The Master forces the TARDIS to land in 1999 San Francisco, just before New Year's. The Doctor is shot when he stumbles into a gunfight involving a youth called Chang Lee. Lee brings him to a hospital, where he apparently dies despite Dr Grace Holloway's efforts to save him. After regenerating in the morgue, the Doctor finds Grace and begs her to help him save the world. Possessing the body of a paramedic named Bruce, the Master has manipulated Lee into helping him open the Eye of Harmony within the TARDIS. He plans to use its power to take the Doctor's body for his own -- or else the Earth will be turned inside out.

Doctor Who was cancelled by the BBC in 1989. The same year, the Corporation was first approached by a British expatriate named Philip David Segal, who was interested in forging a co-production deal to make a new Doctor Who series. These efforts began when Segal was working for Columbia Pictures, but were stymied by the BBC's caution towards putting Doctor Who back into production so soon. The negotiations fell apart when Segal left Columbia in 1990. The following year, Segal joined Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and he soon approached his new boss about restarting discussions with the BBC concerning Doctor Who. With Spielberg's blessing, Segal contacted BBC Head of Drama Mark Shivas in June 1991. By the end of the year, Universal Television -- one of Amblin's primary backers -- had indicated their interest in a Doctor Who project. During June 1992, Segal was joined in his efforts by Peter Wagg, producer of the eclectic science-fiction series Max Headroom.

Nonetheless, by the middle of 1993, Segal was frustrated that an agreement seemed perpetually out of reach. In part, this was because there were no fewer than four parties involved: BBC Drama, Amblin, Universal, and BBC Enterprises (the Corporation's commercial arm, which would become BBC Worldwide in 1995). Each entity was keen to safeguard its own interests, especially with regards to budgetary commitments and creative approvals. In June, however, Segal's proposal was bolstered by the support of Alan Yentob, BBC One's new Controller of Programmes. His enthusiasm helped to galvanise a new round of negotiations, which stretched into the autumn. This positive momentum encouraged the BBC to publicly acknowledge the discussions on October 28th.

On January 13th, 1994 Philip David Segal became the man in charge of Doctor Who

An agreement was finally reached on January 13th, 1994. Segal was, to all intents and purposes, the man in charge of Doctor Who. Now the race was on to get a series ready to be pitched to the American networks in time for the Fall 1994 season -- essentially giving Segal and Wagg less than two months' breathing space. Segal had already had preliminary discussions about the role of the Doctor with The Phantom Of The Opera stage star Michael Crawford, and he considered Michael Palin from the legendary Monty Python comedy troupe to be another potential candidate.

By now, Segal had been directed by Universal Television to use a studio writer for the project. In particular, Universal pushed for John Leekley, whose credits included Miami Vice and the forthcoming Knight Rider 2010 TV movie. Segal was hesitant, preferring to go outside Universal; former Doctor Who script editor Terrance Dicks was amongst the candidates he was considering. However, he was also aware that any dispute with Universal would waste precious development time, and he had enjoyed Leekley's script for the telefilm In The Company Of Darkness. Consequently, Segal agreed to bring Leekley aboard.

Together with designer Richard Lewis, Segal and Leekley started to develop an expensive and extensive series bible, which was intended to introduce Doctor Who in general, and the proposed new series in particular. Segal and Leekley did not intend to pick up where Doctor Who had left off in 1989; instead, they wanted to tell the Doctor's story from the very start of his adventures in space and time. Although they would adhere to the basic tenets of the classic Doctor Who series, the programme's mythos would be completely rewritten.

Meanwhile, Segal and Wagg had begun the gruelling process of finding an actor to play the Doctor. To this end, they secured the services of British casting agents John and Ros Hubbard. In January and February, they compiled enormous lists of actors -- most, but not all, of them British. Amongst the names were Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean; a future incarnation of the Doctor in the 1999 Doctor Who spoof The Curse Of Fatal Death), Sean Bean (Game Of Thrones), Jeremy Brett (The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes), Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge; another future Doctor from The Curse Of Fatal Death), Pierce Brosnan (the fifth James Bond), Peter Capaldi (ultimately cast as the Twelfth Doctor in 2013), Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Timothy Dalton (the fourth James Bond; later Rassilon in The End Of Time), Christopher Eccleston (who would eventually play the Ninth Doctor in 2005), Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List), Hugh Grant (Four Weddings And A Funeral; yet another future Doctor from The Curse Of Fatal Death), John Hurt (Midnight Express; later the War Doctor in The Day Of The Doctor), Eric Idle (Monty Python's Flying Circus), Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius; later the Master in Utopia), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Hugh Laurie (House), Ian McKellen (The Lord Of The Rings; later the voice of the Great Intelligence in A Christmas Carol), Peter O'Toole (Lawrence Of Arabia), Jonathan Pryce (Tomorrow Never Dies; the Master in The Curse Of Fatal Death) and Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation).

Peter O'Toole provisionally declared his interest in playing Cardinal Borusa

As Segal and Leekley worked on the series bible, a character who became increasingly prominent was Cardinal Borusa. Inspired by the Doctor's former tutor who had first appeared in 1976's The Deadly Assassin, the character was now envisaged as the Doctor's grandfather; his name was sometimes spelt “Barusa”. As such, early casting efforts also concentrated on this role, with several performers on the list of possible Doctors given consideration. A well-known actor was preferred, and some of the names suggested included Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park), Peter Cushing (who had played the Doctor in two Dalek movies during the Sixties), Kirk Douglas (Spartacus), Albert Finney (Tom Jones), acclaimed Shakespearean actor John Gielgud, Alec Guinness (Star Wars), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence Of The Lambs), Burt Lancaster (From Here To Eternity), Hammer horror film stalwart Christopher Lee, Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot), Paul Newman (The Hustler) and Gregory Peck (To Kill A Mockingbird). The clear favourite, however, was Peter O'Toole, who had provisionally declared his interest in the project.

A preliminary version of the series bible was presented to the BBC on March 7th. At this stage, Jo Wright joined the production team to represent the BBC's interests; she had recently been in charge of Lovejoy's fifth season. Her involvement came as a surprise to Segal, and the two repeatedly clashed. On March 9th, auditions were held for several of the shortlisted candidates to play the Doctor, including Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer; later a guest star in School Reunion), Christopher Bowen (Castles; he had been Mordred in Battlefield) and John Sessions (Whose Line Is It Anyway?; later the voice of Gus in Mummy On The Orient Express). The favourite at this stage was Irish actor Liam Cunningham (who would go on to play Zhukov in Cold War), but it seemed that he was unavailable. With the casting still uncertain, more possibilities continued to be discussed. Wright suggested Withnail & I star Paul McGann -- whose brother Mark was another of the actors who auditioned on the 9th -- but he, too, appeared to have other commitments.

The series bible, entitled The Chronicles Of Doctor Who?, was made available on March 21st. Written from the perspective of Cardinal Borusa, it introduced the Doctor and the Master. They were now described as half-brothers, sharing a father in the form of Borusa's son, the lost Time Lord explorer Ulysses. This new character was named after the mythical explorer known to the Greeks as Odysseus, the hero of Homer's The Odyssey. When the evil Master became President of the Time Lords upon Borusa's death, the Doctor fled Gallifrey in a rickety old TARDIS to find Ulysses. Borusa's spirit became enmeshed in the TARDIS, enabling him to advise his grandson. The Doctor took the TARDIS to “the Blue Planet” -- his mother's native world, Earth -- to search for Ulysses.

Various other possible adventures drew on stories from the original Doctor Who series

The bible went on to detail the Doctor's encounter with the Daleks; although they were still created by Davros, he was usurped by the Master. Events inspired by 1975's Genesis Of The Daleks would have formed the bulk of the pilot episode, in which the Doctor discovered a message left by Ulysses, disguised in hieroglyphics he found in a relic room in Cairo, Egypt. Various other possible adventures were then detailed, most of which drew, to some extent, on stories from the original series.

Many familiar Doctor Who monsters were extensively revised. The Daleks were hideous mutant creatures whose travelling machines -- appearing not unlike those from the original series, albeit without a dome section or external appendages -- opened up into a spider-like design. The Cybermen, now called Cybs, were marauders whose cybernetic parts were culled from a variety of sources, giving them a patchwork appearance -- although they were still vulnerable to gold dust. The Yeti were gentle descendants of the Neanderthals. The series bible concluded with the last of the Doctor's adventures, in which he located Ulysses and travelled back to Gallifrey to depose the Master and become President.

At this point, the plan was to interest one of the American networks in a pilot movie followed by a season of up to twenty-two episodes, each forty-five minutes in length to suit a one-hour timeslot with commercials. It was hoped that the pilot might begin shooting in early July, with other episodes to follow immediately afterwards; the start date soon drifted back to August, and then September. Leekley began to flesh out some of the sample storylines listed in the series bible, with most of his work concentrating on a revised version of 1966's The Gunfighters, now called “Don't Shoot, I'm The Doctor”.

Around the end of March, Amblin began circulating the series bible to the four American networks. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) immediately passed on Doctor Who. Peter Tortorici, the President of CBS Entertainment, was interested in the show and, by mid-April, Segal believed that he could secure a commitment for a ninety-minute pilot and six forty-five-minute episodes -- presumably to serve as a mid-season replacement series. However, representatives from CBS then began to drag their heels on a firm decision. Finally, on May 19th, the network informed Amblin that they had decided not to take a chance on Doctor Who after all: Howard Stringer, the Welsh-born President of CBS, disliked the programme and had overruled Tortorici.

On June 28th, FOX ordered a Doctor Who telefilm which would serve as a “backdoor pilot”

That left FOX which, at the time, was the newest American network. Both Head of Series Robert Greenblatt and Trevor Walton, the Senior Vice-President of the FOX TV movie division, were interested in Doctor Who. However, the network was only willing to commit to a two-hour movie, with the possibility of a second -- not the full series commission for which Segal had hoped. Finally, on June 28th, FOX ordered a Doctor Who telefilm with the intent of having it serve as a “backdoor pilot”: if ratings were strong, the property might shift from their Movie of the Week division to the series division. Already, Segal was fielding inquiries from writers who hoped to participate in a fully-fledged season: on June 2nd, he was approached by the agent for Malcolm Kohll, who had scripted Delta And The Bannermen in 1987.

On July 6th, Segal met with Doctor Who historian Jean-Marc Lofficier and his wife Randy, accepting their offer to become unofficial consultants on the telefilm. The Lofficiers would advise the production team on matters of Doctor Who continuity, and could also act as liaisons with the fan community. Their periodic updates soon became an early draw to Doctor Who forums on the still-nascent Internet.

The question of a lead actor continued to vex the production team, who were casting their net wider, to include a larger pool of non-British talent. While Cunningham was still a preferred choice, Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day) and John Slattery (Mad Men) were now given strong consideration, with Segal seeking Yentob's opinion on Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) and Aidan Quinn (Legends Of The Fall). Also discussed were Alexis Denisoff (Angel), Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Rutger Hauer (the film version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Chris Isaak (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me) and Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump). Yentob, however, continued to push for a British actor to play the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Leekley was working on the script for the telefilm, which was simply entitled “Doctor Who”. He submitted his first story proposal on July 25th, drawing heavily from the suggestions set forth in the series bible. In addition to the Doctor, the Master, Borusa, Davros, the Daleks and the Cybs (who were dropped in later drafts), the TV movie would now introduce a companion in the form of American WAC Lizzie Travis, whom the Doctor met in Blitz-torn London during World War II. Leekley then produced a partial script on August 24th, amending and completing it over the following weeks.

It was now hoped that recording could begin in November for broadcast in May, and then resume for the hypothetical ongoing series the following July. Filming in England had been deemed too expensive, so Colorado and Utah were being considered, along with British Columbia in Canada. At the same time, Wagg was compiling a list of possible directors, including Michael Apted (the 7 Up films), Joe Dante (Gremlins), Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock actor who had directed the third and fourth Star Trek films), Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning), Ridley Scott (Alien), and Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society).

Steven Spielberg was concerned that John Leekley's script veered too closely to his own Indiana Jones franchise

Paul McGann was emerging as the frontrunner to play the Doctor and, given the evolving recording dates, it now appeared that he might be available after all. McGann taped an audition piece on September 12th, but he was wary of the five-year commitment to Doctor Who that was being proposed. Even as progress was being made on the casting front, however, concerns about the script ran the risk of grinding the project to a halt. Although FOX and the BBC had both indicated their happiness with Leekley's work, it was Steven Spielberg himself who raised an objection. The renowned director was concerned that Leekley had veered too closely to his own Indiana Jones franchise; he also felt that there was not enough humour. On September 26th, Spielberg asked Segal to start again with a new writer. This meant that principal photography would be delayed until at least February 1995.

Within days, Segal had approached Robert DeLaurentis to overhaul Leekley's script. DeLaurentis, who was recommended by Universal, was a veteran writer/producer whose credits included St Elsewhere and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He wanted to make the script more focussed and fun; his initial storyline -- now called “Doctor Who?” -- was submitted on October 7th. Borusa's disembodied presence in the TARDIS was dropped in favour of giving Lizzie a bulldog sidekick named Winston, and the search for the Doctor's father (no longer named Ulysses) was now resolved over the span of the movie, with the impetus for an ongoing series changed to the Doctor's pursuit of the escaped Master.

Segal was uneasy about the direction of DeLaurentis' work, but he agreed that the writer should proceed to a draft script. It was submitted on December 17th, and saw the American companion renamed Jane McDonald while Winston was all but eliminated. Of greater concern for the BBC was DeLaurentis' reimagination of the Daleks as shapeshifting humanoids. As such, in later drafts, these Daleks were renamed Zenons. The Doctor was also given another companion, an alien creature called Gog, who replaced an ill-fated character named Sherman.

FOX had now become unhappy with the script, and advocated a return to Leekley's final draft. At the start of February 1995, DeLaurentis left Doctor Who, which was now the subject of a funding disagreement between FOX and Universal. Furthermore, Amblin was no longer directly attached to the project, as a result of the upheaval which stemmed from Spielberg's involvement in founding the DreamWorks SKG studio. Nonetheless, in April, the BBC confirmed that the movie was still being co-produced with Universal, and FOX remained on board.

Matthew Jacobs suggested depicting the regeneration of Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor

At the suggestion of Trevor Walton, Segal and Wagg next offered the scripting duties to British-born Matthew Jacobs. When Jacobs began work on May 5th, it was decided to start fresh, with the material written by Leekley and DeLaurentis largely discarded. Mindful of the FOX network's younger-skewing demographics, Walton wanted to avoid elements set in the past, as well as more outlandish alien creatures like the Daleks and the Cybs. The Master would be retained, in addition to the notion of the Doctor having a human mother. Jacobs wanted to connect the new Doctor Who more explicitly with the classic series, and suggested depicting the regeneration of Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor. Segal had been resistant to these sorts of linkages earlier in the development process, but he now agreed with Jacobs' idea.

On May 19th, Jacobs delivered a rough storyline, which began with the Seventh Doctor arriving on modern-day Earth, in either San Francisco or New Orleans. However, the dying Master had transmogrified himself into a shape-shifting slick of DNA and attacked the Doctor, mortally wounding him. The Doctor's body was found by a street kid named Jack. Jack brought the Doctor to the hospital, where he was operated on -- unsuccessfully -- by Dr Kelly Grace (playing on the name of Rear Window actress Grace Kelly, later the Princess of Monaco). In the morgue, the Doctor regenerated; meanwhile, the Master acquired a temporary human host body. Jack gained access to the TARDIS using gloves he pilfered from the Doctor's effects. The Master raised Jack's father from the dead and, through him, compelled Jack to take over the TARDIS. As Hallowe'en approached, the Master used the TARDIS to unleash an army of the dead. With Kelly's help, the Doctor returned to the TARDIS and drew himself, the Master, Kelly, Jack and the dead into another dimension. He defeated the Master, returned Jack to Earth, and left with Kelly.

Various changes were made for the next draft, submitted on June 27th. The setting was shifted to the days leading up to New Year's Eve instead of Hallowe'en -- with Jacobs suggesting that perhaps the countdown to the year 2000 would be suitable -- and San Francisco was specified as the location. After regenerating, the Doctor saw a vision of his mother. Jack used the TARDIS key instead of a pair of gloves to enter the time machine. In addition to Jack's father, Kelly was also confronted by someone from her past, and an earlier suggestion made by Jacobs -- that Jack be killed, only to be brought back to life via the power of the TARDIS -- was included. Kelly also reluctantly remained behind at the end of this version.

Doctor Who lost a key member of its production team when Peter Wagg decided to live in London full-time

As Jacobs began writing his first full draft script, Doctor Who lost a key member of its production team when Wagg decided to live in London full-time. Nonetheless, he offered to keep in touch with Segal and lend a hand -- albeit remotely -- whenever he could. Jacobs submitted his initial draft on July 18th. Jack had become Chang Lee, and the Master's host body acquired a proper identity in the form of a fireman named Bruce. Kelly Grace was now Grace Wilson, and two cartoonish hospital porters whom Jacobs had earlier mentioned were given the names Bill and Ted, after the title characters in the 1989 time-travel comedy Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure, which itself owed no small debt to Doctor Who. Also introduced at this point was a young librarian named Gareth.

The idea of the Master's body decaying throughout the story made its first appearance; in this version, he became more reptilian. The Master was also able to control his form, turning his arms into lassos at one point. The Eye of Harmony was brought into play, serving as the link to the Master's death dimension. Lee now saw his late father, Jimmy, reflected in the Eye, and Grace had a vision of her grandmother. Lee acquired an uncle, Sam, who was killed by the Master. This time, after they passed through the Eye of Harmony, the Doctor saved Grace and Lee -- who was still killed and then resurrected -- by embracing his past after conjuring up the ghost of his dead mother. The Master tried to repeat the Doctor's feat, and was destroyed. The Doctor travelled on alone, leaving Grace and Lee in San Francisco.

Jacobs' next major draft was ready on August 18th. In this version, the Master no longer killed Sam Lee but instead read his mind, learning that it was Sam who killed Chang Lee's father. The Master's plan was now to channel the emotional upswell of New Year's Eve through the Eye of Harmony, thereby reshaping the universe to his design, although the death dimension was still involved. The manifestations of Jimmy Lee, Grace's grandmother and the Doctor's mother were all excised, and the Doctor's half-human retinal print was now important as the focus of the Master's control over the death dimension. The Doctor and the Master now battled around the Eye of Harmony instead of inside it and, at the climax, the Master was sucked down into the death dimension. Both Grace and Chang Lee were killed, only to be brought back to life by the Eye of Harmony.

As summer wound down, Segal was hoping to record Doctor Who in November; British Columbia would be the production's base of operations, but some filming in San Francisco was also planned. Rather than launch an ongoing series, Segal now preferred the idea of regular telefilms, and he aspired to record six per year. The notion of remaking old Doctor Who adventures had not been entirely abandoned, but Segal now felt that a better target was those stories which were no longer held in the BBC archives. It was around this time that Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier's advisory role on the project ended. The relationship between Segal and the Lofficiers would subsequently sour when much of the production material which Segal had given them was transformed into a book, Doctor Who: The Nth Doctor, released by Virgin Publishing in 1996.

Steven Spielberg allowed Philip David Segal to take Doctor Who with him when he left Amblin Entertainment

At the start of September, Segal found yet another producer being added to Doctor Who. This time it was Universal who wanted a representative in the production office -- particularly to oversee the project's finances -- and they appointed Alex Beaton, a veteran of programmes such as Kung Fu and The Greatest American Hero. The BBC still wanted Paul McGann to play the Eighth Doctor, and they vetoed the FOX network's preferred choice of singer and sometime actor Sting. Meanwhile, Segal left Amblin to form Lakeshore Television, which was affiliated with Paramount Pictures. Spielberg allowed Segal to take Doctor Who with him, and Segal elected to work on the project directly through Beaton and Universal. However, Universal was uncomfortable about its share of the project's budget: FOX was responsible for $2.5 million, the BBC for $300,000, and Universal and BBC Worldwide for $2.2 million. Segal made tentative inquiries to see if Paramount was interested in taking Universal's place in the deal, but they declined. It was now clear that filming would not begin until 1996.

Jacobs' next significant draft appeared on September 18th. The death dimension was dropped, with the focus of the Master's schemes now an “intergalactic roving force field” called the Millennium Star which passed near Earth every thousand years. The Master intended to use the Eye of Harmony to harness the power of the Millennium Star, permitting him to refashion the universe. The Master posed as a “false messiah” in order to influence Grace and Chang Lee. The Doctor no longer experienced a vision of his mother shortly after his regeneration; instead, this was brought about by the Master during their confrontation at the Eye of Harmony.

It was now planned that the telefilm would air on FOX in mid-May 1996. This was one of three key “sweeps” periods for the American networks -- the others falling in November and February -- when ratings performance determined advertising rates for the following quarter. Consequently, there would be lofty expectations for Doctor Who. Meanwhile, both FOX and Universal had approved Jacobs' script, leaving only the BBC. Segal was becoming concerned that further delays on this front might threaten the start of pre-production, and so he arranged a meeting between Jacobs and Michael Wearing, the BBC's Head of Serials, on October 4th.

Several more changes arose from their discussion. The story now began with the Doctor transporting the Master's remains back to Gallifrey, only to have the Master escape in his snake form. The TARDIS landed on Earth and the Seventh Doctor was inadvertently killed; this was now a result of Chang Lee's actions rather than the Master's, and would eventually become a Chinatown gang shootout. Bruce was an ambulance attendant, Lee allied with the Master out of sheer greed, and Gareth worked for a company which made technologically-advanced clocks.

FOX was opposed to Leonard Nimoy's involvement as director unless he accepted an on-screen role

It was at this stage that some of the key crewmembers started to come aboard, most notably British director Geoffrey Sax. Sax was recommended to Segal by Wright when he was unable to hire his original choice, Stuart Gillard (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III). Discussions had also taken place with Nimoy, but FOX executives indicated that they were opposed to his involvement unless he accepted an on-screen role, potentially as the Master. Sax had just married production assistant Karina Brewin, and he was able to arrange for her to join him, uncredited, in working on Doctor Who.

It was now determined that the movie would be filmed in British Columbia; this had become a common practice in recent years, with programmes such as The X-Files taking advantage of the favourable exchange rate against the American dollar. Canadian regulations meant that the rest of the crew would mostly hail from that country. This included production designer Richard Hudolin, whose major task was a new version of the TARDIS console room. Segal wanted to evoke the Victorian feel of the wood-panelled set designed by Barry Newbery in 1976, but on a much grander scale.

Jacobs' next draft script was ready on November 13th. It introduced the idea of the Master being tried and executed by the Daleks, satisfying the BBC's insistence that the iconic monsters be included in some fashion. Also new was the Doctor needing a beryllium atomic clock from Gareth's workplace -- here specified as KAL-Tech, but later changed to ITAR, the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research. The clock's inventor was named Professor Wagg as a tribute to Peter Wagg's involvement in the project.

Meanwhile, Segal was on the verge of giving Universal an ultimatum -- to either commit to the project in full, or else release Segal and allow him to search for yet another production partner. On November 6th, messages purporting to be from Segal appeared in various online Doctor Who forums and suggested that Universal's reticence had placed the telefilm in jeopardy. The messages pleaded with fans to inundate Universal with letters and phone calls, and even released Universal President Tom Thayer's phone number. Reportedly, Thayer's office was then brought to a standstill, despite the protests of a Universal employee that the situation had been misunderstood, and that the project was proceeding.

Finally, on November 27th, the deal was done. Sixty-three months after the formal closure of the Doctor Who production office at BBC Television Centre in White City, London, its doors were thrown open again halfway around the world, in Burnaby, British Columbia. Segal, Wright and Beaton would serve as executive producers for the telefilm, while the day-to-day production duties fell to Peter V Ware, who had been a co-producer on Columbo. All the studio material would be shot on a Burnaby sound stage, while location filming was now confined to Vancouver; San Francisco itself would be represented only by stock footage.

Much of Chang Lee's background was lost for timing reasons

With production now just weeks away, Jacobs was working on fashioning his script into a finished form. The BBC was much more receptive to his November draft, but nonetheless passed it along to in-house script editor Craig Dickson for comment. From this came the decision to eliminate the Millennium Star, with the Master's focus now simply to take over the Doctor's body. Jacobs produced a draft shooting script on December 29th, by which time most of the narrative elements of the telefilm were finalised. Subsequent small modifications included Grace's surname becoming Holloway, and the elimination of the Bill And Ted reference -- which the BBC felt was dated -- by changing Bill's name to Pete. Much of Chang Lee's background was lost for timing reasons, with all references to Sam and Jimmy Lee having been dropped.

Meanwhile, it was now essential to finalise the movie's cast. Sylvester McCoy had already agreed to reprise his role as the Seventh Doctor, fulfilling a promise he had made to himself in 1989 to hand off to a successor in proper fashion. Wright had instead wanted to use the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, but Segal was now adamant that the telefilm continue on from where the original series had left off. Segal also briefly considered including a role for Sophie Aldred as Ace, the Seventh Doctor's final companion, but this was vetoed by the BBC. Segal decided to give the Seventh Doctor a new wardrobe, having long disliked both the umbrella and the question-mark pullover which were hallmarks of his original image. Costume designer Jori Woodman composed a new outfit which echoed the earlier version but appeared much more refined; to Segal's delight, McCoy would also wear the hat he had sported throughout his time on Doctor Who.

Paul McGann remained Segal's choice to play the Eighth Doctor, but FOX was still unconvinced, and wanted a wider range of options to choose from. Consequently, in December, casting director Beth Hymson-Ayer considered a number of further possibilities, including Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Julian Sands (The Killing Fields), Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), and Peter Weller (RoboCop). Segal and Sax also ranked Harry Van Gorkum highly; he had amassed only a small number of television credits, including roles on Brush Strokes and The Bill. Finally, Segal offered to cast a “name” performer in the role of the Master if FOX would sign off on McGann to play the Doctor. The network acquiesced and, in late December, the actor was persuaded to accept the role -- helped by the knowledge that his friend McCoy would be participating. Shortly after Christmas, McGann was contracted for the initial telefilm, with options for six additional movies over the following five years.

Philip David Segal wanted Christopher Lloyd as the Master, but Universal was concerned about his fee

Given his concession regarding the Master, Segal initially wanted Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future), a choice which met with the FOX network's approval. However, Universal stalled due to concerns over Lloyd's fee and, by the time they gave the deal their consent, Lloyd was no longer available. Hymson-Ayer then drew up a large list of possible Masters, which included well-known names such as Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters), David Bowie (The Man Who Fell To Earth), Steve Buscemi (Fargo), Chevy Chase (Caddyshack), Tim Curry, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Goldblum, Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet), Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, John Lithgow (Third Rock From The Sun), John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons), Bill Murray (Ghostbusters), Jonathan Pryce, Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) and no fewer than four actors from Star Trek: The Next Generation: Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart. In addition to Lloyd, offers were extended to Kyle MacLachlan, Malcolm McDowell (Star Trek: Generations), Tom Selleck (Magnum PI) and Sting.

In the end, Universal pushed for Eric Roberts -- despite the fact that his fee would be greater than Lloyd had requested. The brother of Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and an Academy Award nominee for Runaway Train, he had been a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he had watched and enjoyed Doctor Who in the mid-Seventies. At Roberts' request, his wife Eliza was given the minor role of Bruce's wife, Miranda. His young daughter Emma -- who would later become an established actor in her own right, with films including Scream 4 and television series such as American Horror Story -- would also be present during production. Meanwhile, discussions about an actress to play Grace continued almost up to the last minute. Segal favoured Stacy Haiduk, whom he knew from his time as an executive on seaQuest DSV, but the role finally went to Daphne Ashbrook.

With the start of principal photography rapidly approaching, the movie still faced a number of hurdles. Sax had originally been promised a thirty-day shoot, but Beaton subsequently curtailed this to twenty-five days in order to save money. Finances were also a concern when Segal discovered that the rights to the familiar Doctor Who theme music were not owned by the BBC, but by Warner/Chappel Music. With great reluctance, Universal agreed to pay the hefty fee for its use. The new theme arrangement would be composed by John Debney and John Sponsler. Then, McGann arrived in British Columbia on January 7th, 1996 sporting a military-style haircut which had been required for his previous role, in the Gulf War telefilm The One That Got Away. Segal had expected the same wild, overgrown style from McGann's audition; instead, hairstylist Julie McHaffie had to hastily assemble an expensive wig for the actor to wear. McGann was joined in Vancouver by his agent, Janet Fielding, who had played Doctor Who companion Tegan Jovanka during the early Eighties.

Only a fraction of Richard Hudolin's enormous TARDIS set would be seen in the finished movie

Meanwhile, Hudolin had completed work on the enormous TARDIS set, only a fraction of which would actually be seen in the finished movie. Enormous detail went into the design -- everything from busts of Rassilon visible in the cloister room, to a roundel-type design on the main doors which would echo the look of the original console room. Every control on the main console actually did something, and the rotating panels which indicated the current location and era made numerous references to Doctor Who lore, including the Sensorites (The Sensorites), the Kraals (The Android Invasion), Calufrax (The Pirate Planet), Argolis (The Leisure Hive), Manussa and the Sumarans (Snakedance), and Sarn (Planet Of Fire). However, Sax was concerned about the set because he had had little input into its design. Some of Hudolin's decisions, such as placing the Eye of Harmony on a rostrum, would restrict his choice of camera angles.

Recording began in early January with the news reports, which were taped at the studio of local station BCTV. Then, on January 10th, McGann was unveiled to the world as the Eighth Doctor. The press release was accompanied by photos of McGann at the Longleat House Doctor Who exhibition in Wiltshire, which had been shot in secret five days earlier. At this point, it was expected that the BBC would not broadcast the telefilm until the holiday season, seven months after it aired in North America.

Filming resumed in earnest with the material at Grace's condo, which was shot at a private residence on Ogden Avenue from January 15th to 17th. The sequence in the park was also completed on the 16th at nearby Hadden Park. Roberts joined the production on the 17th, and unfortunately he found that the outfit created for him by Woodman in the style of the original Master, Roger Delgado, was too restrictive. He was also uncomfortable with the serpentine contact lenses he was supposed to wear, and with the prosthetics which were intended to depict his body's gradual disintegration over the course of the movie. The result was that the effect of Bruce's form wearing out was essentially lost, and it was decided to instead dress Roberts in dark sunglasses and a leather jacket for most of the telefilm. On January 18th and 19th, the Plaza of Nations served as the ITAR building. Recording overran so badly on the second day that Sax had to abandon some elements of the Doctor and Grace's escape, because dawn was breaking.

After the weekend, January 22nd was spent on ambulance interiors at the studio in Burnaby. This facility had started life as an aircraft hangar, and later served as a warehouse before being converted for use in movie and television productions. Cast and crew then moved to the telefilm's major location: British Columbia Children's Hospital, which was posing as Walker General. They would remain there from January 23rd to 26th, and return after the weekend on the 29th and 30th. The production was confined to a wing of the hospital which was slated to be demolished; as such, the heat was turned off, resulting in frigid conditions. On January 26th, McCoy finally recorded the Seventh Doctor's long-delayed regeneration. He was accompanied to the shoot by Mark Gatiss, a long-time fan and the author of several Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing. Gatiss was taping a video diary for BBV, which was released in April as Bidding Adieu; almost a decade later, he would write The Unquiet Dead, the first of several televised scripts for Doctor Who. The shot of Grace at the opera was also captured at the Children's Hospital on January 30th.

It was back to the studio on January 31st for more ambulance footage, as well as sequences in the TARDIS console room and the area where the Master's casket was placed. The alley where the TARDIS materialised was actually between East Georgia Street and Union Street, where filming on February 1st and 2nd represented McCoy's final work on Doctor Who. Part of the 2nd was also dedicated to the motorcycle chase, which was filmed by a second unit on the premises of CN Rail.

On February 5th, following another pause for the weekend, the Walker General parking garage was actually the Golden Crown Centre, while the establishing shot of Chinatown was recorded from a home on Keefer Street. The intersection of Keefer Street and Carrall Street was the site of the traffic jam on the 6th, with the budget dictating that escaped chickens were responsible for the snarl, rather than the runaway circus animals envisaged by Sax. The last location day for the main unit was February 7th, when the Doctor's farewell to Grace was shot at Andy Livingstone Park. Unfortunately, heavy rain caused McGann's wig to frizz badly in this scene. A second unit completed additional street inserts at Lombard Street and Waterfront Road the following day.

Geoffrey Sax had determined that the shoot would require more than the 25 days which had been allotted

The remainder of the telefilm was recorded at the Burnaby sound stage, beginning on February 8th with all of the material in Bruce's apartment, plus more shots of the casket area in the TARDIS. The console room was the focus on the 9th, by which time Sax had determined that the shoot would indeed require more than the twenty-five days which had been allotted. It was agreed that extra recording would take place on February 10th, which was spent on sequences in the console room, the ambulance, and during the Master's trial on Skaro. Gordon Tipple appeared in long shot as the evil Time Lord; at this point, he was also intended to provide the opening narration, in character as the Master.

Cast and crew took the Sunday off before the ambulance material was completed on February 12th, alongside more console room scenes. The rest of the week -- from the 13th to the 16th -- was chiefly devoted to action in the cloister room. Sax had hoped to have all of the Doctors appear in the Eye of Harmony, but clearance to use the images could not be obtained quickly enough. Part of February 14th was spent on a new sequence in the ITAR stairwell, which Jacobs had written to replace the shots dropped from the production schedule at the Plaza of Nations. With Sax's schedule in tatters, he focussed on finishing up scenes involving the Master; as the highest-paid actor, Roberts would inflate the cost of any overruns for which he was required. As such, some scripted elements were simplified. For example, Chang Lee originally broke his neck when he was hurled across the cloister room by the Master. Several narrative issues -- such as the question of how the Master had gotten into the TARDIS when he first encountered Lee -- simply had to be ignored.

Although February 16th was intended to mark the end of principal photography, the shoot had now been extended by three additional days. Universal was unhappy about the resulting $170,000 increase in the telefilm's budget, and unsuccessfully tried to pin the blame for the delays on the BBC. After the weekend, the remaining cloister room scenes were recorded on February 19th and 20th, with Sax also completing some outstanding material in the casket area on the latter day. Production now concluded on the 21st, which was spent back on the console room set. By this time, former Doctor Who script editor Eric Saward had contacted Segal with an offer to write for any follow-up series.

Post-production saw various trims to the material, including the loss of the scene where the Master confronted the security guards who were later found “slimed”. The violence in the shootout was reduced, with Lee no longer reloading and returning fire. The Dalek voices -- provided by Sax himself -- were meant to be in keeping with those heard in the original Doctor Who series, but were changed due to concerns that they weren't sufficiently audible for an American audience. Segal loaned a rough cut of the movie to Los Angeles-based fan Shaun Lyon, organiser of the Gallifrey One conventions and editor of the Outpost Gallifrey website. It was Lyon who caught several dialogue errors, most notably a reference to the Doctor having only twelve lives, rather than the appropriate thirteen.

At ManoptiCon 4, Philip David Segal suggested that an appropriate title for the telefilm could be “Enemy Within”

Segal also had to deal with various claims for credit from individuals who had worked on earlier stages of the project. Despite the objections of FOX and Universal, Segal won agreement for John and Ros Hubbard to be credited in recognition of the fact that they had first brought McGann to his team's attention. On the other hand, John Leekley's case for a producer's credit was rejected, since it was deemed that virtually nothing remained of his contributions. In early April, at the ManoptiCon 4 convention in Manchester, Segal confirmed that the telefilm would have no onscreen title except Doctor Who, although he suggested that an appropriate name could be “Enemy Within”.

The first trailers for Doctor Who began airing on the FOX network on April 12th, during the classic Jose Chung's From Outer Space episode of The X-Files. The movie had its initial broadcast on May 12th on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta. This marked just the third time a Doctor Who story had debuted outside of Britain, following The Five Doctors in 1983 and the final two episodes of Silver Nemesis in 1988. On May 13th, the telefilm was screened by two other Canadian stations: ASN in Atlantic Canada and CHEK in Victoria, British Columbia. But May 14th was the true day of reckoning for Doctor Who, when it was screened on the FOX network at 8.00pm Eastern Standard Time as part of its Tuesday Night Movie strand, with a simulcast on CHCH in Hamilton, Ontario.

Unfortunately, sweeps month opposition was fierce, particularly in the form of the Heart & Soul episode of the sitcom Roseanne on ABC, in which popular character Dan Conner (played by John Goodman) suffered a heart attack. Doctor Who earned an audience of 5.5 million viewers, placing it joint 75th for the week. Of particular concern was its 9 share; this statistic measured the number of televisions watching the telefilm as a percentage of all sets turned on during that period of time. These results were far smaller than the minimum 15 share which Segal felt was needed to interest FOX in an ongoing series -- or even additional movies -- and nowhere close to the 17 or 18 share for which he had been hoping. Doctor Who had also fallen short of the Tuesday Night Movie slot's 11 share average. Even before the telefilm received its BBC broadcast, it was already clear that FOX would not be greenlighting another Doctor Who project in any form. When the network's Fall 1996 schedule was announced on May 21st, Doctor Who was conspicuous by its absence.

When the telefilm screened on BBC One, a closing dedication to Jon Pertwee had been appended

After a long period of uncertainty, the telefilm's British transmission date was finally fixed at 8.30pm on May 27th, Bank Holiday Monday, to be preceded by a video release on May 15th. This upset BBC Video, who feared that the close proximity would badly eat into their profits. To make matters worse, the British Board of Film Classification decided that the version of the movie aired in North America deserved a 15 certificate. The main offender was the shootout; the British entertainment industry had been treading carefully when it came to depictions of gun violence ever since the tragic shooting deaths on March 13th of sixteen children and a teacher at a school in Dunblane, Scotland. In order to obtain the 12 certificate that BBC Video wanted, about two minutes' worth of edits had to be made. This delayed the video release until May 22nd, even closer to the broadcast date. When the telefilm finally screened on BBC One, a closing dedication to the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, had been appended. The actor had passed away on May 20th, and the tribute was suggested to Alan Yentob by both Segal and Kevin Davies, director of the Doctor Who documentary Thirty Years In The TARDIS.

In contrast to its North American performance, the Doctor Who movie was successful in the United Kingdom, earning nine million viewers -- although this was still about three million shy of the BBC's goal. Regardless, without a co-production partner, the BBC found itself right back where it had started. FOX had essentially dismissed the property after it fumbled so badly in the ratings, and Universal had been more interested in the third-season renewal of its science-fiction series Sliders -- which it owned completely -- rather than supporting Doctor Who. Although FOX maintained for some time that the network might consider revisiting the property at a later date, such statements were merely lip service. When Pip and Jane Baker -- who had most recently written 1987's Time And The Rani -- contacted Segal on June 6th to enquire about scripting opportunities, his reply of June 25th acknowledged the unlikelihood that he would be making more Doctor Who.

Universal's licence for Doctor Who was due to expire at the end of 1996, but an extension into 1997 was granted by the BBC. FOX was out of the picture entirely by this time; indeed, those responsible for bringing Doctor Who to the network in the first place -- such as Trevor Walton -- were no longer on staff, and the new regime wanted nothing to do with programming which had been instigated by its predecessors. Ultimately, Universal had no luck in attracting any further interest in Doctor Who, and they allowed their option to run out. Except for The Curse Of Fatal Death, a comedy skit which aired as part of the BBC's Comic Relief charity drive in March 1999, Doctor Who would be absent from television screens for the rest of the twentieth century.

Fortunately, the dawn of the twenty-first century would change the situation dramatically...

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #5, 3rd September 2003, “Something Changed” and “Archive: Doctor Who” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #10, 13th April 2005, “Ride On Time” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: Regeneration by Philip Segal and Gary Russell (2000), HarperCollins Publishers.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #47, 2017, “Story 156: Doctor Who (The TV Movie)”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Eighties by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1996), Virgin Publishing.
• Doctor Who: The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor by David J Howe and Stephen James Walker (1998), Virgin Publishing.
• Doctor Who: The Nth Doctor by Jean-Marc Lofficier (1997), Virgin Publishing.
• In·Vision #108, August 2003, “Production” edited by Anthony Brown, Cybermark Services.