1982 - 1984 | 21 Adventures | 70 Episodes | 1838 minutes
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Peter Davison arrived with a jolt! Viewers had been used to Tom Baker for seven years but had just seen him fall to his virtual death (one of only a handful of scenes that I remember clearly from my childhood) His body lay there on the ground saying goodbye as the Watcher approached... post regeneration, Peter Davison snapped himself bolt upright as if to say "Hello, we should go, there's an awful lot of running to do!"
The show was revived by the injection of fresh, young blood and it was about to become bright and brash like everything else in the 1980s! John Nathan Turner was now in charge and whether you liked it or not he was there to stay. Davison's Doctor was given a cricket theme for his costume, though nothing really matched up with any historical reference. The question-marks remained on the shirt collar and spread onto his braces. He wore a panama hat that could be rolled up and pocketed, running shoes to allow for free and energetic movement, and a sprig of celery on his lapel! Viewers would have to wait until Davison's final scenes to learn what the celery was about but it did feature in a few prop moments along the way. Davison also introduced the "clever specs" - a term used by David Tennant's Doctor 25 years later in Time Crash - half moon spectacles that he would put on when he was being clever... though these were only used in a few of his stories, unlike Tennant's.
When Peter Davison took the role of the Doctor, he pretty much knew he would only be there for three years and that was a pattern that would follow on to his successors and catch Colin Baker off guard due to an 18 month hiatus being counted as part of his three!
Doctor Who had always been a proving ground in its early days and was treated badly by the powers that be. The same would be true for Davison's era. The show was shifted from Saturdays to Monday and Tuesday. Twice a week may have seemed like a bold move and allowed for more simple cliffhangers and shorter recaps (at least those relating to the Monday/Tuesday break) but the BBC had ulterior motives. They wanted to see how an entertainment/drama show would fit into their schedules (in fact, it moved each year: Monday/Tuesday, Tuesday/Wednesday and Thursday/Friday and on one occasion Monday/Wednesday) because they were preparing the way for a new soap-opera that would become Eastenders.
Davison's era continued to be affected by internal politics, occasionally industrial action made a small dent on proceedings but scripting issues and time constraints were often the show's biggest enemy and I think it was around this time that expectations started to rise faster than the budget could keep up with. The insistence on having everything so strongly lit made any costume and effects constraints appear more obvious and the show started to look cheap.
As well as this, the series lengths reduced. Where Pertwee had settled into two stories of 4 episodes and three of 6, Baker switched it to five of 4 and one of 6 (with the exception of his first and last series) this remained as 26 episodes per series for a decade but JNT would reduce Davison's every year...
And this shrinkage would continue with Colin Baker (see his page for details)
It is worth noting in more detail that Davison's second year was highlighted by the show's 20th anniversary. A special feature length episode was made to mark the occasion and featured all five incarnations of the Doctor and each returned with one of their companions... but even that was hindered by technicalities (the original script idea was found to be unworkable, Tom Baker was apparently interested and agreed to take part but later backed out, and of course William Hartnell was no longer alive - Baker's Doctor was seen only at the beginning and end thanks to scenes shot for an unfinished adventure while Hartnell's was played by a different actor - the similar looking and similarly name Richard Hurndall)
The show was revived by the injection of fresh, young blood and it was about to become bright and brash like everything else in the 1980s! John Nathan Turner was now in charge and whether you liked it or not he was there to stay. Davison's Doctor was given a cricket theme for his costume, though nothing really matched up with any historical reference. The question-marks remained on the shirt collar and spread onto his braces. He wore a panama hat that could be rolled up and pocketed, running shoes to allow for free and energetic movement, and a sprig of celery on his lapel! Viewers would have to wait until Davison's final scenes to learn what the celery was about but it did feature in a few prop moments along the way. Davison also introduced the "clever specs" - a term used by David Tennant's Doctor 25 years later in Time Crash - half moon spectacles that he would put on when he was being clever... though these were only used in a few of his stories, unlike Tennant's.
When Peter Davison took the role of the Doctor, he pretty much knew he would only be there for three years and that was a pattern that would follow on to his successors and catch Colin Baker off guard due to an 18 month hiatus being counted as part of his three!
Doctor Who had always been a proving ground in its early days and was treated badly by the powers that be. The same would be true for Davison's era. The show was shifted from Saturdays to Monday and Tuesday. Twice a week may have seemed like a bold move and allowed for more simple cliffhangers and shorter recaps (at least those relating to the Monday/Tuesday break) but the BBC had ulterior motives. They wanted to see how an entertainment/drama show would fit into their schedules (in fact, it moved each year: Monday/Tuesday, Tuesday/Wednesday and Thursday/Friday and on one occasion Monday/Wednesday) because they were preparing the way for a new soap-opera that would become Eastenders.
Davison's era continued to be affected by internal politics, occasionally industrial action made a small dent on proceedings but scripting issues and time constraints were often the show's biggest enemy and I think it was around this time that expectations started to rise faster than the budget could keep up with. The insistence on having everything so strongly lit made any costume and effects constraints appear more obvious and the show started to look cheap.
As well as this, the series lengths reduced. Where Pertwee had settled into two stories of 4 episodes and three of 6, Baker switched it to five of 4 and one of 6 (with the exception of his first and last series) this remained as 26 episodes per series for a decade but JNT would reduce Davison's every year...
- 26 - six of 4 and one of 2
- 22 - five of 4 and one of 2 (though there was a 90 minute extra, see below)
- 20 - four of 4 and two of 2 (though technically, the second 2 parter was a 4 parter edited into two 45 minutes due to Football coverage!)
And this shrinkage would continue with Colin Baker (see his page for details)
It is worth noting in more detail that Davison's second year was highlighted by the show's 20th anniversary. A special feature length episode was made to mark the occasion and featured all five incarnations of the Doctor and each returned with one of their companions... but even that was hindered by technicalities (the original script idea was found to be unworkable, Tom Baker was apparently interested and agreed to take part but later backed out, and of course William Hartnell was no longer alive - Baker's Doctor was seen only at the beginning and end thanks to scenes shot for an unfinished adventure while Hartnell's was played by a different actor - the similar looking and similarly name Richard Hurndall)
