Following orders from the BBFC that enforces all forms of home media to have a rating on its product, the next tape to feature a rating, a "U" one, was Pyramids Of Mars. The new product code for this tape was BBCV4055, and came out on 13th April. The tapes for both Pyramids and Revenge Of The Cybermen were identical including the copyright dates on the leaders. The omnibus run of the story was passed as a U by the BBFC on 23rd March 1986. Another release to feature the new BBFC guidance rating, again rated a "U" was The Seeds Of Death, which was rereleased on 13th July as BBCV4072. A new set of end credits was made, incorporating freeze frames from the story, but the tape was copyrighted for 1986. The omnibus date was passed as U by the BBFC on 1st September 1985!
With repeated Doctor Who episodes on the BBC now seemingly over as the series struggled to regain good publicity in the public, the Super Channel, NBC Europe, began showing early Tom Baker episodes. Usually weekday late afternoons, and then later weekends also, the channel showed episodes from Season 12-15 from March 1987 - October 1988. The repeats returned for a short while from January-August 1989. The strange order episodes shown featured every story between Robot - The Deadly Assassin, as well as The Robots Of Death, and Horror Of Fang Rock. This was the first time BBC Doctor Who had aired outside of a BBC Channel and was the first chance for fans to see older episodes from the golden era of the program regularly on a new network.
In 1987, BBC Video adapted its focus towards the new, fast-growing "sell-through" market. The price of the new tapes was charged at an even more affordable £9.99, which now included the price of the previously released stories. The first release to be part of this new strategy was Death To The Daleks, also on 13th July, even though the tape was credited for 1986. This story was the only release (or rather new release) of the entire year. Labelled as a "U" under BBCV4073, and a tape running for 1:34:10, the cover featured an iconic image of a burning Dalek alongside the Exxilons and their city. Two cover variants exist for this release — differing only in the font used for the title and "Starring Jon Pertwee" text on the front cover. The original cover is as shown, which uses the same "rounded" font used for other Doctor Who VHS releases of the time. At some stage subsequently, this was changed to a more angular font. This release of Death To The Daleks became the most successful Doctor Who video ever, spending 11 weeks in the retail chart and selling more than 50,000 copies!
From the immense success of this release, archive programs became a regular and affordable addition to fans' collections. Once the novelty began to wear off, many started complaining about how the episodes were presented (all the episodes being joined together). These edited features began to make an impact on fans. As the best surviving episodes were selected for home video release, some suspect BBC Video to have inadvertently compromised the perception of contemporary Doctor Who. The earliest releases coincided with the most scathing criticisms of recent episodes, making it harder for John Nathan Turner to ascribe such unflattering comparisons to faulty memories.
It was also now possible that because these stories were available to such a wide market of fans, Whovians could have an informed opinion about Death To The Daleks - not just a handful of members or journalists of the DWAS Reference Department. Death To The Daleks was a critical release for the Doctor Who VHS range. The success of the story's video release resulted in the BBC realising there was a market to release further stories for. It opened the doors for many viewers to get their hands on proper Doctor Who to own fully without renting or borrowing, and holds a unique place in many fans' memories. Up until The Web Of Fear DVD release in 2014, this was the best-selling Classic Doctor Who release of all time. With Doctor Who's 25th Anniversary around the corner, BBC Enterprises continued to exploit further titles from the archive...
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Doctor Who: The Complete History Of The BBC VHS Range
FanfictionIn the 21st century, Whovians across the world are privileged enough to watch the adventures of their favourite travelling Time Lord on a host of streaming platforms, Iplayer, websites, and on other forms of HD content. Not that long ago, Doctor Who...
