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| Troughton's Dolly Birds |
| Monsters And Villains |
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| The Daleks disappeared during Troughton's first year and would not feature again for another five years. This was because money-grabbing wanker Terry Nation refused to let the BBC use them anymore, as he was planning his own Daleks series in America, where all the money was. That never came to anything though, and Nation would soon be crawling back to the BBC with his tail between his legs. It didn't matter though, because The Cybermen were now the top dog in Doctor Who monsters and would feature frequently throughout the Troughton era. Unlike the Daleks, who stayed roughly the same design for 40 years, the Cybermen actually evolved during the series. Troughton's Cybermen were the best ever - they were huge, they were menacing and they had the best electronic voices ever. They were also indestructible, something which was forgotten in later years when you could kill a Cyberman by whiffing a bit of Gold under it's nose. Let's not forget the lovely cuddly Yeti, the scary hissing Ice Warriors and the fishy-wishy Fish People. Ok then, let's forget the Fish People. |
| Troughton Trivia |
Troughton originally turned down the role as he felt that the idea of taking on somebody else's established role was a bit silly and the show would never last with a new actor. During the Troughton era, we meet Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart for the first time, who would eventually get promoted to Brigadier, become the head of UNIT, and go on to appear in bucketloads of future Doctor Who stories, right up to 1989. The Doctor's origins were finally revealed in Troughton's final story, which could well have been the last Doctor Who story ever. Troughton, his companions, and most of the production team were moving on, and so they decided to wrap up the series as it was unlikely to be recommissioned. The story had The Timelords catch up with the Doctor and put him on trial for nicking a TARDIS and generally pissing about. The eventual punishment, after it was discovered that the series would get recommissioned after all, was to exile him to Earth and change him into Worzel Gummidge. |
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The Troughton era is one of the Golden Ages of Doctor Who. Troughton is brilliant, the monsters are brilliant, everything is brilliant. You got a Doctor Who Card inside every Sky-Ray Lolly, detailing an ongoing adventure that was exclusive to Sky-Ray Lollies. |
| Troughton - The Good Things |
| Troughton - The Rubbish Things |
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The Troughton era is the worst to be hit by the BBC mass junking of episodes, and very few stories exist in their entirety. Which is a crying shame. Fortunately, the final epic 10-part story, one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made, still exists. But that was probably more by fluke than anything else. Daft twats. |
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| It's The End, But.... |
| Patrick Troughton vowed not to play the part for more than three years, and so in 1969, he relinquished the role. Looking back, it's genuinely amazing that the BBC decided to carry on. All the cast had left, most of the production team had left, colour telly was coming in. You wouldn't have blamed the BBC for throwing in the towel and creating something fresh and new for the multi-coloured 70's - after all, they'd already got away with replacing the actor once. But no! The Beeb just could not be arsed. So they commissioned a new colour series of Doctor Who with Jon Pertwee in the role, crash-landing on Earth after being forced to regenerate by The Timelords. Hooray! Lazy bastards. |
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| The Patrick Troughton Years 1966 - 1969 |
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| Patrick Troughton had to be brilliant as the new Doctor Who in order for the audience to accept a new actor in a role that William Hartnell had made completely his own. Luckily, he was. Yay! Rather than just imitate Hartnell's performance, Troughton completely re-interpreted the role. The stern and temperamental Doctor of the past was now a sort of loveable cosmic tramp and couldn't have been more different from Hartnell. The TARDIS took a bit of a new direction under Troughton's helm. The BBC had finally cottoned on to the fact that the kids didn't really think much of the historical stories because they were a bit square and there were no Giant Ants in them. And so, the show now became almost totally devoted towards frightening monsters from Outer Space and it was ace. For another three wonderful black and white years, Troughton battled the Yeti, The Ice Warriors and erm, The Fish People until his identity is finally revealed in the final epic 10-part story in which the Timelords finally catch up with him. |
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| Yay, proper dolly birds this time, such as the lovely Victoria (left). She was great because she was called Victoria and she came from the Victorian period. Utter utter genius. Zoe was good too (below). She didn't come from the Victorian period, though. Is this in-depth enough for you? Yes? Good. We also had to put up with Emmerdale's Frazer Hines for three years as Jamie, a young Highlander in a kilt but you can't have everything, and at least he wasn't Bonnie Bloody Langford. |
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