Doctor Who
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
AN ANALYSIS OF SEASON 23
Part One
"Bittersweet memories... after the infamous 'hiatus' we were all delighted the programme was back, albeit on trial - in every sense of those words as it turned out'. - Colin Baker.
On February 27th 1985, during transmission of 'The Two Doctors', the BBC announced that Doctor Who was to be rested. This was in fact a victory; a few days earlier, Jonathan Powell (the BBC's Head of Drama) had informed producer John Nathan Turner that the programme was to be cancelled outright. There had been ill feelings brewing about the series amid concerns of onscreen violence and falling ratings, while the recent format change to 45 minute episodes was deemed to be unsuccessful.
Powell and BBC1 controller Michael Grade had therefore decided to cancel Doctor Who, channeling the money and resources into new drama series. Nathan Turner elected to leak this news to the press to provoke a public outcry; his plan worked and the tabloids broke the story that Doctor Who was 'axed in BBC plot.' An urgent meeting was held between Powell, Grade, and the BBC's Managing Director Bill Cotton, where it was decided to backtrack on their decision and allay the growing hostility. A statement was quickly issued assuring their viewers that the programme was "to be rested, but will be back next year".
Plans were already underway for Season 23, which would again comprise thirteen forty five minute episodes. The first story "The Nightmare Fair' was already in pre-production, with scripts by former producer Graham Williams, a search for a director well underway and Michael Gough ready to return to his role of the Toymaker. This and other perspective stories from Robert Holmes, Phillip Martin, Wally K Daly, Christopher H Bidmead and Michael Feeney Callan were abandoned when it was decreased that Doctor Who would return with just fourteen twenty-five minute episodes, a reduction of almost half the previous season's content.
John Nathan-Turner and his script editor Eric Saward quickly set about assembling a brand new set of adventures, with Saward pitching his idea of an umbrella theme; if the series was on trial by the BBC, perhaps they could mirror this in the fictional world? The series is on trial, so let's put the Doctor on trial. Turner approved the idea: the Doctor would be put on trial by the Time Lords, using a story structure that would borrow from Dickens' A Christmas Carol plucking an adventure from the Doctor's past, present, and future, before a final denouement.
Grade and Powell approved the core proposal with the caveat that the series should pull back on the violence and inject more humour. There were also concerns about the abrasive character of the Sixth Doctor established in earlier adventures - this apprehension would influence the softening of the character over the coming year.
Nathan-Turner and Saward this began planning in earnest for their 'new' Season 23. But with numerous script problems, resignations, the death of one of the shows most beloved writers and an unfairly abrupt end to the Sixth Doctor's tenure, this was to be the rockiest period in the programmes's history.
THE TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: PARTS 1-4 THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET
With the agreed trial narrative in place script editor Eric Saward got to work on character outlines for the three season regulars: The Inquisitor, the Valeyard, and new companion Mel. Despite the offer of a full second season, Nicola Bryant had made the decision to move on from the series to explore new work opportunities it was agreed that her character Peri would leave mid-season and the new companion would take her place.
Eric Saward discussed the new format with potential writers including ex-script editor Robert Holmes with whom he had become friends; it was decided at this meeting to divide the season into five chunks within the umbrella theme. A four part story set in the past by Robert Holmes, a four parter by Phillip Martin set in the present, two futuristic episodes written by new writer David Halliwell followed by another two episodes written by another new writer Jack Trevor, and two-part conclusion by Holmes.
Holmes's fist four episodes were commissioned under the title "Wasteland", with scripts delivered as "The Robots Of Ravalox" then "The Mysterious Planet". Saward worked closely with Holmes to inject more humour as the scripts progressed, acutely aware of the demands laid down by his BBC bosses.
During development, the BBC formally confirmed the tabloid rumours that the next season of Doctor Who would have significantly reduced screen time. Press speculation about the shows's future kicked off again; The Times ran a story on Tuesday 14th January headlined 'BBC keeps option of killing Dr Who' which claimed that the ending of the season hadn't yet been written to enable the show to be axed if need be.
As well as having to cope with the air of uncertainty hanging over the programme, Nathan Turner and Saward also bore the brunt of hurtful public attacks from the upper echelons of the BBC. Interviewed on Radio 2, BBC 1 Controller Michael Grade stated that "the people who make Doctor Who have got rather complacent, the show got rather violent and lost a lot of its imagination", Under increasing pressure John Nathan Turner and Eric Saward's working relationship was also deteriorating.
While Holmes was writing The Mysterious Planet, Phillip Martin was working on his four part segment; the resulting eight scripts given to Head of Drama Jonathan Powell for his feedback. When none was forthcoming, the production team assumed Powell was happy and Robert Holmes was sent away to begin work on the final two episodes of the season. However, Powell then missed a memo accepting Martin's scripts but decreeing Robert Holmes as problematic and made heavy criticisms of the original script.
Outlining his concerns, Powell beloved that the scripts 'lightweight and trivial tone' played against the high stakes of the season and was irritated by unanswered questions and logic problems. He also felt that the Doctor's role in the story needed to be strengthened, This memo was devastating for Saward, Holmes, and Nathan Turner, who had all channeled much time and energy into their new scripts; Powell's comments also seemed at odds with his request to include more humour. Saward later admitted "from that moment on, we sort of lost our way, at least I did. We were on a hiding to nothing - whatever we did was going to be wrong, and that was rather sad". While Saward was furious on Holmes' behalf, Holmes became anxious about his workload as well as substantially reworking the first four scripts he was now also trying to write the season conclusion. Holmes' health was also suffering and would become a much more serious concern in the coming weeks.
Considering his workload, Holmes agreed that Saward should complete the revisions on The Mysterious Planet while he focused on the two part conclusion. Although changes were eventually made to Powell's satisfaction, Saward was unhappy, believing that the new drafts were inferior to Holmes' originals.
Meanwhile Nicholas Mallett was chosen to direct the opening four parter; he had been working on the satirical ITV comedy series Spitting Image when approached by John Nathan Turner. "I was a bit nervous really, but John had a great way of playing down the situation. He would never make you feel roar there was a lot on your shoulders. He was very much a producer who involved himself completely with what you were doing. He had very strong ideas of casting."
The key role of the Inquisitor was offered to Lynda Bellingham by John Nathan Turner direct, after the producer met her at a mutual friend's birthday party. Nathan-Turner also handled the casting of Michael Jayston as the Valeyard and Tony Selby as Sabalom Glitz. Nicholas Mallett had considered the comedy duo French and Saunders for the roles of Glitz and Dibber but they were unavailable due to working on their BBC series. Mallett did however cast Carry On legend Joan Sims as Katryca.
Looking to refresh the feel of the series John Nathan Turner wanted to changed the title sequence and the theme music, but with time and money running out he elected to keep the Sixth Doctor titles established for The Twin Dilemma. However, he did decided to commission the incidental music for this new season from freelancers rather than the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. After listening to test pieces submitted by Dominic Glynn, Nathan Turner engaged him to provide the music for the first four episodes and at short notice his take on a new signature tune.
For his return to the series, Colin Baker requested a complete redesign of his controversial costume; Nathan Turner vetoed this, instead opting for a new coat based on the same design as the original, with a new waistcoat and cat badges that continued to change for every story. While Baker was delighted to be back in his favourite role, he had reservations about the onscreen trial story; "Life reflecting art or is art reflecting life? - isn't necessarily a good idea, and the whole thing was far too complicated. All I could do was worth with the scripts I was given, but I was confident enough in the quality of what we were doing. Unless you manage an umbrella theme brilliantly, you're setting yourself up for a fall, because it meant that people who missed the first two or three episodes didn't know what the hell was going on."
During production, Nathan Turner also elected to use The Trial Of A Timelord as the on screen title for all fourteen episodes to give the season a sense of the epic, although The Mysterious Planet working title is often used to refer to the first four parts of this story.
THE TRIAL OF A TIMELORD: PARTS 5-8 MINDWARP
Philip Martin had proved to be a successful addition to the stable of Doctor Who writers, providing Vengeance on Faros for Season 22 and creating one of the series most memorable villains in Sil. Both John Nathan Turner and Eric Saward were keen for him to return for Season 23, and work began on a two-part story idea called "The Planet of Storms" which later became "Mission to Magnus" as with Season 22, episodes would be 45 minutes in duration. At the production team's request, the resulting scripts featured the Doctor's old enemies the Ice Warriors who were intent on changing the climate of the female dominated planet Magnus and colonising it. An exiled Sil was also to be found on Magnus, as was a character called Andor who bullied the Doctor while they were at school together. Ron Jones was earmarked to direct the story having directed Varos the previous season, and the production slot was being discussed when the decision was made to cancel the series.
When the programme was rescued from cancellation, Nathan-Turner and Saward were forced to reconsider the composition of the next series. It was felt that Martin's scripts were unsuitable however, they were still keen to use the author and invited him to a writers' meeting to discuss a new four part story. Both Nathan Turner and Saward were keen that this story should still include Sil, who they felt had been a very successful addition to Doctor Who's canon. With Nicola Bryant (Peri) leaving the programme mid season, it was also decided to write her character out at the conclusion of Martin's story; Bryant had earlier requested a strong, memorable exit for Peri so Nathan Turner and Saward made the bold decision to kill the character off.
Martin got to work on a new storyline, focused around the planet Thoros-Beta, Sil's homeworld that had been mentioned in Varos. Here it would be established that Sil's people, the Mentors, were elite capitalist aliens who enslaved who exploited other races and planets. Scripts were written under the title The Planet of Sil and then later Mindwarp; as per BBC demands, Martin injected more humour into his story, slightly tweaking the character of Sil to provide more comedy. Once the production team were satisfied they were heading in the right direction, Ron Jones was attached to direct the serial.
When Colin Baker received his rehearsal scripts, he was worried about the Doctor's dramatic change of personality within the story and unsure whether this was a result of Crozier's machine, or fabricated evidence from the Valeyard. He tried to schedule a meeting with Eric Saward to discuss his concerns but Saward was unavailable, still grieving Robert Holmes' passing and also now writing Part Fourteen based on his and Holmes' plans. Baker recalls he then tried to speak to Philip Martin, to no avail. "Phillip said 'I don't know, Eric Saward told me to write that.' In the end, I had to make up my own mind, the scene of me torturing Peri outside the cave was that made up by the Matrix? or was I doing it because I knew I was being watched?" Ultimately Baker decided to play these scenes as Valeyard fabrications ie. as if the Matrix was lying and the events that were seen never happened.
Nabil Shaban was booked to return as Sil, having also been booked and paid for the cancelled Mission to Magnus. "It was nice to be back, although it wasn't as exciting as Faros had been. Also Trial's plot was far more complex. None of us understood it. They decided to tone down Sil's character and make him more comic. That was rather a shame because I'd always tried to make Sil as evil as possible. I wanted to show the pleasures of being evil, but instead Sil had to bow down to Lord Kiv. I wanted Sil to be in control. Sil was a megalomaniac and I felt like being one too."
Christopher Ryan (The Young Ones) was cast in this key role as Kiv, while the remaining 'star part' was taken by Brian Blessed as the warrior King Yrcanos, a role that echoed his famous Flash Gordon character Prince Vultan. Meanwhile, months of stress and uncertainty were taking their toll on Eric Saward and John Nathan Turner. Their strained relationship reached breaking point and the script editor resigned from the programme, leaving Nathan Turner to script edit the remaining six episodes himself.
This brings Part One of this analysis of Season 23 of Doctor Who to a close, in Part Two we'll be exploring Parts Nine to Fourteen of The Trial of Timelord and assessing all the Trials and Tribulations.
