s never thought about the idea before, but she’d be willing to give it a go. The Doctor smiles & says “well i’d certainly vote for you”, before he & Raine enter the TARDIS & dematerialise.

 

LOVE AND WAR

WRITTEN BY: Paul Cornell
DIRECTED BY: Alan Wareing
PARTS: 4

Love and War would’ve been set on the planet Heaven in the 26th Century, a planet home to both humans & Draconians. The story sees the Doctor & Raine arriving on the planet Heaven, as the Doctor is in search of a manuscript named The Papers of Felsecar. Meanwhile, Raine gets acquainted with a group of travellers, including Jan, who Raine begins to fall for, Roisa, whose in an open relationship with both Jan & another Traveller, Máire, Christopher the priest of the travellers who has no sex, & a guest of the Travellers: archaeologist Bernice Summerfield, who is conducting a dig at some ancient ruins left behind by the now-extinct Heavenites, the former inhabitants of the planet.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is unable to find his manuscript. However, the head of the military forces on Heaven, tells the Doctor about a mysterious sphere in space, which was spotted briefly before vanishing. The Doctor then meets Bernice, who he helps to open the way to an old Heavenite observatory. Inside, they find a strange telescope & the decayed body of a heavenite. They also find some ancient writing which, once deciphered, revealed a plot by a race known as the Hoothi to use Heaven to create an army of the dead.

Realising the danger the falling Hoothi fibres would cause, the Doctor orders Bernice to quickly unearth the observatory, which could detect otherwise invisible Hoothi spheres. Then, knowing that Jan Rydd, whom Raine had totally fallen in love with, had been infected by a Hoothi fibre, the Doctor manipulated him into putting Raine to sleep with a drug & taking a shuttle on his own to the Hoothi sphere. However, Máire wakes up Raine & they follow Jan & sneak onboard.

On board the shuttle, Jan asks Raine to marry him if they survive, & Raine says yes. However, when the ship comes under attack, Jan ejects Raine & Máire from the shuttle. Then, making contact with the Doctor & Christopher from Outerspace, a form of virtual reality on Heaven, Jan ignites the sphere with his pyrokinesis, killing three of the sphere's four Hoothi & sacrificing himself.

With the day saved, the Doctor returns for Raine & tries to apologise to her. However, Raine is filled with hatred & anger at the Doctor, saying that he was only jealous that Jan would take her away from him & refuses to travel with him anymore. Raine begins to march away from the Doctor. However, filled with guilt & anger at himself, the Doctor grabs Raine by the arm & drags her back onboard the TARDIS, with Raine kicking & screaming to let her go. Hearing the commission, Bernice dashes over to the scene & enters the TARDIS behind them, just as the Doctor dematerialises.

On board the TARDIS, Bernice is able to calm down Raine & stop her from attacking the Doctor. Then, once Raine has settled, she tells the Doctor to take her home. The Doctor, realising that this is the end of their travels, agrees & sets some controls on the console. However the episode ends with the TARDIS being pulled off course by an unknown force & is sent crashing through space

 

BLOOD HEAT

WRITTEN BY: Jim Mortimore
DIRECTED BY: Chris Clough
PARTS: 3

Blood Heat would’ve been set on a parallel Earth. The story sees the TARDIS crash landing on Earth. However, the Doctor, Raine & Bernice come to discover that this Earth is from an alternate timeline, where the Earth has been conquered by the Silurians. They eventually discover that in this universe, the third Doctor was killed by the Silurian Morka in the 1970 story The Silurians, meaning he was never able to create a cure for the Silurian virus named, which wiped out most of humanity & allowed the Silurians to reclaim the Earth.

The story would see the Doctor, Raine & Bernice working with the surviving humans & the Silurians in an attempt to prevent a nuclear war between the two races & make peace between them, while also working on a way to escape the parallel universe. The story would've also saw the Doctor meeting alternative versions of the Pertwee UNIT family such as the Brigadier, who is the leader of the resistance & a much more bitter man, Benton, who is also more bitter & hateful towards the Silurians & Liz Shaw, who was a widow in this universe.

The story also sees the Doctor meeting an older version of Morka, who was responsible for the death of his alternate self. We see that he has mellowed with age & now understands the horror of the crimes he committed in his youth, as the deaths of both the Doctor & Okdel, the former leader of the Silurians, have haunted him since.

By the end of the story, the Doctor is able to stop a potential nuclear war & help the Silurians & humans make peace. However, the Doctor is hit with a hard-hitting dilemma, as he reveals to Raine & Bernice that this universe is slowly draining the life out of their universe. So the Doctor has no choice but to destroy the parallel universe to save their own universe. While Bernice, although upset, accepts the Doctor’s argument that this must be done, Raine is disgusted by the Doctor & his actions. She calls him out on his recent behaviour & demands that she goes home now. Heartbroken, but understanding, the Doctor sets the controls to Raine’s time. The Doctor opens the door & tries to say goodbye to Raine. However Raine, without even acknowledging the Doctor, walks out of the TARDIS & closes the door behind her.

In the console room, the Doctor says goodbye to her while watching her on the monitor, before dematerialising the TARDIS. The Doctor then turns to Bernice & apologises to her. He then offers to take her back to Heaven, but, feeling as though there’s nothing left for her there, Bernice says she wouldn’t mind travelling with the Doctor for a bit. She believes there is good in the Doctor, but he needs someone to travel with him, to remind him of who he is, & to give him a reason to fight the evil in the Universe.

 

THE HIGHEST SCIENCE

WRITTEN BY: Gareth Roberts
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 3

The Highest Science would’ve been set on the planet Hogsumm. The story sees the Doctor & Bernice arriving on Hogsuum, after the TARDIS detected a Fortean flicker, a temporal anomaly which displaces events & objects from their proper positions in space & time. When the Doctor looks up Hogsuum in the TARDIS data banks, he finds a reference to Gustav Urnst, an author of the 25th century who vanished after claiming to have found the legendary planet Sakkrat, whose people apparently reached the pinnacle of technological achievement, the Highest Science, & then destroyed themselves with it.

Whilst on the planet, the Doctor & Bernice are separated after an encounter with a troop of Chelonians, war heavy turtle-like aliens who had been transported to the planet by the Flicker. Bernice soon finds herself with a group of youngsters from the 22nd century named Rodomonte, Molassi & Sendei, who’d also been transported to the planet, where they eventually discover a ruined city, which used to belong to the people of the planet.

Meanwhile, the Doctor discovers that a group of humans from the 1990s have also been drawn to the planet by the Flicker, before he witnesses the arrival of a dangerous criminal named Sheldukher, who, alongside a genetically engineered super-intellect nicknamed "the Cell", who after a century of evolving, had begun to wish for death, are in search of the Highest Science, as he believes Hogsumm is Sakkrat.

Taken hostage, the Doctor is forced to reveal his own knowledge of the Science, which leads Sheldukher to the citadel where they rediscover Bernice. However, after managing to enter the building's inner sanctum, the group discovers that the entire planet had been a trap for Sheldukher.

We learn that over a century ago, he stole the Cell from its creators, the owners of Checkley's World, in search for the Highest Science. However, learning that it would take him several centuries to reach the Highest Science, he went into suspended animation. During this time, the people of Checkley's World changed Hogsumm, which was very much a dead planet, to resemble Sakkrat, & that all of this was a trap set in an attempt to retrieve the cell. However, The slow time chamber they built on the planet had malfunctioned, which created the Fortean Flicker & ironically caused the legend of Sakkrat to be spread through the past across the galaxy.

The Doctor then gives the Cell the death its long desired. Meanwhile, with his lifework revealed as meaningless, Sheldukher chooses to committed suicide. The story then ends with the Doctor & Bernice managing to escape the city before it explodes & rescuing the remaining humans from being slaughtered by the Chelonians.

 

FEAR OF THE DALEKS

WRITTEN BY: Colin Brake
DIRECTED BY: Michael Kerrigan
PARTS: 4

Fear of the Daleks would’ve been set on an Earth-like colony planet named Firmament. The story sees the Doctor & Bernice arriving on the planet, where they find the planet to be a wreck. The streets are deserted & destroyed, the sounds of occasional gunfire & shouting echoes through the streets & the little population they can find are seemingly terrified of something. The Doctor tries to talk to some of these people, asking what they’re so afraid of. They say they live in fear of their Masters, the Demons from the sky. The Doctor tries to push for a name to these demons &, to his horror, he instantly recognises the name of said demons: Daleks.

Through some investigation, the Doctor discovers how the Daleks came to be on this planet & exactly why everyone lives in Fear of the Daleks. We learn that the planet’s population was being controlled by a machine known as the Agrus device, which controlled people’s thoughts & emotions in an effort to prevent crimes on the planet, which was created using a mineral from the planet's centre known as Zurronian. The Daleks invaded Firmament, toppled its government & took over the Agrus device, reprogramming it so that the population feared the Daleks & wouldn’t form any resistance against them.

The story sees the Doctor & Raine finding a very small resistance, which is led by those who are somehow immune to the Agrus device, to try & find out why the Daleks invaded Firmament & how to defeat them. One of these members would be a nurse named Patricia Sanders, who, as stated earlier, was a companion that never was. They eventually discover that the Daleks have set up mines across the planet in search for more Zurronian & that they plan to create an even bigger Agrus device, which’ll allow them to easily conquer & destroy every known Galaxy.

Eventually, the Doctor is able to defeat the Daleks by finding the original Agrus machine & reprogramming it so that the people of the planet not only fear the Daleks, but hate the Daleks with a burning passion, which causes the planet to resist against the Daleks & eventually destroy their taskforce on Firmament. The story ends with the Daleks defeated & the Doctor wishing the population luck with rebuilding their society, before he & Bernice return to the TARDIS.

 

30th Anniversary Special:
THE EIGHT DOCTORS

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: Graeme Harper

The Eight Doctors would’ve been set across multiple places & time zones & would’ve starred Doctors 3-8, as well as their respective companions. These companions being Liz Shaw, Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Peri Brown & Ace.

The story begins with the Eighth Doctor & Bernice in the TARDIS, where the TARDIS receives a distress call from both the Doctor's first & second incarnation. 8 follows the signal, however, he has unknowingly fallen for a trap set by the Master.

We see that the Master has trapped the first two incarnations of the Doctor in a Temporal pocket as bait for the current Doctor, as when 8 tries to use the TARDIS to free his former selves, the trap is set off. Suddenly, the TARDIS begins to shake & rattle, with 8 trying to stabilise the TARDIS. Then suddenly, in a blink of light, the Doctor vanishes into thin air. We then see quick flashes of 8’s former selves blinking into thin air, as they’re displaced in time & throwing them into different points in their life.

The story would’ve then been split into 6 mini plots, where we see Doctors 3-8 in different points in their timeline. Their TARDISes are sealed shut & time has gone wrong, as they & their companions have seemingly aged somewhat. They must find out what’s caused all this while dealing with whatever their other incarnation was dealing with at the time.

The Third Doctor ends up in the year 2003 with Peri Brown, where he must work with Winifred Bambera & UNIT to stop a cyberman invasion in Manchester. He’s eventually able to do so by tinkering with the Cyber Planner &, as he puts it, reversing the polarity of the Neutron flow.

The Fourth Doctor finds himself stuck in suspended animation within the Master’s TARDIS, as he swapped places with 8. He makes telepathic contact with Bernice & helps her land 8’s TARDIS into the Master’s secondary control room. 4 explains that if she can find & free her, he might be able to help free his other selves. While exploring the Master’s TARDIS, Bernice discovers that the companions of the 1st & 2nd Doctor's being held in stasis, these being Susan Foreman & Victoria Waterfield. She unfreezes them & the 2 of them help Bernice through the TARDIS. However, they soon discover that there is an Ogron within the corridors. The group, however, eventually overpower the Ogron & lock it in a room.

The Fifth Doctor finds himself in his past with Liz Shaw. He must work with her to prevent a Sontaran named Jike from causing a nuclear reactor to go into meltdown. We learn that Jike is a disgraced Sontaran, as he chose not to die in glory, & so he plans to end his life by destroying millions as well. 5 & Liz are eventually able to make Jike realise that he doesn’t have to believe in the Sontaran course. However, before the Doctor can stop him, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart shows up & kills Jike by shooting him in the probic vent.

The Sixth Doctor finds himself on a human colony world with Sarah Jane, where he must stop the Nestene Consciousness from destroying the planet with plastic humans he’s grown. He’s eventually able to do so by dropping a bomb that contains pure Anti-plastic onto the Consciousness.

The Seventh Doctor finds himself in 1665 with Nyssa, where he must stop the Rani from releasing a nerve gas across the Earth, which’ll wipe out the planet. The Rani is eventually stopped & the nerve gas is stopped, however part of the gas released into the atmosphere & resulted in the creation of the Great Plague

Finally, the Eighth Doctor finds himself in Egypt in 40BC with Ace, where he must stop a full on Dalek invasion & save the people of Egypt. He’s eventually able to do so by blowing up Dalek Command, which is located within a Pyramid, using Ace’s rucksack, which is filled with Nitro 9.

Eventually, Bernice, Susan & Victoria are able to free the Fourth Doctor, where they go to confront the Master in the Console room. The Master attempts to shoot Susan & Victoria, however Bernice knocks him out cold with a swift punch, before tying him up to his hatstand. 4 then uses the Master’s TARDIS to make contact with his other selves & unlock their TARDISes, as well as freeing his first incarnations from the Temporal pocket.

We then see all 8 of the Doctors TARDISes & the Master’s TARDIS landing in an Earth-like Castle, where all of the Doctors (bar one & two, who remain in their TARDISes) reunite with their rightful TARDISes & companions. Then suddenly, the Master’s TARDIS takes off, as we see that the Master has freed himself. 8 is annoyed that he got away, before 4, with a wink & a grin, says “oh, don’t worry. He won’t get too far”. Then cut to the Master, as we see him press a switch on the console with an evil laugh, before we see his TARDIS being pulled into the Temporal pocket.

We then end with the six Doctors saying their goodbyes to one another, with the Doctor’s saying goodbye to the companions they worked with in that story. They then enter their TARDISes, with Susan & Victoria entering their rightful TARDISes alone, & dematerialise.

 

CONCLUSION

Season 30 was a big success for Doctor Who; bigger than Season 28 or 29. Ratings & viewing figures continued to stay strong across the board, with many feeling that the dark times of the show were coming to an end. Many people instantly clicked with Bernice Summerfield, feeling that she offered something new to the table, & were now eagerly waiting for Season 31…

 

SEASON 31 - 1994

For the first time in nearly a decade, Doctor Who felt as if it was in safe hands. Under the guard of Griffiths, Fraser & Aaronovitch, the show had been able to rebuild the respect with both the public & the powers that be at the BBC.

However, change was afoot behind the scenes. Aaronovitch had made it clear to Fraser that Season 30 was to be his last year as script editor. After looking around, Fraser found his new script editor in Colin Brake, who’d been originally considered for the position 4 years ago.

It was during the production of Season 31 that Ian Fraser announced his departure from the role of Producer. After 4 years in the part, & after being warned by his predecessor to leave as soon as the opportunity rose, Fraser felt that the time was right to move on to new projects & let someone else take over. Following his recommendation, the BBC offered the role of producer to Stephen Garwood, who’d been working on the program since 1989.

For Season 31, Brake was determined to introduce a second companion to the mix. Griffiths’ Doctor was noticeably less energetic & mobile than most of his predecessors, which often resulted in slightly slowed paced stories or the singular companion being forced to pick up the pace. Brake believed by introducing a second companion, who could handle the more action-orientated moments, the stories would be improved. Inspired by Harry Sullivan & Ian Chesterton, Brake devised the character of Chris Hector, a UNIT Sergeant, who would be introduced in episode 1, with actor Robert Bathurst was ultimately cast in the role.

 

THE ZYGON INVASION

WRITTEN BY: Colin Brake
DIRECTED BY: Brian Farnham

The Zygon Invasion would’ve been set at a military boarding school. The story sees the Doctor & Bernice being summoned to Earth by Brigadier Winifred Bambera, who is after the Doctor’s help in their current investigation. UNIT is investigating this private military boarding school after picking up traces of alien energy surrounding the camp, as well as reports of students acting strangely as of late & claims from a nervous wreck of a student, named Jonathan, who claims to have seen creatures from another world.

The story would see the Doctor & Bernice working with UNIT to track down the source of the alien energy, as well as the creatures Jonathan claims to have seen. We would see the Doctor & Bernice also working alongside one of Bambera’s men, Sergeant Chris Hector. Chris has great respect for the Doctor, having read his files, & ends up getting on extremely well with Bernice.

After some investigating, the Doctor tracks the source of this energy to a strange, organic-y, orange plant. He also discovers several more of these plants, all exhaling a strange, orange smog. The Doctor cuts one of these plants out of the ground & takes it to the building's science facility in order to identify its planet of origin. And, to the Doctor’s concern, he discovers that the energy originated from Zygor: the planet of the Zygons.

The Doctor & Chris then head to the TARDIS, as the Doctor needs to retrieve a device that’ll locate the Zygon ship. At which point, Bernice & Jonathan, who remain behind in the lab, are ambushed & attacked by a group of students, who are actually Zygons in disguise. Jonathan is ultimately killed & disintegrated, while Bernice is knocked unconscious & carried away by a Zygon, while another Zygon disguises itself as Bernice.

When the Doctor & Chris eventually return, the Zygon Bernice (who, for the sake of clarity, i’ll refer to as Benny-Zy) claims to the Doctor that her & Jonathan were attacked & that Jonathan has been abducted by the Zygons. The Doctor then uses his machine to track down the Zygon ship, which he discovers is buried deep within the Earth, directly under the school. The group enter via the basement, where they find a hidden stone passageway behind a moving bookshelf.

As we see the group gradually making their way through a giant cave system, we see Bernice awakening from her coma & finding herself in a receptacle. She proceeds to break free from her imprisonment & finds herself inside the Zygon spaceship. She proceeds to knock out a Zygon, before locating a control room. There, she finds a live camera on the Doctor & Chris & discovers they’re walking directly into a Zygon trap. She then uses an intercom to warn the Doctor & Chris about the ambush. The Doctor & Chris attempt to escape, before they’re surrounded by a swarm of Zygons. Benny-Zy then restrains Chris, however the Doctor is able to break free & escape captivity by using the tracking machine to create a high pitched screeching noise, which startles the Zygons. However, Chris is unable to escape & is taken prisoner by the Zygons. They then imprison Chris, as well as recapture Bernice.

Back on the surface, the Doctor finds himself now working directly along-side Winifred Bambera, as the Doctor uses a mix of UNIT technology & the Zygon plant to make contact with the Zygon ship. The Zygon leader reveals their plan to take over the Earth to the Doctor. They explain that the Zygon plant, known as a Zektor, is capable of reproducing on a mass scale & that the energy is actually a Zygor chemical which changes any planet's environment into one that would be suitable for the Zygons. The Zygons plan to mass reproduce the Zektor across the Earth & turn the planet into a Zygon 2. The Doctor gives the Zygons an ultimatum: Stand down or he will have to stop them. The Zygon leader laughs & cuts communication. He then proceeds to activate some controls & we see the Zektors suddenly spew out tons of energy, which both creates more Zektors & turns both the air & ground orange.

With time running out, the Doctor works alongside Winifred Bambera, as well as UNIT’s current scientific advisor, Dr Jenny Newman, to come up with a way to stop the Zygon’s invasion, as well as finding a way back into the Zygon spaceship, after the Zygons put both the spaceship & school on lockdown. Using more technology from across the school, the Doctor & Jenny are able to create a transmitter device which will knock all nearby Zygon technology stone-dead. The device is activated & the Zygon ship loses all power, resulting in the lockdown being lifted & the Zygon prisoners, as well as Bernice & Chris, being released.

We then see Bernice & Chris helping the rest of the prisoners escape from captivity, while the Doctor, Bambera & Jenny head back down to the Zygon ship, with Bambera leading a group of soldiers down with them. The Doctor reunites with Bernice & Chris, while Bambera & her men hold the Zygons as prisoners. With the day still not saved, & the Zektor still spreading, the Doctor quickly reboots the Zygons systems & prepares to release a second chemical into the air which’ll kill all the Zektor.
However, before the Doctor can press the release button, he realises that this gas will also kill the Zygons, as it’s designed to kill all forms of Zygor life. The Doctor is hesitant to press the button, however Bambera forces the Doctor’s hand down on it, which releases the gas & kills both the Zektor & the Zygons. This also then initiates a countdown until the ship blows up. Everyone quickly evacuates the ship & makes their way back to the surface as the spaceship blows up.

The story then ends with the Doctor & Bernice returning to the TARDIS, with Chris saying goodbye to the duo. Bernice then suggests to the Doctor that maybe Chris should join them. The Doctor agrees & asks Chris if he’d be interested in coming with him. Chris responds with “y’know what? Sure!”, before following Bernice into the TARDIS. Bambera shouts at Chris for abandoning his position & orders the Doctor to bring him back at once. The Doctor stares at Bambera coldly as she continues to shout. He then closes the TARDIS doors behind him, before the TARDIS dematerialises in front of her. Bambera grunts to herself, before speaking under her breath “I swear, that man…”

 

LEGACY

WRITTEN BY: Gary Russell
DIRECTED BY: Alan Wareing
PARTS: 3

Legacy would’ve been set on Peladon in the year 3985, 50 years after the events of The Monster of Peladon. The story sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris helping the Galactic Federation track down the Diadem, a crystal tiara inhabited by an evil intelligence which had plunged the planet Pakha into centuries of war. The Doctor had previously encountered the Diadem during his third incarnation, where he believed he initially defeated the Diadem.

The story would've been primarily set on Peladon, 50 years on from the events of The Monster of Peladon, where we see the Doctor & Chris meet with with Alpha Centauri, as well as an Ice Warrior delegation led by Ice Lord Savaar & his adjutant Sskeet, who the Doctor has a hard time trusting.

We also see the Doctor meeting with Lady Lianna, the handmaiden to Queen Thalira on Peladon, as well as Federation representative Nic Reece, which surprises him, as he’s never met Reece before. Soon after the Doctor’s arrival however, the curator of the crown jewels is murdered & the Lance of Aggedor is stolen. The Doctor pushes his way into the investigation & is naturally suspicious of the Ice Warriors.

However, before the Doctor can determine who the killer is, Lianna is also murdered, impaled on the Lance of Aggedor itself. The Doctor is found holding the Lance in her body, & although he claims he was trying to remove it, he is placed under arrest &, in the confusion, the Crown of Sherak also disappears. Atissa, the high priestess of Aggedor, calls for the Doctor’s execution, & it appears that Tarrol, The King of Peladon, has no choice but to sentence the Doctor to death. Chris & Alpha Centauri attempt to appeal the verdict, but he refuses to change his decision. The Doctor privately admits to Chris that Lianna died in his arms, naming her killer as she did so, but he’s not ready to divulge the killer’s identity yet, as he is hoping to use the killer as bait to draw the Ancient Diadem out into the open.

Meanwhile, we see Bernice on the planet Pakha, as she attempts to locate an archaeological team who are in search of the Diadem. The team eventually finds it, however the Diadem possesses the professor of the group, who proceeds to kill the rest of the team. Then, a group of mercenaries show up, who kill the professor & take the Diadem back to their ship & place it in a vacuum case. Bernice then pursues them in a shuttle & fires an EMP at them, which knocks out the safety seals on the case & allows the diadem to exert its influence on a mercenary named Sadler.

It's eventually uncovered that the killer on Peladon is actually Nic Reece, however it turns out that Nic Reece is actually an imposter who is also leading the group of mercenaries. It's discovered that the real Nic Reece was lured away from Peladon & murdered & replaced by an imposter, who plans to obtain the Diadem & its powers, take over Peladon & plunge the Federation into eternal war. The mercenaries eventually pick up an Ice Warrior transmission, signalling the Federation that their delegation has been killed, & come in to land on Peladon, believing that it is now safe for them to do so. But Sadler has all-but succumbed to the influence of the Diadem.

In the end, Nic is killed by Tarrol using a sacred Peladonian sword named the Sword of Truth. Meanwhile, Sadler, who has been fully possessed by the Diadem, attempts to flea from Peladon, after sensing the return of the Doctor. However, the ship is shot down by an Ice Warrior.

The story then ends with the Doctor rescuing Bernice & making peace with the Ice Warriors for his initial untrust in them, before they return to the Galactic Federation. All seems well, but the Doctor fears that the Diadem has not been completely destroyed. & he’s right. It’s out on the surface of Peladon, lying amongst the remains of Sadler’s shuttle, recuperating & waiting to be found again.
 

 

RETURN OF THE LIVING DAD

WRITTEN BY: Kate Orman
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Mallett
PARTS: 4

Return of the Living Dad would’ve been set in a small village named Little Caldwell in 1983. The story sees Bernice pondering about her father, Isaac Summerfield. Bernice & everyone in her family had believed that Isaac was thought to be a traitor in the Dalek War. Now wishing to learn the truth about her father, she asks the Doctor to take her back to see for herself. The Doctor agrees, but insists upon accompanying her in case she is tempted to save her father’s life.

The Doctor tracks Isaac down to a small village named Little Caldwell in 1983, where he & Bernice find him running what initially appears to be a coffee bar & bookshop. Isaac explains that he & his crew have been stuck in the 20th century for two decades after their ship fell through a space/time rift. They then used their future technology to set up an underground railroad named The Pyramid to evacuate aliens stranded on Earth.

The story would see the trio & Isaac up against two threats. The first would be a woman named Ellen Woodworth, who works for a secret British government department responsible for dealing with extra-terrestrial threats named C19, who take & extract aliens that The Pyramid don't get to & attempt to use their powers for themselves. Realising he can't reason with her due to her obsession with alien invasion, the Doctor lets Isaac Summerfield take her back to Little Caldwell to be dealt with. She manages to escape, but is killed by Ogri disguised as a tombstone in a cemetery.

The second threat would be a Navarino named Albinex. Unlike the rest of his race, Albinex has a mean streak and wishes to revive his planet's warrior past status. Albinex attempts to invade the Earth by summoning a Navarino ship through the rift, however he is stopped by the Doctor with the help of Isaac & the Pyramid.

The story then ends with the Doctor contacting C19 & UNIT who spin a cover story about the launch & agree to work with Isaac from now on. Isaac also asks Bernice to stay behind with her & help run The Pyramid. Bernice declines the offer, as she still has more travelling to do, but promises to pop by & visit whenever she can. The Doctor, Bernice & Chris then enter the TARDIS, before it dematerialises.

 

TRAGEDY DAY

WRITTEN BY: Gareth Roberts
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 4

Tragedy Day would’ve been set in a place named Empire City on the planet Olleril. The story sees the TARDIS arriving on Olleril during Tragedy Day, an annual holiday celebrated in Empire City where the rich donate part of their wealth to the poor. The Doctor also reveals that he visited Olleril many years ago, when  the natives believed themselves to be cursed by a fragment of red glass, which was brought to their world by a dying stranger. However, he dismissed these fears as superstition & proved that the sicknesses & crop failures plaguing their community were caused by a radiation leak from the stranger’s damaged spacecraft. He used chemicals from the TARDIS to decontaminate the area, & took the red glass from the grateful villagers.

As they begin to explore, the Doctor & his companions become aware of the Cult of Luminus, an evil cult which colonised the planet some time after the Doctor’s first visit & killed most of the population. The empire itself collapsed soon afterwards, & the human colonists remaining on Olleril picked up on the native superstitions & the stories of the Doctor's previous visit.

However, the trio soon discover that Luminus is actually still in control of the planet, with their base of operations being a giant submarine named the Gargantuan. They also discover that the cult is now being led by a boy genius named Crispin, who acts as the Supreme One. We learn that the Cult are controlling the planet by controlling the media, such as the planet's TV Shows.

The story sees the Doctor & companions working with some new-found allies on Olleril to try & stop Crispin & wipe out Luminus for good. In the end, Crispin is killed when his submarine is destroyed, and the power of Luminus is shortly then-after broken.

 

ICEBERG

WRITTEN BY: David Banks
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 3

Iceberg would’ve been set in Antarctica in the year 2006. The story's narrative would’ve mostly followed around Ruby Duvall, a reporter for the Sunday Seeker, who's travelling on a ship named the SS Elysium on its voyage around the Earth for a story.

The SS Elysium eventually arrives in Antarctica, where the ship is then taken over by a group of Cybermen, who have been hiding in the South Pole for 20 years - after the failed International Electromatics invasion.

The story sees the Cybermen attempting to sabotage the FLIPback project, a project created at the Antarctic Snowcap Tracking Station which’ll deal with the imminent reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles. The Cybermen plan to sabotage the FLIPback project and take over the Earth in the ensuing chaos, while also attempting to convert the people onboard the SS Elysium.

In the end however, the Cybermen are defeated by Ruby, along with the Doctor, Bernice & Chris, when Ruby permanently deactivates FLIPback, which causes the Earth’s polarity to be reversed before the Cybermen are ready to deal with the change & causes them to go out of control, before blowing up the now dead Cyberman base underneath the ice.

The story then ends with the Doctor thanking Ruby for her help, as well as offering her the chance to travel in the TARDIS with him. Ruby politely declines the offer, before the Doctor, Bernice & Chris head back to the TARDIS.

 

GOTH OPERA

WRITTEN BY: Paul Cornell
DIRECTED BY: Stuart McDonald
PARTS: 3

Goth Opera would’ve been set in 1990s Manchester & Tasmania. The story initially sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris on a trip to Manchester, when they’re suddenly attacked by a baby Vampire. The Vampire begins to attack Bernice, as it attempts to suck her blood, which slowly begins to turn her into a Vampire. Then later that night, with Bernice being unable to return to the TARDIS, they’re attacked by a vampire named Eric. The Doctor traps Eric & attempts to learn what exactly is going on, when Eric suddenly begins to be telepathically killed. Realising that there must be a great Vampire conspiracy at work, the Doctor sets out to investigate.

It turns out that a Time Lord named Ruath, one of the Doctor’s old friends, is attempting to resurrect the Great Vampire known as Yarven by using the Doctor's blood. The Doctor finds that Ruath has become a vampire herself & is attempting to build a machine that freezes time in eternal night to allow the vampires to feed forever. With Bernice now fully converted into a vampire, the Doctor allows her to convert himself into a vampire. Then, he’s able to destroy the machine & stop Yarven. &, with the help of Chris, he’s able to revert himself, Bernice & Ruath back to normal.

The story ends with Ruath powerless & her plans foiled. The Doctor then takes her onboard the TARDIS & takes her back to Gallifrey to stand trial for her crimes.
 

 

CONCLUSION

Season 31 proved to be a good year for the show, with the trio of Griffiths’ Doctor, Bernice & Chris being recognised as one of the all time greatest TARDIS teams. Viewing figures were now healthy for the show, having slowly risen over the past 4 years.

With Season 31 coming to a close, Fraser stepped away from the role of Producer, handing over the keys to the Doctor Who production office to incoming Stephen Garwood. However, change was coming for Doctor Who. A change so big, it would mark the dawn of a new chapter for the show.

 

SEASON 32 - 1995

Season 32 would’ve been a major year in Doctor Who’s history. Not only was it the start of a new Producers run, but the start of a new beginning for Doctor Who.

Since the early 1990s, the government had been encouraging the BBC to have their shows be produced by independent companies, with more & more shows heading in that direction. Since 1992, the BBC had been looking for the right company to produce Doctor Who for them, but all of them were either uninterested or unsuitable. By the end of 1993 however, and with the slight resurgence in Doctor Who, more companies began to show interest in the property.

By 1994, it was agreed that Doctor Who beyond 1995 would no longer be produced in-house, but instead by production company, Carnival Films. Initially, Carnival weren’t interested in Doctor Who, as they were put off by the idea of doing a sci-fi show. However, by 1993, they were willing to take the gamble. & so, from Season 32, Carnival Films would produce Doctor Who for the BBC.
With Carnival now running the show, numerous changes were implemented. Brian Eastman, the founder of Carnival, joined on as an Executive Producer. He wouldn’t be heavily involved in the production, but he would be keeping his eye on the show.

However, the biggest change would come in the format change. The episode runtime was increased from 25 minutes to 45, with stories now consisting of only 1 or 2 parts. With this longer runtime, the episode count was increased from 20 to 12, resulting in 2 single-parters & 5 2-parters.

Not only did the episode runtime change, but the style of Doctor Who was to change, due to the placement of new Producer, Stephen Garwood. With its recent stabilisation, Doctor Who was often being compared to the likes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and would later be compared with the recently launched Star Trek: Voyager. Therefore, in order to compete with these high budget American imports, which were proving to be a success on BBC2, the decision was made to try & modernise Doctor Who, while still sticking with its basic, fundamental roots.

Season 32 would’ve marked Richard Griffiths’ fifth year in the role, and it would also prove to be his last, as early into production, he announced that he would be leaving at the end. Realising that he was the only player of his original team left, and feeling he had done everything he could with the part, he decided to step away from the role in order to give someone else a chance.

 

KNIGHT FALLS

WRITTEN BY: Ben Aaronovitch
DIRECTED BY: Brian Farnham
PARTS: 2

Knight Falls would’ve been set on a parallel Earth in the 1950s. The story begins with the TARDIS being pursued by a ship belonging to a race of cyborgs known as the Knights of Tarjan, after the Doctor stole one of their deadly weapons known as an Anti-Heart. We see the Doctor flailing around the console room, frantically operating the controls as the Knights fire lasers at the TARDIS. The Doctor attempts to dematerialise into the time vortex & pulls down the main flight lever. However, as the TARDIS begins to dematerialise, the Knights fire a weapon of mass destruction at the TARDIS just as it begins to fade away. This results in both the generation of a strange cloud of energy, which pulls both the TARDIS & Tarjan ship through.

After a flash of light, we see the Tarjan ship alone in space. We cut to the bridge of the ship, where the Knight Captain tracks the TARDIS to Earth. We then cut to what appears to be 1920s America, where we see the TARDIS phasing in-and-out as it struggles to land. The Doctor hoists the flight lever up, resulting in the console overloading & the TARDIS shutting down.

The trio exit the TARDIS, finding themselves in what appears to be 1920s America. However, after picking up a newspaper, Chris discovers they’re actually in the year 1954. The Doctor manages to reboot the TARDISes power & discovers that the result of the explosion & the TARDIS dematerialising at the same time has resulted in both the TARDIS & Tarjan army being sent sideways into a parallel universe - one where technological advancement is much slower. He also discovers that the Tarjan knights are on their way to Earth & have roughly 48 hours to either send the knights back to their correct universe or, if it comes down to the worst, prepare the planet to fight back.

The story would then see the Doctor, Bernice & Chris having to convince the leaders of the world about the upcoming invasion & prepare the planet for a potential war. However, the leaders initially refuse to believe the trio & have them arrested after seeing their advanced technology. It turns out that the governments of the world have deliberately banned any technology beyond the year 1925 in fear that it could be turned into a weapon. When they initially see the trio possessing technology which is way beyond the 1950s, they’re deemed to be terrorists & executed. However, the Doctor is eventually able to convince them that they’re strangers from a parallel universe when he gets them to examine the TARDIS.

The story then sees the governments of the world uniting to prepare the planet for the Tarjan attack. Meanwhile, the Doctor & Bernice successfully restore the TARDISes power & attempt to find a way to stop the Tarjan’s from wiping out the Earth. The Doctor theorises that by connecting the Anti-Heart to the TARDIS, he could generate an EMP which would completely shutdown the Knights forever. However, unless it was carefully programmed to only knock out Tarjan technology, the Anti-Heart would also wipe out human technology.

The Doctor begins to reprogram the Anti-Heart, but runs out of time. The Knights battleship arrives on Earth and full war kicks off between humans & the Knights. The Doctor tries his best to finish reprogramming the Anti-Heart, but soon realises that by the time he finishes the job, most (if not all) of the human population) would be slaughtered. So, realising he has no other choice, he activates the Anti-Heart. We then see every Knight across the planet suddenly stop & collapse to the floor, as well as all machinery & lights going out across Earth.

The story would then end with the Doctor apologising to the leaders of the world, before suggesting that they may be able to rebuild their world using the remains of the Tarjan technology. We then end with the Doctor, Bernice & Chris returning to the TARDIS, where the Doctor successfully pilots the TARDIS back to their universe

 

DOWNTIME

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 1

Downtime would’ve been set at the New World University in the modern day. The story sees the Doctor & companions investigating the New World University, an institution of higher education run by a posh, rich woman named Rebecca Campbell. There, the trio find that the university had no instructors or tutors; as all instructions come from computers. They also find the students of the NWU, known as Chillys, to appear almost empty & hypnotised.

It turns out that the NWU is actually controlled by the Great Intelligence. We discover that the Intelligence, which has possessed the corpse of Professor Travers, manipulated Rebecca, who we learn to be Travers’ niece, to take her family’s fortune & establish the NWU. The Intelligence is using the university's computer systems in order to control the Chillys. It then plans to spread throughout the Internet & create a "World Wide Web of Fear".

Eventually however, the Intelligence is defeated when the Doctor, Bernice & Chris are able to destroy the NWU’s generators, which destroys most of the Intelligence, as well as finally putting Travers to rest.

The story then ends with the trio saying goodbye to Rebecca, who announces that she plans to shut down the NWU for good. The trio then quickly enter the TARDIS & take-off before UNIT can arrive.

 

THE LEFT-HANDED HUMMINGBIRD

WRITTEN BY: Kate Orman
DIRECTED BY: Kevin Davies
PARTS: 2

The Left-Handed Hummingbird would've been set across several places & years across Earth. This includes Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, London from 1968 to 69 & Mexico City in 1994.

The story sees the Doctor & companions arriving in Mexico City, where they encounter a man named Cristian Alvarez, who already knows who the Doctor is. He explains that several months ago, a man with a rifle, nicknamed The Halloween Man, shot up the local marketplace. He further explains that before he was shot, Cristian saw that the man was possessed by a psychic force named the Blue, which Cristian has encountered three times before. On two of those occasions, the Doctor & his companions were also there. Cristian was meant to summon the version of the Doctor, Bernice & Chris he'd previously encountered, however due to the effects of time travel, the Doctor has intercepted Cristian's call for help before their first meeting.

The Doctor researches into Cristian’s 1978 sighting, the one at which they weren’t present at, & discovers that it coincided with the unearthing of the Aztecs’ Great Temple by construction workers, which resulted in many natives of the & with a wave of madness which affected many Mexicans with native blood.

Believing that the Blue originated in the Aztec Empire, the Doctor & Chris travel to Tenochtitlan in 1487 AD to investigate, where they see the Aztec sacrifices taking place in the name of their god, Huitzilopochtli. After some investigating, the Doctor finds the remains of a crashed Exxilon spaceship’s power core, which is leaking radiation in lethal quantities as its shielding deteriorates. However, he is still no closer to learning the true identity of the Blue, as all he knows is that within days, twenty thousand warriors will be sacrificed to the newly constructed temple, which'll send a psychic shockwave through all those of Aztec descent when it's unearthed in 1978.

In an attempt to learn more about the Blue, the Doctor decides to take some mushrooms which Aztec ate during their rituals. The Doctor takes the mushrooms, believing that he would be able to control himself. However the trip goes badly wrong, as he rushes over to the Temple, where the Blue pushes itself into his mind, & the Doctor is unable to keep it out, before passing out. He eventually recovers, having learnt nothing about the blue, before deciding that he & Chris should return to the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, back in 1994, Bernice works with Cristian & a professor named Lawrence Fitzgerald to research further into Aztec history in order to try & learn something about the enemy. Bernice finds references to Huitzilopochtli, a god whose existence may have been inspired by a real figure from Aztec history. The Aztecs believed that hummingbirds were the reincarnate spirits of fallen warriors, & placed south to the left on their maps; the name Huitzilopochtli translates literally to “left-handed hummingbird”, or “warrior from the south”. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Fitzgerald begins to attack Bernice. Bernice then proceeds to overpower him, before she proceeds to beat him to death.

When the Doctor & Chris return to the present & learn about Fitzgerald's attack, the Doctor theories that “the Blue” sent Fitzgerald to stop her from studying the surviving Aztec codexes. The Doctor, his companions & Cristian then proceed to break into the local museum after hours, where they're confronted by a man named Macbeth with a gun. He reveals that he's been hunting the Doctor since 1968 & questions him about the deaths he caused over 25 years ago. Bernice overpowers Macbeth & holds him back while the Doctor examines a reproduction of the Codex Atlaca. However, as he begins to read it, a powerful psychic blast incinerates Macbeth, & the Blue appears in the museum in the form of a ghostly Aztec warrior. Cristian tries to flee with the Codex, but the Blue sweeps through him, consuming him & burning the Codex to ashes.

Theorising that they need to find out what happened the first time Cristian saw the Blue, the trio return to the TARDIS & travel to London in 1968. There, they find a young Cristian wandering the streets of London on a bad acid trip, & take him back to the home he shares with his friends, John, Elizabeth & Molly. John & Elizabeth thank them for helping Cristian & invite them to their Christmas Happening, but Molly seems horrified by the sight of the Doctor, & quietly slips away to speak with a younger Lieutenant Macbeth of UNIT’s new Paranormal Division.

We learn that Macbeth has visited their home earlier on to investigate reports of a possible haunting, & he’s about to dismiss it as hippies on LSD when Molly arrives who explains that she has dreamt of the Doctor’s arrival & his transformation, and believes that John and Elizabeth plan to summon the Devil. Macbeth breaks into their house, where he finds an Aztec calendar in the cellar, pinned above a bed with handcuffs attached to it. The Doctor meanwhile has checked into a nearby hotel, and Macbeth goes to question him. However, he's forced to shoot Molly, who had arrived there first and was trying to kill the Doctor.

The Doctor theorises that the Left-Handed Hummingbird is surviving off the psychic energy created by death, such as the Aztec sacrifices. But like any substance, it will eventually fade off. However, it has now attached itself to the Doctor, who was possessed during his trip in Tenochtitlan. He was attacked in the University museum, not by the Blue, but by the Codex Atlaca, a storehouse of psychic energy which sensed the Blue within him.

The Doctor speaks with Cristian, a natural psychic whose mind was opened to the Blue by his drug-induced trips. Cristian sees the Doctor as an ixiptla, the avatar of the god. Desperate to know what has happened to him, the Doctor takes more drugs with John & Elizabeth, & allows them to handcuff him to the bed in the cellar. However, Bernice realises that her hosts have drugged Chris, & when Cristian starts to channel the Blue again, she flees to fetch reinforcements. However, by the time Macbeth arrives, the Doctor is unconscious, Cristian is in a state of terror, & John and Elizabeth have seemingly vanished.

Macbeth offers to take the Doctor to hospital, however Bernice accidentally reveals that the Doctor isn’t human. Macbeth then captures the Doctor & has him taken away for study. We then see Bernice & Chris spending the next three weeks attempting to find the Doctor. Meanwhile, we see the Doctor being held prisoner in an experimental facility, where scientists run tests on him. However, traces of the drug remain in his system, and every four hours he suffers a strong flashback which strengthens the enemy’s hold on him & for a moment he fades from existence, & a psychic storm wreaks havoc amongst the sensitives of Britain. Eventually however, Bernice & Chris are able to find the Doctor, rescue him & contact the heads of UNIT to have the division closed down, with the Doctor believing that Macbeth will be fired from UNIT & will spend the next 25 years growing ever more bitter and angry, while the touch of the Blue he encountered awaits its chance to burst out of his body in Mexico City.

The trio then travel to Allen Road, where the Doctor identifies the Blue as the spirit of an Aztec warrior Huitzilin. We discover that Huitzilin’s natural psychic ability was amplified by exposure to the radiation from the crashed spacecraft, and he developed the power to feed on the death of his enemies, but the more he eats, the more he needs to survive. He destroyed his rival sister & her followers with  a weapon scavenged from the spacecraft, and became the ruler of the Aztecs & drove them on to greater conquests. The Aztecs continued to sacrifice to him after his physical death, but eventually he would have dissipated. However, due to the Doctor's actions in Tenochtitlan, he became incorporeal & manifested himself as "the Blue". We also discover it was Huitzilin who drove the Doctor to the Happening, where John and Elizabeth tried to summon a god to bring meaning to their lives. Huitzilin devoured them, and his hold on the Doctor grew stronger still. & Soon there will be nothing left of the Doctor Doctor, only Huitzilin, free to feed.

We then see Huitzilin possess a passer-by & attempt to assassinate John Lennon at the Beatles’ rooftop concert, in order to increase the panic and despair in the world and provide himself with more psychic energy. Chris is able to save Lennon, but the Doctor fears that Huitzilin may have influenced the Helter Skelter murders in response. Realising that Cristian is too traumatised by his experiences to help them now, the Doctor & companions proceed to travel to New York in 1980, where they're set to meet Cristian & the Blue for a second time.

Cristian has come to the city for a holiday, but is too frightened to leave his hotel room, and the Doctor realises that Cristian’s psychic ability drew him here to witness the coming of the Blue. The Doctor then seems to lose interest & goes out for a walk, where he witnesses the assassination of John Lennon, which makes the Doctor realise that Huitzilin forced him here in order to feed. Cristian is once again traumatised by the psychic backlash when Huiztilin feeds, but this time he accepts the Doctor’s claim that he'll never be free of his fear unless he faces it.

Bernice then does some research & finds that the last surviving complete copy of the Codex Atlaca went down with the Titanic, so the Doctor decides to travel to the Titanic during its maiden voyage to recover the Codex, hoping to use the stored psychic energy within it to destroy Huitzilin forever. Cristian agrees to come with him in the TARDIS. However, as the TARDIS begins to take-off, Chris becomes possessed by Huitzilin and attacks the Doctor. He then pretends to die so Huitzilin will release his hold on Chris, but Chris falls into a coma. Bernice remains with Chris in the TARDIS sickbay, while the Doctor and Cristian set off to confront Huitzilin.

Finding themselves on the Titanic, the Doctor estimates that there's only hours to go before the Titanic crashes into the iceberg. Cristian is then contacted by a woman named Anna, who believes Chris to be the contact through whom her father intends to sell smuggled Aztec artefacts. Cristian gives her message to the Doctor, but “the Blue” beats them to the rendezvous & consumes both Anna and her father. Anna tries to shoot Huitzilin as he approaches her, but the bullets pass through his insubstantial form without effect. The Doctor then confronts Huitzilin, realising that just as he came for the Codex, Huitzilin came for another of the smuggled artefacts: the xiuhcoatl. Huitzilin tells the Doctor that he didn't cause the death of John Lennon, or any other people, but rather it was the humans that did the killing & Huitzilin was just along for the ride. The Doctor tries to use the Codex to rid himself of Huitzilin, but they are already too closely linked, & the pain is too much for him. He's unable to complete the ritual, & Huitzilin destroys the Codex & feeds upon the Doctor, leaching out the last of his life & becoming fully corporeal. Which is when Cristian, forgotten in the struggle, grabs Anna’s gun & shoots Huitzilin in the chest, killing him and restoring the Doctor to life.

With Huitzilin’s death freeing Chris, he & Bernice dash out the TARDIS & search for the Doctor & Cristian, who are too weak to get back to the TARDIS on their own. The 2 of them eventually find them  & get them back to the TARDIS.

The story then ends with the Doctor taking Cristian back to 1980, where he says that he plans to make something of his life, and is no longer doomed to die in 1994. The Doctor & companions make their farewells, before returning to the TARDIS & taking off.

 

THE ROMANCE OF CRIME

WRITTEN BY: Gareth Roberts
DIRECTED BY: Alan Wareing
PARTS: 2

The Romance of Crime would’ve been set on the Rock of Judgement. The story sees the TARDIS arriving on the Rock of Judgement, an asteroid prison used by the natives of the Uva Beta Uva system. There, the Doctor, Bernice & Chris become involved in a complex scheme that would allow a telepathic mutant named Xais to resurrect herself after her execution, with her mind imprinted on a uniquely fashioned "death mask" that would allow her to possess those who wore it once the helicon that made it had been imprinted with her mental pattern.

Learning that High Archon Pyerpoint have been attempting to use Xais to set himself up as ruler of the system, the Doctor eventually traps them both on Planet Five, with Pyerpoint dying as he tried to make Xais share the secret of immortality with him and Xais left trapped as her mask was lost and the helicon on the planet left raw and unrefined.

 

DAMAGED GOODS

WRITTEN BY: Russell T Davies
DIRECTED BY: Graeme Harper
PARTS: 2

Damaged Goods would’ve been primarily set in 1980s London. The story sees the Doctor investigating a new drug named Smile, which is being sold by a dealer named the capper, who apparently died many years ago. It turns out that a Gallifreyan machine named N-Form has bonded with the Cappers corpse & took on his identity. We find that the N-form was created for the war against the Great Vampires & is looking for a vampiric waveform, which it finds in a boy named Gabriel Tyler & his long lost twin brother that his mother gave away in 1977.

The mother, Winnie, sold one of her children, named Steven, to the Jericho family as money was low. However, Gabriel had a low-level Glamour, which made people view him however they wished, as well as being mildly telepathic. We find that the twins were psychically linked, and their separation damaged the connection. Which caused Gabriel to unknowingly drain energy from Steven.

After ten years, Eva Jericho brought the sickly Steven to Winnie, asking her to exchange the "damaged goods" for a healthy son. The proximity of his twin caused Gabriel to draw the remaining life from Steven, which killed him & resulted in the activation of N-from. The N-form eventually merges with Stevens mother, Eva, & Gabriel & goes out on a killing spree. However, the doctor is able to deactivate N-Form by causing Eva's death, which leaves Gabriel in a vegetative state.

 

PLANET OF THE NESTENE

WRITTEN BY: Jim Mortimore
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 1

Planet of the Nestene would’ve been set in Little Caldwell, a few months after the events of Return of the Living Dad, and would feature Isaac Summerfield & The Pyramid. The story sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris being summoned to Earth by Isaac, who explains that he needs their help in his investigation into a tech company named Purasuch. He explains that the company has gone from being practically non-existent to one of the biggest companies in the world within a matter of months, thanks to their cheap but highly advanced plastic mobile phones. He also explains that there have been reports of random people, who’d recently purchased one of their phones, mysteriously vanishing without a trace within 24 hours.

The story would see the Doctor, Bernice & Chris working alongside Isaac & The Pyramid to investigate & possibly uncover a potential alien invasion which is operating under the disguise of Purasuch. The Doctor eventually discovers that the CEO of Purasuch, Jill Kramer, is actually under the control of the Nestene Consciousness. We find that the Nestene has been forcing Jill & Purasuch to produce these Mobile Phones as they act as transmitters, which’ll bring the Nestene down to Earth - the phones being sold at a cheap price in order to increase the amount of active transmitters.

When Jill realises that the Doctor is onto them, Nestene forces Jill to begin the invasion. We see every phone across the Earth screeching out an ear-piercing sound, as it pulls the Nestene closer & closer to Earth. We also see hundreds of shop window dummies coming to life, with a full-blown Auton assault commencing.

Eventually however, the Doctor, with help from Isaac & Bernice, is able to stop the Nestene’s arrival by intersecting the transmission signal & replacing it with a wave that’ll instead expel the Nestene from Earth’s atmosphere. This signal also makes all Autons harmless & destroys all of the Purasuch phones.

 

NERVE GAS

WRITTEN BY: Paul Cornell
DIRECTED BY: Stuart McDonald
PARTS: 2

Nerve Gas would’ve been set in both an alternate 1995 & the South Pole in 1945. The story begins with the Doctor, Bernice & Chris arriving in what they initially believed to be 1990s London in the middle of the night. However, after a few minutes, the trio are surrounded by Nazi officers & arrested for breaking curfew. They’re taken to a small prison, where they further witness more sightings of Nazi symbolism. The trio know that something dangerous & unthinkable has happened: Somehow, the timeline has changed - and Nazi Germany has won the Second World War.

Once in jail, the Doctor, Bernice & Chris begin theorising exactly how & when history changed in order to create this timeline. Chris wonders whether any of their previous adventures have anything to do with it, but the Doctor believes that whatever or whoever caused this has nothing to do with them. Theorising that the TARDIS might be able to tell them where history went wrong, the trio proceed to break out of jail, subdue the guards & make a sprint back to the TARDIS. However, before the trio can re-enter the TARDIS, Bernice is grabbed & held at gunpoint by a Nazi High Commanding Officer, who orders the Doctor & Chris to surrender. The two are forced to comply & then arrested again, with the commanding officer telling them that the Führer wishes to meet them. Confused as to how the Führer knows who the Doctor is, but suspecting he’ll get proper answers from him, the Doctor allows himself to be dragged away.

The group are taken to a giant government building, where they’re taken to stand before the Führer - and to the Doctor’s horror, the Führer is none other than The Master. The Master orders his men to leave him to talk to the Doctor, and they all exit the room. The Doctor, filled with boiling rage, confronts the Master, asking him what the hell he thinks he’s doing. The Master then reveals his motives behind changing the timelines, saying that he believes with the right guide & the right man in charge, the Nazi’s had the potential to be one of the greatest warrior races in history, comparing them to the likes of the Daleks.

The Master then reveals to the Doctor exactly how he changed the timeline. He reveals that in the original timeline, the Nazi’s created a deadly weapon which was lost & completely destroyed towards the end of war. Fortunately for the Master, he knew all about this deadly weapon, and so went back in time to find & return the weapon to the Nazi’s. From there, he helped the Nazis fight back & eventually win WW2, as well as slowly climbing up the ranks into the position of the new Führer. The Doctor asks what exactly this deadly weapon was, to which the Master says he’s about to find out - it’s what’s being used to execute the three of them. With that, he signals for his guards to take away the Doctor & his companions to “The Cage”.

We see the Doctor & companions being tossed into a blank, stone room & the doors being sealed behind them. Then, after a few seconds, the Doctor hears the sound of gas being pumped into a room. We see a strange, green chemical gas being slowly pumped into the room through a ventilation shaft. The Doctor sniffs the air & warns Bernice & Chris telling them to get back, saying that the gas will kill any of them if they even inhale a molecule of it. The Doctor then pulls out a box of matches from his pockets, strikes a match & throws it into the gas, which ignites & removes all of the gas in the room.
Realising that the Doctor is trying to escape, the Master orders his guards to simply shoot the Doctor. Two guards enter the cell, but are knocked unconscious by Bernice & Chris, who snatch the rifles off their bodies. The trio sprint through the prison, making their way to the exit & back to the TARDIS, as an army of Nazi soldiers chase & shoot after them. They eventually make it back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor slides over to the console & quickly dematerialises.

Once in-flight, the Doctor uses the TARDISes data banks to find out more about this deadly nerve gas & where & when the Master acquired it. He eventually identifies the gas as Gastron 7, which the Doctor knows all too well, confirming the Master’s story about it being a deadly unused Nazi weapon. From there, he’s successfully able to track down its source of origin, which is onboard a Nazi cargo ship which was last located in the South Pole in July of 1945.

The TARDIS then lands in the South Pole, where the Doctor, Bernice & Chris are greeted by the sight of the Nazi cargo ship, trapped within the ice but slowly sinking. Suddenly, the trio are surrounded & held at gunpoint by a group of Russian soldiers, who question the Doctor, Bernice & Chris about their presence. The Doctor manages to convince them that they’re a part of a secret organisation on behalf of His Majesty’s Secret Service, before questioning what the Russians are doing here. Their Captain, Mikhailov explains that they’ve received intel from a Nazi POW that the cargo ship contains the deadly nerve gas & the Russians are here to destroy the Gastron 7, believing that no army on Earth should possess such a deadly weapon. However, the Russians explain that they need to be quick with their mission, as the POW also revealed that a small group of Nazi’s led by a strange, shady man, is also in the area & are hoping to reclaim the nerve gas.

The story then sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris agreeing to work with the Russians to find & destroy the Gastron 7. We see the group entering the bowels of the Cargo Ship, & making their way to the heart of the ship where the Gastron is being explored. The group come across many horrors such as the corpses of Nazi officers & POWs - their faces smothered in cuts, rashes & exploded pockets of skin - these presumably being Gastron test subjects. The crew also navigate through several obstacles & blockages, pushing through the rubble of the collapsing ship & carefully balancing across a part of the ship that is close to collapsing.

Eventually however, the group make it to the heart of the ship. They enter a large room, containing several chamber cells & huge tanks containing Gastron 7. The Doctor looks around the room in disgust & shame, before stating that they need to sink this ship once and for all. Suddenly, the tone in the room turns dark, as Cpt Mikhailov announces in a clear, English voice “actually, Doctor. I’m afraid this is where i take over”. The Doctor & his companions turn to look at Mikhailov, who begins to pull the skin off his face - revealing himself to actually be The Master in disguise.

Then out of nowhere, two of the six Russian soldiers join the Masters side & hold the other four at gunpoint. Then out of nowhere, two more Nazi officers reveal themselves from out of a doorway & also hold the Doctor’s group at gunpoint. The Master then reveals to the Doctor that he is the same version of the Master he met in 1995. He explains that knowing the Doctor would likely try & stop the Master, he simply followed the Doctor back to 1945 & sent a cryptic message to his younger self, telling him to wait for two more hours before retrieving the Gastron - giving the older Master time to dispose of the Doctor & keep his timeline intact. The Doctor tells the Master that he won’t get away with this. The Master chuckles & says “oh but i have, Doctor - I've already won!”. He then orders his men to grab the Doctor’s group & lock them away, saying that they might as well test the Gastron while they’re here.

The Doctor, Bernice & Chris, and one of the Russians, Pvt. Kuzmin, are locked in a chamber, while the remaining three Russians are thrown in a chamber opposite them. A Nazi operates a control panel & the sound of pipes creaking & gas travelling begins to echo throughout the room. The Gastron begins to pump into the cell containing the Russians. As the gas enters the room, their lungs breathe in the deadly agent. Their skin begins to crack, boil, burn, melt - almost every imaginable horrifying way to die. The chamber echoes with blood-crawling screams, before their now lifeless bodies slowly drift to the ground. Bernice, Chris & Kuzmin stare into the other room with horror & stress written over their faces.

The Master says farewell to the Doctor, before pulling down a second switch. However, after a few seconds… nothing. The control panel alerts the Master of a fault deeper within the ship which is blocking the Gastron from entering the Doctor’s chamber. The Master takes one of the Nazi soldiers with him to locate the fault, while he orders the other two to check for any more faults on the control panel, giving the Doctor & his group a small window of time to save their skin.

The Doctor quickly turns to Kuzmin & orders him to radio into High Command to tell them to sink the ship. Kuzmin explains that they’ll all die this way, but the Doctor tells him to “just do it”, with a hint of anger under his breath. Kuzmin fumbles with his radio & tells High Command to destroy the ship, citing it as a Code Red. Then, a few seconds later, the whole ship begins to rumble & shake. Suddenly, the entire room is hit with a mighty force, which blows the doors off the chambers. Chris & Kuzmin dash out the chamber & knock the two Nazi’s out cold, before taking their rifles off their bodies.

The Doctor then orders Bernice & Chris to get back to the TARDIS. The two protest to this order, before the Doctor yells at them to do as they are told, before they agree & dash away back to the TARDIS. The Doctor, meanwhile, tells Kuzmin to follow him - saying that they’ve got to stop the Master no matter what. The two dash down several corridors until they find the Master & the remaining Nazi’s. The two Nazi’s & Kuzmin are caught in a gunfight, which Kuzmin wins. The two hold the Master at gunpoint, with the Doctor telling the Master that it's over. The Master then laughs saying “oh my Doctor - it’s far from being over yet”, before rapidly pulling out a sidearm & gunning down Kuzmin in a single bullet. The Doctor then throws the Master to the ground, causing him to accidentally fire his gun at a pipe in the wall.

The pipe begins to rapidly shoot out a green gas - Gastron 7. Meanwhile, Bernice & Chris who are still making their way out of the ship, hear the gunfire, gas escaping & the violent coughing of the Doctor - and dash back into the ship, fearing the absolute worst. They turn a few corners & find the Doctor - his face covered in burn marks & blisters, slowly crawling across the ground. However, there’s no sign of the Master. Chris turns the Doctor over to examine him. His hearts are slowly stopping, his coughing gets more & more harsher & his voice has turned to gravel. Bernice & Chris sling the Doctor’s arms over their shoulders & begin to carry the Doctor out of the ship. However, unbeknownst to the trio, we see the Master, covered in very few blemishes from the Gastron, but clearly close to the brink of death. We see him watch the Doctor being carried away, before turning down a corridor. We then hear the sounds of a TARDIS materialising - implying that the Master lives to fight another day.

We then see the trio emerging from the ship, with Bernice & Chris still carrying the Doctor. They steadily approach the TARDIS, as we see one final missile strike down on the side of the ship, causing it to explode even more & finally sink fully under the ice. Bernice retrieves the TARDIS key from the Doctor’s pocket & carries him inside.

On board the TARDIS, Bernice dematerialises the TARDIS while Chris examines the Doctor. The Doctor is dying & there’s nothing they can do. The Doctor lets out a few violent coughs, as he begins to slowly reopen his eyes. Bernice begs the Doctor to tell her what she can do to save him. The Doctor sighs & says he’s afraid there’s nothing she can do… this old body has had it. Bernice asks the Doctor if it’s time, and the Doctor nods. Chris asks what the hell does he mean “it’s time”, to which the Doctor simply says “regeneration”. Now Chris understands - being familiar with the Doctor’s backstory. The Doctor tells Bernice & Chris to be tough; be strong & to look after the new one. He sighs & says “I suppose this body's days are finally numbered… after all… nothing lasts forever”. He sighs one final time, as a burst of bright light forms around the Doctor. Bernice & Chris watch in curiosity & fear, as the face of the kind, old man begins to reshape & change into a much younger man. The light suddenly snaps away & we're introduced to the new Doctor: Hugh Bonneville.

 

CONCLUSION

Season 32 was an interesting season. Not bad, but a bit puzzled. It was clear that the production team were still getting used to the new 45 minute format. Like Season 22, many people felt that the stories started out in life as traditional 3 or 4 part stories but were mashed together for the new format. Nevertheless, it seemed that Carnival Films would be able to run Doctor Who smoothly into the late 1990s, as well as giving the season some of the greatest & darkest stories yet - a fitting end to the Eighth Doctor’s tenure.

With Season 32 over, Garwood & Brake set to work on Season 33. This time, the pressure was on for them. Richard Griffiths’ Doctor was a big success, being one of the most popular Doctors of all time. Following on from him would be a difficult act. However, despite his young age & his relatively small amount of work, Bonneville was determined to step up to the plate & make his mark - no matter the outcome.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Special thanks to The Dalek Hunter for their continual support with the series