The Horns of Nimon

The Leisure Hive was something of a revelation. 

Certainly, the John Nathan-Turner era ended up in the mire. But when the story broke onto our screens, with minimal fanfare, towards the end of 1980, it felt like a phoenix had emerged from the ashes. There was a new title sequence, and a rejigged theme tune. The Doctor had a new, stylish costume. Tom Baker’s excesses were reined in: he was again the brooding Shakespearean figure I had fallen in love with in Miss Beale’s class. 

And the actual pictures on the TV looked different. Deeper; darker; more professional, more somehow present. People often called them “glossy”. Possibly they were using more cine film and less video tape. Possibly they had got better at cleaning up footage in post production. Perhaps they were doing clever things with the lighting. John Nathan-Turner had been a Production Unit manager throughout Season 17, and probably had a head for matters technical. The budget had not significantly increased, but he may have been more canny than his predecessors about how he spent what little money he had. 

It would not be quite fair to describe Season 17 as the “don’t care” era. Graham Williams and Douglas Adams clearly cared, a great deal, about setting up funny jokes and surprising scenes and generally keeping seven million people entertained on a Saturday night. But John Nathan-Turner, I think, was more conscious of carrying two decades of TV history on his shoulders. With becoming producer of Doctor Who there must also come great responsibility. From Season 18 onwards, Doctor Who seemed to know that it was Doctor Who.

Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing in the long term is a matter of opinion: but back then, fandom breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Yes, the change from “clothes” to “costume” or even “uniform” was a mistake, and the question mark motifs were a vulgar meta-joke. 

Yes, the over-staffing of the TARDIS with not-very experienced actors harmed the series in the long run. 

Yes, Matthew Waterhouse. 

Yes, in retrospect, Ian Levine.

A decade — a third of the show’s original run! — was certainly too long for one man to stay in charge.

The DWAS President, who had not been entirely wrong about Deadly Assassin, was not entirely wrong about Season 18: the gloss was arguably superficial. 

But in September 1980, none of this mattered. 

What mattered was that Doctor Who was no longer something we had to feel embarrassed about watching. 

“My god!” we all thought “It looks just like a real TV show.”

The only thing which mattered in 1980 was that the Leisure Hive was not The Horns of Nimon.  If you enjoy my writing about Doctor Who please consider supporting my Patreon.