Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Season 23 of classic ‘Doctor Who’ is unique for many reasons. It was the first season truncated from 26 episodes to 14 episodes. It also replaced a cancelled Season 23, since ‘Doctor Who’ had been rested for 18 months in 1985 following concerns made by BBC executives on the show’s creditability.

This was also the first time a ‘Doctor Who’ season had been made as a fourteen-part epic story called ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, with four segments forming a complete story. Sadly, this was also the final season for Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, since he was unceremoniously sacked by the BBC.

Whatever the reason was for Colin Baker’s sacking, it’s clear the production of ‘Trial’ wasn’t as smooth-running as one would’ve hoped. I’ve enjoyed the ‘Trial’ season on DVD and Blu-ray, but it’s undeniably a flawed season. This is especially the case with how the trial was handled in the season.

The season saw a changeover of companions, with Nicola Bryant as Peri making her dramatic exit in the second segment of ‘Trial’ called ‘Mindwarp’, and Bonnie Langford as Mel making her debut in the third segment called ‘Terror of the Vervoids’. It was intriguing to see that changeover in ‘Trial’. 🙂

There was also the introduction of Michael Jayston as the Valeyard and Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor. These two characters appeared in every episode of ‘Trial’, especially when they were in the court scenes featuring the Sixth Doctor. The Valeyard was also far more than he seemed to be. 😐

It’s a shame that Colin Baker’s era of ‘Doctor Who’ was curtailed by the pressure made by the BBC at the time from 1985 to 1986. Thankfully, Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor has had a long life in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ and it’s a great relief that ‘Trial’ didn’t doom the TV series in the long run.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂