Doctor Five Abuse

[lesbiassparrow]

Whenever I watch Peter Davison's Doctor it does seem as if he got the most physical abuse of any of the Doctors: they whack him good.  And they whack him often. I assume this was a way to toughen up his mild image and general aura of niceness, but sometimes it just really freaks me out.

The most disturbing thing was watching The Caves of Androzani where Five is actually stumbling around the place bleeding. I can't tell you very terrifying that was as a child because I don't recall ever seeing blood on Who before - and certainly not on the Doctor, whom I think I probably thought of as pretty much made of wood and steel. Obviously given that this is Who, I'd seen people (plenty of them) hurt and dead, yes, but actual blood, no.  I wonder how they got that past the censors? (I know that ITV used to have a rule for Robin of Sherwood where they could kill as many people as they liked but they couldn't show blood or wounds and I think that was a general rule for deaths on children's TV at the time).

 

Comments

[cassiphone.livejournal.com]

I think the late 5th Doctor and all of the 6th Doctor was the period when, in England, the timeslot changed from teatime Saturday (6pm) to Tuesday evenings? So it was pushed into a more adult timeslot and they consequently added more violence & adult-ish themes. Complaints of it being too violent when still perceived as a kids show was part of the reason why the show got pulled off air for an 18 month hiatus before Trial of a Time Lord.

All of which made no difference to us in Australia, where they happily showed any and all Doctor Who stories at 6pm on weekdays, often paired with The Goodies (I only discoverd later that this was not considered a kids show in the UK, and that at least 3-4 dirty jokes and the occasional boob shot were cut out of every episode before we saw it. Makes revisiting them on DVD a bizarre experience. :)

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I don't recall when it got pulled - I do recall following it, but it wasn't that late - maybe an hour or so later?

[Ah the internet knows all: it went out around 7.] That's still a huge jump in deaths and Doctor abuse for an hour! And no one told me that was going to happen... unfeeling bastards!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Historical detail:

All of the Davison stories were broadcast on Monday and Tuesday early evenings, which was not considered a more adult timeslot either then or now. The BBC has always operated the so-called "nine o'clock watershed" in terms of when the rules on sex and violence are loosened. At the beginning of Colin Baker's first full series the time was changed back to the traditional Saturday early evening (initially with an unhappy attempt at doubling the length of episodes) and ironically it was this series that caused the complaints and in retrospect is still considered to be the height of graphic violence and moral ambiguity in Who.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I remember the change vaguely. But even if they had moved it even later, it's still a bit odd ramping up the death toll and violence and still selling it in the same old package. I'm actually not one who thinks that the kiddies need to be shielded from all things that might offend their (or more likely their parents') eyes, but when I look back at the Tom Baker years it does seem like a huge jump in style without a lot of forewarning.

As for the Colin Baker violence, I don't recall them, at least, making him bleed. He does kill someone by tossing then in a vat of something horrible (though it's an accident) but I don't recall them inflicting as many wounds on him personally. Maybe I have faulty memory or something though.