Doctor Who: Should Paul McGann count as a Classic Doctor?

Looking at the Eighth Doctor’s era, we have to ask: does he really belong to the Classic Series of Doctor Who, or is he something else?

Now, before we start, I know what you’re thinking. And in case you were worried, the answer is no: this isn’t a debate on whether McGann’s Doctor should be canon or not. To someone who’s reviewed and loved so many of his audios, there’s just no question: he absolutely does count as a Doctor. In this writer’s opinion, the Eighth Doctor’s one of the best in Doctor Who.

No, what we’re debating here is, in terms of Classic and New Who, does he really fall into the former?

On the surface, the answer would be an easy yes. In terms of merchandise and licensing, Eight has always fallen under the Classic Series brand. Its why Big Finish have been able to tell stories with him since 2001, but not with subsequent Doctors until 2015.

And Series One of the New Series starts with Christopher Eccleston, not McGann. Not to mention the fact that we see McCoy regenerate into McGann, whereas we didn’t see any regeneration from McGann when the show came back, not until 2013 with The Night of the Doctor, anyway. So he’s clearly a Classic Doctor, right?

Paul McGann’s Doctor first appeared in the 1996 TV movie. Does that really belong to the Classic Series, though?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

The TV movie – neither Classic nor New?

Well, not necessarily. While he does technically come under the brand of Classic Who, the TV movie wasn’t meant to be a part of that. Yes, it continued from it, but like the New Series, it was set a long time afterwards, and even meant to be a completely fresh start.

It just made a mistake that the New Series didn’t: include the previous Doctor just to show how he regenerates into the new one, rather than explaining that story later.

Also, when you watch the TV movie, it’s incredibly different to the Classic Series. Which isn’t surprising, as it wasn’t just set a long time afterwards, but even made a long time afterwards, too. Seven years later, in fact.

Not only that, but it was also made for an American audience. While the Doctor himself was still British, almost everything else about it was made with an American audience in mind. So unsurprisingly, this lead to a very clear difference in style.

But with a gap of almost nine years between the movie and the broadcast of Rose, we can’t really call it a part of the New Series either. And while a lot of its presentation is closer to New Who at times than Classic, it still doesn’t quite fit that style.

We’re mainly looking at the TV movie because, aside from a short minisode for the fiftieth anniversary, that’s all we’ve had of the Eighth Doctor on-screen. But what about off it?

The Eighth Doctor continues to have his story told in audios, most recently Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 2.

(Image Credit: Tom Webster for Big Finish Productions.

Image acquired from announcement at Big Finish Productions.)

A gradual shift

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When Big Finish started telling stories with Paul McGann’s Doctor, initially, they told those audios in a Classic Series style: four-part stories, with cliffhangers at the end of each half-hour episode.

But while they had the Classic Series structure, they also had strong arcs that slowly unfolded over the seasons, too. Ones with resolutions that were usually more character focused than plot driven, with strong emotional endings. This was something more common to the New Series than the Classic.

And of course, as Eight’s story continued on audio, even the way stories were told would echo the New Series. For example, The Eighth Doctor Adventures featured stories told in either one single episode or with two-parters, in a deliberate way of echoing the New Series.

And this developed when his stories were moved from individual episodes to box set format. Series like Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition and Ravenous have focused on telling larger story arcs, almost closer to Moffat’s style of storytelling. So Eight’s series has, on the whole, shifted from Classic style to New.

This might be the best way of looking at his whole era, and what his Doctor represents. He’s neither Classic nor New, but effectively represents a bridge between the two. A Doctor that doesn’t entirely belong to either, not really. And that makes him that much more fascinating.

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Do you agree that the Eighth Doctor is more of a “bridge” Doctor than Classic or New? Could the War Doctor also be considered as such? Let us know in the comments below.

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