11 Times Doctor Who Reinvented Itself

The Leisure Hive, which opened up the classic series' 18th season, didn't quite change everything. We still had the same Doctor and the same companions (mostly--K9's original voice returned), but beyond that, pretty much everything else shifted. It was all due to the arrival of the series' incoming producer, John Nathan-Turner.

Nathan-Turner's arrival upended the entire aesthetic of the show. He gave Tom Baker and Lalla Ward new wardrobes (which felt more like "costumes", and less like simply "clothes" than we'd ever had before). He shifted the stories away from campy comedy that had crept in and toward a harder science fiction tone. And he changed the iconic opening title sequence, the iconic title music arrangement, the style of the incidental music, and more.

John Nathan-Turner's influence over the series is impossible to ignore. He went on to be the producer of the show who lasted longer in the role than any other. He oversaw nine seasons; he cast three Doctors, two Masters, one Davros, and eight companions; and he shepherded the series through one of the most tumultuous periods in its history, and saw the closing off of the entire classic era.