Doctor Who: The Cancelled Years - The Definitive Edition | Part Three: The Ninth Doctor Era

The early half of the 1990s had seen Doctor Who rescued from the flames of the inferno. Within 5 years, the show had gone from an embarrassing relic from a bygone age to a much more respected show. With Richard Griffiths as the Doctor, the show regained the respect it had lost nearly 10 years prior, and was now receiving healthy viewing figures & reviews.

But, as with anything & everything, it all must end. With the news that Griffiths was to depart from the series at the end of 1995, incumbent producer, Stephen Garwood, and Script Editor, Colin Brake were tasked with finding the Ninth Doctor. With Griffiths’ identity firmly stamped into the identity of the Doctor, the two knew they needed a miracle; someone who would be just as good, maybe even better, than what went prior.

As the world entered the latter half of the 1990s, audiences said their farewells to the grandfatherly figure of the Eighth Doctor & prepared to introduce themselves to the much younger & much more energetic Ninth Doctor.

SEASON 33 - 1996

Having ushered in a radically new tone & style for Doctor Who the previous year, Garwood & Brake were now presented with another task involving reinvention, as they set about crafting the identity of the Ninth Doctor.

From the offset, both men knew that the Ninth Doctor would need to be as totally different to his predecessor as possible. Whereas the Eighth Doctor was the grumpy grandfatherly figure, the Ninth Doctor would be young, energetic & a return to a more whimsical Doctor. Many well known, young actors were considered for the role, but they were either uninterested or unavailable. However, it was during the audition process when they found the man who would be the Ninth Doctor.

Garwood was originally keen to cast a well known actor in the role of 9, in order to encourage viewers to tune in. Yet after seeing the audition for Hugh Bonneville, an actor with a very small TV portfolio at the time, his mind was changed, as he & Brake fully believed that they’d finally found the Ninth Doctor.

With their Doctor cast, the two men worked closely with Bonneville to help fully form his Doctor. Bonneville, agreeing with the notion that the new Doctor should be a polar opposite to 8, wished to re-establish an Edwardian look to the Doctor. Therefore, it was decided that his Doctor would wear an Edwardian inspired outfit. It would consist of a dark brown coat & trousers, with a dark red waistcoat with pocket watch, a dark red cravat, white shirt & black shoes.

With a new Doctor came a new title sequence. Still wishing to emulate the likes of Star Trek, this title sequence would retain the ‘space travel’ aesthetic, showing off Earth & glowing nebulas in space. For the first time since the original title sequence, the Doctor's face would not appear in the titles. Instead, we would have the main cast credited on screen, something which caused outlast when they first aired. For the new theme music arrangement, regular composer, Gavin Greenaway, was given the task. His take on the theme was a lot more synth than previous themes & offered a slower pace to accompany the new titles.

(CLICK ME TO VIEW THE SEASON 33-36 TITLE SEQUENCE)

It was during production of Season 33 that both Lisa Bowerman & Robert Bathurst would be stepping down from the roles of Bernice & Chris. Originally, Garwood planned to introduce the new companion in episode 1 of Season 34. However, it was during production of the final story of Season 33 that Brake, who was also leaving at the end of the season, suggested turning a character in the story, a detective named Abigail Norwood, into the companion. And, after speaking to the actress cast in the role of Abigail, Beverley Cressman, the ending to the story was changed to have Abigail join the Doctor on his adventures.

THE LIVING LIGHT

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

The Living Light would’ve been set in Little Caldwell, some weeks after the events of Planet of the Nestene, and would feature Isaac Summerfield & The Pyramid. The story sees the TARDIS crashing down on Earth, where Isaac takes in Bernice & Chris, along with the new Doctor, who’s currently dealing with post-regeneration after effects. We initially see Bernice, Chris & Isaac helping the Doctor stabilise & help him find himself. All three of them were aware of regeneration to certain degrees, yet Bernice, and more-so Chris, are finding it hard to adjust to this new Doctor. We also see Bernice, Chris & The Pyramid dealing with a potential alien invasion.

The Pyramid has received signals from unknown alien life forms nearby, as well as reports concerning dead people coming back to life. Realising that there may be a potential threat to the Earth at play, and with the Doctor not fully-formed yet, the trio take it upon themselves to find out about these body snatching aliens.

They find that the bodies of the dead are being possessed by a race known as the Lampsi, who explain that they originated from Earth. They explain that they used to be a humanoid-like race & co-existed with the Silurians. However, when Earth came under threat from destruction by a meteor, the Lampsi were able to abandon their bodies & evolve into creatures of light. They then left Earth, never to return, as they believed it & the Silurians to be destroyed. Now they have discovered that the Earth did indeed survive & wish to return back to their home planet. However, as their original forms rotted away centuries ago & can no longer de-evolve, they can now only communicate in solid forms using the bodies of the dead. The Lampsi mean no harm to the humans & simply wish to live in peace on their planet of origin.

Bernice, Chris & Isaac are somewhat reluctant to trust the Lampsi, but they go along with their story for the time being. However, relationships begin to collapse when an angry group of humans begin attacking the Lampsi with rocks & heavy items, calling them immoral & all sorts. This begins to escalate the situation, with factions in both races that hate the other race beginning to emerge.

The story then sees the Doctor, who has fully-recovered by this point & has picked out his new outfit, attempting to negotiate peace between the Humans & Lampsi, attempting to make a case for coexistence & hearing valid points from both races. The Negotiations appear to be moving smoothly, when the ceasefire is broken by a rising faction of Rogue Lampsi, who believe the humans to be a lower form of evolution compared to the Lampsi, comparing them to dung beetles. This then causes a human faction to emerge, who see the Lampsi as unnatural & pure evil, who wage war against the Lampsi.

Eventually, the ceasefire is restored when the Doctor disables every weapon & uses an EMP-like device to expel the Lampsi from their host bodies. Realising that peace between the two races is currently impossible & would likely result in a full-blown nuclear war, the Doctor arranges to have the Lampsi taken to a new planet, where they’ll be given the means to grow artificial bodies & build a new society. However, he tells both humans & Lampsi that they one day hope that the two races can share the planet together, so he tells the Lampsi that they will try again in 1000 years or so, when humans are more accepting.

The story then ends with the Lampsi being teleported away to a new planet by the Doctor. The Doctor then thanks Bernice, Chris & Isaac for helping him through his regeneration, as well as personally thanking Isaac for the clothes (his new costume being sourced from Isaac’s wardrobe). The Doctor, Bernice & Chris then wave goodbye to Isaac as they return to the TARDIS.

TOY SOLDIERS

WRITTEN BY: Paul Leonard
DIRECTED BY: Renny Rye
PARTS: 2

Toy Soldiers would’ve been set both in Europe & on the planet Q’ell in the year 1919. The story sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris investigating strange reports of children being kidnapped across Europe, with the only clue being a toy bear each child owned. Eventually, after some deep investigation, they track the children down to a planet named Q'ell.

It turns out that the children are being kidnapped by a machine named the Recruiter. We learn that the recruiter was a machine created by a race named the Q'ell (who yes, DO share the same name as their planet) to help them in their battles against their enemies, the Ceracai. However, the machine got damaged & forced the war to continue, with it justifying that warfare acted as a spur to technological prowess. It also began kidnapping children from across the universe & conditioned them into soldiers.

Eventually the Doctor is able to stop the Recruiter by reprogramming it to end the war between the Ceracai & the Q'ell, as well as returning the children back to normal & sending them back home.

THE TAKER OF LIFE

WRITTEN BY: Kate Orman
DIRECTED BY: Sandy Johnson
PARTS: 1

The Taker of Life would’ve been set on the planet Basalt II, a small humanoid colony world. The story sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris arriving on Basalt II, where they see that people of the planet are living in peace & harmony. Through some conversations with the locals, they find that the people of Basalt II worship a god named the God of Heat who takes the form of a giant Phoenix & lives within the core of the planet. The Doctor initially believes this God to be just a myth however he discovers that the God of Heat is actually a real entity who controls the entire planet.

We learn that for nearly a thousand years, the God of Heat has offered the planet enough food, water & supplies all year round. However in return for all of this, he demands a yearly sacrifice. The Doctor, naturally appalled by this, decides to investigate & eventually concludes that the God of Heat isn't a real God but a giant parasite known as a Vortworm that feeds off the yearly sacrifices.

The story then sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris attempting to convince the planet that their God is fake & trying to find some form of evidence that proves him Guilty. Initially, however, the Doctor & his companions aren’t believed, and the Vortworm uses his status to trick the people into believing the strangers to be the servants of Baphomet, who is Basalt II’s form of the Devil. However, the Doctor is able to start winning around the population when the Doctor uses a device to expose the Vortworm in it’s real form: a twisted, bubbling, flaming shape of fire.

With the Vortworm exposed as a “simple parasite”, it burns in rage & attempts to destroy the planet by merging with the planet's core & turning the world into a fiery hell. However, the Doctor, along with the leaders of Basalt II, are able to defeat the Vortworm by filling the planet with water & Basalt Fish, which merges with the Vortworm & turns it into stone. However, without realising, the Doctor has inadvertently caused the death of everyone on Basalt II - as without the Vortworm, the planet begins to drop in temperature, which kills everyone but the Doctor, Bernice & Chris.

FOREST OF THE DEAD

WRITTEN BY: Steven Moffat
DIRECTED BY: Brian Farnham
PARTS: 2

Forest of the Dead would've been set on a library planet - simply known as The Library. The story sees the Doctor, Bernice & Chris arriving in The Library, where they discover it to be completely empty. After some exploring, they discover a team of archaeologists representing the Felman Lux Corporation, led by Strackman Lux. They explain that they were sent to investigate the planet, which had been sealed off a century prior with the message "4022 saved. No survivors."

As the group begin to explore the library, they realise that there is something living within the shadows, which the Doctor identifies as the Vashta Nerada - literally meaning 'the shadows that melt the flesh'. The group soon begin to be attacked by the Vashta, with 2 of the expeditioners having their flesh eaten & left as skeletons in their spacesuits. The Vashta, now trapped within the suits, then begin using their bodies to follow after the cast.

Realising that his companions are in danger, the Doctor teleports Bernice back to the safety of the TARDIS with the Library's teleporters, although Chris refuses to go. However, Bernice fails to make it safely back to the TARDIS, and so her consciousness is "saved" to the planet's Data Core hard drive by a system named CAL, which the Doctor & Chris soon discover when they find an interface machine with Bernice's face on it, constantly repeating that Bernice is safe & has left the library.

We then see Bernice - seemingly alive but in a hospital on Earth, where a strange man named Dr Moon, who easily convinced her that the library was just a dream & she is a patient of his. We then see time progressing, which seems to be led by Bernice's thoughts. We see flashes of her life over what appears to be several years, as she meets a man with a stammer named Lee, goes on a date with him, gets married & has two kids with him.

Back in the library, we see the Doctor's group fleeing from the approaching Vashta Nerada. He manages to communicate with the Vashta Nerada, where he learns that the library was their forest; their home - until the Library was built over it. The Doctor then realises that the 4022 two people being "saved" literally meant they had been teleported and saved into the data core - and the same has been done with Donna.

Meanwhile, in Bernice's sequence, we see her being watched by a strange hooded figure, who wishes to speak to Bernice the following day. Bernice goes along to meet her, where they reveal themselves to be what remains of one of the archaeologists from the library - Miss Evangelista, whose consciousness was copied when she was killed. She tries to warn Bernice that she's in a simulation of sorts, showing her that her children are just simulants & nothing makes sense when you really look & think - but Bernice refuses to believe her.

Suddenly, a warning is emitted in the library - the core is going into meltdown. With little time to save the people in the core, the Doctor orders Strackman to take him to the core. We then see Bernice trying to take care of her children, slowly questioning whether she is in reality or not. She then attempts to tuck them in for the night, when they vanish in the blink of an eye - leaving Bernice in hysterics.

The Doctor is taken down into the core of the planet to the computer, where CAL is being stored, where it's revealed that CAL is actually a child named Charlotte Abigail Lux - Strackman's Grandfather's youngest Daughter. Throughout the episode, we would've seen brief clips of this child in a living room in a normal life. She believes the Library to be a place in her head & receives therapy from Doctor Moon, who eventually reveals that The Library is real. She then eventually starts seeing both The Library & Bernice's life on the TV.

Strackman explains to the Doctor that CAL was dying of an incurable disease, so her father made an imaginary world for her to live in - and every book ever written for her to enjoy. He also gave her a "Doctor Moon" to watch over her, but the stress of having so many minds integrated into her own, as well as learning the truth about her dream through Bernice & Evangelista's conversation, has caused her to overload - resulting in the core going into meltdown.

Realising the computer needed more memory, the Doctor devised a plan to connect his mind to it and intimidated the swarm of Vashta Nerada into giving him a single day to save the people in the core. However, believing that it should be CALs own blood that saves her, Strackman chooses to sacrifice himself to boost the Library's memory, thus enabling it to return the people who had been saved in the core, including Bernice.

The story ends with Bernice searching around for Lee in the Library, but being unable to find him. We also see the Doctor looking around the Library, before he finds an old book standing on a grand lectern. He looks at the cover of the book & reads the title: DOCTOR WHO. He thinks to himself for a moment, before ultimately deciding that he doesn't like spoilers

THE LONG GAME

WRITTEN BY: Russell T Davies
DIRECTED BY: Sandy Johnson
PARTS: 1

The Long Game would’ve been set on the Space Station ‘Satellite Five’ in the year 200,000. The story sees the Doctor taking Bernice & Chris to the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire to see the human race at its height. However, the Doctor realises that something is wrong with human history & Satellite Five. Technology appears to be primitive for the year 200,000, every floor is boiling hot & the human race is less accepting of alien races.

The story would see the Doctor investigating into Satellite Five with help from a journalist named Cathica. Cathica tells the Doctor about how Satellite Five acts as a news broadcast for the people on Earth, as well as control over Satellite Five takes place on Floor 500 - a floor where the walls are apparently made out of gold & how no one ever returns from Floor 500. Believing that whatever has caused history to be wrong originates from Floor 500, the Doctor & his companions decided to travel to Floor 500 to investigate. There, they find a control room, where they find frozen corpses operating the controls, as well as a mysterious man named The Editor who promptly captures the Doctor & companions. The Doctor initially believes The Editor to be the main villain, but the Editor reveals himself to be a humble servant, before directing their attention to the ceiling. The Doctor & companions look up & see a giant, fleshy creature on the ceiling.

It turns out that Satellite Five, and also Earth, is being controlled by a creature known as the Jagrafess. The Editor tells the Doctor that the Jagrafess has been  manipulating the Empire by controlling the news; changing the human race’s social, economic and technological growth and making it more insular and xenophobic - meaning the human race has been reduced to slavery without realising it. The Doctor also discovers that the reason every floor, bar Floor 500, which is ice cold, is incredibly warm is because the Jagrafess needs cold air to survive, so it channels all the warm air to the lower levels. The Editor then uses some futuristic technology to extract Chris’ thoughts, which exposes the Doctor’s identity & gives the Jagrafess a new motive: to steal the TARDIS & manipulate all of human history in its favour.

Eventually however, the Jagrafess is defeated when Cathica, who spied & overheard everything the Editor told the Doctor, channels all the heat in Satellite Five to Floor 500, which allows the Doctor & companions to escape, as well as causing the Jagrafess to overheat & explode, which also kills The Editor.

NATURAL EXISTENCE

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 2

Natural Existence would’ve been set in Little Caldwell and would feature Isaac Summerfield & The Pyramid. The story sees the Doctor taking Bernice to see her father at her own request. We see Bernice spending time with her father & helping him run The Pyramid for a while, where she gets more acquainted & familiar with the team.

Meanwhile, the Doctor & Chris decide to have a stroll around the area, as they wait for Bernice. However, the two of them are quickly thrown into danger, when Chris is ambushed & attacked by a deranged woman with plant roots growing out of her skin. The Doctor rescues Chris & uses hypnosis to calm the woman. The Doctor questions why she attacked Chris, to which she explains that she had no choice - that a thing within her is in control. The Doctor then questions the plant roots growing out of her, asking who did this to her. She explains that she was told she would be cured by the great Mother. The Doctor asks who this great Mother is, however he fails to get an answer as the woman begins to struggle to breathe - before falling dead.

The Doctor & Chris return to The Pyramid, where they learn more about this Great Mother from the team. They learn that they’re in charge of a new research facility named Natural Existence, which claims to be able to kill off cancer cells & other medical illnesses using plant Matter. Sensing that something is wrong about this Natural Existence company, the Doctor & his companions decide to investigate.

The story then sees the Doctor & co gaining access to the Natural Existence by gaining employment ship as scientists in order to learn more about the company & this Great Mother. After some snooping, they discover an off-limit wing within the facility, where they discover strange looking Doctors injecting patients with a strange, green substance. The subjects begin to twitch & scream in pain as their skin begins to turn green & roots & other plant matter begins to spout out of their body.

Further investigation leads them to discover that this Great Mother is planning on creating a new form of life using the bodies of the weak & plant matter called the Flora: half human, half plant. They find confidential documents, which detail plans on how the Flora can infect & turn any humanoid life into Flora & how they will eventually become the dominant life on the planet. After some snooping, Bernice & Isaac find themselves being caught & captured by the strange Doctors, who take them to the Great Mother herself, who is revealed to be none other than the Rani.

The story then sees the Doctor working with Chris & The Pyramid to try & stop the Rani & her Flora from taking over the Earth, as well as rescuing Bernice & Isaac before the Rani can experiment on them. The group eventually make their way into the Natural Existence Facilities, where they’re able to rescue Bernice in time. Unfortunately however, they’re unable to save Isaac, who’s injected with the green substance, which slowly begins to turn him into a Flora.

Eventually, the Doctor is able to stop the Flora uprising by creating a sort-of weed killer, which either kills or completely weakens every Flora in the facility. With her plans foiled, the Rani attempts to escape in her TARDIS. The Doctor chases after her, but can’t keep up with her. The Rani turns round a corner, where she’s suddenly captured by the still infected Isaac, who proceeds to bite into her hand - infecting her with the Flora virus. The Rani then pulls out a staser & shoots Isaac to the ground, before dashing into her TARDIS & dematerialising.

The Doctor, Bernice, Chris & the Pyramid team surround Isaacs’ body, as he begins to die. He looks at Bernice & tells her that he’s proud of her. Bernice & Isaac say their final goodbyes, before Isaac shuts his eyes & falls dead, leaving Bernice in tears.

The story ends a few days later, after a funeral is held for Isaac. The Doctor asks Bernice & Chris if they’re ready to go. Chris says he guesses, but Bernice, after a minute pause, tells the Doctor that she isn’t coming. She says that with her fathers death, there’s no one to run The Pyramid now. She says that she’s choosing to stay on Earth in order to run The Pyramid in her father’s honour. The Doctor hugs Bernice & wishes her good luck, before returning to the TARDIS. Chris makes his farewells to Bernice, saying that he’ll truly miss her. Bernice gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before she says goodbye to Chris, the two hug one final time, before Chris returns to the TARDIS.

THE BROKEN CLOCK

WRITTEN BY: Colin Brake
DIRECTED BY: John Henderson
PARTS: 2

The Broken Clock would’ve been set in several different places & time zones in Earth’s history. The story initially begins with the Doctor & Chris in the year 2985 to witness a peace treaty being signed between the humans & the Lampsi, after the two races finally settled their differences from The Living Light. However, the peace conference is suddenly broken up when the Lampsi leader is assassinated by a human Sniper on Live TV. Panic & chaos ensues across the Earth, with war breaking out left, right & centre. However, the Doctor tells Chris that this is wrong - everything. Today should’ve marked the dawn of a new age of Peace, not War. Something or someone has changed history.

Realising that this must link back to the assassin, the Doctor & Chris realise they need to track her down. They soon meet with a detective named Abigail Norwood to try & track down the assassin. However, Abigail finds there is no known record of this woman. Eventually, the trio are able to locate & apprehend the assassin.

Abigail then downloads her mind into a futuristic machine which lets her read the minds of people who are trying to hide a criminal act, where the trio discover that this woman, named Michelle, is somehow from the year 2025. The Doctor then finds that Michelle has a strange, primitive time travel device around her arm, causing him to conclude that somehow, this woman from the 2020s gained the ability to time travel. Realising the potential danger to the timeline he may have caused, the Doctor concludes that they must find out where & when he’s been to & stop her before she can destroy time itself. However, before he can do so, the Doctor uses the time device to travel back in time in order to stop Michelle from killing the Lampsi leader. He disables her sniper, locks her out of his time travel device & sends her back to his time of origin, before returning to the present.

The Doctor & Chris then return to the TARDIS, where the Doctor plugs the time device into the TARDIS console in order to find out where & when has been effected. However, unbeknownst to the Doctor & Chris, Abigail has accidentally stowed away with them. The Doctor apologises to Abigail & says he'll return her home as soon as history is saved.

After analysing the device, he discovers that Chris has also travelled to America in 1967. There, they find themselves near NASA &, after some investigating, they find Michelle under disguise as a NASA engineer. The Doctor then discovers the day's date: the 27th of January, and realises that Michelle is attempting to stop the Apollo 1 disaster: a fire that broke out in the cabin during a launch simulation which caused the death of all 3 Astronauts. Michelle quickly & successfully makes the necessary repairs in order to stop the disaster. However, when Michelle leaves & teleports into the future, the Doctor is forced to quickly undo his repairs to the Apollo 1 craft, meaning the fire still happens - an action which the Doctor isn’t proud of.

The trio then return to the TARDIS, where the Doctor attempts to return Abigail home. However, this plan is cancelled as the TARDIS has found out where & how Michelle originally obtained time travel. Arriving in 2025, they find that Michelle was a member of an organisation named Broken Clock. The Doctor discovers that Broken Clock is selling time travel to the rich & wealthy. They simply equip a travel device around your arm, set a destination on a keypad & a Gateway opens up. You then step through the gateway & end up in your destination. & you return to the present using a time device on your wrist.

Realising that Broken Clock needs to be burnt to the ground, the Doctor, Chris & Abigail sneak into the organisation's main building to try & shut down their source of time travel before any more damage can be done to the timelines. The Doctor force returns everyone in history wearing a time device to the present & tries to shut the main reactor down. However, he accidentally sets it to overload & a giant gateway opens up on the time vortex, which begins to suck everything & anyone nearby, sending them to anywhere & anywhen in Time.

The Doctor, Chris & Abigail work together to try & fully shut down the gateway. However, the force becomes too strong & it pulls Chris in. The Doctor grabs him by the arm, but is slowly losing his grip. The Doctor ends up losing his grip & begins to be pulled through too. Then suddenly, Abigail snatches the Doctor by the arm. Time’s running out. Soon, Abigail will also lose her grip. She tells the Doctor that she can’t hold on forever.

The Doctor tells Chris that he is sorry… but doesn’t think he can save him. Chris tells the Doctor that he knows & that he’ll be fine - just save the world. The Doctor says goodbye to Chris, and Chris replies with “goodbye, Doctor… give my regards to Bernice”. He then nods his head in respect, before the Doctor is forced to let go & watches Chris fall into the Time Vortex.

Abigail then pulls the Doctor back up, where they continue to shut down the gateway. Eventually, the Gateway is shut down & the Time Vortex is closed. The Doctor thanks Abigail for the support, before she states that she’s sorry about Chris. The Doctor responds saying that it wasn’t her fault & that at the very least, he’s alive out there - somewhere.

The story ends with the Doctor & Abigail onboard the TARDIS, where the Doctor says he’ll get her back to her rightful time. Then he turns to her and says “orrrr…. We could take the scenic route; take in some new worlds, maybe find Chris along the way?” Abigail says that the Scenic route sounds nice, before the Doctor says “OK! Scenic route it is then”, before he presses a few buttons, pulls a few switches & sets the TARDIS into flight.

CONCLUSION

Season 33 was a promising start for the new era. Many people took to the new Doctor & thought Bonneville was a good fit for the role. Many were also sad to see both Bernice & Chris go but were also intrigued to see what Abigail will be like as a full-time companion. It was also agreed that it felt like the writers had properly figured out the new 45 minute format after last season's mixed results. Now, with Season 33 done & over, Garwood & Bonneville set to work on Season 34

SEASON 34 - 1997

Going into Season 34, the first thing Garwood had to do was find a new Script Editor. Following on from Brake’s recommendation, the role was offered to writer Gary Russell.

It was during production on this season that Garwood announced that he would be stepping down from the role of Producer, as he’d been offered the role of Producer on EastEnders & only wanted to do 3 seasons on Doctor Who anyways. After looking around, it was decided that the new Producer would be Lynn Grant, who’d been working for Doctor Who on-and-off since the McCoy era.

For this season, Garwood requested the construction of a new TARDIS interior set. The 1990 set was moved from the BBC studios to Carnival’s studios in 1995. However, by 1997, and the show now working on a better budget, this interior looked cheap & unstable. Inspired by the sets of Star Trek ship interiors, the new TARDIS was designed to feel more akin to the bridge of a ship, with a more metallic design, while still retaining the basic design of a TARDIS interior, including the roundels.

PLACEBO EFFECT

WRITTEN BY: Gary Russell
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Briggs
PARTS: 2

Placebo Effect would’ve been set on an artificial planet named Micawber's World in the year 3999. The story sees the Doctor taking Abigail to Micawber’s World to see the Intergalactic Olympics, which is the same as Earth's olympics, but it can now have any race from any planet involved & can be hosted anywhere on any planet. However, the Doctor soon finds himself wrapped in a mystery, after discovering reports of security guards going missing underneath the stadium.

The story sees the Doctor & Abigail investigating into the missing security case, as well as investigating a new performance enhancing drug that's being used by some of the Olympic athletes. It turns out that the Wirrn are responsible for both mysteries. The Doctor finds that the security were kidnapped by the Wirrn & were converted into Wirrn. He also discovers that the Wirrn developed the drug, which is actually designed to eventually turn the athletes into Wirrn; & the Wirrn also plan to spread the drug throughout the universe.

However, the Wirrn are ultimately defeated when the Doctor creates an antidote drug which stops the athletes from being converted into Wirrn, although the athletes will be permanently damaged from the experience & will never fully recover.

THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

WRITTEN BY: Russell T Davies
DIRECTED BY: John Henderson
PARTS: 2

The Nightmare Scenario would’ve been set on Gallifrey. The story begins with the Doctor receiving a call from Leela on Gallifrey, who tells the Doctor that something seems wrong with Romana. She’s become much more isolated & not like herself. She also explains that her entire council has recently changed after the entirety of her old one was assassinated by an unknown assailant. She says that apparently, each new member of the council has a somewhat sketchy past & that Romana has been making decisions which go against what she previously stood for.

Realising that something must be up, the Doctor sets course to Gallifrey in order to investigate. We see the Doctor testing Romana by casually talking with her, as well as learning more about the new council, in order to determine whether Romana has been compromised in some way. We see that the council is slowly but surely turning Gallifrey into a dictatorial state, with posters that glamorise the current government & very harsh punishments for minute crimes.

As the Doctor continues testing Romana, Leela & Abigail find themselves helping a squad of guards, led by Leela’s husband, Andred, to capture an escaped cryogenic prisoner known as Prisoner 627. & while searching on their own, Leela & Abigail find Prisoner 627: a Time Lady played by Chloë Annett. The prisoner begs the two of them to not hand her over & that she’s being framed. She says she doesn’t know who she is, but she swears she’s not the real Prisoner 627. Abigail says she believes 627, and so Leela & Abigail take her back to Leela’s quarters.

Meanwhile, we see the Doctor continuing to test Romana in her office. Then suddenly, the office is breached by a Time Lord guard wielding a Staser rifle - the assassin. The Doctor attempts to overthrow the Assassin, but is knocked out & thrown to the ground. The assassin swings his arm back up to shoot Romana, before he’s shot down by Romana, who’s revealed to be in possession of her own Staser. The room is then swarmed by a group of guards, who make sure Romana is unarmed. However, when asked what happened, Romana says the Doctor, who’s now awakening from his coma, is the Assassin. The Doctor tries to claim his innocence, yet Romana swears & insists he is Gallifrey’s number one enemy & has him sentenced to death.

Back in Leela’s quarters, the group hear an announcement over the intercom from Romana, who tells the people of Gallifrey that the Doctor is to be executed. While Leela & Abigail state that this can’t be right, 627 is taken back by Romana’s voice - claiming that it’s HER voice. Leela & Abigail are confused as to what 627 means, believing that she mustn't be well. But then 627 says she’s starting to remember who she was. She is Romana & the woman currently acting as President is not the real Romana. She says she has vague memories of being attacked & a sharp, deadly pain in her neck, before being placed in the place of Prisoner 627.

In order to determine whether this woman really is Romana, Leela throws some personal questions at her, which she gets right. She & Abigail then take her for a DNA test, which fully confirms that this woman is Romana. But then that begs the question - If this is Romana, then who’s the President of Gallifrey?

After convincing Andred & his guards to stand down & that the president may be a fake, the group make their way to the security logs to find out who exactly imprisoned the real Romana. This, meanwhile, is intercut with the Doctor being escorted to the execution chamber. The group find the footage of Romana having her neck being snapped & placed into cryogenic, but find that the real assassin is using a perception blur to cover their identity on the footage. Romana uses her clearance to un-distort the assassin's identity, and we see the assassin to be Kalien.

The group continue to sieve through more security footage, where they’re eventually able to create a full timeline of events. It’s revealed that a year ago Kalien escaped from her imprisonment, killed Romana & imprisoned her in her place. She then obtained an ancient elixir named the Elixir of Rejuvenation, which allowed her to regenerate into any form she wished. She regenerated into the form of Romana & took her place as president. She then proceeded to have Romana’s high council killed off & had them replaced with people that would be able to help her in her ultimate plan: to have full control over the people of Gallifrey.

With all the evidence gathered, the group rushes to the execution chamber, where they’re able to save the Doctor just in the nick of time. Romana then exposes Kalien to her guards by showing them the evidence. Romana orders her men to have Kalien restrained, however Kalien uses a device on her arm & teleports away.

We then see the Doctor leading the group through the corridors of Gallifrey, as they attempt to track down Kalien. They eventually trace her down to the old workshop, where they find Kalien attempting to escape in a Type 80 TARDIS. However, the Doctor fully raises the transduction barrier & brings the TARDIS back down.

The story then ends with Romana sentencing Kalien to eternal imprisonment, as she’s to be sealed within a Dwarf Star Alloy Chamber - a room that exists outside of time & space itself. Romana then thanks the Doctor for his help, before he & Abigail return to the TARDIS.

VAMPIRE SCIENCE

WRITTEN BY: Kate Orman & Jonathan Blum
DIRECTED BY: Renny Rye
PARTS: 2

Vampire Science would’ve been set in San Francisco in 1997. The story arrives in San Francisco, where the Doctor becomes aware of a group of Vampires living on Earth in an abandoned theatre. However, these Vampires don’t wish to conquer the Earth, and instead live normal lives on Earth. But, due to them being vampires, they do feed off human blood, resulting in the death of 200 homeless people.

Being a Time Lord, the Doctor has a natural duty to wipe out the vampires. However, wishing to find a peaceful solution, as well as not wanting the Time Lords to find out about the presence of Vampires, which could result in San Francisco being wiped out, the Doctor agrees to work with the leader of the local vampire coven, a vampire lady from the year 1087 named Joanna Harris, to try & develop an artificial food source so they don’t have to kill to survive. Harris admits that she’d also been working along similar lines for some time, but she isn’t sure whether she can trust the Doctor. So, in order to ensure mutual cooperation, the Doctor & Harris undergo a bloodfasting, which establishes a psychic link that’ll cause each to suffer any injuries inflicted upon the other, up to and including death.

The story sees the Doctor working with Harris & UNIT North America, led by Brigadier-General Adrienne Kramer, to try & make peace with the Vampires, as well as helping to develop a kill-free food source. However, a vampire named Slake, who first agreed to become a vampire for the dark romance of it, gets angry at Harris for trying to end the Hunt. Wishing for the bloodshed to continue, Slake begins to stir up the younger vampires with visions of a life beyond morality & attempts to provoke a war.

Slake takes full command of the younger vampires & orders them to begin attacking groups of humans. When the Doctor & Harris learn about Slake’s attack, they realise they have no choice but to fight back. They then develop a repellent which, when ingested by the Vampires, will kill them stone dead. We then see the Doctor, Abigail & Harris travelling to the abandoned theatre to wipe out the Vampires. However, their plans are foiled when Slake takes Abigail as a hostage.

The Doctor then meets with Slake, who sacrifices his life to save Abigail. Slake agrees to free Abigail & he, along with the rest of the Vampires, begin feeding off the Doctor’s blood. However, as the vampires feed off the Doctor’s blood, they begin to keel over & die.

The Doctor, claiming to be dying, then asks Harris to convert him into a Vampire. Harris then also begins consuming the Doctor’s blood, where it’s revealed that the Doctor ingested a sample of the Vampire repellent, which killed Slake’s army & then kills Harris. However, after Harris dies, the Doctor revives her using CPR, where he reveals that  although the vampire factor in her cells has been destroyed, their bloodfasting enabled her to survive as a human. The story then ends with Adrienne Kramer offering Harris a chance to work for UNIT NA & the Doctor & Abigail depart in the TARDIS.

THE SCREAMING DARKNESS

WRITTEN BY: Steven Moffat
DIRECTED BY: Stuart McDonald
PARTS: 1

The Screaming Darkness would’ve been set aboard the Starship Fore-Frost. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail arriving on the Fore-Frost, a luxury cruise ship in deep space. Upon realising they’re on a cruise ship, the Doctor & Abigail decide to stay on-board & take a holiday.

We initially see the Doctor & Abigail exploring the ship to see what it offers, which includes a giant swimming pool room, fine-dining restaurants, top-of-the-range leisure activity simulations & luxurious bedrooms. They also take some time to meet the rest of the passengers, including a young human couple named Amelia & William, a space researcher named Ivan & an elderly rich couple named Judy & Frank. Everything seems to be going well & relaxing at first, until the Doctor & Abigail are discovered by the captain of the ship, Bowman, who believes them to be stowaways & plans to have them locked up.

Suddenly, the starship is shaken violently & the automatic alarms are raised, alerting everyone of a breach in an observation deck. We see everyone onboard panicking & being sucked as the air is pulled out of the ship. The Doctor is able to seal the hole, but not before the ship's power is drained & the lights go out, leaving only a few emergency lights. Bowman tells the passengers that an automatic SOS will have been sent out & asks for everyone to return to their rooms, while he deals with the Doctor & Abigail.

As we see the Doctor & Abigail being thrown into jail, we cut to Amelia & William returning to their room. Then suddenly, a blue wisp flies down the corridor & crashes into Amelia. We see her eyes turning an electric light-blue colour, before she emits an ear-piercing scream, which slowly begins to kill William. The sound of the scream echoes throughout the entire ship, and everyone rushes to the scene, with the Doctor & Abigail breaking out of jail to investigate.

The story would then evolve into a Base-Under-Siege-esque story, with the entire cast hunting down Amelia, who the Doctor discovers to be possessed by a space-entity he’s unfamiliar with, as well as trying to find a way to defeat this entity &, if possible, somehow save Amelia. Throughout the story, we get to learn more about this entity through the entity communicating with the cast, as well as possible theories for its motives. We learn that the entity entered the ship through the breach, after having swimming through empty space for decades. It can possess anyone & has the power to kill anyone using a high-frequency scream, which destroys the brain.

We also learn that it has the ability to switch bodies at ease, as we see it possess Amelia, Ivan & even Bowman. We never get to learn what the entity is or what it wants, but the Doctor theories that it knows about the SOS call & that it must be planning to escape to the nearest civilisation & cause havoc.

Eventually however, this entity is defeated when the Doctor traps the entity in an emergency stasis chamber & freezes the entity, which is possessing Bowman, in Liquid Nitrogen. The story then ends with the Doctor & Abigail making sure the survivors are OK, before they quietly leave in the TARDIS just as the SOS team begins to arrive.

THE ENGLISH WAY OF DEATH

WRITTEN BY: Gareth Roberts
DIRECTED BY: Sandy Johnson
PARTS: 2

The English Way of Death would've been set in 1930s London. The story sees the Doctor arriving in London in order to return some old library books. However, before the Doctor can leave 1930, the TARDIS warns the Doctor about the presence of time-warmed chronons in the atmosphere, meaning that there is an unshielded time corridor somewhere in the vicinity. This leads to the Doctor investigating into this potential threat, where he sees Heath Porteous, a well known seismologist, being kidnapped by a woman named Julia. However, before the Doctor can catch Julia, the entire city begins to rumble & shake unexpectedly; something which the Doctor knows isn't right.

The story then sees the Doctor & Abigail trying to find out why Porteous was kidnapped, as well as the cause for the trembles & the time corridor, which the Doctor suspects are all connected in some way. It turns out that a creature of gas known as Zodaal is responsible, a criminal from a distant planet who had imprinted his mind into a cloud of radium. We learn that Zodaal has possessed a millionaire known as Hepworth, who was responsible for the kidnapping of Porteous. Zodaal is planning on forcing Porteous to program a seismic stimulator, which would destroy the Earth. He then plans  to channel the power of its destruction so that he could imprint himself permanently onto a new host.

Eventually however, Zodaal is defeated when the Doctor forces his ship to take off after sabotaging his equipment. Hepworth chooses to commit suicide before Zodaal can take control, which leaves Zodaal drifting helplessly through space.

THE MILLENIUM BUG

WRITTEN BY: Steve Lyons
DIRECTED BY: Stuart McDonald
PARTS: 1

The Millenium Bug would've been set on Earth. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail being summoned to Earth by Brigadier Bambera on the 31st of December, 1999. Bambera explains to the Doctor that at 00:00 in the morning, every single piece of technology transmitted a message to the human race which read 'The end of days is here' before shutting off permanently. Since then, most, if not all, technology has failed to work, with everyone cut off from the rest of the world.

No one has any idea what this means, who's causing this or why, but Bambera believes that this has something to do with the turn of the millennium & maybe related to the Y2K bug, a scare amongst the population that all technology would break down at the start of the year 2000.

The story would see the Doctor working with Bambera to try & track down the source of this transmission using very primitive technology, while also trying to work out a way to restore all technology on Earth. They eventually discover that a race of aliens known as the Xytrons are responsible - creatures that are made of glass & feed off electricity. The Doctor discovers that the Xytrons plan to conquer the Earth by firstly cutting off all communications around the world, which would throw Earth into a state of panic & war. Then, arising from the smoke, the Xytrons would be able to successfully invade & conquer the planet.

However, the Xytrons are defeated when the Doctor restores Earth's technology by draining energy from the Xytrons' spacecraft. This, however, also results in the deaths of the Xytrons, as without electricity, the Xytrons simply die out & collapse to the ground, before shattering into tiny shards of glass.

The story then ends with Bambera thanking the Doctor for his help, with the Doctor & Abigail celebrating the turn of the millennium in London.

GENOCIDE

WRITTEN BY: Paul Leonard
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 2

Genocide would've been set throughout Earth's history. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail arriving in what they expect to be London 2109. However, upon exiting the TARDIS, they find themselves on what appears to be an alien world named Paratractis. Furthermore, the planet is inhabited by horse-like aliens named The Tractites. However, to the Doctor's horror, he discovers that Paratractis is actually Earth - something or someone has changed the timelines.

Through some investigation, he finds that, somehow, the Tractites travelled back in time & came to Earth at a point where mankind was still evolving & wiped out the population; taking the planet as their own. Now, in the year 2109, Paratractis is home to the Tractites - a much more peaceful & civilised race than any form of human civilisation. Feeling conflicted about what he must do next, but realising the danger to the timeline, the Doctor realises that  he has no choice but to find the point of historical divergence and correct it.

The story then sees the Doctor travelling through time in order to work out when, how & why the Tractites took over Earth. We learn that in the far future, the human empire invaded & nearly wiped out the entire Tractite race on their original home planet. However, the survivors of the bloodshed came into possession of a Time Tree - a tree which enabled time travel to a random point in history simply by plucking its seeds. The Tractites then used the Time Tree to travel to the dawn of human history to establish a colony & prevent the human race from evolving. However, one of the survivors, named Gavril, ended up in the 20th Century, where he worked with a mad UNIT soldier named Jacob Hynes, to test & develop a virus which could wipe out the human race.

 The story would see the Doctor & Abigail working with a Tractite named Kitig, who comes to realise that their timeline & existence must end, to stop the virus from spreading, as well as stopping Mauvril, a survivor of the Tractite genocide who is now a leader, from wiping out the human race. Eventually, Hynes is injected with the virus himself, which ultimately kills him. Mauvril's plans are eventually foiled, but the Doctor offers her the chance to start again - to let him use the TARDIS to & her people to a new world where they can make a fresh start. However, to the Doctor's horror, Mauvril & the rest of the Tractites are wiped out by a Tractite laser cannon by one of the supporting characters, with the Doctor left unsure whether the cannon was used on accident or maliciously.

CONCLUSION

Season 34 was a much better regarded season. The stories were considered much stronger than last year, with healthy reviews & viewing figures, & people liked the dynamic between 9 & Abigail. However, apart from the introduction of a new TARDIS, this season doesn’t stand out much in hindsight.

So, with Season 34 finished, Garwood parted ways with Doctor Who & handed over the keys to Lynn Grant. With the appointment of a new Producer & speculating rumours about Season 35, fans were left wondering & excited about what 1998 had to offer.

SEASON 35 - 1998

With the appointment of Lynn Grant as Producer, as well as the show's 35th year on the air, it would be safe to say that there was a lot of intrigue & curiosity as to what Season 35 would entice. Fans would therefore be disappointed when it was revealed that, much like 10 years prior, there would be no big special to mark the coral anniversary. However, it was announced that a 10 minute short was being produced to mark the anniversary, which would air on that year's Children in Need.

Following on from her appointment, Grant would work heavily with Gary Russell on crafting their series. Grant wished for the show to continue in its current direction, with more stories being set on other worlds or Earth's past or future.

During the production, Bonneville revealed that he had signed on for a fourth season, although it was also revealed Beverley Cressman wouldn’t be joining him, as she was set to leave at the end of the season.

THE APOCALYPSE ELEMENT

WRITTEN BY: Stephen Cole
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Briggs
PARTS: 2

The Apocalypse Element would've been set on the planets Etra Prime, Archetryx & Gallifrey. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail accidentally landing on the planet Archetryx, where they interrupt a meeting between the Time Lords & nineteen other races - the only other races in the universe who have developed time travel. However, Coordinator Vansell, of the Gallifreyan CIA, vouches for them & the meeting continues - where it's revealed that strange things are happening.

We learn that twenty years ago, Etra Prime, the oldest planetoid in the universe, vanished from time and space - which took five hundred scientists, mostly from Gallifrey, including the Lady President Romana. A year later, three hundred of them re-appeared on Archetryx, dead and distorted by time. To avert an accusation and a war, Archetryx agreed to host this conference, which has now come to fruition. However, Romana is still to be found. Now, the Archetryxans have detected that Etra Prime has returned & it is on a collision course with Archetryx, and it becomes obvious to everyone that those responsible for all of this is none other than the Daleks.

The story then sees the Doctor investigating, where he discovers that the Daleks have planted mind-controlled agents on Archetryx, who proceed to destroy the planet's shields, allowing the Daleks to invade. The Doctor proceeds to re-activate the planets' defences, where he's eventually reunited with Romana, who reveals that she was being held as a prisoner by the Daleks on Etra Prime for twenty years, but was able to escape.

The story then sees the Doctor, Abigail & Romana returning to Gallifrey, where they discover a Dalek force beginning an invasion on Gallifrey. We eventually learn that the reason why  Etra Prime was removed from time and space was so that the Daleks could mine particles from within the planet, known as the Apocalypse Element, which they've proceeded to unleash on the Seriphia Galaxy‎.

The Doctor & Romana attempt to use the power of the Eye of Harmony to contain the element, but this fails. The Daleks on Gallifrey, however, add their own mental energy to the Eye, which contains the Element. Eventually however, the Daleks are defeated by the Doctor & Gallifrey, however the Daleks detonate the Element in the Seraphia Galaxy, which destroys everything within it. It's also revealed by the dying Supreme Dalek that they have created a new Galaxy that's four times the size of the Milky Way galaxy & home to over six hundred billion stars, which will allow the Daleks to establish a power base & transform into their new empire.

DANGER WITHIN

WRITTEN BY: Gary Russell
DIRECTED BY: Renny Rye
PARTS: 1

Danger Within would've been set onboard the TARDIS. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail in the console room, discussing an off-screen encounter with Jane Austen, while the Doctor is tinkering with the TARDIS controls. Then suddenly, the console room shakes, as if something has crashed into the TARDIS. The lights turn red & the cloister bell echoes through the ship, as the Doctor frantically works at the console. He then proceeds to pull 4 levers down simultaneously, which causes the red lights to turn off, but also causes them to dim & the TARDIS’ engines going silent.

The Doctor explains to Abigail that they briefly got caught in a Black Hole. They were able to escape the black hole by using an emergency shift, which saved them at the cost of the TARDISes power & shield protection. However, he reveals that they can restore the TARDIS' power & shields by travelling to a generator room, deep within the TARDIS.

The story then sees the Doctor & Abigail travelling through the bowels of the TARDIS, looking for the generator room. However, we also see a POV shot of something, or someone, observing the Doctor & Abigail through a hidden camera. This unknown entity laughs, as it begins to shift the TARDIS corridors around, trapping & separating the Doctor & Abigail in never-ending loops & moving them closer towards dangerous rooms, such as an exposed furnace & a room full of man-eating gorillas.

It turns out that a space parasite, known as Rollie, has taken control of the TARDIS, and has only been able to do so due to the shields being lowered. We learn that Rollie has full control over the TARDIS & plans to fly the ship directly into an exploding sun. The story then sees the Doctor & Abigail racing against time, as they try to reunite with each other, as well as navigating a never-ending landscape & trying to find the generator room before they boil to death.

Eventually, they're able to find the generator room, where they successfully restore the ships power & re-raise the shields, which forcefully ejects Rollie from the TARDIS & restores the corridors to normal. The Doctor & Abigail then sprint back to the console room, where the Doctor works frantically around the console to dematerialise before the TARDIS floats into the sun.

(rollie)

SPARE PARTS

WRITTEN BY: Marc Platt
DIRECTED BY: John Henderson
PARTS: 2

Spare Parts would’ve been set on Mondas. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail landing on Mondas before it returns to the Solar System, with the Doctor initially unaware of this. We see Mondas to be a big, industrial metal city buried underneath a roof of steel & metal. The Doctor & Abigail then decide to split up & explore the city, where Abigail meets a girl named Yvonne Hartley & helps her father after his chest piece breaks down. Yvonne & her father, known simply as Mr Hartley, thank Abigail for her help & offer to take her in for the night, as night time is approaching & a curfew is in place.

Arriving at the Hartley household, the group are met with Sisterman Constant, a public sector nurse. She asks Abigail who she is, but Abigail stands up to her questioning and sends her firmly on her way. Abigail meets Yvonne’s brother, Frank, as well as seeing that the Hartley family, and nearly everyone else on Mondas, is living in the darkness. Abigail is invited to dine with the family, however she’s forced to leave early when Sisterman Constant & a group of Cybermen officers raid the household.

The Doctor, meanwhile, meets a man named Thomas Dodd, who is a deal in body parts for money. Through some brief conversation, the Doctor learns that he’s on Mondas just as the Cybermen are beginning to evolve. We eventually see the Doctor reuniting with Abigail, where he explains to Abigail about Mondas & the people of this world’s future. Abigail wishes to help the people of Mondas. Initially, the Doctor Doctor says that they can’t interfere in the upcoming events & must let the people of Mondas pave their own future. However, when he realises that the genesis of the Cybermen is happening now, he’s unable to resist not interfering & attempts to warn the locals about what was happening.

The story sees the Doctor & Abigail working with Mr Hartley to try & stop the genesis of the Cybermen. We also see that Yvonne has been selected for the Cyberman programming &, unaware of the dangers, agrees to be taken away, where she’s converted into a Cyberman. However, before her emotions can be inhibited, a power flux causes her conversion to stop, where she returns to her family home. Frank & Mr Hartley try to comfort her, however the power soon turns back on, which ends up killing Yvonne.

Eventually, the Doctor is arrested & captured by one of the Cybermen’s creators, Doctorman Allan, who discovers the Doctor to be an alien. She then attaches the Doctor to a machine, which uses him as a template to improve future Cybermen, with the current Cybermen constantly falling & breaking down, meaning that part of the Doctor will be a part of every Cyberman he's ever met & will meet.

Eventually, now working with Doctorman Allan, the Doctor, Abigail & they're group of allies are able to save the people of Mondas by destroying the Central Committee, a hive mind of twenty individuals which ruled Mondas. The story ends with the Doctor & Abigail leaving Mondas, believing that their actions may have altered history. However, the story ends by cutting back to Mondas, where we see that the first Cyber-Leader survived & forces Doctorman Allan to restart the conversion process.

HUMAN NATURE

WRITTEN BY: Paul Cornell
DIRECTED BY: Richard Stroud
PARTS: 2

Human Nature would've been set in Norfolk in 1914. The story sees the Doctor living the life of a history teacher named John Smith, who seemingly believes himself to be just a normal human. We learn that the Doctor has chosen to turn himself human in an attempt to explore the human condition & better understand his companions. Using a fictional persona designed in the TARDIS data banks, the Doctor had himself turned into a human named John Smith & plans to live in 1914 for three months, with the Doctor's Gallifreyan life being stored in a biodata pod, which Abigail hid away in a tree. Abigail, meanwhile, has taken residence in the nearby town, where she gets to know the townspeople, including a young suffragette named Constance.

We see Smith teaching history, as well as helping out a bullied student named Timothy. We also see the Doctor beginning to take an interest & befriending another teacher named Joan Redfern. For the first nine weeks, all goes fine. However, trouble begins to emerge when a race of aliens arrives. We find the aliens to be a race of shapeshifters known as the Aubertide, who could shapeshift into the appearance of anyone & anything they ate. We learn that the Aubertide plan to extract the Doctor's biodata in order to gain the ability to regenerate. With this ability, the Aubertide will be able to create new family members who will also be able to regenerate, and they'll soon be able to conquer Gallifrey.

We initially see one of the Aubertide, named Greeneye, attempting to get Abigail to reveal the location of the Doctor's biodata by pretending to be the Doctor's next incarnation, however, Abigail isn't easily tricked. Realising the danger they're in, Abigail attempts to convince Smith about his identity, although he refuses to believe her. Abigail then attempts to retrieve the biodata pod, but discovers that it's missing. We learn that Timothy, one of Smith's students, has found & taken the pod for himself. We also see the data from the pod leaking into Timothy, who soon begins  to take on the physical and mental characteristics of a Time Lord, such as gaining a respiratory bypass system & Venusian aikido.

The story sees Abigail working with Smith & Joan to find the datapod & save the Doctor, as well as finding a way to defeat the Aubertide. During this, we would see Smith confess his love to Joan, as well as going so far as to propose to her. Eventually, the group find Timothy & the biodata pod. Smith begins to question what he should do next, when  he has a vision of his first love, Verity -- who is in fact an aspect of the TARDIS, placed in his mind to protect those parts of the Doctor’s psyche which could not be completely erased from Smith’s mind. He now knows who he really is; whether the Doctor or John Smith, he is never cruel or cowardly, and is a man of peace even in times of war.

At peace, Smith uses the pod to change back into the Doctor, and the Doctor, pretending to be Smith, takes the pod to the Aubertide & hands it over to an Aubertide named August. August attempts to harvest the biodata, which then mentally turns him into Smith. Smith then sacrifices his life in order to save Joan, who had been taken hostage by this point, and the Doctor traps the Aubertide using a time barrier. The Doctor bids then Smith farewell, saying that he did a fine job. He then proceeds to set the Aubertide's equipment to self-destruct, before he & Joan escape.

The story then ends with the Doctor speaking to Joan, having been aware of how much she & Smith were in love.  Joan is upset to learn that Smith died for her, but she must accept that, although the Doctor remembers his experiences, he isn’t Smith and can’t go back to being him, not even for her.

BLINK

WRITTEN BY: Steven Moffat
DIRECTED BY: Renny Rye
PARTS: 1

Blink would’ve been set in London in 1998. The story would follow a woman named Sally Sparrow as she investigates a strange house at night. There, she finds the garden to be filled with strange, stone statues. She finds a message written under some old wallpaper addressed to herself, telling her to beware the Weeping Angels. The message also constantly tells Sally to Duck now. She eventually ducks & narrowly misses a vase being launched at her from an unknown assailant. She tears away the rest of the wallpaper to see the end of the message: Don’t blink. Love from the Doctor, 1969

Following this, Sally travels to her friend's house, Kathy Nightingale, where she meets her brother, Larry, who’s watching a VHS recording of the Doctor talking seemingly nonsense to the camera. The following day, Sally & Kathy go back to the house to do some further investigation. There, Sally remarks that the statues appeared to have moved, as well as finding one of them holding a Yale key. Kathy begins to explore upstairs where, unbeknownst to Sally, she’s touched by an angel, zapping her back into the 1920s.

Sally then hears a knock at the door. She opens it up, where she meets a man who tells her that he was instructed to deliver a parcel to this exact house in this exact moment in time to a Sally Sparrow. He also reveals that he was instructed to do so by his Grandmother, Kathy Nightingale. Upon opening the parcel, she finds a series of old photos of Kathy living throughout the 1920s to 1990s, as well as a letter to Sally - saying that she’ll be dead by the time she reads this & to give her love to her brother, Larry.

Sally heads to Larry’s work, a video renting place, where he finds him still watching the video of the Doctor. Larry explains that the recording is an Easter Egg which appears at the end of 17 different films on VHS and no one, not even the manufacturers or the publishers, knows how it got there. This Easter Egg being the Doctor sitting in front of a camera & making random remarks; as if we’re only hearing half a conversation. Larry gives Sally a list of all 17 films, before leaving.

Following on from this, Sally goes to the police to see if there’s been any other strange cases involving the house. There, she meets a police officer named DI Billy Shipton, who both take a liking to each other. Billy then shows Sally a collection of cars which were abandoned outside of the house, as well as the crown jewel in the collection: an old police box - The TARDIS. He says that it’s presumably a fake & that it can’t be opened. Billy then charms Sally into giving him her mobile number before she leaves. However, after she leaves, Billy finds the Angels stone statues from the house surrounding the police box & filling the room. We then see Billy blink, before cutting to blackness. Then we cut to Billy in a dark alley at night, where he’s approached by 2 people: The Doctor & Abigail. They explain that he’s now in the year 1969 & that he was touched by a Weeping Angel
l: a creature that looks like a statue that, if it touches you, zaps you back to the past, with the Angels feeding off the energy of the days that never were - which is also how they ended up in 1969. The Doctor then tells Billy that he needs him to deliver a message to Sally, but that it’s going to take a long time to do so.

We then see Sally receiving a phone call from an unknown caller, who tells her to meet her in the nearby hospital. She goes to the hospital, where she finds Billy - much older & weaker. There Billy explains what happened to him & how he ended up marrying another woman named Sally. Billy also reveals that he was the one who put the Easter Egg on those 17 films, before telling Sally to ‘look at the list’ - referencing the list of 17 VHSes - & says that they all have something in common. We then see Sally staying with Billy in his final hours, as he reveals he is soon to die, before heading off back to the house, now realising what the tapes have in common.

Sally then phones Larry to meet her at the old house & to bring a VHS with the Easter Egg on it, a VCR & working TV, whilst also revealing that the list is of every VHS she owns. Larry eventually arrives & they turn on the Easter Egg. There, we discover that the Doctor in the Easter Egg has been talking to Sally all this time, since he’s from the future & has a manuscript of everything Sally will say & does say. Larry begins to write down what Sally is saying, which the Doctor reveals is what he’s reading off. He explains the Weeping Angels to the duo, explaining that they can only move when they aren’t being observed, as well as explaining that the phone box is his TARDIS & the angels have it.

When the video ends, the 2 of them are surrounded by a swarm of angels. We see the duo making their way to the basement, where they find the TARDIS. They quickly unlock the TARDIS & get inside just before the Angels can zap them. Inside, a hologram recording of the Doctor instructs the duo to pull a few levers & insert a VHS into the console. The duo do so & the TARDIS begins to dematerialise. However, to their horror, the TARDIS is leaving them behind. We see the walls fade away, as they’re replaced by the basement & the angels surrounding the duo. They huddle together, before realising that they’re safe. The Doctor tricked the angels into surrounding the TARDIS, which, when it vanished, caused the Angels to look at each other, meaning they’ll never move again.

The story then ends one year later, with Sally & Larry now running a bookshop as a couple. We see Sally making records of their encounter with the Angels, after realising that she never learnt how the Doctor knew all about Sally & the Angels. She then spies the Doctor from outside her shop. She rushes after him, only to discover that he doesn’t know who she is, causing her to realise that it’s still in the Doctor's future & that it was her who set the whole things into motion. She then hands him the folder containing all information of the Angels, as well as explaining what’s going to happen to him

THE MURDER GAMES

WRITTEN BY: Steve Lyons
DIRECTED BY: Brian Grant
PARTS: 2

The Murder Game would've been set onboard the Hotel Galaxian in the year 2136. The story sees the Doctor landing on the Hotel Galaxian around Earth's orbit, where he discovers that the entire station has been booked for a murder mystery weekend. The story initially sees the Doctor & Abigail pretending to be here for the games & going along with the murder mystery. However, the group soon discovers that real murder is being committed, forcing the Doctor & Abigail to investigate.

It turns out that a race of Shark-like aliens, known as the Selachians, are responsible. We discover that the Selachians are in search of a weapon  in the form of an artificial intelligence program that could turn all networked computer systems against the user's assigned target.

We then see the weapon being programmed to kill Abigail, who's captured by the Selachians & taken back to their ship. However, the Doctor is able to travel to the Selachian's ship & rescue Abigail in the TARDIS. The story then ends with the weapon backfiring on the Selachians as it blows up their ship, still believing Abigail to be on-board. The Doctor also reveals that with the weapon still programmed to track down Abigail, she'll never be able to return to the year 2136 & that the weapon would eventually delete itself as the means of controlling it had been lost.

QUEEN OF THE GALAXIES

WRITTEN BY: Colin Brake
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 2

Queen of the Galaxies would’ve been set primarily on the Galactic Planet. The story begins with the Doctor & Abigail in the TARDIS console, when they’re caught off guard by the sound of someone, or something, banging on the TARDIS doors. The Doctor turns on the scanner & sees a person in a spacesuit banging on the doors in a panic. Quickly, the Doctor hops to the other side of the console & opens the doors. He then dashes over to the doors & pulls in the spaceman.

He proceeds to carry him over to the nearby chairs, where he slowly removes his helmet. He throws his helmet to the side & looks in surprise at the man behind the mask seemingly recognising him. He tells Abigail that this is Harkinson;, the Prince of the Galaxies. He further explains that his family, known in this part of the universe as the Galactic family, are the royal family of England from the very far future.

The Doctor is able to awaken Harkinson, who asks the Doctor to bring him back to his Family Planet, the Galactic Planet, & notes that Abigail is the spitting image of his sister, Catheril, The Princess of the Galaxies, who is to soon be crowned Queen. The Doctor proceeds to pilot the TARDIS to the Galactic Planet, where he & Abigail meet the Galactic Family. They also get to meet this Catheril who, true to Harkinson’s word, looks identical to Abigail. The Family thanks the Doctor & Abigail for saving Harkinson &, to show their gratitude, they invite the Doctor & Abigail to dine with them.

We then see the Doctor & Abigail at a royal banquet, where they dine with the rest of the Galactic Family. We also see Abigail & Catheril getting on extremely well together. After dinner, Catheril offers to show Abigail around the palace, which she accepts. We see them exploring a grand hallway, where Catheril opens up to Abigail about how she doesn't want to be queen just yet & wants to explore the universe. But when she’s crowned Queen, she’ll be confined to the Galactic Planet until her death, as the Queen / King are sworn to protect their land. This gives Abigail & Catheril the idea to swap places, with Abigail posing as the princess & Catheril posing as the Doctor’s companion. The two then secretly swap clothes & reunite with the Doctor & the rest of the Galactic Family. At which point, the Doctor tells Catheril (who he believes to be Abigail) that they should be heading off now. The family & Abigail wave goodbye to the Doctor &Catheril, with Abigail & Catheril giving each other winks.

The story would then mainly focus on Abigail, as we see her attend the Coronation & ultimately crowned Queen of the Galaxies. We then see her at another royal banquet, where she, Harkinson & the Galactic family dine with a swarm of people. However, Abigail & Harkinson begin to notice that everyone around them is beginning to fall asleep. Abigail checks the new Princess & realises that everyone but them has been drugged. Suddenly, the palace is raided by Space Pirates, who fight off the few remaining, active guards & hold Abigail as hostage.

Abigail calls for Harkinson to help her, when Harkinson joins arms with the Space Captain - revealing himself to be the grand orchestrator behind this attack. The group then proceeds to kidnap Abigail & lock her away in the ancient dungeons. Abigail asks Harkinson what he’s doing, to which Harkinson says he’s seeking the glory he deserves. He reveals to Abigail that legally, he should’ve been the air to the throne. However, because his parents always favoured Catheril, they chose her to be the Queen. He reveals that he’s formed an elaborate plan which will trick the people of the Galactic Planet into believing the Queen has been assassinated, which will allow him to become King.

We then cut back to the Doctor & Catheril in the TARDIS. Catheril, still posing as Abigail, tunes the TARDIS scanner into the news outlet on the Galactic Planet, which reveals that the queen is dead & Harkinson has been crowned in her place. Catheril begins to tear & well up, before revealing her true identity to the Doctor & how she switched places with Abigail. The Doctor is beyond furious with Catheril & says that thanks to her, his best friend is now dead. However, the two begin to wonder whether Abigail is really dead when Harkinson tells the news that he was “seemingly spared by the assassin”. Catheril says that she’s always known about Harkinson’s desires to be King & how cunning & ruthless he can be to get his way & believes that Abigail must be being kept alive somewhere as “insurance”.

The story then sees the Doctor & Catheril returning to the Galactic Planet in search of Abigail. However, they’re quickly found & captured by the space pirates, who bring them back to their spaceship. They’re taken to meet the Captain, who says that they’ve been promised “riches beyond their imaginations” by the new King & that the two of them will be sold off into slavery. However, Catheril is able to convince the pirates to work with them when she convinces them that Harkinson will betray them the second he has the chance to. The pirates then agree to help find Abigail after Catheril reveals herself to the pirates & explains that she’ll pardon them off their crimes if she’s reinstated as Queen.

The pirates lead the Doctor & Catheril to the ancient dungeons, where they find & rescue Abigail. They then return to the TARDIS where, after Abigail is washed up & fitted with new clothes, proceed to raid (yet another) Royal Banquet, hosted by Harkinson, where they reveal that Catheril is still alive & expose Harkinson’s crimes & association with known criminals in order to make himself King. Catheril states that she is Queen & orders her men to arrest Harkinson. However, before he can be restrained, Harkinson revals a dagger from under his robes & charges towards Abigail. Then suddenly, Catheril pushes Abigail out of harm's way, which results in the dagger going through her. Harkinson pauses, realising that it was Catheril who took the blow, before he’s executed by a Royal Guard with a laser rifle. A crowd gathers around Catheril’s body on the ground, with no one, not even the Doctor, sure as to who died: Abigail or Catheril?

The Doctor looks at Abigail & asks “Abigail?”. Abigail nods & quietly responds with “...Abigail”. The Doctor sighs with relief, before hugging Abigail. The Royal Guard Captain then asks Abigail which one she is. Abigail pauses for a moment, unsure what answer to give. She turns & looks back at the Doctor, before turning back to face the guard. She clears her throat & replies with “I am Catheril. I’m afraid it was Mrs Norwood who was ultimately killed by my brother”.

The story then ends with the Doctor asking Abigail what she’s doing, still claiming to be Catheril. Abigail says that she couldn’t bare to tell the people that their beloved princess, now Queen, was dead. The Doctor then asks what they’re going to do now. Abigail sighs before telling the Doctor “...i think it’s time”. She says that the people of this world don’t have a suitable leader & will probably collapse without one. So, in order to keep this world stable, she must leave the Doctor in order to assume the identity of Catheril.

The two of them hug & say their goodbyes, with the Doctor telling Abigail that she’ll make an excellent Queen & that he promises to visit in the future. The two then proceed to walk their separate ways - with Abigail walking right, back into the palace, and the Doctor walking left, back to the TARDIS. We follow the Doctor, as he enters the TARDIS & walks over to the console. He turns on the scanner & watches as Abigail wipes a tear from her eye, before proceeding to walk into the palace & closing the door behind her. The Doctor rubs his eyes before turning off the scanner & proceeding to dematerialise the TARDIS.

DOCTOR IN THE BUG (Children in Need Special)

WRITTEN BY: Doug Naylor
DIRECTED BY: Brian Farnham

On the 13th of November, 1998, the BBC aired a 10 minute crossover event between Doctor Who & the BBC Two sci-fi Comedy series, Red Dwarf. As well as being a mini crossover event between the BBC's biggest sci-fi shows, the special was seen, in a mostly unofficial capacity, as the landmark for Doctor Who's 35th Anniversary.

The special would be set onboard Starbug - the main shuttle craft that was used by the Red Dwarf cast in Seasons 6 & 7. Hugh Bonneville & Beverley Cressman would star as the Doctor & Abigail Norwood, with the Red Dwarf cast consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules & Robert Llewellyn. It was originally planned for Chloë Annett to star in the special. However, due to Annett's involvement in both Doctor Who & Red Dwarf, and not wishing to make things confusing, it was decided to have the special be set during Series 6 / early Series 7 in the Red Dwarf timeline, when Chris Barrie was still a regular.

The story would see the TARDIS arriving on Starbug, where the Doctor & Abigail meet the Red Dwarf crew - Rimmer, Lister, Cat & Kryten. However, the two groups are forced to work together when they discover a Polymorph (a Red Dwarf creature that can shape-shift & steal a person's negative emotions) has snuck on-board Starbug. We then see the cast searching through the corridors of Starbug in search for the Polymorph, as it starts to pick off the cast one by one, including turning the Doctor into a bumbling geek. The Polymorph is then defeated by Abigail, who uses a bazookoid (a laser gun from Red Dwarf) to blow up the Polymorph & return the rest of the cast back to normal. The Doctor says his farewell to the Red Dwarf cast before returning to the TARDIS & dematerialising.

CONCLUSION

Season 35 would’ve been a strong year for the show, featuring 3 stories that would be regarded as all-time classics. However, even though it wasn’t a part of the season, its legacy would be tainted by Doctor in the Bug, which would go on to be regarded as one of the all time lowest & most embarrassing points in Doctor Who’s history.

As 1998 came to a close, Grant & Russell set to work on their next season together. By this point however, both producers & script editors were considering leaving at the end of the year. & with Bonneville informing the pair that he planned to step down from the role at the end of the season, their mind was made up; if they were going to leave, they were going to go out with a bang!

SEASON 36 - 1999

It was well known from the beginning that Season 36 would be the final season for Hugh Bonneville. After playing the role for 4 years, he felt the time was right to move on to other projects. However, the news that both Grant & Russell would also be leaving was more surprising to fans.

Knowing that this was to be their last roll of the dice, Grant & Russell wanted to make this season an event. Russell devised an ongoing arc for the season involving the Doctor’s next companion & the Web of Time. His idea was that the next companion was saved by the Doctor on the day she was meant to die. Because of his careless actions, the Web of Time begins to crack & will continue to do so until history is corrected.

For the new companion, Russell devised the character of Jean Robinson, a young woman from the early 50s, with Helen Baxendale being cast in the role. Knowing that he would be writing the finale, Russell asked writer Alan Barnes to pen episode 1, which would introduce Jean & set the arc into motion.

With both Producer & Script Editor leaving, the BBC set about finding their replacements. However, with the slate being wiped clean, the BBC decided to modernise the showrunner approach by instead appointing a head writer, who’d act as the showrunner. After some consideration, the job landed on writer Russell T Davies, who’d make his debut the following year.

Following this appointment, Gary Russell & Davies met for a brief discussion, where it was agreed that Jean Robinson would continue into the next era.

THE SMOG

WRITTEN BY: Alan Barnes
DIRECTED BY: Richard Stroud
PARTS: 2

The Smog would've been set in London in the year 1952. The story would be focused around Jean Robinson, a young adult trying to survive everyday life. We see her dealing with her smug parents, as well as her dealing with her job as a secretary to a creepy, young man.

We then see her walking home, alone, on a cold, winter night, when the sky begins to fill with thick, green smog. Jean begins to cough & splutter, as the toxic gas fills her lungs. As she begins to fall to the ground, she sees a stranger in a Victorian get-up run towards her & put an oxygen mask over her head - the Doctor, before proceeding to pass up. We then cut to a POV shot from Jean's perspective, as she wakes up in what looks to be some alien scientists lab - the TARDIS.

With Jean awake, the Doctor goes over to her & asks if she's alright. Jean says she's fine & that she's used to pollution, being from London & all. However, the Doctor says that this smog isn't right - it's way beyond human creation. It's alien. Initially, Jean thinks the Doctor is joking, but the Doctor is dead serious. She then leaves the TARDIS, as she steps into the London streets, still filled with deadly, green smog, where she discovers the TARDIS' "bigger-on-the-inside" ability, which leaves her bewildered, but now believing the Doctor about his claims about aliens.

The story then sees the Doctor working alongside Jean to try & track down the source of the smog, with the Doctor explaining that the Great London Smog of 1952 is a well documented piece of history - further bewildering Jean, who hadn't considered the idea of time travel before.

It turns out that the smog was created by a race known as the Vatrons, who plan to turn the Earth into a new home world by polluting the Earth with a breeding gas known as Lead-Z. However, the Doctor is able to foil the Vatrons' plans by releasing nanogenes into the atmosphere, which begins to clear away the Lead-Z. The Doctor then forces the Vatrons to leave the Earth by revealing himself to be a Time Lord & threatening to get the High Council involved.

The story then ends with the Doctor & Jean reuniting outside the TARDIS, where the Doctor thanks Jean for her help. He says that it'll take a few days, but the air should be breathable soon. Jean then asks the Doctor that, since she doesn't want to risk dying again, if it's alright if she comes along with him for a while? The Doctor smiles & states that he'd be delighted to have her onboard. We see Jean entering the TARDIS, with the Doctor about to close the door behind them. But then he pauses... moves his hand through the air.... and breathes in through his nose. Something's not right. Something's changed... & yet, he doesn't know what. Unsure, and almost filled with unease, the Doctor slowly shuts the TARDIS door behind him.

THE END OF THE WORLD

WRITTEN BY: Russell T Davies
DIRECTED BY: Brian Grant
PARTS: 1

The End of the World would’ve been set on a space station named Platform One in the year 5,000,000,000. The story sees the Doctor taking Jean to the very far future to witness the destruction of Earth from the safety of Platform One. There, they find themselves amongst a swarm of several alien life forms, who have also come to witness Earth’s destruction. We’re introduced to several aliens with a connection to life on Earth, such as the representatives of the Forest of Cheem - life forms who evolved from wood. They also meet the last living human named Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17, a paper-thin flap of skin in a frame which constantly needs moisturising, with nothing more than two eyes, a pair of lips & a brain in a jar of liquid.

The story would initially see the Doctor & Jean mingling with the other guests of Platform One, as well as getting to know each other better. However, the Doctor soon begins to uncover a plot to kill the guests on Platform One, as he & Jabe discover that a swarm of robotic spiders have infiltrated the ship & killed the Stewart. They eventually discover that Cassandra is the saboteur. We learn that she plans to sabotage the station's shields & kill the guests onboard when the sun expands & roasts the Earth. She, meanwhile, plans to teleport away to safety & also reveals that she has shares in all of the aliens’ rival companies & that she’ll receive insurance money as soon as they’re reported dead.

The story then sees the Doctor working with Jabe, as Jean has been locked in a viewing room, working against the clock to reboot the system & raise the shields. Eventually, the Doctor is able to reach the reset switch, with Jabe burning & perishing in his efforts, and successfully re-raise the shields. He then teleports Cassandra back to Platform One, where he allows Cassandra’s to dry & burn out until she bursts. The story then ends with the Doctor taking Jean to the year 1953 in an attempt to comfort her after the shock & trauma she experienced, where the two solidify their friendship.

THE STONES OF VENICE

WRITTEN BY: Paul Magrs
DIRECTED BY: Barnaby Edwards
PARTS: 2

The Stones of Venice would’ve been set in Venice in the year 2294. The story sees the Doctor & Abigail deciding to visit Venice in the far future as a break away from danger. They arrive in the year 2294, where they discover that the people of Venice believe that the city is expected to finally sink into the sea. We learn that some of the population see it as a natural disaster, while others believe it to be the result of a curse. Learning more about this curse myth, we learn from the people of Venice that it was supposedly made 100 years ago by a woman named Estella, the wife of an aristocrat named Orsino. Estella drowned, however, before she died, she cursed Orsino with immortality & cursed the city of Venice to sink.

The story then sees Jean getting kidnapped by a group of Gondoliers, who are mutant people who have adapted to live in the water. She’s then forced to pretend to be a resurrected Estella & trick Orsino into believing she is Estella, so that his people could have Venice returned to him. However, it’s eventually revealed that Estella was in fact an alien from another world. It’s also revealed that she didn't drown 100 years ago, but instead disappeared & continued to live under the name of Ms Lavish.

Eventually, she reveals herself to Orsino & we learn that the curse was a side effect of the technology of her people. The story then ends with Estella & Orsino sacrificing themselves, which reverses the curse  & saves Venice.

MINUET IN HELL

WRITTEN BY: Alan W. Lear & Gary Russell
DIRECTED BY: Andrew Grieve
PARTS: 2

Minuet in Hell would've been set in the fictional US state named Malebolgia in the year 2003. The story sees the Doctor & Jean separated from each other, with both of them dealing with memory loss. The Doctor finds himself in a psychiatric institute, where he can't remember who he is & believes himself to be hell. Jean, meanwhile, now finds herself being forced to work at the Hellfire Club, while also dealing with memory & identity loss. Meanwhile, we also see Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart serving as an undercover operative for the United Nations, while officially using his experience in devolution to advise the newly formed state of Malebolgia. However, he's secretly investigating the use of a medical device that's used to alter human minds.

The story then sees Jean, who slowly starts to regain her memories, escaping the Hellfire Club, with a woman named Becky Lee, to try & find the Doctor as well as work out what exactly happened to her. The Doctor, meanwhile, meets another patient named Gideon Crane, who believes himself to be the Doctor. However, the real Doctor eventually determines that he is the real Doctor. He also discovers that Gideon isn't a future Doctor, but a journalist from the UK, whose mind was fused with the Doctor's by a machine designed to extract mental imprints, making him believe he's the Doctor.

The story eventually sees the Doctor reuniting with Jean, as well as meeting with Lethbridge-Stewart, to stop the main villains of the story. The main villain would've been a religious evangelist and politician named Brigham Elisha Dashwood III, who's working with a demon-like creature, known as Marchosias, to empty the human race of their minds, providing ready-made vessels for the Psionovores — a race of energy creatures that feeds on negative emotions and thoughts. However, the Psionovores are defeated when their machine is destroyed & the Doctor returns Marchosias to space.

THE REAPING

WRITTEN BY: Steve Lyons
DIRECTED BY: Brian Grant
PARTS: 1

The Reaping would've been set on an Earth-like planet named Walock. The story sees the Doctor & Jean arriving on Walock in the year 8651. The Doctor explains to Jean that, although they're very far into the future, technologically, the 8650s to the people of Walock is the equivalent of the 1930s to Earth. However, upon arriving on the planet, the Doctor sees that the planet's technology is way too advanced for this time period (comparing it to Earth technology from the 2020s).

We then see the Doctor & Jean trying to find out how & why the technology has progressed so quickly on Walock. They quickly learn that all of this new technology was created by the greatest scientist on the planet, simply known as Professor Harrison, played by Derek Jacobi. We learn that until about 5 years ago, Harrison was just another scientist - always trying to invent something brilliant, but always failing. & then one day, out of the blue, he began developing technology which was way more advanced than anything the people of Walock had ever seen before, which quickly turned Harrison into a billionaire.

The story then sees the Doctor & Jean meeting with Harrison, as well as investigating his research, in order to learn how Harrison was suddenly capable of creating all of this technology. &, to the Doctor's horror, he soon discovers that Harrison is actually a new incarnation of the Master.

We learn that roughly 5 years ago, the Master's TARDIS crash landed on Walock after being drained of its power. Through some experiments, the Master theorised that he could harvest & use the power of Walock's core to jumpstart his TARDIS which, in turn, would destroy all life on Walock. However, he quickly realised that it would be impossible due to how primitive the planet's technology was. Therefore, he stole the body of Professor Harrison & began developing new technology which could easily penetrate the planet's crust & harvest the core's power.

The story then sees the Doctor & Jean trying to stop the Master from fully harvesting Walock's energy. Eventually, they succeed in their plans when the Doctor sabotages the drills controls & setting it to self destruct. The story then ends with the Doctor & Jean escaping the Master’s warehouse, while the Master, with just enough power to dematerialise, escapes in his TARDIS.

THE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT

WRITTEN BY: Robert Shearman
DIRECTED BY: Sandy Johnson
PARTS: 2

The Chimes of Midnight would’ve been set in an Edwardian house in 1928 & on Christmas Eve. The story sees the Doctor & Jean arriving in the house, where they initially find the house to be empty & in darkness. However, as they investigate, they soon notice that they can’t seem to interact with the house. Pulling a christmas cracker results in time rewinding to a point before it was pulled & nothing can be written in the dust on a table. They do discover they can make some impact on the world by burning stuff in the fireplace, which causes the flames to move. Suddenly, the clock turns to 10 O’Clock & the chimes strike. The world shifts around them & they find they’ve been transported to exactly where they were, but different, as the house is now well-lit & packed with servants.

The two of them immediately find themselves wrapped in a murder mystery plot, with the staff seemingly believing the duo to be detectives from Scotland Yard, and the Doctor & Jean are forced to play detective. All they have to work with is Jean’s weird connection to the first victim, the Scullery Maid named Edith Thompson, who seems to communicate to Jean from beyond the dead, telling her that there will be another murder soon, that the people of the house (as well as Jean) will soon forget her & that “Edward Grove is alive”.

Edith’s warning soon comes true, as the cook, Mrs Baddeley, is soon discovered to be dead. This leads the Doctor & Jean to discover that both Edith & Mrs Baddeley were killed on the hour, leading them to theorise that another murder will be committed at midnight. However, when the Doctor attempts to summon the house as the clock approaches Midnight, the staff refuse to play the Doctor's game & leave. The Doctor then attempts to remind them of Edith’s death, only for the staff to say they’ve never heard of Edith before - another prediction that came true. The Doctor attempts to call everyone back as the clock handles the race toward Midnight. The chimes strike & then, unexpectedly, time reverts back to 10PM, just after Edith died.

With a new 2 hours to work with, as well as the knowledge that something unearthly is involved with these murders, the Doctor continues to hunt down the killer, leading him to discover that the killer is actually the house itself: Edward Grove, which has somehow become sentient. Realising the danger he & Jean risk of becoming caught in the time loop, the Doctor attempts to flee in the TARDIS. However, Edward Grove takes control over the TARDIS & traps him & Jean in the loop. Wishing to learn answers about Edward Grove, the Doctor makes communication with the house through a Servant, who Edward Grove can easily possess. Jean, meanwhile, vanishes into thin air, and we see her talking to a spectre of Edith Thompson, who reveals herself to be Jean’s family maid back in 1952.

We learn that in 1952, Edith was working as a cook for the Robinson family. She was never thought of much by Jean’s parents & that she believed herself to be nothing, after being told so by several other servants over the years. Jean, however, was different. She was the only person who was ever nice to her. We also discover that the origin of the paradox, which created Edward Grove, originated from Edith herself. We learn that Edith was meant to commit suicide in 1952 after learning about Jean’s death in the Smog; but now Jean is alive & Edith now lacks any reason to do so, having met Jean in 1928. He and a servant strangle him to reach the place where the dead went before the loop reset, enabling him to talk to Edith and Jean.

Realising the danger Jean is in, the Doctor is able to help the servant break free of Edward Groves control & orders the servant to strangle him (the Doctor) to death in order to reach Jean in the place of the dead. Once there, he & Jean are able to convince Edith of her self-worth, which undoes the paradox that created Edward Grove, as she now never committed suicide.

The story then ends on a sombre note in the TARDIS, where the Doctor reveals the full truth to Jean: she is not meant to be alive. According to history, 12,000 people died in the Great Smog, and Jean was one of those people. But because the Doctor interfered, she’s now alive when she should be dead. & now her mere existence - a person who cheated death - is slowly tearing the universe apart. Jean says that she can remember dying in the smog, and yet she can remember everything she’s done. She then asks the Doctor what can be done. He looks at Jean, with a hint of dread in his eye, & says that he really doesn’t know…

CRACKED TIME

WRITTEN BY: Gary Russell
DIRECTED BY: John Henderson
PARTS: 2

Cracked Time would’ve been primarily set in an Unbound Dimension. The story begins where Chimes ended, with the TARDIS in flight & the Doctor & Jean discussing the consequences of Jean’s continual existence. Suddenly, the TARDIS grinds to a stop & the console powers down. The room begins to shudder, & we see the TARDIS being caught in a beam of light. It flies down the beam tunnel & pulls it down to the surface of Gallifrey.

The TARDIS scanner turns on & the Doctor sees he’s back on Gallifrey. He sighs & tells Jean to stay close to him, as they exit the TARDIS. They’re greeted by Romana, who takes them to her office, where she explains the situation to them. She says that because Jean has not died, the Web of Time has begun to crack & continues to splinter off into bigger cracks the longer she stays alive. She then turns on a projector which displays everywhere the Doctor & Jean have been: 1950s London, Platform One, Venice, Malebolgia, Walock & Edward Grove. However, everywhere appears glitchy, corrupted & broken, as time continues to destroy itself. Romana says that the universe will go on & on destroying itself until there’s nothing left. She’s sorry, but Jean has to die.

After a brief silence, the Doctor asks if there’s no other alternative. Romana says there’s not… Well, there’s no SAFE way of saving her. She goes on to explain that long ago, in the early days of Gallifrey, Rassilon & one of the other founding fathers, the Other, created a machine that could cancel out an individual's existence named CORDIS. The machine was used to pause a person's life, but they still live. Their lifespan is essentially paused, but you could still move, live, eat, sleep & even die like a normal person. However, realising the dangerous potential the machine possesses, he exiled it to an Unbound dimension - a dimension which exists outside of time & space. Romana explains that she can send the Doctor & Jean into the dimension, but only them, as there’s only enough time to send 1 TARDIS through. The Doctor agrees &, after some modifications are made to his TARDIS, a gateway is opened up outside the citadel. The Doctor & Jean enter the TARDIS, before it’s grabbed by a robotic claw & flung through the gateway & into the Unbound dimension.

Inside the dimension, the TARDIS lands on a small dead red world, where they find CORDIS. They power the machine on, but find the main drive to be damaged, with 3 of the main components missing. However, using CORDIS, they’re able to track the missing pieces to 3 separate planets. The Doctor & Jean then return to the TARDIS, where they travel to the first planet. However, while in flight, the Doctor begins to hear a whisper in his head, which laughs at him & says that he should never have entered this universe…

They arrive on the first planet - a modern-esque looking city planet named Koppar. They track down the CODIS piece to a museum & begin to formulate a plan to steal it. However, before they can put any plan into motion, Jean is arrested on the suspicion of murdering the Emperor of Koppar. The story then deviates into a part court-room / part murder investigation story, with the Doctor trying to prove Jean’s innocence & find the true killer. Eventually, the Doctor uncovers the real killer - a Cyberpunk-esque chick named Chiie, who looks almost identical to Jean except for the lightning blue hair. With Jean cleared, and the Doctor realising that they’re taking too long, the Doctor heads back to the museum, where he smashes open the glass box containing the CORDIS piece, before sprinting back to the TARDIS & escaping. The Doctor then sets the coordinates for the second planet - a planet named Dealte. However, the Doctor becomes more concerned about the voice in his head, as it causes him great pain, which feels as though his head is slowly being crushed.

They eventually arrive on Dealte & find themselves in a relatively small town which is half alien-esque & half western. However, as the Doctor & Jean begin searching for the CORDIS piece, they realise that something is wrong with the townsfolk. They soon discover that an all powerful entity, similar to the voice in the Doctor's head, has killed & possessed everyone on the planet, waiting for the day someone would arrive with a way off this world. When the entity discovers the Doctor & Jean, it plans to kill them both & use the TARDIS to escape & conquer other worlds. Eventually however, the Doctor is able to reclaim the missing piece, which is disguised as a shield on a concrete statue in the middle of the town. However, when the piece is removed, a beam of orange light shines from the eyes of the statue & beams down directly onto everyone on the planet except for the Doctor & Jean. The people cry out in pain before their bodies collapse dead to the ground. Not knowing what else there is to do, and upset by the loss of life, the Doctor & Jean awkwardly & quietly make their way back to the TARDIS.

Once again, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to travel to the third & final planet - a seemingly barren world with no name. Yet again, the voice grows & causes torment in the doctor's mind. The voice also begins to take over the Doctor’s body, as the Doctor begins twitching rapidly & struggles to gain control over his own voice. The Doctor, with terror on his face, asks the voice what it is & what it wants. The Voice says that it’s nothing & nobody, just a voice without a body. But now he’s found a body: the Doctor. It reveals that their consciousnesses are now intertwined & its consciousness is slowly evaporating the Doctors. & once the Doctor’s consciousness is gone, all that will be left is the Voice, who’ll escape into the universe & destroy it. & there’s nothing the Doctor can do, saying that the only way to get rid of him is if he dies.

The TARDIS then lands on the last planet. Leaving the TARDIS, the Doctor & Jean see nothing but a barren, dead landscape & an old, grand mansion. Suspecting the piece is in there, they enter the mansion in search of the last piece. However, as they begin to explore, they find themselves separated from each other. We soon see the two of them beginning to hallucinate their greatest fears. We see Jean, & even the Doctor, becoming petrified for their life as they’re confronted with some of their greatest fears. We see Jean’s fears: a possessed Edith Thompson, the Vatrons & death itself. However, we never clearly see the Doctor’s fear. All we see is the silhouette of a man. Eventually, Jean finds the last CORDIS piece, which was disguised as a lump of coal. Once Jean picks up the piece, she & the Doctor are teleported back to the mansion entrance. The two quickly hug, before they’re reminded of the current situation when a blood-curdling scream echoes through the mansion. The two quickly make their exit & & escape in the TARDIS.

With the three pieces acquired, the Doctor pilots the TARDIS back to the planet housing CORDIS. He then proceeds to fix CORDIS & reattach the missing pieces. However, as he gets closer to finishing the machine, the voice in the Doctor begins to fully possess the Doctor, and the two of them are thrown into a struggle over control. The voice then briefly fully takes over & begins to try & attack Jean, which knocks her out cold. However, before the Voice can cause any more harm, the Doctor’s consciousness kicks back in & holds back the voice for the time being. He checks Jean & makes sure that she’s still alive. He picks her up in his arms & carries her over to CORDIS.

He places her down on the machine & prepares to activate it. However he discovers that CORDIS is out of energy & the Doctor realises that the only energy he can produce is him. He proceeds to wire himself into CORDIS, as he plans to burn his body as energy. The voice tries to take over the Doctor & stop him, but the Doctor’s will power is too strong. He takes hold of a lever & looks over at Jean, who begins to reawaken. She cries out for him to stop, but to no avail. The Doctor proceeds to force down the lever & CORDIS begins to activate. We see a glow of energy encasing Jean, while she watches the Doctor’s body sparking with electricity. The Doctor screams in pain, as his body continues to power CORDIS. We then hear the Voice screaming in pain, before it leaves the Doctor's body in the form of red smoke from the Doctor’s mouth.

Eventually, CORDIS finishes & Jean is released. Her life is now paused forever & the universe is safe. She dashes over to the Doctor’s burnt body & sobs over his remains. To her surprise, he slowly begins to reawaken his eyes. Jean attempts to comfort the Doctor, saying that there must be some way of saving him. The Doctor says that he’s afraid he’s not, but it’s not the end. He explains the bare basics of regeneration to her. Jean says she doesn’t understand, to which the Doctor tells her to watch. Suddenly, a glow of blue energy begins to emit from the Doctor’s hand. Jean sobs & tells the Doctor not to go. The Doctor says he’s sorry, but it’s too late for him. Then suddenly, the same blue energy engulfs from the Doctor's face & hands, as the regeneration begins. We see the scars melt off the Doctor & his physical appearance is reshaped & regenerated. The story then ends with the regeneration energy dissolving away, leaving the form of the new Doctor: Aidan Gillen.

CONCLUSION

Season 36 would’ve been regarded as a pretty good end to the Ninth Doctor’s era. The individual stories were mostly good, however some felt the Web of Time arc could’ve been explored better. Jean was a well received companion & many were delighted with the news that she would appear in the new era. Overall, many felt Bonneville went out on a good note.

With Season 36 coming to a close, so did another era of the show. It was the end of a Doctor, a Producer & a Script Editor. It also marked the end of yet another decade of Who; one which ultimately saved the show.

And so, as the dawn of the 21st century approached, fans waited patiently & eagerly for the arrival of a new Doctor & a new showrunner. But, as to be expected, there was one question looming over the show's production: Could Doctor Who survive & thrive in the 21st century?

TO BE CONTINUED