I remember when Doctor Who was a 25 minute fantasy show on Saturday at dinnertime.

@CathyUK From what I gather that is a pretty common consensus. David Tennant was much loved in the role and it seems to have gone downhill since then.

@NightTimeWolf it seemed to me that the 2 drs after Ecclestone were Tom Baker wannabes. I stopped watching before Capaldi, so that's all I know

Anyone else think Capaldi seemed creepy?

Yes totally. I found his portrayal unlikeable, like the Colin Baker Doctor in the 80's. Just not as much fun.

@NightTimeWolf Colin? Not Tom?

No there was Colin Baker, and although he shared the same surname his era was bloody awful! Not his fault. He was offered the part, he loved the show but they made him dress like a clown, act like an ass and gave him horrible stories, so what chance did he really have?

@NightTimeWolf yep. He was almost as bad as McCoy

@ImperialAerosolKidFromEP Don't remind me. After Colin Baker it seemed it had hit rock bottom. WRONG! I could not believe how abysmal the 1st McCoy series was. I have since learned it was very deliberate in order to decline the ratings so the BBC could cancel a show the new head of BBC detested.

@NightTimeWolf really??? Sure explains a lot. Where did you hear this?

@ImperialAerosolKidFromEP Truly. I can't remember exactly the articles I have read.

One example was this.

The director of the show, as is normal, asked for actors to do different takes.

These ranged from the sedate to the wildly over the top.

It seems the takes they chose to use where the extreme over the top ones.

@NightTimeWolf Tw*ts!

@NightTimeWolf hmm... I seem to remember the worst aspect of the McCoy era was the writing, so the pressure would have to have been on the writers.

But is it possible the article you were reading was a conspiracy theory and not hard, behind-the-scenes information?

@ImperialAerosolKidFromEP Why so hard to believe? If the BBC wanted shut of it, which they did, then what better way? Who chose the writers? The old writers who had served it so well were still available.

@NightTimeWolf well, tbh, I'm having a hard time picturing why the BBC would kill their own brand instead of letting the ratings do that naturally, if they were destined to. But I suppose there could be complex effects in the marketplace that could make it seem worthwhile from a corporate POV.

As for the writing, my 30-year-old memory tells me that it was the plots and how they developed that were the most sickeningly ridiculous parts of the shows--nothing that bad takes would have caused. At the time, I just assumed it was an attempt to prevent jumping the shark or a very bad idea of what the public wanted