Season 28 (1991)

**Season 28** of BBC's ***Doctor Who*** aired during late 1991. It was the first season for David Troughton's Eighth Doctor and Julia Sawalha as Katie Tollinger.

## Production

### A New Look

After John Nathan-Turner resigned as producer in 1990, the position was given to former script-editor Andrew Cartmel. Cartmel appointed writer Ben Aaronovitch as new script editor. The title sequence that had been in use since 1987 was re-edited with more up-to-date CGI and a yellow color scheme. Along with this came a new logo, which was more reminiscent of the Season 18-21 title card.

Cartmel commissioned Mark Ayres to compose the new theme rendition. The new theme was similar in structure to the McCulloch theme, but it was considerably toned down and more relaxed. Ayres would also be the main composer of each story's incidental music going forward.

### The Eighth Doctor

Cartmel was also given the task of casting Sylvester McCoy's replacement. Many were considered for the Eighth Doctor - Richard Griffiths had been a popular choice since the early 1980's, having been the original pick for Tom Baker's replacement before John Nathan-Turner ultimately casted Peter Davison. In 1990, the production team contacted Griffiths and offered him the role. He considered it, but decided to decline.

The next two actors being considered were David McCallum and Ian Richardson, however both didn't sit well with Cartmel. There was even consideration of a female Doctor, specifically casting Joanna Lumley, but the production team shot that idea down as it was considered too controversial. This idea actually originated in 1986 when Michael Grade was still the controller of BBC One, where Grade had a discussion with *Doctor Who* co-creator Sydney Newman about the at the time current state of the show. Newman wrote back to the controller about the possibility of bringing back Patrick Troughton to replace Colin Baker for a season, before casting a female Doctor. This proposed plan was of course, never realized, but the mention of the now late Patrick Troughton gave Cartmel an idea.

David Troughton, Patrick's eldest son, was a fan of the show. He had starred alongside former star Peter Davison in the TV series *A Very Peculiar Practice*, and had been in *Doctor Who* on three separate occasions; an extra in *The Enemy of the World* (1967-68), a soldier in *The War Games* (1969), and more prominently as King Peladon alongside Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor in *The Curse of Peladon* (1972). Cartmel contacted Troughton and offered him the role of the Doctor, which he accepted. The casting of the Eighth Doctor was revealed in issue 156 of *Doctor Who Magazine* on the 31st of October, 1990.

## Cast

* David Troughton as the Eighth Doctor
* Julia Sawalha as Katie Trollinger
* Terry Molloy as **Davros**
* Nicholas Courtney as **Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart**
* Angela Bruce as **Brigadier Winifred Bambera**

## Merchandise

### Home Media

#### **VHS**

* *War of the Daleks*
* *The Clockwise Cuckoos*
* *Avatar*
* *Blood and Iron*
* *Illegal Alien*

#### **DVD**

* All serials of Season 28 were released individually during the 2000's

#### **Blu-Ray**

* The complete season was upscaled to high definition and released on Blu-ray as *Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 28* in 2018
* It was later released in Australia and the US in 2020 as *Doctor Who: David Troughton - Complete Season One*

#### **Novelizations**

Target Books published novelizations of each television story in 1992.

* *War of the Daleks*
* *The Clockwise Cuckoos*
* *Avatar*
* *Blood and Iron*
* *Illegal Alien*