The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 45 - Paul Bernard, taped pub conversation, off the record, 1994

I think the real disappointment were the fans. I think we had expectations there, that just didn't come about.

That was partly our fault. When we were starting out, David I think, was a bit too enthusiastic about the show, and some of his comments were taken the wrong way.

Then Ian, of course, Ian, that went badly. He was unquestionably disparaging of the more recent series, and that lead to that appalling swearing match in public with Sylvester McCoy. That wasn't just an awkward news clip. I think that actually turned people, some people, against us that we really needed supporting us.

There's no question that what we were doing, that what we intended to do, was a repudiation of the John Nathan-Turner era. We wanted to go back to the classic 70's Who - Jon and Tom. I genuinely think that the series had taken some wrong directions under John Nathan-Turner, I'm not walking back on that.

.... But I think we could have handled it better. As it turns out, we found ourselves in a kind of cold war with John Nathan-Turner, and a little bit with Sylvester and Sophie. It wasn't all us, they said some things publicly that are hard to ignore. But it wasn't necessary, and I think it hurt us.

It was ironic. After clamouring, I mean clamouring for Doctor Who, for anything, for the return, the continuation of their beloved series. We brought it back... And they turned our back on us. They wanted Doctor Who under any circumstance. Except that when we brought it to them, well, then suddenly, it was rubbish. Not good enough.

The fan media were just scathing, they treated us much worse than the regular media. We actually got fair treatment there. But then you would go online, or to the fanzines, and it's all "Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish! Doctor Who on a porno budget! Sloppy caperings. The 'faux' Doctor. An abomination of JNT's vision."

Well, let me tell you something about JNT's 'vision'! It wasn't working. It got the series cancelled. Everyone celebrates JNT because he was around when Doctor Who got big in the states. But that wasn't JNT, that was Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee, he wasn't around for them. They were what made the show a huge success England in the 70's, and then again in the United States in the 80's. Well, there's JNT in the 80's, and he's taking credit for that, he's giving the interviews, he's putting himself - Himself, not the actors - front and center. But it's not him, it's not his work. He's just taking the credit from others, including his own Doctors, none of whom were as successful as Jon and Tom. And that's not them, that's on JNT. So that's what I have to say about JNT.

So you had all these fans, these acolytes.... And by the way, I'll give this to John, he was very good at being accessible to his fans. Conventions, magazines, fanzines, he gave interviews, he was very much out there. He may not have deserved credit, but when it was given to him, he worked hard to be approachable for it. So you know, what happened was that ... I don't know that we can call it the leadership... The loudest voices, the opinion leaders... Well, you had the opinion leaders all very firmly in JNT's camp.

So then we'd get these fans, these editorials, these complaints that we were not being true to JNT's vision. Well that was our point. We didn't want to be true to JNT's 'vision.' We were doing something different. And if we had had one ounce, just one ounce, of goodwill and the forbearance and forgiveness that JNT traded on that he didn't deserve... They'd have been worshipping us.

Were we perfect? No, of course not. But the show was never perfect. Not with William (Hartnell) and Verity (Lambert), not with Tom (Baker) and Peter (Hinchcliff), certainly not with Sylvester and JNT. But we were the ones who got held to Hollywood standards.

Do you know what? When the 'movie' ever finally gets done, with its Hollywood budget and effects, I will bet you that the fans turn their back on it. It won't be 'Who' enough for them.

Well, we did a show, we did damned good shows. Not perfect, but good. And some of them, Vienna 1913, for all the hell that we went through, that was top rate. Monsters of Ness, Volcano, those were damned good shows. Secret of the Sontarans? We did the Sontarans better than the original show ever did, Robert (Holmes) would have been proud. Even Time Parasite is watchable - not something you can say for Delta and the Bannermen.

And it wasn't good enough for them. Which just goes to show you something, I suppose. Not sure what.

I think it was worse for David. David really invested himself in the part. He had expectations.

Remember the Dark Dimensions project? He tried to get on that. I don't know about the others, but he was really pushing. Had his agent calling, sent them letters, publicly stated he was up for it. And that Dimensions in Time rubbish - Deliberately excluded, that was entirely John Nathan-Turner being a bunt.

David's not a 'real' Doctor? Whatever the fuck that means? Of course David's a real Doctor, real as any of the others. And he was a good Doctor, I mean, I don't necessarily agree with how he handled the role, some of the decisions he made, where he took the character. But he made it his own character, and you have to respect that. 'Faux Doctor'... Rubbish!

I think... I mean, no one can say for sure, but I think.... I think if we had had the support from the fans, if they hadn't turned their back, we could have gone to a second season. We could have done better with BBC Enterprises. It was close, you know, it was really close. Maybe all it would have taken was a nudge. They could have made the difference. This was one of the occasions where they could have made a difference. It would have mattered.

But here we are... Pocket full of nothing, as they say.