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{{article | publication = Shropshire Star | file = 1996-05-25 Shropshire Star.jpg | px = 450 | height = | width = | date = 1996-05-25 | author = Caroline Garbett | pages = 6 | language = English | type = | description = | categories = TV movie | moreTitles = | morePublications = | moreDates = | text = AS THE NEW MILLENIUM LOOMS, THE DOCTOR IS LOCKED IN AN EPIC BATTLE The famous Time Lord returns to our TV sets on Monday in a new feature length film. So what adventures lie in store for him and his cohorts? CAROLINE GARBETT finds out rounds GET the sofa cushions at the ready... Dr Who is back! Paul McGann steps into the Tardis as the eighth regeneration of the space-hopping Time Lord. Seven years after axing Dr Who, the BBC has teamed up with Universal Television to bring him back to life for a £3 million feature-length adventure being screened on Bank Holiday Monday (BBC1 at 8.30pm). As the new millenium looms, the Doctor is locked in an epic battle with his nemesis, the Master, which threatens the very future of the world. The distinctive blue outline of the Tardis has materialised in some outlandish places in its time, but a warehouse in the suburbs of Vancouver is a new one even for the Doctor. Skaro or Gallifrey it is not, nor is there a Dalek, Cyberman or Yeti in sight. But the Doctor's new adventure has been shot on a scale unlike anything the famous time-traveller has ever seen before. "This is a co-production, the like of which has never been attempted in domestic television, says Phillip Segal, the executive producer for Universal Television. "The Anglo-American cast and crew meshed together well. I enjoyed working with the Brits, especially on something like this where the heritage of the whole show is British. "The show is set in 1999 and we're taking liberties with a lot of stuff, but we are keeping the core of it intact, keeping faith with the spirit of Doctor Who." The special effects in the film bring the Doctor right up to date - no wobbly sets or silver washing-up gloves here. McGann best known as The Monacled Mutineer and for being the brother of Upper Hand star Joe-was initially reluctant to take on the role. "Other actors seemed to fit the image better so I turned it down," he says. However, after reading the script, he changed his mind and decided to make the Doctor his own: "I wanted him to be a bit more edgy, to be a bit darker." There's little doubt that while some people will love him, many will refuse to accept him as Doctor Who. Rather like the storm which sur each new James Bond, everyone has their own personal favourite Doctor - it was Tom Baker who frightened the wits out of me as a child and none of the others have the same magic. McGann himself was a fan of the earlier shows: "My first Doctor Who was William Hartnell, and nobody's really come anywhere near him. I was five, six or seven at the time," he remembers. "I thought the Doctors who followed, lovable as they were, weren't quite authentic." Monday's film begins with The Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy) landing unexpectedly in San Francisco and being seriously injured as he emerges from the Tardis. Rushed to hospital, the Doctor fails to survive the operation and mystifies the surgeon, Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook), who discovers his two hearts. When he regenerates into Paul McGann and disappears from the morgue, the hospital tries to cover its tracks and Grace resigns. The Doctor was transporting the remains of the supposedly dead Master from Skaro when he made his unscheduled stop. The Master (played by Eric Roberts) wants the Doctor's body as he has used all of his own 13 lives and is threatening to destroy Earth in order to get his own way. "He has opened the eye of harmony, the power source at the heart of the Tardis," the Doctor tells Grace." If the eye is not closed, this planet will be sucked through it. I need to fix the timing mechanism and close the eye. I need an atomic clock." And, in true Doctor Who tradition, Grace knows just where to find one! The race is on to foil his evil plan. Will the Master succeed in sucking the world through the Tardis' power source? Will the Doctor be able to stop him? And will I dare come out from behind the sofa? Tune in next week and find out... Caption: Paul McGann as the new Dr Who. }}

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