The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 51 - Paul Bernard, interview 1995

I think we were all very bitter afterwards.

I remember hearing the story of this man in Hollywood, and how, for every movie, no matter how bad, he'd stand up and clap enthusiastically. He would do that because he knew how difficult it was to make a movie, even a bad one.

I say this because we didn't set out to make a terrible series. No one does that. We wanted to do something good, not just good, but remarkable, noteworthy. We worked hard on that show. Every single one of us.

We may have driven each other up the wall, but we were all passionate about doing good work.

I came to despise Ian. We had ferocious rows, I threw him off my set several times. Even Barry lost his temper at him. I blamed him for a lot that went wrong, I guess I still do. We wouldn't have ended up in the red, but for his perpetual well intentioned but completely wrong headed meddling. He was the classic case of an amateur out of his depth and making a mess of it for everything.

And David. I'd wake up in the morning, and go to the set, and I just had this perpetual flinch, about how he was going to turn this whole thing into a farce with his mugging and and his buffoonery. David was a mistake, just a mistake. We mistook charisma for talent with David, we assumed a discipline that simply was not there.

But both of them, they believed passionately in the show, in what we were doing. They gave it everything they had. One thing I won't fault them for is a lack of commitment.

Then there was Barry and I. The old hands. We were so confident that we knew what we were doing, so arrogant that our way was the right way. But the truth is, we were floundering like the rest of them. You don't realize how many things were automatically taken care of, how organized things were at the BBC, until you had to start doing them for yourself. We were inflexible.

Looking back, I'm not sure if that was the right approach. Certainly it contributed to the fights. What's the criticism of the New Doctor? That it's old fashioned? We were, Barry and I, both products of the seventies, that was our heyday. Maybe we were out of step.

We fought like cats and dogs through the whole thing, fought about everything. All of us had these very clear ideas of what the show should be, but it wasn't the same for any of us. It was a perpetual struggle, and it cost us, time, money, everthing. And yet, we tried so hard.

We put it out there.... and nothing. It was heartbreaking, particularly in the later episodes to see the ratings. No one was watching. We did all this work, we had what we thought were good shows, and no one was watching. All those fans, not a whisper. The whole world turned its back on us.

I don't know what we would have done if we'd gotten another season. I remember Ian coming to me and Barry, and just being adamant that David had to go. If not this season, then the next season, we were going to have to recast, he couldn't stand having a clown in the role, it physically hurt him. I couldn't see letting David go, but I wanted shut of Ian. And David, David figured we needed Ian, but not me. I suspect that if it had gone to a second season, it would have still been the three of us or the four of us together, we'd fight like cats and dogs and hate each other, but we couldn't do it without each other. Maybe it's just as well it died when it did.

What's the saying? Failure has many fathers, success is an orphan? No that can't be right. But that's what it was for us. We all blamed each other, rightly or wrongly. We were bitter.

Ian, Ian will not, absolutely will not be in the same room as David Burton. He won't speak to him, won't be in his presence. He can't even watch the episodes. It's that bad. Ian's probably the saddest. For him, it wasn't a job, or a project, it was a dream, it was the dream of his life, and it turned into such a nightmare for him. Poor bastard.

David hides it better. But this was supposed to be his big break, he really put his heart into it. He wanted to be famous. Maybe he was misguided, but he was in it. What did he get? A footnote. He's not a real Doctor, he's not part of the 'canon' whatever the hell that is.

It was all just bitterness. We blamed each other, we wouldn't speak to each other. We said cruel things about each other. I suppose I've just done that now myself, so I'm no better. I think it comes down to fear and disappointment. You work so hard, you put so much of yourself, your heart your life into something. And it goes nowhere. And you want to lash out, you want to blame someone, you want to blame anyone, you want to shout at the world. And maybe in the end you have to wonder if it was worth it at all, that maybe it just wasn't very good or any good, that it was all a waste, and that what you brought to it was failure.

I suppose that's why I don't like to talk about it.