John Nathan-Turner: 1980 - 1989

JN-T's debut story as producer was the Season 18 opener, The Leisure Hive (1980). Never had a producer's first story proven so radically different to the preceding era. Tom Baker remained onboard as the Doctor and Lalla Ward was still asking the questions, but the whole attitude of Doctor Who had changed, from the revamped opening music and titles to the modernised look and feel of the show. The broad comedy and knowing winks were jettisoned in favour of deft wit and some surprisingly dark humour. The sets remained shaky but the science behind the show became rock solid and a new sense of seriousness permeated every frame. This was less renovation, more re-invention and viewed today these magnificent seven stories retain an evocative, morose majesty.

The following season saw JN-T introduce a new, younger Doctor in the form of Peter Davison and over the next three years he oversaw some glorious moments, culminating in one of the show's all-time classics, The Caves of Androzani (1984). But then the marriage between JN-T and Doctor Who hit a rocky patch and in retrospect, perhaps a divorce would have been kinder.

Colin Baker became the new Doctor and burdened with an eye-catchingly awful outfit and some paper-wasting scripts, the show's ratings and prestige slipped quietly away. The then Controller of BBC, Michael Grade, abhorred the programme and in 1984, like an aging, embarrassing uncle being ushered off a dance floor, Doctor Who was steered away from the public gaze, taken off air indefinitely. In late 1986 the Doctor and JN-T were back, but what should have been a triumphant tour de force to powerfully reinstate the series was nothing more than a reminder of why it had been made to sit in the corner in the first place. JN-T was ordered to find a new lead and promptly handed Sylvester McCoy the keys to the TARDIS.

JN-T's last three seasons in charge showed re-invigorated promise and for the first time since Davison's arrival he began taking the show in an imaginative, bold direction. Alongside new script editor Andrew Cartmel he seemed intent on cloaking the Doctor in mystery and shadows, introducing fresh characters, notably Dorothy, to whom viewers could relate, and toning down the violence, which had seeped into the previous seasons. Ironically, as Gary Gillette pointed out in Doctor Who Magazine: The Complete 7th Doctor, his final story, Survival (1989), even presaged the direction in which Russell T. Davis has recently shepherded Doctor Who, with its council estate kids and blending of the bizarre with the recognizable, everyday elements of modern life.