4. The Invasion Of Time (1978)
BBC
The Episodes: The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, assumes his role of Lord President, and helps the alien Vardans invade.
The Problem: Hastily written scripts and the near-collapse of the UK economy. The Invasion Of Time was produced towards the end of 1977, a year before what came to be known as the Winter Of Discontent; a time when the UKs economy came close to total collapse with mass strikes and inflation peaking at 26.9%. But the Doctor Who production office had other problems to deal with before the strikes and economic downturn came into play. The finale of Season 16 was originally a six part story called The Killers Of The Dark written by David Weir but was far too expensive for Doctor Who, with some sources suggesting that it would have been tricky to realise even on a film budget. Therefore The Invasion Of Time was a substitute written by script editor Anthony Read and producer Graham Williams in just two weeks with only four days allotted for rewrites. Because of industrial action, Williams was given the option of cutting the season short and letting the storys budget roll over to Season 17 but declined as he didnt want the money to depreciate in value while it wasnt being used. But its after the scripts were finished that real problems started. Before the story was filmed, a number of BBC departments went on strike and the episodes ended up being hastily shot on sets built in a hospital in Redhill, ones leftover from 1976s The Deadly Assassin (also set on Gallifrey), and in a quarry in Redhill that stood in for the wastelands of Gallifrey. Additionally, Louise Jameson (departing companion Leela) requested that her character be killed off. However, this idea was ruled out as being too traumatic for children and was replaced by her staying on Gallifrey with Time Lord guard Andred after a romance that factored very little into the story.