Forget the stormy era of Colin Baker’s 6th Doctor…forget the massive arguments over the relative successes and failures of the latter half of Tom Baker’s reign as the 4th Doctor…it is HERE, with the 7th Doctor, that we see fandom polarized, as never before. This is the time when Doctor Who’s first incarnation as a long-running BBC series ended, in an atmosphere of victimized scheduling, indifferent BBC executives, and a virtual civil war among fans over the astonishing stories that made it to screen. Some would say it was a cultural renaissance…others would say it was the final nail in the coffin.
Between 1987 and 1989, when the classic series’ continuous run came to an end, Doctor Who became more experimental, more outrageous, and more sure of itself than it had been since the mid-1970s. But the various experimental stories certainly split fandom down the middle: the wild comic-strip allegory of The Happiness Patrol…the near-musical Delta and the Bannermen…the nightmarishness of Ghost Light’s non-linear plot…the hints that the Doctor was “more than just a Time Lord” in Remembrance of the Daleks and Silver Nemesis…and the bubbly, comic, lemony-fresh outrageousness of Season 24 in particular. All of this has led to the 7th Doctor’s era to become the most “love it or hate it” segment in the program’s history. There is no middle ground…none at all…but it would be a massive disservice NOT to recognize that this final phase of the program shaped the minds of many young fans. These same fans would go on to write the critically acclaimed New Adventures series, where the 7th Doctor’s universe was spectacularly fleshed out…and the same set of fans (familiar names such as Paul Cornell, Gareth Roberts & Russell T. Davies) would end up working in television, and now bring us the Doctor Who of the 21st century we all love and enjoy.
Anchoring it all is Sylvester McCoy: serious actor, shock performer, odd-ball comedian, and children’s TV host. A man who was able to co-star in a prestigious movie version of Dracula, then follow it up by stuffing ferrets down his pants during a live show, then move on to be the backwards mirror man ePep in Vision-On. He’s not the most skilled or accomplished thespian to play the role of the Doctor, but as a showman…as a man who can demonstrate and command deep empathy, melancholy, charm, wit, even dark & powerful anger…he was incredibly successful in the role. Whatever the quality of the stories, McCoy always brought a new spin to the proceedings. Sometimes, he wasn’t entirely successful…but the one thing we can be sure of was his success at becoming a hero to children everywhere.
ESSENTIAL VIEWING - THE SEVENTH DOCTOR (SYLVESTER McCOY)
1987 - 1989
Season 24 - 4 episodes
In a futuristic tower block, old ladies make tea & crumpets…and eat people on the side. The teenage girls are running amok in punk hairstyles, being chased by butch caretakers & led by Richard Briers doing his best BAD Hitler impression. A wanna-be muscleman/pansy runs around pretending to be heroic & breaking street lights, cleaners literally clean people out of the corridors, and a genius architect’s brain is trapped in the basement, yelling HUNGRY!
Meanwhile, the building seems to be trying its best to kill Bonnie Langford…for some people, that’s more than enough reason to watch! 
It’s strange…it’s outrageous…it’s not altogether successful in its execution…but in concept, in style, and in confidence, Paradise Towers marks a HUGE leap forward in Doctor Who’s evolution. No continuity baggage, no overly-complicated story arc…just a fresh new Doctor exploring the universe with his girl sidekick, with a lot of humour (good and bad), a lot of cheeky innocence, and an amazing sense of fun. Sylvester McCoy seems completely delighted to be in this frothy-yet-occasionally-creepy story, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
You’re either going to love this or despise it…but make no mistake, this marks a major shift in thinking behind Doctor Who storytelling, and it’s never boring. Personally, I’ve loved it since first watching it back in the late 1980s…and it puts a smile on my face to this day. Adult nightmares masquerading as children’s television doesn’t get more on-the-nose than Paradise Towers.
Season 25 - 4 episodes
It’s as if the production team had anticipated the Daleks stories of the modern revival: this is the most action-packed, exciting, thrilling Doctor Who story since Earthshock…only better! For its 25th anniversary, Doctor Who comes full circle, back to that junk yard in Totter’s Lane, 1963…where we find out more than we ever knew about the Doctor…only to come away with even MORE questions about who he is!
From this point onwards, Doctor Who becomes a deeper, darker series, and the Doctor himself becomes the character the New Adventures series of books would christen Time’s Champion - more powerful, more mysterious, and more legendary than he would be until David Tennant assumed the role in 2005. Watching his manipulation of events and people, quietly, with only soft words and terrifying looks, is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end…and Sylvester McCoy does it with immense flair. He will make you believe that a little man in a cream coat and mad jumper can rise above any dark and ancient power that gets in his way.
Even the Daleks get a new lease on life: a civil war gives us an examination of the racial hatred that lies at the heart of the Dalek menace…and provides the basis for an expansion of the Dalek mythos. Special Weapons Daleks, new colour schemes, a revised Emperor…and STAIR CLIMBING (yes, you scoff NOW, in this age of CGI-flying attack Daleks, but back then it was something to see)! These creatures are truly the universal threat they appear to be…and are matched only by the Doctor, who suddenly seems more legendary and cosmic than at any time since the end of the Tom Baker era. And after four Dalek stories in a row that were seemingly obsessed with Davros and his relationship to his evil creations…we get his most surprising return to date!
The first episodes in ages that was worthy of water-cooler talk…the first episode in years fans rushed home to see…and managed to grab the attention of the general public…Remembrance of the Daleks is a fascinating title for this story. These four episodes combine to create a folk-memory of all the best moments of Doctor Who. Everything that thrilled childhood audiences…everything that fascinated adult audiences…comes back with a vengeance. Cliches and archetypes walking hand-in-hand, drama, humour, and thrills…this is the Doctor Who of everyone’s golden age, in a giant pick-and-mix…and it’s easily the best Doctor Who story since The Caves of Androzani.
THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE GALAXY
Season 25 - 4 episodes
If Remembrance of the Daleks was Doctor Who’s greatest hits, then Greatest Show is a tribute to the strange, the creepy, the terrifying, and the odd…all of the other qualities that make Doctor Who unlike any other show on television.
Remembrance explored archetypes of the series…Greatest Show explores the primal archetypes at the root of ALL stories: the nightmares, the shadows, the fears at the heart of all our psyches…represented by creepy clowns, the death of 60s hippie idealism, and the sheer boredom of endless, omnipotent, immortal power. Separately, the components themselves are almost ridiculous - combined, they create something that brings a sense of danger & magic back into the series…once that’s been missing for a long time.
It’s rooted by a great script that makes judgements without preaching on a soapbox, and a cast eager to explore the absurd depths of their characters. Special mention must go to Dominic Guard as Bellboy (his suicide is a shocking event, exceptionally well played), TP McKenna as the frightfully boring-yet-devious Captain, and Ian Reddington as the creepiest clown to exist outside of a Stephen King novel. Topping them all is Sylvester McCoy, in what could be his best performance as the 7th Doctor: curious and delightful one moment, dark and brooding with ancient power the next…perfectly summed up by his explosively serene exit from the circus tent in the finale (you’ll understand when you see it…and it was echoed near the climax of the recent Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned).
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was made under crisis conditions: an asbestos scare forcing it out of the TV studios and into a jury-rigged tent. The result of this adrenaline rush is one of the unsung jewels of both the 7th Doctor’s era, and Doctor Who as a whole.
Season 26 - 3 episodes
How the hell can you describe Ghost Light with any adequacy? A gothic Victorian fantasy? An alien expedition, stranded & confused? The Doctor taking Ace on a trip to face one of her deepest fears? A debate on the merits of evolution? An exercise in darkness, terror and absurdity? The haunted house story to end all haunted house stories? A massive attempt to take the mickey out of The Talons of Weng-Chiang?
As if Greatest Show in the Galaxy wasn’t enough, Ghost Light pushes the Doctor Who envelope even further…because it’s ALL of the above, and much more. This is a story that isn’t interested in linear plots, blunt po-faced exposition, or the same-old/same-old conventions of television action-adventure. Ghost Light has multiple (nee, schizophrenic) moods, multiple plots, and multiple characters, concerned with their own agendas. At one point, the Doctor yells that “even I can’t play this many games at once” - and Ghost Light certainly threatens to collapse under the weight of its ambitions…
Luckily, it doesn’t. Suffice to say, this is a story that can’t be encapsulated…it needs to be experienced. Victorian melodrama meets psychological game-play, as an unstable alien surveyor makes soup of out policemen. Meanwhile, a civilized Neanderthal wanders around looking for all the answers, some of which are provided by a shell-shocked game hunter. If that description isn’t enough to intrigue you, then go and watch some other program.
Season 26 - 3 episodes
In its final story after a 26 year run, Doctor Who returns to the suburban streets of London. Back to where it all started.
You’ll find a story that debates the philosophy of “survival of the fittest”, and sees the Doctor save himself by embracing his non-violent instincts and refusing to destroy his arch-enemy. We see Sophie Aldred’s best performance as Ace - coming to grips with the girl she was, and the young woman she has become, in a story full of sly critiques of feminism, the idea of the alpha male, and the dog-eat-dog world of Thatcher’s 1980s Britain.
We see Anthony Ainely in his best-ever performance as the Master: cunning, calculating, but desperate…eventually giving into his desperation, as all of his ambitions for control and power come back to bite him. Ironic, considering it’s a story full of cats… 
We see a story with a strong cast of young, up-and-coming actors who bring a modern-realism to the story that Doctor Who stories set in the present-day haven’t demonstrated in quite a long while. We see a story full of sweeping, panoramic views of an alien world, counter-pointed with the pendantic reality of Northwest London in the late 1980s. We have a musical score that uses a gorgeous guitar track to set the mood, and a director who can make a street of terraced houses & a playground into unsafe, nightmarish places.
Survival sees the end of the Doctor Who known by an entire generation…and points the way to the Doctor Who we now have in the 21st century, which started off in a run-of-the-mill suburban London estate. As Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred walk off - arm-in-arm - into the Perivale distance, we can now see where and when they handed off the baton to Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, somewhere in the Powell Estate.
But not before we explore an interlude with Paul McGann… 
