Dr Who At 50 The Monsters And The Critics

The BBC in its 50th anniversary celebrations seems to have largely glossed over the problems the show had in the past and the weaknesses that brought it low.Dr Who has now been played by eleven actors and promotional material often seems to treat them all equally. However when we look more closely at the pattern of doctors we see four doctors from 1963 to 1981 then from 1982 to 1989 in only seven years we go though three doctors with an 18 month gap in 1985 to 86. accelerating into oblivion.The next time a doctor appears it is for a TV movie in 1996.This his only appearance is sufficient however to admit him into the pantheon. I will call the first four doctors of the 1960s and 70s the A team and the 1980s doctors the B team.The A team and their producers and writers turned Dr Who into a hero while the B team and those behind it saw him become a zero with cancellation the end of the process.In the next post I will examine the nature of the A team.