| The Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy 1987 - 1996 |
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| After Colin Baker was ignomoniously fired from his role by Michael Grade the role was given to Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. He began as a more clownish Doctor in the mould of Patrick Troughton's incarnation, doing things such as playing the spoons, falling over a lot, spouting mixed metaphors, doing wildly bizzare things such as hanging himself over a cliff with his umbrella for no apparent reason, and flipping his hat up his arm. Some of these traits continued throughout the rest of McCoy's tenure, whilst others were dropped. Another side to the character was his darker, more manipulative side, much like a chess player, operating his adventures more from in the background, rather than the foreground like some of his predecessors and could portray anger, as well as whimsy and humour. McCoy was unfortunately the last regular Doctor to appear in the series since his tenure was cut short by the cancellation of the show in 1989. However, in 1991 Virgin Publishing obtained the rights to produce original Doctor Who fiction, under the title The New Adventures. These were based on the journes of the Seventh Doctor with first of all his companion from the series Ace, followed by new companions. They also contained liberal doses of swearing, sex and violence, though thankfully the Doctor did not become involved in any of these! McCoy made a final appearance as the Doctor in 1996 in the Doctor Who TV Movie, handing over the role to his successor and friend, Paul McGann. Recently McCoy also reprised his role in the BBC Doctor Who Audio drama "Death Comes to Time". This was a milestone broadcast since it was the first ever broadcast of a programme to be made exclusively on the internet. The style of Death Comes to Time is very much a cross between the New Adventures novels and comic book style... Back to Doctor Who Page |