The only Doctor, in an era with less TVs in home, made double digits (ratings) was Tom Baker. Now in contrast to a “lucky if 8 Million see it” New Who. Even the numbers 1-3 were bigger, given how much rare TV ownership was. Some people had TVs on lay away stretching to the 3rd Doctor.
Lay away, was a monthly fee based thing, where you paid the installments before you got it. Back then it still might not have been dead tech in a year.
Why mention this, well Dr Who always has to follow that man, Troughton was a huge deal in that scope, and this guy could follow that act. He is the best.
Davison had to follow that guy directly and Colin Baker just reminded people with his last name through the latter lives. McGann was a solid casting, but had little time, but had it, but still, that was a heavy follow.
Now that’s all Classic, where writing was better, with somewhat terrible costuming and well it isn’t better now, but they use CGI trash to make up for bad design.
Even Cheetah people aren’t ass horrible as those Steroid infused ET monsters, and the way they bung up the Nesteen in Rose.
But the casting up to the 12th, if you still didn’t gate keep it by this time was terrible (at least for the title role). Design of terrible designs. The possibility of bringing back the Rani, but only to gender turn the Master. Who really had no reason to be back, after causing the TARDIS indigestion.
Some flimsy story line reasoning, blah blah crucible……he was offered a life cycle before, as was the future Doctor Villan, the one now? Valyard were given false offers of new lives, and the premise was, can offer but can’t do.
Letts to Holmes had more vision as well. But there is no mistaking the presence and skill of Tom Baker that is always a follow up act. They might have had something in Capaldi if they wrote and ran things like Letts and Holmes. But it was shit, and the new who “just let them talk” method of useless assistants never ended.
Nothing like Zoe, Sarah, Lela and all that who did more doing and even learning from a fellow of an advanced society, well technically advanced.
Largely new who became a mirror of internal skin head of RTD or the religious sanctimony within Moffat, scared religious worry about angels. It went further right than the libertarian cause driven traveler and then the pendulum dropped so hard it ended up a sort of anti-Woman Woman in the Gender Critical TERF sort of way. Which oddly enough unites Feminism with Classic Liberals in a strange way.
New Dr Who’s preachie zeal creating more questions than answers, and more bad casting, and bad writing.
Still his Grand Daughter awaits his return, as promised.
What worked for the ones who did it well, were they were great odd balls, real odd balls, a second or first nature odd ball. A specialty gig only a few could really master.
Tom, even off job of sorts, will say some incredibly amusing things.