Doctor Who: 30 Years of Seven – Top 5 Seventh Doctor TV stories
By James Aggas
Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. (Credit: BBC)
To celebrate 30 years of the Seventh Doctor, we take a look at his five greatest TV stories!
This week, on September 7th 2017, it’ll be thirty years since the broadcast of Time and the Rani. It’s not a very good story, to be honest. In fact, it’s been generally considered to be one of the weakest stories in the entire run of the Classic Series. (To be honest, I don’t think it’s quite that bad, but it’s definitely not a strong one.) However, it is notable for one thing, at least: the introduction of the Seventh Doctor, as played by Sylvester McCoy.
I must admit, I am a big fan of Seven. Not because of his first season, however. It has to be said, with his first few stories, he really didn’t get off to the strongest of starts. Along with Time and the Rani, both Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen were a little too…pantomime, really. Very light-hearted stories on the whole. Which made the scenes of cannibal grannies and mass murder that much more shocking and jarring, frankly.
With that first season, it was clear everyone was trying really hard to find the right tone for the new Doctor, but without much success.
Fortunately, with both Dragonfire and the introduction of Ace, the Seventh Doctor finally started to head towards a bold and bright future. His remaining two seasons gave us quite a few great stories. To celebrate his thirtieth anniversary, we take a look at the five best stories from his TV run.
(Spoiler alert: every single one of them is from his last two seasons.)
BBC
5. ‘Survival’
The first one we’ll be looking at in this list is also the last. Not just of the Seventh Doctor’s run, but also of the entire Classic Series. And honestly, Survival wasn’t that bad of a story to end on. In fact, it shares a lot in common with some of the earliest stories of the New Series, 16 years later.
First of all, there’s the heavy focus on the ordinary, modern-day setting of the companion’s home. There had been plenty of stories set in the modern day before. But usually, those stories would have been focused on scientists, UNIT or army soldiers or generals, politicians etc. It was very rare to focus on just ordinary people who lived in the suburbs, so it was great for Survival to focus on it more.
At just three episodes, it’s also faster paced than your average four-part story. There’s still room to explore interesting ideas, such as the Cheetah People. This was quite an interesting race, and Ace’s relationship with them was particularly great to watch.
Topped off with possibly Anthony Ainley’s best performance as the Master, and a really great climactic scene between the two arch-enemies, and it’s enough to make you saddened that the Classic Series ended when it did, just as it seemed to be finding its feet again.
BBC
4. ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’
This is such a bizarre and surreal story to watch, at times. It’s not just the rather unusual and distinct mix of colourful characters that make this so strange. In this story, you had explorers and clowns alongside geeks and werewolves.
But there was also the sheer contrast in tone. Or at least, the contrast of what was on the surface compared to what was underneath.
Because on the surface, at least, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was a bright and colourful story. The circus has many acts, and we get to see the Seventh Doctor perform some tricks, including juggling. There’s even a rapping Ringmaster! (It was the eighties, after all.)
However, just underneath that bright and shiny surface, there’s a great deal of horror, too. There’s a lot of death and darkness to this story. Captain Cook is someone who appears charming and nice, before very quickly revealing himself as an absolutely ruthless and calculating villain.
The Circus’s “audience” are equally deceptive. At first seeming like an ordinary family, you grow to become more and more terrified every time they raise their score cards for each of the acts.
But it’s Ian Reddington’s Chief Clown that’s the most effective. Sinister and terrifying, it’s an incredibly memorable performance. It’s also a big reason why The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is such a brilliant story for the Seventh Doctor.
BBC
3. ‘Ghost Light’
This is a bit of an odd choice for me to rank so highly. Because even after multiple viewings, I’m not sure I entirely “get” Ghost Light, at least story-wise. There are a lot of ideas and elements that it packs into its three episodes. Unsurprisingly, some of those ideas and concepts have gone straight over my head.
So why am I rating it so highly? Because if there’s one Doctor Who story that proves that understanding its plot entirely isn’t exactly necessary to love it, it’s Ghost Light. There’s just so much about this serial that I enjoy.
For one thing, I adore the atmosphere of it. Especially how it’s entirely set in the spooky mansion of Gabriel Chase. There’s a great deal of low lighting, which adds to the whole atmosphere. Despite its title, Ghost Light isn’t a ghost story as such, but it feels very close to one, at times. There are also the many different and complex characters that add to the strangeness and dark tone of the story.
I also love the key concepts that I have been able to understand. I love the story’s exploration of both evolution and the fear of change. And the more I watch Ghost Light, the more of it I understand, and the more I enjoy it. It’s definitely a great example of a story that rewards more on re-watch.
A darker relationship
But the biggest reason why I love it is definitely the relationship between the Seventh Doctor and Ace. This story defines that relationship in a big way, I think. At the very least, it helps ensure that it stands out more than your average Doctor/companion relationship.
I don’t mean in a romantic sense, like with Ten and Rose or Eleven and River. No, this is far more alien and darker than that. The Seventh Doctor has brought Ace to Gabriel Chase as a surprise visit. When you learn that Ace specifically told him that she was terrified of the place back in her time, it makes that “surprise” rather horrifying.
The Seventh Doctor isn’t interested in being nice or respecting his companions wishes. Instead, he wants them to face their fears, to be stronger. More than that – he wants to be more proactive in facing evil and darkness, regardless of the consequences. Ghost Light defined the Seventh Doctor in a big way. Ironic really, considering it was the final story produced of the Classic Series. Nevertheless, it left a big impact on the expanded universe that followed. Particularly the New Adventures series of novels from the nineties, as well as Big Finish’s audios. Because of the impact on those stories, Ghost Light is definitely a must watch.
BBC
2. ‘The Curse of Fenric’
Oh wow, where to begin with The Curse of Fenric? It just includes so much. World War 2, Viking curses, vampires, evil gods, and some major revelations for Ace, this is a story that crams in so much. For some stories, even four episodes would be a little too long, but that certainly wasn’t the case here. If anything, it wasn’t enough, which is why the story has an extended edition on DVD!
Like the very best stories, it’s not just the plot that makes this story so great. I love the characters and their development. This is particularly notable for Ace, who seems to grow from rebellious teenager to a young woman in this one. It doesn’t change her completely, but her growth is great to watch.
But even the characters written solely for this particular story are fantastic. My favourite has to be Rev Wainwright, as played by Nicholas Parsons. A big name in British television and radio, this could have been just a bit of stunt casting by the producers, which had definitely happened before. But Parsons played the role of a vicar struggling with his faith rather brilliantly.
Questions of faith
Speaking of faith, that’s another element I adored about this story. The power of faith itself is rather beautifully explored in The Curse of Fenric. It’s not just religious faith that it deals with, either. It also explores faith in ideas, as well as faith in others. And before you ask, while I haven’t heard anything officially, I’d be very surprised if this story hadn’t influenced Eleventh Doctor episode The God Complex in several big ways.
Once again, this is another story that explores the Seventh Doctor, Ace and their relationship wonderfully well. There’s one particularly iconic scene where the Doctor has to save Ace by any means necessary, and it’s brutal. It’s a wonderful ending to a phenomenal story, and I suspect a lot of fans are going to be mad that I placed this second.
So what is the very best Seventh Doctor story on television?
BBC
1. Remembrance of the Daleks
Of course Remembrance of the Daleks is number one. For the Seventh Doctor, this story was, in many ways, a game-changer.
I mentioned at the start of this article that his first season had far from the best stories. And while Dragonfire wasn’t too bad and ended on a great quote, it still wasn’t quite up there with the best stories.
And then along came season 25. To say that it started with a bang with Remembrance of the Daleks is an understatement. Frankly, I think it is one of the very best stories that the show had made in years.
Firstly, you have the Seventh Doctor’s character defined in a distinctive and brilliant way. Throughout season 24, the writers seemed to be really struggling with finding the right sort of development for McCoy’s Doctor. In Time and the Rani, he was a Doctor who came across as a fool, mixing his metaphors and falling for really basic disguises. It wasn’t the best first impression for his new Doctor.
In Remembrance, he’s more secretive. He knows what’s going on before anyone else does. He’s certainly aware of what the Daleks are planning, or at the very least, what their main objective is.
And he’s very proactive in making plans of his own against them. He’s no longer the Doctor who’s simply reacting to his enemies’s schemes, but a man who’s working on stopping them from the start. He’s not perfect. There are key plans and moves his enemies make that he overlooks. But he’s still brilliantly clever when it comes to his own schemes.
Action and mature themes
Another thing I love about Remembrance? How absolutely action-packed it is. Seriously, that is not a term I use lightly, but it’s definitely a term that fits Remembrance of the Daleks rather well. You have soldiers vs. Daleks, Daleks vs. Daleks, Daleks getting blown to bits, and so much more! How the production team was able to make all of this on such a small budget, I have no idea! Obviously, Doctor Who isn’t something that we watch purely for epic battles. But when it’s done right and works well as part of a multi-layered story, bloody hell, is it satisfying!
We also get a ton of exploration of racism. A subject matter as heavy as that can be difficult to tell in a Doctor Who story, but in the case of Remembrance of the Daleks, it’s handled just right. We see it with the two groups of Daleks, who are at war with each other because one group is slightly different to the other, at least genetically.
But we also see it with some of the humans in 1960s England. One particularly small but memorable moment is Ace seeing a sign saying, “No coloureds”. Her anger at the sign says it all. It doesn’t overshadow the story, but it is a key element of it.
I could go on about Remembrance of the Daleks forever. It really is not just one of my favourite Seventh Doctor stories, but one of my favourite Doctor Who stories ever made. It has everything I look for in a serial: an effective use of the Doctor, a great story of good versus evil, multiple themes, and fleshed out characters. If there is one Seventh Doctor story you need to see, it’s most definitely this one.
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