John Nathan-Turner: post-1989
Doctor Who
But aside from the McGann movie (1996), Survival proved to be the show's last hurrah until Christopher Eccleston swaggered onto our screens in March, 2005. John Nathan-Turner never lost contact with the series and even whilst producing it had been involved in spin-off ventures such as Who-related pantomimes, numerous conventions and overseeing the 1981 Christmas caper, K-9 and Company. After the demise of the series he helped keep Doctor Who alive with one-off specials such as Dimensions in Time and specially produced videos - largely inconsequential perhaps, but all serving to keep the series and the phenomena in the public consciousness and more importantly, reminding the BBC and BBC Worldwide of Doctor Who's lucrative and popular potential.
John Nathan-Turner died in Brighton in May, 2002, aged only 54. Less than two years later the new series of Doctor Who was announced and in 2005 the show won millions of new followers with the arrival of the superb, ninth Doctor and Rose. Some of those millions will become ardent fans, mining the show's history and finding its past a strange, eccentric place full of fascination and fluctuation.
John Nathan-Turner is survived by his long-term partner, Gary Downie, and the BFI gratefully acknowledges his donation of the John Nathan-Turner Collection.
Gavin Collinson
Images courtesy of bfi Stills
