Should Michael Grade still be demonised?

I think he had a valid point, from his perspective: at the time, Who did cause a lot of headaches for him. A lot of the content of Season 22 was quite confronting for a “tea time” audience and the ratings that it was getting probably didn’t justify the amount of work he was doing at solving those problems. And - and I know I’m going to upset a lot of people here - the quality of the show really wasn’t up to much compared to a lot of contemporary dramas. I know there were extenuating circumstances but it just wasn’t cutting any mustard compared to its stablemates. There were reasons, I know, but frankly, I think it wasn’t the powerhouse it had been even five years previously.

Oh, like a lot of this stuff, I think responsibility is ultimately down to who you ask. Grade himself mentions being called up to the BBC Board for the decision to cancel it. Peter Davison was of the opinion that Colin Baker got caught in the crossfire of BBC politicking squared at John Nathan-Turner. One of those situations where it could easily have been the Fifth Doctor getting shot to pieces rather than the Sixth. The clip, after all, that kept getting dragged up of failing production values was from Warriors of the Deep. Hit by delays, schedule bumps and the general chaos of the snap election in '84, for double the 'ouch' (funny how Planet of Fire's Lanzarote shooting was never picked, huh?).

I think what made the infamy stick was how Grade approached it. He was very public about his dislike of it in a way that Creegen ultimately wasn't. The Room 101 interview, for instance, mentions that the show was actually beating Wogan and Match of the Day for ratings. In response, Grade just smiles and goes: "Was it really?" ("You don't care do you?" asks the presenter.) He shakes his head, "No." It's almost theatrical, in its way.

Forty years on... In all honesty, for myself personally, I prefer to spend the energy celebrating Colin's 22-year renewal as a classic Doctor with brand new adventures. He's more than proved his mettle as an actor and it's clear he has an enduring love of the part, however dark the start was (and I do mean dark, life was not kind to him in the mid-80s). Grade doesn't really enter my mind unless prompted, which I think says it all really.

I have calmed down a lot over the years on the Michael Grade issue. Even now, my Dad, on seeing some particularly good Classic Doctor Who, will interject forcefully "Michael Grade didn't pick this as an example did he?" in reference to that infamous Room 101 appearance, which we both watched at the time. 

Michael Grade did shake up the BBC1 schedules greatly. When he arrived, programme runtimes were all over the place. He streamlined and standardised this so that viewers could tune in on the hour or half hour and catch the start of a programme. No 19:40, 20:10, 21:45 starts, for example.

The peak evening schedules had too many US imports for Drama serials. 1980's US drama was not the powerhouse it is today, but quite formulaic. There were also too many repeats.

Michael Grade totally overhauled this, commissioning new UK Drama serials of a high standard and new entertainment and comedy shows, along with the 30 minute 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock news programmes, finally rivalling ITV for an in depth evening news, replacing the shorter bulletins.

As for Doctor Who? It had been very successful, right up to and arguably including Colin Bakers first season. The difference that year (1985) was that it was due an overhaul and that had not occurred as customary with the change over of lead actor. A creeping reliance towards trying to look and act a bit more like harder edged sci-fi only heightened its production limitations and did not sit well with its time slot. 

A simple refresh was all it needed, as it had received so many times in the past. 

The failing, if it may termed so, on Michael Grade's part, was that he allowed personal dislike for the show to influence his otherwise dispassionate objectivity in revitalising BBC1 at the time. It was a legacy show, just as was Are You Being Served? which came to an end after 13 years at the same time.

In conclusion I can appreciate that for him it was mostly 'Just Business', but that there was never really a plan to revitalise the show when it was taken off air. It only won a reprieve and slow demise following the media campaign than ensued. But no, he is no villain and I think he deserves credit for dealing with the indignation of fans with the right degree of pantomimic scorn. 

You don't have Survival on DVD or blu-ray? Because he's on it.

About the only issue regarding the show that fans are united 100% behind is supporting Colin Baker in his agreement to not come back to film a regeneration scene after he was fired. A lot of people did not enjoy his tenure as the Doctor; a lot of people did not enjoy Time And The Rani; a lot of people think the show was in the doldrums at the time - but NOBODY blames Colin Baker for doing what he did. 

Listening to the Season Twenty-Three lost stories all I can think of is if Grade had just waited a season he might just have had the full backing of the public if he'd wanted to cancel the show! In so many ways what happened worked out the better for everyone concerned in the end.

Ohh, I can definitely recommend the "Endgame" documentary on Survival's DVD.  Peter Cregeen is the first thing we see on the documentary. I decided to rewatch it to refresh my memory and he's quite soft-spoken and measured, almost like a kindly uncle. Genuinely thoughtful. This is part of his contribution:
And, looking over the energy of the mid-90s... Yeah. Yeah, I can definitely see that. There's an air of maybe, possibly, the show could've come back in 1993/4. Things like More than 30 Years in the TARDIS felt like a bit of a test run for how the show could've been produced had it come back on British television. In fact, in a weird quirk of fate, Cregeen was initially attached as producer for The Dark Dimension. In his role as Head of Drama. Unfortunately, around that time, there was a massive shift in BBC management which meant that Cregeen was moved on. It's interesting to speculate what the knock-on effects would have been had things turned out differently...

(¹ - Not surprised there, on my part. I've a sneaking suspicion the production team were keeping their heads down.)