Doctor Who: what an improvement!

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• Publication: Radio Times
• Date: 1987-01-10
• Author:
• Page: 80
• Language: English

I'd like to thank all concerned for a wonderful ending to The Trial of a Time Lord series of Doctor Who (6 September-6 December BBC1). The whole series has been very enjoyable. The extra humour has added to the stories without any loss to the adventure feeling. There have been several highlights: the exciting and unusual ending to the second story where Peri was (supposedly) killed, the Vervoids (really traditional Doctor Who monsters), and the final two-episode finish to the trial with the dramatic intervention of the Master, the welcome return of Glitz (Tony Selby) and of course the revelation of the Doctor's and the Valeyard's double existence.

If one had to find fault, my biggest quarrel would be with the time paradoxes, especially those brought up at the end. If the Valeyard really is a latter-day incarnation of the Doctor, why did he want to kill the Doctor? It's like going back in time and killing yourself as a child. And, anyway, what were the Doctor and the Valeyard doing in the same time stream? But one always has to take the scientific aspects of Doctor Who with a pinch of salt - it's still great.

Please tell me, was one of the Vervoids from Liverpool or was it just the sycamore leaves up his nose?

Susan Flower Chesham, Buckinghamshire

What did it mean?

So the Doctor is really the Valeyard -or was it that the Valeyard was really the Doctor? And the murderer on the spaceship turned out to be one of the pot-plants in the conservatory! And Peri is dead, or married, or has changed into Bonnie Langford.

Whatever it all meant. Doctor Who was great fun, and a joy to watch.

Tim Collins

Epping, Essex

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• APA 6th ed.: (1987-01-10). Doctor Who: what an improvement!. Radio Times p. 80.
• MLA 7th ed.: "Doctor Who: what an improvement!." Radio Times [add city] 1987-01-10, 80. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: "Doctor Who: what an improvement!." Radio Times, edition, sec., 1987-01-10
• Turabian: "Doctor Who: what an improvement!." Radio Times, 1987-01-10, section, 80 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who: what an improvement! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who:_what_an_improvement! | work=Radio Times | pages=80 | date=1987-01-10 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 May 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who: what an improvement! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who:_what_an_improvement! | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=20 May 2025}}</ref>