The regeneration game...
MARION McMULLEN looks back at Paul McGann’s move into the Tardis 25 years ago
THE distinctive metallic thrum of the Tardis had fallen silent and no one was on hand to help the Earth fight off potential Dalek attacks when TV bosses decided the time was right to bring back Doctor Who.
Paul McGann became the eighth Doctor 25 years ago, in a TV film special that was broadcast on May 27, 1996.
It saw previous Time Lord Sylvester McCoy regenerating as he made his way home to Gallifrey with the ashes of his old nemesis, the Master.
The new Doctor awoke to find himself in America as everyone was counting down to the Millennium New Year’s eve celebrations. Meanwhile, the Master, played by Eric Roberts, had found himself a new body belonging to a paramedic and was intent on causing trouble.
Liverpudlian Paul made a dashing Doctor and it was planned that the two-hour film would be followed by six further adventures for the handsome Time Lord.
However, the TV movie failed to attract a large American audience despite it being a ratings hit in Britain and the idea for more sci-fi outings was dropped.
The movie was responsible for Doctor Who’s first on-screen kiss, with Daphne Ashbrook as US hospital doctor Grace Holloway. She discovered his alien nature when he proved to her he had two hearts.
He also explained the Tardis saying “this
is a type-40 Tardis able to take you to any planet in the universe and to any date in that planet’s existence. Temporal physics.”
Paul went on to reprise the role in audio adventures and appeared in a sevenminute short film on BBC iPlayer in 2013 called The Night Of The Doctor which saw him regenerate into John Hurt.
He also popped up in The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot the same year.
Paul has said: “I’m still surprised year in, year out, at the involvement, the fervour, the zeal that the fans, the adherents, the people who are making the stories, and all these references, all this history, I’m still surprised at how complex and important it is.”