Feature by JAMES COORAY SMITH
Interviewed for the New Jersey Network’s The Making of Doctor Who in 1988, John Nathan-Turner explained his wish to leave the series by saying it needed “taking into the 90s”. He felt this was not something the producer who had been around to “take it into the 80s” could do. Yet as the 90s began, he was still working in Doctor Who’s production office, even though Doctor Who was no longer being made.
JNT had known since September 1989 that there wouldn’t be a Season 27. He wouldn’t be taking Doctor Who into the 90s, but then neither would anyone else. Without a series to plan, he worked on merchandise approvals and an extended VHS version of The Curse of Fenric (1989), requested by BBC Video’s Penny Mills when she discovered how much material had been cut from the story for timing reasons. Nathan-Turner and director Nicholas Mallet re-edited it, reincorporating as much cut material as they could, with Mark Ayres composing new music for the reintegrated sections. Then, one Friday in August, John Nathan-Turner left the BBC and walked into a job at the UK’s newest television service.