DR WHO AT 50 ,THE  MONSTERS AND THE CRITICS

Peter  Davison  was followed by the other two members of the 80s B team Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. In my opinion Davison was the worst of the bunch with his insipid school masterish doctor.Of course the script writers were still capable of providing him with the occasional interesting story such as Castrovalva based on the cult artist and student poster favorite  M C Escher.There was also the Cyberman adventure Earthshock and of course Kinda based  like James Cameron's Avatar on the the novel The Word  For World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin Basically though it was all a great step down from the glory days of Tom Baker's doctor.It was in these years that the mass audience began to peel away leaving behind a program that appealed to the fans.The next doctor Colin Baker with his clownish costume and thuggish manner continued the process.The program also took a decidedly kinky turn with the scantily clad Peri  the most sexualised young woman to ever star in the role of doctor's companion  In one story she was on the verge of being eaten by a humanoid alien cannibal chef and in another turned into a feathered bird creature a la Histoire D'O.,Probably the most original story of the Baker years was The Revelation Of The Daleks inspired by Evelyn Waugh's satire on the American funeral industry The Loved One.Lastly came Sylvester McCoy who strangely managed an almost last minute rescue of the program which unfortunately did not pay off at the time.Last but not least was the role that  narcissistic producer Jonathan Nathan Turner with his abusive attitude to fans played in the death of 80s Who.

Dr Who At 50 The Monsters And The Critics

In 1982 when Peter Davison took over from Tom Baker in the role of Dr Who the program  was still a land mark of the BBC schedules.Peter Davison was the youngest actor to play the part and seemed to many to lack the necessary gravitas to pull it off.He was however nationally known in Britain for his role as a young vet in the hit series All Creatures Great And Small.One immediate break with the past was the moving of the program from a Saturday to a weekday.The Guardian even remarked on this in a leader which was titled Tardis lands on the wrong day.This switch was probably the first step on the downward progression towards cancellation.For eighteen years during its various seasons Dr Who had always been part of everyone in Britain's Saturday night.Whether you were a child watching it with your family or a teenager watching it before you went out for Saturday night fun with you friends it was part of the ritual of life.There is a method to slowly destroying something whereby you start to make small unwelcome changes to see what reaction you get.After all life is about change and surely we have to embrace them?.For example " I seem to have broken your leg ,that will certainly change your life .You will have to adapt to the change".

Dr Who At 50 The Monsters And The Critics

The Dr Who A Team consisted of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton ,Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.They carried the series all the way from its start in 1963 up to 1981,eighteen years in all.They were all excellent character actors who had screen as well as TV experience before they took on the role of the Doctor.Each was very different from the other and provided a unique take on the role of Doctor.William Hartnell was a veteran screen actor who had starred in gangster films such as Brighton Rock and Odd Man Out and in war films such as The Way Ahead where we played a tough Sergeant licking a new platoon into shape.He was later to reprise this role in comedies such as Privates Progress and the first Carry On film Carry On Sergeant.He later became almost stereotyped in the role as Sergeant Bullymore in the TV series The Army Game Britain's comedy answer to Sergeant Bilko. Patrick Troughton had acted in Olivier's Shakespeare films and also in Ray Harryhausen's Jason And The Argonauts.Jon Pertwee was a veteran comedy actor who had acted in British comedy films and in BBC Radio comedy.Both Troughton and Pertwee were Royal Navy veterans who had seen action in the Second World War.Pertwee had been trained in unarmed combat hence his action role in his version of the Doctor.Tom Baker the longest running Doctor in the A Team who in the end had come to set a bench mark for the role was also an excellent character actor who had movie experience appearing in one of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad films.These four Doctors saw the programme become a national treasure in Britain during the 60s and 70s a seemingly permanent part of the cultural landscape. When Tom Baker stepped down from the role in 1981 it seemed the series would be good for another eighteen years. yet eight years later it was gone seemingly for good.