Doctor Who: Thirty years ago today, the greatest sci-fi series ever quietly ended

We look back on a key moment in Doctor Who history: when the Classic Series quietly ended after twenty-six years. But was it officially cancelled?

Thirty years ago, on Dec 6 1989, the third and final part of Sylvester McCoy story Survival was broadcast. While it was the final story of the season and featured the return of the Master, there wasn’t much else that stood out about it. Certainly nothing that suggested that it would be the final story of Doctor Who in the original series.

However, that’s exactly what it became. After twenty-six years, seven Doctors and hundreds of episodes, the longest running science-fiction series in the world was cancelled. Except it wasn’t. Speaking at a recent BFI event to promote the release of Season 26 on Blu-Ray, Andrew Cartmel – script editor for Sylvester McCoy’s era – explained how quiet the ending of the series really was:

"People ask me about the cancellation… we weren’t really cancelled, it’s just like ghosting your girlfriend, they just never phoned us back!"

Again, this isn’t surprising when watching the final story of the Classic Series. There’s nothing that really hints that this is the end of an era, that a series that had been going on for decades was coming to an end. Nothing except for one final speech, which was clearly added after shooting for the story had been completed. Nevertheless, even decades later, when the series has been back for nearly a decade and a half, it’s hard not to get emotional when watching the clip below.

More from Winter is Coming

• For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
• Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
• Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
• Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
• Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”

A lack of high regard

So why did the show end so suddenly after lasting for so long? Well, according to Andrew Cartmel, it actually wasn’t too surprising. While these days, Doctor Who is given a lot of support from the BBC, at the time, it wasn’t held in such high regard.

"It’s extraordinary to say that now when it’s sort of a jewel in the crown, but Doctor Who was just beyond the pale."

Looking back, it’s rather ironic that it was cancelled at that point. Because that was when the series was really getting its energy and creativity back. While McCoy’s first season might not be one of the best, his last two seasons gave us so many great stories.

Foreshadowing the New Series

More than that: the Doctor’s relationship with his companion Ace was a unique one, at least for the Classic Series. With her personal life and history being focused on so much, Ace was a very natural precursor to the companions of the modern series, as Cartmel explains.

"It was only years and years afterwards, only after the new show came back under Russell, that people began to point out that Ace had set the template for the new companions… I think that we really did shape the series when it came back under Russell [T Davies] and Steven [Moffat]. I didn’t realise until a few years ago how much of an impact we’ve had, but we were anticipating modern Who."

With so much creativity and originality, it really is a huge shame that the series was cancelled when it was. While we can be glad that the series is back and hugely popular today, it took a long time for the show to return. With the exception of the movie and charity specials, we had no Doctor Who on television for sixteen years. It’s important to remember that, so we can be grateful for what we do have now.

Do you think Survival was a fitting final story for the Classic Series? Are you a fan of the story, or of the Seventh Doctor’s era? Let us know in the comments below.