7 Moments That Almost Killed Doctor Who
5. The 6th Doctor's Tumultuous Time In The TARDIS
Doctor Who managed to continue through five regenerations of the Doctor before it ran into some serious problems that threatened it with cancelation. Colin Baker was brought on to play the Doctor, and he knocked out his first series with the belief he would return for his second.
As it happens, Michael Grade, the executive at BBC One responsible for the series, unceremoniously yanked Doctor Who from the schedule. Talk of canceling it outright was all over the place, and it was looking grim. Grade later described the previous series as "outdated" and "awful," so he pulled it for 18 months.
This resulted in the abandonment of several storylines, all of which were outlined and/or written for Baker's second series. In March of 1985, the show returned — in a manner of speaking — to knock out a charity episode called "Doctor in Distress," which didn't look great for the series' survival.
After the 18-month hiatus, Doctor Who returned to British televisions, but it wasn't entirely clear why Grade brought it back. By the end of that series, Baker was fired from the show, making him the only actor to be sacked while playing the Doctor.