Doctor Who

(TV Movie)

Summary: Feature length and American…two terms that strike fear into the heart of any British TV fan. Still, Sylvester McCoy’s in it, so it’s canon. It’s got shootings, medical drama, high speed chases and snogging…we’re not in Perivale anymore. In fact, we’re in San Francisco on the eve of the millennium (or one year off, if you’re a pedant) and the world is in grave danger for some convoluted reason. Eric Roberts makes an admirably whackjob Master (who takes over a paramedic’s body via a blob of goo), Paul McGann is a credible alien-out-of-water and Grace is by no means the worst companion the Doctor’s ever picked up.

Watch it because: It would be a crime to miss out a whole regeneration.

Original Air Date: 27 May 1996 (UK).
Doctor: Paul McGann (plus a brief bit of Sylvester McCoy).
Companions: Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook).
Writer: Matthew Jacobs.
Director: Geoffrey Sax.
Producer: Peter V. Ware & Matthew Jacobs.
Executive Producer: Philip David Segal, Alex Beaton & Jo Wright.

Survival

(Series 26, Episodes 12-14)

Summary: Ace returns to Perivale where her friends thought she had either died…or gone to Birmingham. On her return, she and the Doctor become embroiled in a sinister version of Cats meets The Hunger Games and she makes a furry friend. And then the Master shows up, feline desperate for the Doctor to get him home.

Watch it because: "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream, people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace — we've got work to do."

Original Air Date: 22 November - 6 December 1989.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.

Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Rona Munro.
Director: Alan Wareing.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

The Curse of Fenric

(Series 26, Episodes 8-11)

Summary: This story has everything…Vikings, code breakers, Russians, evacuees, doubting vicars, possessed people, zombies, super weapons, booby-trapped chess sets and a baby. And nutters willing to go swimming in the North Sea.

Watch it because: Was everyone drunk when they recorded this?

Original Air Date: 25 October - 15 November 1989.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.
Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Ian Briggs.
Director: Nicholas Mallett.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Ghost Light

(Series 26, Episodes 5-7)

Summary: Pyromaniac Ace visited a house in Perivale in 1983 that gave her the willies so the Doctor decides to take a trip there in Victorian times to see what’s up. They uncover a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria and a house full of control freaks with a spaceship in the basement.

Watch it because: You could play a drinking game for every time someone mentions Java.

Original Air Date: 4-18 October 1989.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.
Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Marc Platt.
Director: Alan Wareing.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Battlefield

(Series 26, Episodes 1-4)

Summary: UNIT is back and a little more diverse, investigating Arthurian legends whilst the Brig shops for trees with his wife. Mordred is a sleaze, Ace rises out of a lake with Excalibur and the Doctor gets mistaken for Merlin. I’m not entirely sure what everyone is battling over but Ace makes a new buddy who likes explosions as much as she does and the Doctor gets a bit too into the role of Merlin. You’re left wondering: a) what the Doctor cooked for supper and b) where you can read about the crazy adventures of Ace, Shou Yuing, Bambera and Doris.

Watch it because: the new Brig is a worthy successor.

Original Air Date: 6-27 September 1989.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.
Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Ben Aaranovitch.
Director: Michael Kerrigan.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

(Series 25, Episodes 11-14)

Summary: The Doctor and Ace get tickets to a circus where acts perform for an underwhelmed audience of three who kill the acts they don’t like…which seems to be all of them. Ace joins forces with a werewolf and the brainwashed former owner of the circus to defeat an army of killer clowns and the Doctor ends up performing, quite literally, for his life.

Watch it because: Sylvester McCoy was born to entertain.

Original Air Date: 14 December 1988 – 4 January 1989.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.
Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Stephen Wyatt.
Director: Alan Wareing.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.

Silver Nemesis

(Series 25, Episodes 8-10)

Summary: The Doctor gets a reminder on his smart watch that the world is about to end as Nazis, a 17th century sorceress and the Cybermen race to get their hands on “the nemesis”, a powered comet containing a statue made of living metal. They must reunite the statue with its bow and arrow in order to obtain unlimited power. The Cybermen appear to have upgraded to the Vader vocal package, the crazy sorceress drinks time travel juice and discovers how to hitchhike and the Doctor and Ace spend a lot of time hanging out in a wood. Ultimately, Cybermen weaponry is no match for Ace and her slingshot.

Watch it because: The Cybermen are introduced to jazz.

Original Air Date: 23 November – 7 December 1988.
Doctor: Sylvester McCoy.
Companions: Ace (Sophie Aldred)
Writer: Kevin Clarke.
Director: Chris Clough.
Producer: John Nathan-Turner.