In 1989 Doctor Who was cancelled by the BBC. Despite the
improvements made to the show after the axing of previous lead actor Colin
Baker in 1986 the team of Andrew Cartmel, Sophie Aldred and Sylvester McCoy had
been unable to attract an audience large enough to please BBC executives. The
show went off the air with Survival part three on December 6 and wouldn’t
return for a full series until 2005.
This needn’t have been the case1. In Doctor Who
the BBC had a programme that had various uses. It could be made, as had been
proven during the late 80s (and earlier), on a meagre budget and to a
reasonably high quality. It was a cheap show that could be sold abroad, giving
the BBC a source of income to invest into other projects that were considered
more important and worthwhile. The show’s nature (one standing set for fourteen
episodes and four stories per year, at the time of cancellation) was also a
good setup for fledging writers, directors and producers and everyone else
involved with making a TV show to hone their respective crafts. There are
plenty of examples from any era of the “classic” show you care to choose of
people working on the show having to figure out how to actually make it within
their allocated resources. They didn’t always succeed but it provided them with
experience that they could use on future jobs.
All of this made me think about what direction the show
would have taken had it continued into the 90s. The 1990 series probably wouldn’t
have looked that different from season 26 the year before. In reality Andrew
Cartmel moved on to script edit Casualty. The timing of his appointment there
would have made his involvement in another series of Doctor Who unlikely. Ben
Aaronovitch, as one of the McCoy era’s more celebrated writers and a man on
good terms with both Cartmel and producer John Nathan-Turner would likely have
replaced him.
The basic shape of the four stories proposed for a 1990
season are well documented at this point. One would have seen the return of the
Ice Warriors. One would have introduced the new companion and her crime boss
father. One would have tackled global warming or deforestation or whaling or
something, being written by Cartmel himself (presumably edited by Aaronovitch).
The fourth and final story would have seen Ace leave the Doctor to study on
Gallifrey, the implication being that she would go on to become a Time Lady. It’s
not an awe-inspiring line-up but it likely would have been decent enough.
McCoy has said he’d have done one final series and then
left. That would have given the production team a year to cast a new Doctor for
a brief appearance in an end of series regeneration story, setting up a 1991
series. Meanwhile Sophie Aldred, companion since 1987’s Dragonfire, has said
her contract only required her to do two more stories. It’s possible she’d have
agreed to extend her contract in order to leave alongside McCoy or contribute a
story or two the 1991 season but it’s unlikely. Every interview in which she’s
discussed the subject has made it seem pretty clear she was ready to move on
from the show by the time it was cancelled.
The big question is whether JNT would have stuck around.
In all likelihood he probably would have. The guy had nowhere else to go at the
BBC and didn’t have any significant contacts at ITV. If he had he’d have left
Doctor Who years earlier. I think he’d have ended up overseeing a 1990 season
and possibly a further few as well. But sooner or later he’d have taken another
opportunity within the TV industry or become fed up with his lack of
opportunities and moved into a different business altogether. Whenever he left
I expect he’d have been replaced by the sort of first-time producer mentioned
above.
Assuming things would have been done right I think the
show’s standing could have gradually improved throughout the 90s. Its format
may have morphed into something more akin to the 2005 relaunch, perhaps
shifting away from three and four parters to two parters or solo episodes. As
American shows like The X Files, Buffy and Star Trek: The Next Generation
became more prominent they almost certainly would have had an influence on the
way Doctor Who was made. It’s also pretty safe to assume that some of the names
who have worked on the show since 2005 would have been involved much earlier.
And we may even have had TV contributions from some of the Virgin New
Adventures authors who haven’t ever directly contributed to the TV show2.
Beyond this I think the only thing that can be looked at
realistically is the casting of future Doctors. Which is what the rest of this
article is dedicated to predicting, in list form (for ease and simplicity). I’ve
restricted myself to British and Irish actors as I thought that seemed more authentic,
and I’ve assumed in most cases that an actor would take the role for three
years and then move on (The Troughton Rule). Each proposed Doctor era features
a name I think would have been the most likely casting choice followed by some
other suggestions. For realism I’ve stuck to availability (referencing those
oracles of the internet IMdB and Wikipedia) for all of these names.
Many thanks to Jim Hall for suggesting several
names.
1991 to 1993
Eric Idle
When casting for a 1991 series would have taken place he
would have been a well-known name desperate enough to take the role and the show
would have been poisonous enough in TV circles for those making it to have to
resort to considering him. I think he’d have won out over others due to his name
value and availability: he’d done very little besides live off his Python work
and was years away from Spamalot becoming a musical sensation.
Also considered...
Dermot Crowley
He’s the first of several names on this list that could
be slotted in anywhere but here felt most natural because he auditioned for the
role of the Seventh Doctor. Very badly.
Brian Glover
Fans more diehard than me will immediately know he played
Griffiths in 1985 continuity-extravaganza Attack of the Cybermen. He was usually
cast as a henchman (see his work as Castle Henchman in 1991’s Kafka for a
perfect example) because of his northern origins and air of intimidation but he
had a pretty good range as actors go. Also worth noting is that the casting of
a northerner worked out pretty well for the show in 2005.
Graeme Garden
Not exactly a thespian but a man known to the British
public, with the requisite kookiness required to play the Doctor at the start
of the 90s. You could probably consider Tim Brooke-Taylor and even Bill Oddie
for the same reasons. But let’s not go that far.
Windsor Davies
During the years I’m looking at there are only three jobs
listed on his IMdB page (and one of those was just voice work). By 1997 he was
playing Windsor Davies Badger on the massively enjoyable but not exactly high
profile Harry Hill Show on Channel 4. What this tells us is that the former It
Ain’t Half Hot, Mum star was not exactly in demand. He was a known quantity
with nothing to do in 1991, which would probably have got him an audition by an
outgoing JNT.
Richard Griffiths
During the 90s John Nathan-Turner stated in interviews that
he would have cast Griffiths as McCoy’s replacement. I think that’s wishful
thinking on JNT’s part. In ’91 Griffiths was getting steady work and likely
wouldn’t have wanted to be tarred with the Doctor Who brush. By the end of the
90s, when I’m assuming the programme’s credibility would have been restored, he’d
have been unavailable. And even if he was available he was not a man
built for long shooting schedules involving rigorous movement.
Jon Pertwee
Yeah, really. Pertwee. He’d expressed an interest in
returning to the show and would do so, on radio, a few years after it became
clear it wasn’t returning to television. It’s not inconceivable the BBC would
have brought him back in an attempt to restore the programme to its former glory.
It’s a move that would have failed. The show’s budget had decreased, Pertwee
had aged considerably, and the British public’s tastes had changed. There would
probably have been nostalgia-spurred interest in the stunt but I can’t imagine
a Pertwee return would have done much good in the long run.
1994 to 1995
Ian McShane
Yeah he may have a cushy number in life now, providing
voiceover work and half-heartedly slouching about as the token Englishman in
big budget Hollywood films (and, inexplicably, his own HBO series) but it was a
different story in 1994. Back then he’d just left Lovejoy and was typecast in
the lovable rogue role. Probably wouldn’t have done more than two series here
for fear of being typecast again but the role would have been suitably
different to Lovejoy to make it appealing. For the production team’s part
McShane was a well-known actor coming off an inexplicably popular TV show and would
have generated interest in DoctorWho.
Also considered...
Richard O’Brien
He finished filming the Crystal Maze in 1993, the year he
would have agreed to become the hypothetical Ninth Doctor. No, he’s not much of
an actor. But he’s eccentric. A glance at any of his Crystal Maze episodes
demonstrates he was more than naturally strange enough to make an interesting
Doctor, just not necessarily a well-acted one.
Gorden Kaye
He did no TV or film work between ‘Allo, Allo’s end in
1992 and Revolver in 2001. He was known to the BBC and is niche and undesirable
enough to be a consideration at this point in the show’s history.
Ralph Brown
Really, he’s another guy who could be put in any of the also considered entries. He’s worked
solidly in film and TV since the eighties, appearing in everything from
Jonathan Creek to Star Wars. He’s a good enough actor who would presumably have
been well connected enough to get an audition. But it’s hard to imagine him getting
further than that.
Nicholas Lyndhurst
1993 was the year he took on Goodnight Sweetheart in
addition to his Only Fools work. That would have also been the year the Doctor
Who production team would have been looking for their new boy. If Lyndhurst was
getting offers from ITV to play a time-travelling electrician it’s easy enough
to assume the BBC would have offered him their own similar part.
1996 to 1998
Rik Mayall
Fresh off of Bottom, with The New Statesman, Drop Dead
Fred, Jackanory, and The Young Ones, as well as less celebrated items like
Carry On Columbus, on his CV, Mayall would have been the ideal man to cast as
the Doctor in the mid-90s. Assuming the show would have regained some small
level of credibility thanks to Ian McShane it’s feasible Mayall could have been
persuaded to take the role. I’m sure he’d have been popular. People weren’t
desperate to see him cast as the Celestial Toymaker for nothing.
Hey, they could have cast Ade Edmonson as the Master too.
That would’ve been a laugh. Possibly.
Also considered...
Roger Daltrey
An obvious tabloid headline and a keenness on the part of
Daltrey to get into acting in a significant capacity would have been enough to
secure him an audition.
David Collings
He was getting very steady work until 1995 and then there
was an abrupt nine year gap. It’s the kind of thing that invites him being
added to this sort of list, as does his previous involvement in the show, being
bothered by droids in Robots of Death and playing at being a Time Lord in
Mawdryn Undead. On the recommendation of Jim I watched him in a couple of
episodes of Sapphire & Steel (there are compilation runs on YouTube, for
the record) and his performance there demonstrates that he’d have made a very
watchable Doctor.
Robbie Coltrane
Well, y’know… Cracker. That was a big hit that had ended
the year before. He’s the sort of name they’d have reached out to because his
casting would have created interest. IMdB reveals he wasn’t exactly swamped
with starring roles in the years following Cracker finishing so it’s possible he’d have accepted.
Tim McInnery
Seven years after Black Adder (and Doctor Who, in real
life) had ended McInnery hadn’t actually done much of significance. He’s
another man who could be slotted into any of the also considered entries but this one feels best as he actually did
audition for the role of the Eighth Doctor opposite Paul ‘Get Out! Get Out!’
McGann.
1999 onwards
Paterson Joseph
He’d left Casualty the previous year and had been around
long enough to be known to The Right People. The only thing that he was missing
in 1999 was a breakthrough role (that would come later in Peep Show). He was a
good, safe actor that’s been keen to play the lead role since the show was
brought back in 2005. Everything about him indicates he’s a fan and would like
to play the Doctor whether the show’s a massive hit or not. He’d have been an
ideal casting choice, and still would be.
Also considered...
Brian ‘Foggy’
Wilde
Left Last of the Summer Wine in 1997. As he only did one
TV gig after that (a narrating role on kids show Microscopic Milton, completed
in ’97) it’s safe to assume his intention was to retire. But he was an
available, established character actor, the sort of person we’ve been assuming
throughout this article would’ve been near misses for the Doctor Who lead role.
I can imagine he’s the sort of man who’d have received a call to make up the
numbers in an audition and could have ended up a surprise casting.
David Jason
IMdB reveals that this period was surprisingly slow for
one of the most prolific actors in British television. I don’t think he would necessarily
make the best Doctor ever but it’s hard to deny his emotional depth and comic
timing. Casting him could have been used as a relaunch technique for the show
after a decade rebuilding itself into something reliable and watchable.
Marc Warren
Yeah, Elton Pope from Love & Monsters. Like Paterson
Joseph he was years away from anything approaching a breakthrough role but he’d
been around long enough and would probably be the sort of name that could sneak
through to the final two or three in a casting process. Maybe a bit too similar
in appearance to (proposed) outgoing star Rik Mayall though.
Alan Davies
They’d have wanted him because of Jonathan Creek, but
they wouldn’t have got him because it was too important to the BBC. He wouldn’t
have wanted to do it anyay, because he’s still happy to churn out subpar Creek
sixteen years after the show’s prime.
Caroline Quentin
She may have had a call for her work on the same show.
The difference is that she was more likely to accept. She’s a great actress who
anchored Jonathan Creek dramatically and made Alan Davies’s performance there
work. If a female Doctor was going to be cast during the 90s it
absolutely would have been Caroline Quentin.
***
1 An important disclaimer here: I think it was
the right decision to take the show off the air at the end of the 80s. Although
I enjoy the McCoy era it seems pretty clear that any success that’s to be found
there is attributable in large part to McCoy, Aldred and Cartmel. They all would
have left the show before or by the end of a 1990 series and it’s unlikely a
new team would have had even their limited success. The show, its fans, and the
BBC benefited from its sixteen year rest.
2 Like Lawrence Miles. Y’know, just as an
example.
