Forsaking the final, self-indulgent 20 mins of ‘The End of Time’, I think that ‘Love and Monsters’, ‘Last of the Timelords” and ‘Partners in Crime’ rival Colin Baker’s ‘Timelash’ and Tom Baker’s ‘The Invisible Enemy’ for the worst of Who we’ve ever seen.

Most the Doctor’s have had bad stories throughout its nigh-on 50 years – William Hartnell’s ‘The Web Planet’, Troughton’s ‘The Mind Robber’, Davison’s ‘Warriors of the Deep’, and anything with Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford, highlighting low production values and poor pacing (let’s not mention Paul McGann’s one foray) – but none have treated the audience with contempt to the extent that the first five I mentioned did. (Notice Jon Pertwee gets away scott-free. Although Tom Baker is my favourite Doctor, I think Pertwee has the complete body of work, not a bad story among them)

I digress. ‘Love and Monsters’ has to rank as one of the worst pieces of television ever to be broadcast (that’s the one where Peter-fucking-Kay thought he was the bigger name than Who). The sheer inanity of it all was embarrassing. ‘Last of the Timelords’, as in the case of both ‘Doomsday’ and ‘The End of Time’ thought that hitting the reset switch at the end was okay and would leave the viewer joyfully swollen by what had gone before – the return of a horrendously over-acting Master in the first case, Daleks v Cybermen the second, Timelords here today, gone tomorrow, the third – and not of a mind to ask the simplest of questions, such as “hold on, one fucking minute… You virtually destroy mankind, then bring them back, just like that.”

“Partners in Crime”, with the Adipose? Do me a favour. Doctor Who may still be classed as a kids TV series, but walking fat? How much more condescending can one get?

As I say, these rival the nadir of the classic series – the terminally dull, with the oh-so-convenient-yet-unexplained escape clause of ‘Timelash, and the giant prawn, ‘Fantastic Voyage’ rip-off of a borefest that even Tom Baker can’t save, ‘The Invisible Enemy’.

Nu-Who has been brilliant at times, but yes, it has also treated the audience with contempt, almost as though the spectre of Michael Grade was hanging over RTD’s laptop – as it did in the Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy transition period…

But hey Mike, I don’t wish to tread on your toes here. I should maybe let you have your blog back.

As there’s little beyond Doctor Who, Spag Westerns, music and my fam I get passionate about, just thought I might throw my own hat into the ring

Wonderful, wonderfully warm man, vulnerable and very very human. For me, as well as Jackanory, The Railway Children and The Wombles stand out in particular, but that’s probably because I wanted to be a bit posh.

Good to see you writing more here, Mike

But I think you are mistaken in your footnote. Certainly, The Doctor complains; but I don’t think it’s cowardly. It’s a moment of weakness that is startling — even shocking, because it’s so unlike the character — but he recovers himself, and carries on as he has to.

I think it’s just that he sees what must happen, and it’s just a pre-echo of his final words: “I don’t want to go.”

He’s not human, but he’s showing humanity (Gallifreyanity, perhaps?)

I’d be interested to know where you think it “treated the audience with contempt”.

Which made it strange when this popped up in my feed, because I was sat here at work, looking out over the harbor in Sydney, sort of talking to people about the end of Who – or more precisely Bernard Cribbins and how no one here knows who he is. Very strange, because as I rattle off a list of the things he has been in people here certainly know his work, just not the man himself connecting the pieces. Hardly surprising given the only TV station worth a damn when I was a kid was the ABC, which certainly felt like it was just a subsidiary o the BBC when I was younger.

I always wonder what (or even how) it is that given the same body of work, people like this can go somewhat unnoticed over here. A also wonder if there is anything in reverse (famous Australian entertains of any kind – something I was about to disparagingly self mock, before remember you’re something of a fan of some of our output here) or, as I somewhat suspect, there is something about the British that allows a personality like this to be culturally identified.

Anyway – very green eyed you got to see this. Which is what I was actually driven to comment and say.