The Return of the Doctor
I’m a bit young to remember much of the first-runs of the original Doctor Who, but have seen quite a few episodes on UKTV Gold, etc.
I’ve never been particularly impressed - the dodgy acting, wobbly sets and zero-budget effects did little to help. How can they seriously ramp up the scare factor by showing a dustbin covered in egg boxes with a sink plunger sticking out the front chasing a man with a ridiculously long scarf? Still, it was one of those programmes I never minded watching.
Anyway, Doctor Who was axed in 1989 by the then-new controller of BBC 1 Michael Grade. He was probably right - it was hardly a series living up to the Beeb’s worldwide reputation as a high quality broadcaster.
That, of course, isn’t the end of the story - Doctor Who came back to prime time BBC ONE on Saturday night. This time around it has had some money flung at it - better actors, proper sets/real life locations (including the Cardiff “London” department store) and decent effects.
I thought it was quite good. Definitely not the best thing on TV, but given a few episodes it has the potential to grow into something. I doubt it’ll ever achieve the cult status of the original (in many respects it is too much of a different show) but it is certainly better than the usual Saturday Night TV rubbish.
It’ll be interesting to see how it all develops…
Maybe the Timelord will bring back the golden age of Saturday Night TV - move over Ant & Dec.