In some ways, Paul McGann is the longest serving Doctor. Across nearly nine years, he has appeared in over 70 novels, dozens of novellas and short stories, over three dozen audio adventures, pages & pages of comic strips…
…and only one television appearance! Thanks to its failure on American television (because US network executives simply didn’t get it), instead of a new dawn, Doctor Who merely experienced a brief, ephemeral revival. But that momentary sunrise produced a flowering of creativity that we old-school fans look back upon with amazement to this day.
Only one outing on TV, yet an industry - and fandom - coalesced around the 8th Doctor in a way that leaves even the 7th Doctor (post-series) in the dust. Unlike the first half of the long interregnum between 1989 and 2005, the 8th Doctor reigned over a second half where imaginative storytelling - plus the desire to explore all aspects of the Doctor’s character and background (boundary-free) like never before - flourished like an oasis in the desert.
With further television out of the question, the 8th Doctor was forced to live on in print media and the newly established Doctor Who audio adventures of Big Finish (both on CD and BBC Radio 7). Both proved to be a massive success, and all because the McGann Doctor proved to be such an evocative, powerful portrayal. So many novels and audio adventures were able to extrapolate, expand upon, and evolve this overtly-Byronesque of Doctors, and the extra layers of sexuality and epic storytelling would lay many of the foundations the current series would build upon.
Because of his single TV appearance, it’s necessary to expand the essential Paul McGann/8th Doctor experience to include two novels and two audio stories. It’s a departure from the previous seven incarnations, but each of these entries remain anchored to the glorious, life-affirming figure we glimpsed so tantalizingly in the movie. More than anything else, the success of all these alternate media in keeping this remarkable character alive & well is the greatest achievement of the era.
ESSENTIAL VIEWING - THE EIGHT DOCTOR (PAUL McGANN)
1996…and beyond
2-Hour Television Movie - May 1996
Love it or hate it, the TV movie provokes nothing but polarizing reactions…even from me. So let’s just get down to the bottom line:
THE GOOD
(1) Paul McGann is a brilliant Doctor - exuberant, youthful, passionate to the nth degree, vigorous, energetic…and yes, for the very first time, sexy. He’s the most dashing Doctor to date: a younger, Bryonesque Time Lord — the complete and total antithesis of the quiet, dark manipulator that was his previous incarnation. In spite of any other failures in this telefilm, one thing is certain: the producers made a perfect choice for the Doctor.
(2) Eric Roberts - he truly is underrated (don’t laugh). He’s certainly on par with Anthony Ainely’s 1980s Master for most of the film, and usually manages to supercede his predecessor with a glorious combination of malevolence, wit, monstrous intensity, and over-the-top campiness. There was never a better scene than when the Roberts-Master descends a staircase in Time Lord robes, and announces that “I always DREZZZZZZ…for the occasion.”
(3) The production values: the budget is all on-screen, the effects work is nice, the cinematography is dark & moody, the direction is first rate, and long before Murray Gold and the BBC Wales orchestra laid their hands on the series, John Debney and his associates came up with a very hum-able and delightful score. Special mention must go to the TARDIS console room - the greatest slice of gothic Doctor Who since 1976.
THE I’M-NOT-SO-SURE…
(1) Grace - she certainly has her moments, and by the end, Daphne Ashbrook’s chemistry with Paul McGann is wonderful. But the set up for her character takes far too long, with too much clunky exposition & sappy soap opera cliches. Better to have thrown the character into the deep end, as Russell Davies did with Rose in 2005. Still, we get there in the end…only for her to decide to STAY BEHIND? It’s either a brilliant piece of pre-Martha Jones decision making, or the producers chickening out at the last minute. We’ll never know…
THE “UGH!”
(1) TOO MUCH CONTINUITY - this is a fanwank job of epic proportions! The 7th Doctor, a regeneration, bucket-loads (and mouthfuls) of incredible exposition and info dumping…it’s simply TOO MUCH! Even the Seal of Rassilon is thrown around the TARDIS…yet it wouldn’t mean much to anyone outside of fandom. If anything, look to the scene where the Doctor regains his memory in the park - the glorious bits about his shoes, the kiss, and half-remembered warm, Gallifreyan nights would have been more than enough…but then we launch into the biggest feast of continuity-porn this side of an episode of Star Trek-Voyager!
(2) It was a mistake to use the Master. In 2005, Rose got it just right, by using an alien menace obscure enough to simply be monster-of-the-week to new viewers, while remaining a lovely old school Doctor Who touchstone to fandom. But the Master is simply TOO BIG. You need build up…you need to slowly rebuild the Doctor’s universe before throwing in a big bad of the Master’s stature. In fact, by focussing on the Master as the movie did, all the cliches and excesses of arch-enemies are shown from the more (cliched) U.S. point of view. The producers probably thought it would be more acceptable to give the Doctor a villain immediately…but they were wrong. This should have simply been about rediscovering the Doctor; instead, they left the WHO out of Doctor Who.
(3) The version of the title theme is abominable (though marginally better than the Sylvester McCoy version). Recent BBC versions prove that there’s nothing wrong with using an orchestra to create a version of the mysterious title theme…but this attempt should have been dumped into the gutter!
Overall, the movie is a failed experiment, peppered with (and saved by) many brilliant moments. The whole is less than the sum of its parts, but as a pilot, it’s just about acceptable, and in the final 30 minutes, everything manages to come together. Hell, we all thought the Star Trek TNG pilot, Encounter at Farpoint, was the greatest thing ever…until the rest of the series came along to prove what it could really do when it flexed its creative muscles. A new Doctor Who series would have easily recovered and built from this false start. But thanks to the American network pull out, we’ll never know…
Virgin Publishing - 1997
The final book in Virgin Publishing’s Doctor Who - The New Adventures series is also the first appearance of the 8th Doctor in print…and author Lance Parkin hits a home run.
It’s almost the flip side to the TV movie, in some ways just as obsessed with fanwank (UNIT, the Brigadier, new Ice Warriors, the Doctor’s house on Allen Rd, and a who’s who of British celebrities…). Yet is succeeds because of its focus on character. This is all about the new Doctor, in direct comparison to his predecessor…all from the point of view of one of the longest serving companions of the previous Doctor. Archeologist Benny Summerfield simply can’t believe this tall, dark & strangely beguiling man, with boyish good looks and sex appeal is the same person as the little man she used to know as the Doctor. We take a journey of re-discovery with her, learning to accept that some things never change, and that new beginnings arrive when we least expect them to occur. It also comes full of amazing action set-pieces, moments of aw-shucks heroism, and a lot of wit. The fanwank merely adds colour and fun to a simple yet fast paced adventure.
By the end of this roller coaster of a book, we’ve managed to close a long and honourable chapter of literary Who by providing a successful peek at what was to come with the new series of BBC published 8th Doctor novels. But had this been the one and only 8th Doctor novel, it would have been a singular way to make an impression on the reading public.
BBC Books - 1997
It has the same amazing energy and verve as The Dying Days, and in only his third book, the 8th Doctor is defined so remarkably that it sets the pattern of his character for years after the publication of this book. But the previous novel was all about the wary insider, learning to adapt to a new man. This book is all about how the Doctor appears to outsiders - mad, bad & extremely dangerous to know - and how his new, younger, and more inexperienced companion reacts to the reaction of others.
Kate Orman was a veteran of the New Adventures, and had one of the best handles on the character of the 7th Doctor. But in partnership with her husband, Jon Blum, the 8th Doctor comes to life with such power that the book threatens to spontaneously combust from the full-to-bursting characterization. It’s so vivid you’ll believe you watched this on TV, starring Paul McGann himself!
It also comes full circle, back to where it all began with the movie, in San Francisco. We get reject 1950s greaser vampires, crack vampire squirrels, former groupies who can hook up speakers to defeat the ultimate evil, the most passionate and heroic suicide attempt ever committed to the page…it’s wild, it’s crazy, it’s unbelievable, it’s breathtaking…it’s not only Doctor Who, but the kind of Doctor Who only the 8th Doctor’s print adventures could provide. Brilliant in every conceivable way! 
4 Twenty-Five minute episodes - 2002
The haunted house story to end all haunted house stories. It’s Christmas, it’s a twisted version of Upstairs/Downstairs, but everyone is trapped downstairs…at the mercy of a multi-dimensional terror…
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Believe me…that’s the idea. Because this is the audio adventure to beat all audio adventures. Listen to this, alone, in the dark…and you’ll be forced to go to bed with the lights on full!
Much of the success is down to the writing, courtesy of multi-talented playwright - and WHO fan - Rob Shearman (author of the new series episode Dalek). He weaves a simple story into cunning & terrifying knots…sends all the supporting characters over the edge…and then throws the Doctor and his Edwardian adventuress companion Charley into the mix.
Paul McGann shines on audio as well as on-screen. He is a commanding, mischievous presence, constantly throwing people off balance, yet simultaneously managing to gain trust and affection. He sparkles with energy and panache, and his voice gives him an slightly unearthly presence on audio…quite worthy of a Time Lord.
This is one of those stories that a review/description could never do enough justice to the sheer auditory brilliance. Buy it, download it, listen to it…luxuriate in it.
BLOOD OF THE DALEKS - Part 1 & Part 2
2 Forty-Five minute episodes - 1 per disc - 2006 & 2007
A bit of a relaunch for the 8th Doctor line sees Paul McGann given the chance to play an older, wearier, gruffer, less tolerant Doctor…yet still full of reckless abandon, and the desire to bluff his way out of trouble really really badly. The more things change, the more they stay the same…
Add to this the arrival of a new companion. Lucie Miller is young & no-nonsense, with an accent that could strip paint, all ready to start a new executive career…only to have the Time Lords pull her out of time and space and deposit her in the TARDIS, leaving her in the protective custody of the Doctor. No other instructions are given…and they butt heads immediately!
The new dynamic is great - it’s the anti-Doctor/Rose relationship, all prickles and stings, with two people who didn’t choose to travel together, forced into a working partnership. Sheridan Smith is lightyears away from the ditzy clown she plays on the BBC sitcom Two Pints and a Packet of Crisps, and her arguments with the Doctor never descend into the angry snipping that used to mark the worst aspects of the 6th Doctor/Peri bitch sessions of the mid-1980s. Paul McGann relishes the chance to age his character, and take the boyish, Byronesque 8th Doctor into a quieter, even grimmer, realm.
By now you’ll wonder why I haven’t mentioned the Daleks…because (1) there’s a nice plot twist I don’t want to entirely spoil, and (2) they’re simply around to add colour for the 8th Doctor relaunch - much the same role they performed for Patrick Troughton’s debut in 1966. They’re the icing on the cake to a series the BBC is confident enough to broadcast on BBC Radio 7, in concert with the new television series…and it’s very much worth the listen.
And that’s it! My complete advice on the back catalogue. At this point, you can now join in with my past reviews of the first three seasons of the re-launched Doctor Who.
But the important thing to remember is that my opinions don’t necessarily have to be YOUR opinions. The Doctor Who universe, 45 years old and counting, is full of fans with contradictory & passionate opinions covering every aspect of the nearly 200 stories & 700-odd episodes. Your mileage will always vary, but arguing about the stories, discussing them…and above all, ENJOYING THEM…is all part of the delicious joy of being a Doctor Who fan.
So don’t just sit there…pick up a DVD and ENJOY IT!
