by our Sun TV reporter
In
an attempt to get more realism into the series, one of Dr.Who’s
companions was a junkie called Katie who, in a very nototious episode,
tackled a Dalek in the nude! The scene caused much controversy and
questions were asked in Parliament.
When
John Pertbum left to become Wurzel
Gummidge and
form his own pop group called The
Wurzels,
producer John
Nathan Turner hand-picked Tom
Baker for
the part after seeing him in a famous 70s horror film called 'George and the Dragon' in
which he played an evil railway station manager who turned into a begonia. The idea provided the
inspiration for one of his early classic stories...The
Pyramids on Mars.
Things
now looked rosy for Dr.Who but soon Mary
Whitehouse was
on the war path - complaining about the show’s nudity and bad
language. BBC bosses were furious and told the producer to turn
the series into a sitcom.Tom Baker eventually married his then
companion, Mary
Tamm -
the famous film actress wife of Jon
Voight in
the movie 'The
Oddessaphile' Unfortunately, word got out to the press that he was also having an
affair with Leela
Ward;
another of his companions in Paris. She became pregnant during the
filming of 'The
Destiny of Dr.Who and the Daleks' and
had to go. Tom Baker finally turned to alcohol and became so drunk,
he was told to leave, with the producers threatening to replace him
with a WOMAN!
After
filming his last story, 'Logopopolis' and
after a massive 14,000 episodes in the role (making him the longest
Dr.Who in the world), Baker left, dying a year or so later, drunk and
penniless in a basement flat in Chiswick, South London.
The
show went on with child actor Peter
Davidson assuming
the role of Dr.Who, now played as a cricketing country vet of the
1940s. It was at this point that Dr.Who became huge in America with
millions of fans spending lots of money on merchandise and non-recyclable pin badges. To celebrate
this, the BBC got together all of the old Doctors and made a special
ninety minute film called“The
Five Dr.Whos”. Richard
Harris replaced
the late William Hartnell who was dead whilst the late Tom Baker was
played by a waxwork, shape-changing robot called K-9.
Eventually
Peter Davidson grew too old to play the youngest Dr.Who and was
replaced the overhearing actor Colin
Farrell who
was once famous for playing JR in the British version of Dallas which was about
trucks.. Wanting to make
himself stand out, he played the new Dr.Who as a tasteless figure who
wore loud clothes and shouted and spat at people. Controversy once
again raised its ugly head when scenes of Colin eating a live
rat were accidentally broadcast during episode three of “The
Two Dr.Whos”.
Questions were asked in Parliament and, as such, the series was axed.
After
fire-bombing the BBC, a team of SAS lesbian fans took Nicholas
Witchell and Sue Lawley hostage in the BBC newsroom, in an attempt to gain a reprive for the
show. The BBC bought the show back but it was now on trial; quite
literally! Colin was found guilty and sent to prison whilst the
little Scottish actor Sylvester
McStallone took
over the main role of Dr.Who again. McStallone decided to play the
character as a darker person and wore special boot-polish make-up to
make him appear even blacker.
But
the series was now too bad to be allowed to continue and the BBC
killed it off. Nobody noticed when it stopped being shown
opposite EasteNders one
stormy night in December 1989.
There
was an attempt by Stephen
Spielberg to
make a big Hollywood movie about it in the mid-nineties with the lead
being played by The McGann Brothers - a popular singing quartet from Liverpool But
this was too expensive to make and was eventually adapted into a series of new
adventure books instead that were so adult and clever, they were
unreadable and were eventually published by Poundland.
to be continued