10 Doctor Who Stories That Had Troubled Productions
8. The Greatest Show In The Galaxy (1988)
The Episodes: The Doctor and Ace visit a Psychic Circus and find themselves face-to-face with the fearsome Gods Of Ragnarok. The Problem: Asbestos contamination. Location filming for The Greatest Show In The Galaxy went off without a hitch but before studio filming was due to commence, large amounts of asbestos were discovered inside the studio that had been booked and all filming was immediately cancelled. But because a large amount of The Greatest Show In The Galaxy was set inside a circus tent, there was a solution on the horizon. Executive producer John Nathan-Turner was desperate to avoid a repeat of the Shada debacle of nine years previously (which well get to later), and have a story on his hands that would be half-finished for a year at best and forever at worst. So he hit upon the idea of erecting a tent in the studio car park and filming the studio scenes inside it. An idea that worked brilliantly; keeping the story on schedule and improving the atmosphere of the scenes set inside the circus tent. Another production problem that surprisingly didnt end up hurting the story at all was a moment where the Doctor calmly walks away from the circus tent as it explodes. The explosive charge used was larger than expected but, knowing that there was only once chance to film this shot, Sylvester McCoy kept his cool and didnt react at all save for some barely noticeable flinching.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
