Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor had very little on television or film, but he certainly has his fans. Today, we take a look at why his Doctor is so brilliant.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
With just a movie and a minisode, Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor had a very short screen life in Doctor Who. But he’s still this writer’s favorite Doctor, for a number of key reasons.
Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor is sadly one that often gets overlooked by Doctor Who fans, at least compared to other Doctors. It’s hardly surprising. On television, he had very little screen time, after all. With just the TV movie back in 1996 and the minisode The Night of the Doctor in 2013, he’s certainly not as prolific as Tom Baker or David Tennant. Well, at least not on-screen.
I’ve not just come across fans that don’t like him. I’ve even come across fans that think he shouldn’t actually count as one of the official Doctors at all. While that argument isn’t nearly as common now (especially after The Night of the Doctor), you still see it crop up every once in a while.
But the Eighth Doctor still has his fans, and this writer is definitely one of them. I don’t just rank him highly in my list of favorite Doctors, but he’s actually my favorite Doctor of all time. Let me give you a few key reasons why that is.
The Eighth Doctor has had many adventures off the television screen in books, comics and audios, including the recent box set Ravenous 2…
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
The expanded universe
The first thing that leaps to mind is, of course, the vast number of stories Eight’s had in expanded media. While the Eighth Doctor didn’t have a great deal of adventures on screen, between 1996 and 2005, he did have a number of adventures in books, comics and audios as the current Doctor.
It’s interesting in that even when Doctor Who had been off the air for years, and continued to be for a few more, a new incarnation still reinvigorated the franchise back in 1996. There was a new Doctor to tell stories with and brand new directions to take his Doctor in. It was an incredibly exciting time.
The novel range of Eighth Doctor Adventures was particularly successful. With over seventy books published in the series across eight years, they told stories of ambitious arcs and major character developments. I’ve only read a few myself, but they were definitely bold and exciting for his Doctor.
However, there was one particular line of media that I was especially keen to follow the Eighth Doctor in. One that actually continues to this day, in fact. And that’s the audio medium.
Big Finish
There’s a lot that I have to thank Big Finish for. For almost twenty years, they’ve given us a huge amount of content for all of the Classic Doctors, at least. And they’ve been especially good to Paul McGann, who to this day is still performing in many of their stories.
While I haven’t enjoyed all the directions they’ve taken with his Doctor, (especially the Divergent Universe audios,) overall, they’ve handled his character and his development really well.
His earliest travels with Charley; his New Series style adventures with Lucie; his epic arcs with Molly, Liv and Helen, and more recently, his Time War era stories. In all of these audios, he’s had so many exciting adventures and so much development. He’s even had Mary Shelley as a companion!
Big Finish have really helped to explore the Eighth Doctor in a really satisfying way. They kind of had to. Not only did they begin exploring his incarnation when he was still the “current” Doctor. They also had Paul McGann playing the character. And when you’ve got a really great actor in the role, you have to make sure that you’ve got the strong stories to back it up.
And they did. Considerably.
The Eighth Doctor has come across less as a Doctor of the Classic Series, and more of a nice balance between the Classic and the New. This was clear even in his earliest audio adventures, such as Storm Warning.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Between the classic and the new
I’ve already written about how the Eighth Doctor, in my view, isn’t really a Doctor of the Classic Series. That ended back in 1989 in its twenty-sixth season, seven years before the movie was made, and his movie and audios have been made by completely different production teams.
However, he doesn’t belong to the New Series, either. Again, there’s a long gap between the movie and Eccleston’s first episode, both in terms of production and story.
But that’s honestly another thing that fascinates me about his Doctor. Because he’s a clear link between the two. It’s not just because of the gap in mythology that’s really getting explored now, especially with the Time War. There’s also the style of it, too.
When I reviewed his first seasons with Charley Pollard, the style definitely carried on from the Classic Series, in some ways. Stories were told in four-part serials and had a slightly slower pace to them compared to the New Series.
A natural precursor
But even in these stories, there were hints of what was to come in the Russell T Davies era. For example, while we had the companion of Ace towards the end of Classic Who, one of the first companions to have a carefully thought out and planned arc in the series, Charley’s arc had plenty of the emotion and huge drama that many New Series love. So her story definitely feels like a natural precursor to those of Rose, Martha and Donna.
There’s also the Eighth Doctor’s style, as well. Outwardly, he wears clothes that are similar to the First Doctor’s, with his Wild Bill Hickock costume looking particularly Victorian-esque. And he has the eccentricity of Tom Baker’s Doctor, at times.
But he’s also one of the more emotional Doctors, too. He’s not a Doctor who’s afraid of giving big, epic speeches, and his era is full of endearing hellos and heartbreaking goodbyes to so many of his companions.
Since 2015, Big Finish have been exploring the Time War, with the Eighth Doctor getting his own Time War series.
(Image Credit: Tom Webster for Big Finish Productions.
Image acquired from announcement at Big Finish Productions.)
Exploring the Time War
That balance between Classic and New emerges in the stories in different ways, too. Lucie’s adventures are meant to clearly be reminiscent of Russell T Davies’s era, just with the Time Lords still around.
Series like Dark Eyes, Doom Coalition and Ravenous have featured more or less intricate arcs that unfold across the length of sixteen episodes. In some ways, it’s almost similar to Moffat’s style, especially during Matt Smith’s era. But it also feels closer to its own thing.
But just as important is how Big Finish explores the huge gap between the Classic and the New. Especially since 2015, when they finally got the rights to the New Series license and got to play with River Song, UNIT and of course, the Time War.
This last example has been particularly interesting, especially over the past year or so. Because we’ve also been getting more perspectives on the Time War, particularly with Gallifrey and The War Master. With it, we’re getting a better idea of how it unfolded.
And of course, we discover the Doctor’s role in it. First, Big Finish told many exciting stories with the War Doctor. Then, in 2017, they went back even further and focused on how the Eighth Doctor handled himself in the War.
To say that it’s complicated is an understatement. At the start of The Starship of Theseus, the Time War is not a concern for Eight. In fact, it’s very likely that he had never even heard of it! But due to shifting timelines, halfway through the story, he’d been running from it for a long time. Like I said: complicated!
On the whole, Big Finish get the balance between Classic and New just right, and really help to sell McGann’s Doctor as a natural bridge between the two eras. Especially in terms of his character.
The Eighth Doctor has clearly been shown to be a very moral Doctor. In stories such as Deimos, that sense of morality has often been challenged.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish. Image obtained from Big Finish Productions.)
A very moral Doctor
One thing that really helped to stand out about the Eighth Doctor was his strong sense of morality. Especially following his predecessor, who was more of a grand chess player. Someone who wasn’t afraid to use others as pawns for the sake of the greater good.
This was actually directly addressed in The Resurrection of Mars, one of my favorite Eighth Doctor stories. That story has the best description of regeneration ever, as the Doctor describes just how he is absolutely full of regret over some of the actions he took in his previous incarnation.
More importantly, he also goes into detail on how that regret changed him significantly once he, literally, became a new man again. It’s one of the best descriptions of regeneration you’ll ever hear, and it’s beautifully performed by McGann. It also reveals a great deal about his Doctor and why he is the way he is.
And that sense of morality continued until his final chronological story, The Night of the Doctor. Throughout so many adventures, Eight would always believe that every life was important, that every life was worth saving.
But his sense of morality wasn’t unchallenged over his many stories. Indeed, many of the best ones – including The Resurrection of Mars, To the Death and Dark Eyes – are keen to push him to the edge. And this all helps to add another interesting layer to his character.
The Eighth Doctor can be a light character, but he also has his moments of darkness. Particularly in stories such as Dark Eyes.
(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
A delicate balance of light and dark
I think many of us love it when the Doctor is fun and eccentric. This is something that popular Doctors Tom Baker and David Tennant are both famous for. Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor seems to have captured this aspect of the character well, too.
This is also true for Paul McGann. But what’s particularly fantastic – and this is something he has more in common with Baker and Tennant than with Whittaker’s Doctor, at least right now – is the depth and darkness within, and how easily he can switch between the two.
One of my favorite moments of the TV movie, and indeed of Doctor Who ever, features the Doctor talking to his new friend Grace Holloway about his childhood, all the while trying out a new pair of shoes. He gives a big speech, becoming very animated and happy as he remembers a Gallifreyan sky “dancing with lights”, before becoming especially excited by his shoes.
It’s a wonderful moment that really highlights the childlike innocence of his Doctor, especially towards the beginning of his life. But then you have his anger and his rage in To The Death, and indeed, in quite a few other stories.
The Eighth Doctor constantly sees darkness and death throughout the universe, and it really pushes him to the edge. In fact, at the beginning of Dark Eyes, he is literally heading to the edge of existence itself.
The balance between light and darkness was handled well throughout the Eighth Doctor’s life – including his regeneration story, The Night of the Doctor.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.
Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)
Nightfall
He’s not like this all the time, and indeed, it’s better that he’s not. Because the darkness is only really highlighted by how much joy and innocence the Doctor can see in the universe, as well as just being his usual eccentric and silly self.
But overall, each side helps to balance the other out. Sometimes, he may have more darkness in him than light, and vice versa. For example, Dark Eyes was essentially a series of Eight trying to recover after having one of the most traumatic days in all of his lives. But there is generally a good strong balance there.
This is actually something that Steven Moffat captured really well with The Night of the Doctor. Despite being just six minutes long, Moffat made sure to include plenty of moments where Eight was funny and eccentric, especially towards the beginning. Even when he finds out he has four minutes left to live, he still gets to make this great little speech:
"Four minutes? That’s ages! What if I get bored? I’ll need a television, a couple of books! Anyone for chess? Bring me knitting!"
It’s a great moment, especially with Eight facing his own death. But thankfully, Moffat doesn’t overplay that humor. What happens over the next four minutes is the Doctor giving up who he is, and it’s a brilliant scene that unfolds. It’s a perfect example of getting that balance between light and dark just right.
Paul McGann
The final reason I love the Eighth Doctor? Paul McGann himself. He’s just incredibly and consistently brilliant in the role. Even in the TV movie, he’s easily the best thing about it, capturing both the childlike wonder and the eccentric alienness of the Doctor.
The writers have explored so many sides to his character. The joyful, the eccentric, the alien, the mysterious, the darkness, the rage, and so much more. And across the past two decades, Paul McGann has played every single one of those vastly different sides so easily and so completely. He really throws himself into the character with almost every story. He constantly displays a clear passion for the role, and that’s exactly what the part needs.
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To the Death and Dark Eyes are exceptionally good. He really gets to bring the darkness of his Doctor out into the open – the anger, the rage, the despair. It’s absolutely incredible to hear just how much he can do on audio, and it’s still a real shame that we didn’t get to see more of his Doctor on screen.
That was a key reason why I was so grateful for The Night of the Doctor. While it would’ve been nice to have featured Eight as part of the fiftieth anniversary special, it was so good to see him on-screen in something. Especially something as good as Night, which achieved a great deal in just six minutes.
Overall, The Night of the Doctor was a magnificent send-off for Eight (not to mention long overdue). And, even better, it brought him to a brand-new audience, too. I’m sure that, even just because of those six minutes, there are more people who’d list Eight as their favorite now than there would’ve been over five years ago. And, along with great stories and fantastic development, a lot of that comes down to Paul McGann himself.
Are you a fan of the Eighth Doctor? What’s your favorite story, regardless of medium? Do you want Paul McGann to return to the TV series at some point? Let us know in the comments below.