It’s been 20 years since Doctor Who returned to screens, and quite by chance, I stumbled across A New Dimension, a documentary about its comeback, on BBC iPlayer. It’s rare that I find something from this era of the programme that I’ve not seen, but this aired before Rose, and thus, before I was a fan. Sure, I knew of Doctor Who — Dad liked it as a kid, and I’d seen a repeat here or there when I was young — but I’d not really experienced it. I had a gut feeling that I’d enjoy it though: I was keen to commit the series to VHS and lamented when I accidentally recorded over Rose with The End of the World the following week. So I’d entirely overlooked A New Dimension, which gave us an insight into the behind-the-scenes action before the show actually came back and very shortly before Doctor Who Confidential.
A New Dimension actually aired before Rose on BBC1, testament to the excitement felt for this series. And the documentary is exciting too. It pumps you up, preparing you for this brave new world, and featuring interviews, footage, teasers, and plenty of love for the past.
Two decades on, it’s also a little sad; certainly nostalgic. I remember those heady days with such joy. I suspect some DWC readers will too — perhaps 90% of readers. Heck, perhaps 99%. I’m sure there was a huge amount of apprehension as well, but it must’ve felt amazing for fans of the 1963-89 run to know it was coming back to such incredible fanfare.
The documentary shows brief glimpses of the upcoming episodes, naturally focusing primarily on Rose (getting vox pops with various media personalities including magazine editors and, uh, Charlotte Church for Welsh-related reasons), The End of the World (i.e. footage intermingled with some talk about how Lady Cassandra was achieved through CGI), and The Unquiet Dead (a nice interview with an enthusiastic Mark Gatiss and some Confidential shots of them filming the Doctor and Rose strolling through the streets of 1869), the first three episodes of Doctor Who Series 1. It’s wonderful. Even knowing how it all turns out, it’s wonderful. Actually, perhaps because you know how it all turns out, it’s even more wonderful. It worked, everyone! Doctor Who was a success!
The interviews are great too. We hear from Russell T Davies (then- and now-showrunner); Ninth Doctor actor, Christopher Eccleston; Billie Piper, aka Rose Tyler herself; Julie Gardner, Head of Drama and Executive Producer; Will Cohen, Visual Effects Producer; and then a bit from the other cast and crew. You feel their anticipation and happiness. Eccleston talks of playing the Doctor in the past tense, and maybe some picked up on that, but it was shortly before the BBC announced his departure (and royally screwed him over) anyway; either way, there’s a hint of things moving on before it had even got started — and the narrator of A New Dimension adds to that feeling, at least in retrospect. Because it’s David Tennant, who’d go on to play the Tenth Doctor following Eccleston’s leaving! This is his first ever screened involvement in TV Doctor Who, making it an interesting and often-forgotten footnote in the legacy of the show.
The half-an-hour show also revisits the past, with brief but touching interviews with various Doctors and companions of yesteryear: Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Katy Manning all share their memories with warmth and humour, making this a neat little summary of 20th Century Who. And it’s all accompanied by loads of great music (including All These Things That I’ve Done and Jenny Was A Friend of Mine, two songs by The Killers, this writer’s favourite band).
I’d never made a link between the Third Doctor’s garb and Jimi Hendrix, but A New Dimension opened my eyes!
Actually, the documentary does spend a fair amount of time boding over each Doctor’s outfits. The clothes make the man, it seems, as each incarnation is summed up well by their looks. Davies enthuses and explains the thought process behind these Doctors’ clothing… and that touches upon why A New Dimension is also quite sad. Compare then to now: compare the buzz about Eccleston wearing a leather jacket and what that meant for the character to the buzz around Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor outfit. Wait, which outfit? He had so many, and none seemed definitive. Sure, Doctors in the past dressed up, but there was always one main look. Now, there’s simply not. That might not seem like anything substantial, but it is indicative of how things have gone. Davies seemed to love Doctor Who; he seemed to know it inside-out; he seemed to get its DNA. No, not “seemed” — he did. He knew it and he loved it. That much is evident from not just A New Dimension, but all the publicity from around then and from his writing and showrunning. Unfortunately, things have altered considerably and Who seems to be in a bad place. It’s very deflating.
But then, that’s why shows like A New Dimension are so important. They transport you back to happy times and places. They’re timely yet timeless. They’re what make the longevity of Doctor Who — and its fandom — so incredible.
Yes, there are always times when you think things are bad, but that shouldn’t colour the past. You can turn to the past and find such joy in it, something that reminds you that things are okay — or, indeed, that things can be fantastic.
