ÔYou are dead, Doctor. Goodbye.Õ
After almost 18 months off-air Doctor Who returned to television in September 1986 with the 14-episode The Trial of a Time Lord, an epic serial intended by its production team as a grand statement about both the programme and its lead character.
Its final two episodes, ÔThe Ultimate FoeÕ, would prove to be the climax, if not the resolution, to the longest ever Doctor Who serial and to behind-the-scenes issues, both inside and outside the programmeÕs own production office, that had dogged the series for over a year.
Suffering from unprecedented scripting issues, including the death of its original writer and the withdrawal of his successorÕs replacement script for the final episode after it had been issued to the cast and crew, this serial, while not intended as such, also came to serve as the finale for Colin BakerÕs interpretation of the Doctor on television.
This Black Archive examines multiple drafts of both episodesÕ scripts to look at creative conflicts behind the conclusion to this epic adventure, and the clash of intentions and interpretations that resulted in what was seen in the final transmitted programmes.