When Doctor Who made a comeback in 2005, the BBC had a number of potential lead writers and narrative approaches to choose from; including Mark Gatiss, Life On Mars co-creator Matthew Graham, and of course Russell T. Davies. Who won over the BBCs executives with his vision of how a modern Doctor Who should be. And the most important part of that vision was a darker and more troubled Doctor. As Series 1s second episode The End Of The World revealed, the Doctor had been involved in a war (later established to have been against the Daleks) that wiped out the Time Lords and permanently destroyed Gallifrey. Given that Gallifrey first appeared as early as 1969 (The War Games) and some of the programmes most popular stories and secondary characters (as well as two companions) were related to Gallifrey, you can expect that the overall reaction was mixed. Although Ecclestons darker and more intense Doctor won over regular viewers and critics, more than a few fans didnt think that it was worth excising such a big part of the Doctor Who universe (and offscreen to boot) for the sake of influencing the new Doctors personality. While others who didnt have a lot of love for the Time Lords didnt consider it such a big loss. But this state of affairs would only last for eight-and-a-half years...
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.
