Totally Tasteless
50th anniversary special
23 November 2013
- You Can't Destroy the Doctor
- Doctor Doctor ...
- Who's That Doctor?
- The Man in Charge
- The Grumpy Old Man Who Spawned a TV Legend
- How Charlie Chaplin Saved Doctor Who
- The Comedian Who Wanted to Be Taken Seriously
- The Time Lord Saved Me from the Building Site
- Fans Invade the Tardis
- Totally Tasteless
- No More Ferrets for Me
- The Doctor Hits America
- The Man Who Said 'No'
- One for the Ladies
- The Geek Inherits the Universe
10th (1973) | 20th (1983) | 30th (1993) | 40th (2003) | 50th (2013) | 60th (2023)
- Publication: Radio Times
- Date: 2013-11-23
- Author: David Brown
- Page: 41
- Language: English
Who & me
LYNDA BELLINGHAM, Played the Inquisitor in The Trial of a Time Lord (1986)
For my costume they made me a huge white headdress with supports sticking out on either side to make it stand up. It was attached to the back of my neck so I couldn't move my head at all. They also gave me these long, false red nails so I could hardly do anything with my hands, either. It was all very Joan Collins. If I wanted to go to the loo, I had to ask permission from the wardrobe department, who would then walk me to the toliet. It was a bit like being a bride. From Behind the Sofa: see p25
Who knew?
No more police box..?
Producer John Nathan Turner wound up fans by saying the Doctor would fix the Tardis so it would blend in with its landing sites. In Attack of the Cybermen (1985), it was seen as an ornate dresser, a battered pipe organ and a mausoleum doorway.
Must-see moment
The Trial of a Time Lord (1985)
A vast Time Lord space station swrils through the stars and extrudes a tractor beam to ensnare the Tardis. Stunning for its time, this continuous effects shot used "motion control" camerawork, a massive model and took one week to film. It relaunched the series after its 18-month hiatus. Colin Baker Years 1984-86 Episodes 31
Who is he? Born in London's Waterloo in 1943 during an air raid. Colin Baker made his name in 1970s BBC1 hit The Brothers. Last year, he was a popular contestant in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!
Doctor profile Pompous, volatile, garish.
Key companion Peri (Nicola Bryant). A whiny American botany student who endured for most of this Doctor's run.
Ultimate foe The Valeyard (classy actor Michael Jayston), a prosecutor at the Doctor's Time Lord trial, was revealed to be a dark, future version of our hero.
Age now 70
I was made for this part
I FELT ALMOST AS though this part was made for me, or I was made for this part," Colin Baker told RT optimistically when starting out in 1984. "It's everybody's dream to play their hero." He wasn't to know how disastrously things would pan out.
His character was antagonistic, at first even trying to strangle his companion, Peri. Worse, producer John Nathan-Turner decreed, against Baker's wishes, that the new Doctor's costume be "totally tasteless", a hideous mix of clashing patterns and colours. It robbed the character of any credibility. In Richard Marson's biography of Nathan Turner, Russell T Davies says: "I seriously think that the costume was the biggest mistake in the history of television."
Even Nathan Turner eventually conceded, "It was totally my fault. I take the entire rap." It seems obvious now that the producer was fashioning a Time Lord in his own image. Curly-haired and quite the showman, he was rarely seen outside of flamboyant Hawaiian shirts.
The tone of the drama also lacked taste, with panto villains and gore at teatime: hands being bloodily crushed and deaths by acid bath. In 1985, BBC1 controller Michael Grade and his head of drama, Jonathan Powell, seized the chance to axe Doctor Who, but they were forced by a tabloid and fan backlash into fudging their decision as a "postponement"
Who came back after 18 months, with tweaks but arguably in a sorrier state than before, and Powell ordered Nathan-Turner to fire his star (and pal) Colin Baker.
Ambridge and the stars
Who knew that at the same time as gloomy Mike Tucker was going bankrupt as a farmer in Ambridge, he was also intent on ruling the universe as Dalek creator Davros? During the 80s, actor Terry Molloy was multitasking with roles on both shows, but he isn't the only link between The Archers and Doctor Who. Mary Wimbush (posh Julia Pargetter) played Aunt Lavinia in spin-off K-9 and Company; Ysanne Churchman (ill-fated matriarch Grace Archer) was the voice of Alpha Centauri in The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon; and squabbling siblings Will and Ed Grundy called a truce to watch 2005's The Christmas Invasion. And as the Doctor himself observed in a 2012 story, "I've matured. I'm 1,200 years old now. Plus I don't want to miss The Archers."
THIRSTY WORK Terry Molloy takes a break from playing megalomaniac Davros
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Brown, David (2013-11-23). Totally Tasteless. Radio Times p. 41.
- MLA 7th ed.: Brown, David. "Totally Tasteless." Radio Times [add city] 2013-11-23, 41. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Brown, David. "Totally Tasteless." Radio Times, edition, sec., 2013-11-23
- Turabian: Brown, David. "Totally Tasteless." Radio Times, 2013-11-23, section, 41 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Totally Tasteless | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Totally_Tasteless | work=Radio Times | pages=41 | date=2013-11-23 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=12 June 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Totally Tasteless | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Totally_Tasteless | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=12 June 2025}}</ref>
