David Burton turned out to be a much bigger Doctor in the United States than he is in England. Partly that's because of the 'decade of scarcity' where the Millenium production became a legendary lost season, accessible only through hard won bootlegged tapes. Partly because his light touch went over very well with American audiences enthralled with Baker. And Partly because he embraced it whole heartedly, he made a lot of trips to the states for the convention circuits, hung with fans, and found it a perfect forum for his brand of charm. The American audience loved him, and he loved them right back.
He would also play a variation of his character, renamed the Wanderer in a local Australian production, shot in Sydney.
Post-Doctor, he mostly returned to the stage. His career was a bit more successful, more starring roles, as opposed to supporting characters. He did some children's television, a couple of commercials. He did a little better, but it wasn't earth shaking.
He wrote a book about his experiences as the Doctor, retained a ghostwriter. It was an on-again, off-again thing. That's where most of the interviews come from. But it didn't get published until 2005. By that time, he'd mellowed out a bit, and his more balanced views probably made it a better book.
One 'highlight' of his post-Doctor caree, was 'Dective Hoot and the Case of the Missing Bird' - a series of shorts where he played a comic version of a Philip Marlowe style Detective searching for the missing sister from an exotic dancers duo. There were a number of New Doctor allusions. Hoot's office phone didn't work, so wherever he went, he was perpetually ducking in and out of red phone booths to make calls, to spy or to hide, to the point where he'd call them his office. Hoot's search, through different shorts, took him through a Medieval Renaissance Fair/Society for Creative Anachronism; an Animatronic dinosaur exhibition; a Hospital; and a Mars Mission Training Landscape/Bio dome. There would invariably be scantily clad women, and a chase. The shorts were eventually compiled into a movie, it was broadcast on ITV a few times, and a proposed series never went anywhere. Dective or 'Detective Hoot' was a good example of where David's unrestrained comedic impulses took him, and it wasn't a pretty sight.
*****
Judy and Jenny Lannister didn't entirely retire from acting. Through the course of the season, they'd improved considerably, mostly because of David's efforts. But David himself had limits as an actor. As noted, actually turning in a disciplined performance seemed like a lot more work.
After the show, they mostly switched to modelling, and took small roles based on their novelty as twins. There was a spell where they did some racy lingerie stuff for a men's magazine and suggested that the relationship with David was a bit closer than was proper, which upset David. But it was ultimately harmless.
Jenny moved on. Judy stuck with it a few years more, continuing with some supporting roles on television and bit parts in movies. They remembered David and some of the crew fondly.
*****
As for Ian McKellen, he enjoyed himself. They treated him like a rock star on the set. Paul Bernard and Barry Letts struck him as thoroughly professional. The role was camp, and he liked the opportunity to turn it up to 11. His career was mature enough that a couple of weeks of shooting in the early 90's made no discernible impact.
*****
Barry Letts passed away October 9, 2009. In the end, every story ends the same way.
*****
The experience of the New Doctor should have soured Ian Levine on Doctor Who, or at least on production. But a year later, he was producing Downtime, and subsequently involved in several projects. He remained a dedicated, albeit controversial, fan of Doctor Who, and was active in recovering lost episodes.
He remained an influental figure in British music, and has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million.
In 2014, he suffered a major stroke, but has slowly recovered somewhat.
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The primary effect of the Millenium Production for the BBC was merely to reinforce convictions. Doctor Who was a show whose time had passed, although they could never say that out loud. It also discouraged the BBC from wanting to license the TV series, the Millenium experiment was seen as unsuccessful from both a ratings and creative standpoint. In a minor sense, it was used as an argument in opposing John Birt's efforts to shake up the BBC.
But because the series took place outside the BBC, it didn't have a significant impact on careers and politics within the BBC. It didn't significantly affect the Daltenreys project or its demise, or the Fox movie with McGann.
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The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story
FanfictionThis is a Doctor Who fanfic, like you've never seen before. Not a Doctor Who story, not quite, although it contains Doctor Who stories. It's an alternate history story about the making of Doctor Who... Or about a particular version of Doctor Who...
