Why Doctor Who Was Cancelled in 1989

0:00 the 1985 Hiatus did IR reputable damage to the show's reputation a once strong audience of up to 9 million seems like a lifetime Ago by 1989 Doctor Who was lucky to even hit 5 million with most episodes reaching 3 to 4 million viewers Doctor Who was dying and regeneration was not an option today we're going to discuss Doctor Who's slow decline in popularity during the Sylvester McCoy era why that era is loved by fans and how the show was ultimately cancelled property is an old one it's had its day and is no longer commercially viable so

0:45 that doesn't look too [Music] hopeful Doctor Who was put on Hiatus in 1985 and the reaction from audiences and fans alike was outrage but when the show returned with trial of a Time Lord the audience numbers fell from 6 to 8 million to 3 to 5 million viewers this ultimately led to the firing of colum Baker the sixth incarnation of the doctor the show needed to change it needed to evolve first things first Doctor Who needed a doctor who was it to be syester McCoy was performing in a play called the pi Piper when he first

1:31 heard that they were looking for a new doctor and called John Nathan Turner Doctor Who producer at the time my agent jnt and he said V who and he said exactly that's what I'm trying to tell you and so he brought me in for an interview and I came in wearing this hat and he fell in love with the hat and gave me the job McCoy's performance in the show started quite light and comedic but eventually evolved into something much darker and mysterious Eric Seward the previous script editor left at the conclusion of trial of a Time and the show needed someone fresh Andrew cartel met with Nathan Turner and they hit it off straight away I didn't impress him as being an idiot he'd read a script of mine and obviously saw qualities in there demonstrating that I

2:18 knew what a good TV script should be cmore became instrumental in making Sylvester's era drastically different from anything that came before he attempted to bring a mystery back to the doctor and fleshed out the role of the companion serving as a precursor to the new series Doctor Who was growing up but is this what audiences were looking for did they even have a choice Doctor Who was moved from its prime time Saturday night slot to Monday nights to make matters worse it was put against itv's Juggernaut Coronation Street it was a battle the doctor could not win what I can't understand is why the BBC put Doctor Who against Coronation Street yes a lot of us can't understand that um well that must be

3:04 something to do with the controller I mean I think they hoped it might Dent Coronation Street wish have a campaign yes put it on a better time at the moment just put it on Sylvester said in 1996 I was thinking about the Justice of the way the BBC treated Doctor Who they would chop and change it move it around they used to do 26 episodes that had a buildup effect it had an effect of regularity a regular place and people would watch it and know it's there an audience is essentially very lazy they don't want to chase it around only the dedicated fans do rumors of the show's end circulated during the production of season 26

3:50 Sylvester's thirdd season as the doctor however there was no official announcement of cancellation joh Nathan Turner went to script editor Andrew Cardell to write a voiceover speech to at at the end of survival just in case it was the end of the series as a whole the speech was recorded by Sylvester on the 23rd of November 1989 26 years after the first ever episode was broadcast with ratings dwindling and rumors ramping up BBC head of serials Peter Grine wrote a statement for the radio times between the broadcast of Parts 1 and two of survival I would i' like to reassure Doctor Who devotees that there are no plans to ask Doctor

4:37 Who there may be a little longer between this series and the next than usual but I very much hope that it will continue to be as successful in the '90s as it has been for the last 26 years this was a very different announcement compared to what we had had previously in 1985 when the show was put on Hiatus a figure of 18 months was given this this was a different Beast altogether many people interpreted this statement differently doto magazine at the time said they thought cancellation was unlikely if the ratings were enough to satisfy the higher ups they also pointed out the successful merchandise sales and the growing Home Video Market

5:22 as the reasons why the show would stay on I also think it's rather strange that a product that they also make in this market orientated times rumor has it it makes 5 million a year for the BBC so if that rumor is right then perhaps they've just lost5 million potential by not doing it this year little did they know that selling merchandise for a show that's off the air was still incredibly profitable without the added expense of producing the show months pass with no official announcement television production at the BBC was changing rapidly pressure from the government to Outsource production to Independent companies was Rising BBC staffers became

6:09 Freelancers and more competition emerged due to satellite television and home video sales the industry had changed and drct who in its current state could not compete it had to evolve the idea was to Outsource the production of Doctor Who to an external company it would still be the BBC's property and its broadcaster but they wouldn't make it inhouse similar to how bad wolf currently creates Doctor Who many bids were placed from a variety of companies to produce Doctor Who including Cinema Verity which was run by the original producer very Lambert and saffron Productions helmed by Victor pton Terry nation and Jerry Davis all of whom have be involved with

6:56 Doctor Who in the past Victor spoke to Doctor Who magazine saying that he heard nothing back from at BBC he called it a wall of Silence by 1991 fans were getting restless waiting for an official response is it cancelled will it be outsourced campaigns began with writing letters and phone calls even getting to the point where the BBC logged over 500 calls in one day don't you think Haring the BBC might alienate them further from Doctor Hans they said they would give an announcement in a few months and they didn't and it was a few more months and they didn't and we were patient and patient it's been a year now and I think they're just hoping we'll go away and this day of action is to show that we're not going to go away we don't

7:41 particularly want to make a nuisance of ourselves but we still want to show uh the BBC and the public that there are lots of people out here cared about the program Doctor Who magazine urged fans to write and call politely rather than abusively there were even talks of organizing a protest outside of BBC television Center one of the craziest stories is this headline from Doctor Who magazine issue 179 Doctor Who fans consider suing the BBC for30 million frustrated with the radio Silence from the beb they wish to sue Jonathan pal and Peter ctin for fraudulent misuse of their position in a public body they claimed that the 30 million was to cover the loss of the

8:28 three seasons they didn't receive it's nice to know Dr Who fans have always been this dramatic sorry editing Josh here this bit comes across way too harsh I think fans had every right to be upset and to vocalize that when writing I focused on the few extreme stories but I'm sure most people were polite and understandably disappointed about their favorite TV show being gone Kine in his most transparent quote said a decision was taken to rest the program for an extended period so that when it returns it will be seen as a fresh inventive and vibrant addition to the schedule rather than a battle weary Time Lord languishing in the backwaters of audience popularity he cited poor

9:14 audience ratings a competitive market and the risk of relaunching Doctor Who on a less than Stellar budget if Doctor Who was to return they had to be confident that it would be a major success once again although Doctor Who was off the air that doesn't mean it didn't try to come back John Nathan Turner remained at the BBC to oversee the Doctor Who Brands 79 to take the show firmly into the ' 80s I didn't realize I'd still be there as we nipped into the '90s with the 30th Anniversary approaching in 1993 he was trying to get a special commission to celebrate it unbeknownst to him BBC Enterprises the commercial arm of the BBC now known as BBC Studios was attemp

10:01 in to create their own straight to video release titled lost in the dark dimension this project reached pre-production and was eventually canned due to a certain production company who was working on a television pilot more on that later yet the 30th would still be celebrated with two short sketches titled Dimensions In Time children in need approached John Nathan Turner to produce these sketches he treated it as a swan song for his time on Doctor Who and it featured the return of Sylvester McCoy and all the surviving doctors and also many returning villains and companions it wasn't received as the finest moment in Doctor Who's history but it has a level of Camp quality that

10:48 is quite fun to watch maybe it was an accurate depiction of how the viewing public saw Doctor Who as a rather silly outdated and campy show not too camper then oh I thought this was a camp program dear God I've been under this delusion all these years in 2007 during a documentary for the DVD release of survival an interview with Kine was recorded where he stated once and for all that he did cancel Doctor Who I think most people at that stage regarded it as a program that had seen better days Andrew KMEL in an interview with Doctor Who magazine was upset by this statement how could you watch season 26 and not say this is way

11:35 better than it was give it a chance sorry but it makes me enraged Sylvester's final two seasons amongst fans are rated quite highly and I personally agree with Cardinal's take Doctor Who had improved But ultimately the higher ups didn't agree with that but Doctor Who would return to uscar in 1996 in its most expensive outing up to this point Point unlike Colin Baker Sylvester did get a chance to regenerate and pass on the Legacy to another actor in 1996 a TV movie of Doctor Who was produced starring Paul Manan as the eighth doctor sylvest returned for a substantial amount of screen time to say

12:21 goodbye to a role that he loved so much for Doctor Who Enthusiast like myself it gave the Seventh Doctor a conclusion however the 1989 cancellation and TV movie still left a gap in the seventh doctor's timeline what happened to Ace although there are millions of endings for Ace in the expanded universe that is worthy of its own video Sophia aldra did get the chance to return to the TV show in the 2022 episode The Power of the doctor Ace reunited with the doctor in her 13th Incarnation finally bringing closure to their rocky relationship Ace mentioned a falling out between her and her doctor possibly due to one of his many manipulations and Mind Games she has now forgiven the doctor and they are on good terms with the power of the

13:08 doctor and tales of the TARDIS having them reunite on screen after all of these years later does it finally feel like the 1989 cancellation has found closure or do the events of that final day where Ace leaves the doctor still feels shrouded in mystery ultimately dear viewer that is for you to decide when reflecting on this time period of Doctor Who it always makes me feel kind of sad my first ever svest McCoy story was remembrance of the doxs and I instantly felt a spark with this era that I hadn't got from classic doct Who at the time now I love all of it but the storytelling of Sylvester's era is much

13:53 closer to the new series focusing on the character of The Companions and I think this sentiment is shared by many Doctor Who fans and this is isn't some hot original take his final two seasons is where I believe the show found a new identity but due to many factors such as the Hiatus and the new scheduling it didn't get the audience it deserved doct who fans are constantly fearing that the show will get cancelled again they have some sort of PTSD over the 1985 hius the 1989 cancellation and the lack of reboot until 2005 after every season since I've been a fan people have said well this is it it's over they said it during kalii they said

14:40 it during Whitaker and now gatwa is Doctor Who done is it a victim of the times is there just so much content that barely anything is a ratings Juggernaut and I use the word content here because some big YouTubers and twitch streamers can get millions of views for a fraction of the budget of a TV show either way I think that is a wider conversation and everyone has their own thoughts in it I honestly don't think there is just one reason why Doctor Who isn't at its height at the moment it's the same with every major franchise there is just so much out there and I don't think we can just say oh this is the reason why it's not a success anymore there are heaps of

15:25 reasons but this video is about 1989 a moment in history that changed the show forever leaving a feeling of incompleteness Gone Too Soon but maybe it was around for too long I don't know I think the show was really entering a Resurgence when it came to scripts and performances but it wasn't meant to be as a doctor who fan who loves this era it feels like an injustice we will never get to see those people made of smoke and cities made of song I guess we'll just have to put up with the cold tea don't forget to click below to subscribe to the official Josh Nez

16:10 YouTube channel [Music]