Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Season 24 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series is rated as the worst season ever made. Whilst I agree there is too much humour in the four stories of Sylvester McCoy’s first season as the Seventh Doctor and there needs to be balance of drama and humour, I don’t find this season to be terrible. 🙂
Out of the four stories, ‘Paradise Towers’ and ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ are my two favourites out of the season. ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ wins it for me, especially with it being set in sunny South Wales and having a late 1950s feel to it. ‘Paradise Towers’ is undeniably a flawed ‘Doctor Who’ story.
This is particularly in the production values, confined to being filmed in a studio, and having an overdose of humour. But I was able to enjoy the world-building featured in the story and Richard Briers delivered an enjoyable performance as the Chief Caretaker, even if it’s let-down in ‘Part Four’.
Many fans rate ‘Dragonfire’ highly as the best story in the Season 24. Whilst I don’t agree with that, it’s good for featuring a superb debut of Sophie Aldred as new companion Ace, and ‘Dragonfire’ is a lot better than ‘Time and the Rani’. ‘Time and the Rani’, in my opinion, is the weakest of the four stories.
For one thing, Andrew Cartmel had just joined as script editor and ‘Time and the Rani’ wasn’t commissioned by him. You could say Andrew Cartmel was coming to terms with what his vision was for the show as script editor, just as Sylvester McCoy was coming to terms with how to play his Doctor.
Despite the issues many people have raised about Season 24, I’ve enjoyed this ‘Doctor Who’ season more than some seasons in the new TV series, particularly in the Steven Moffat era. It’s also a decent season featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel, who work well together.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
I was motivated enough to stick with classic Dr. Who until the very end. So any serious drawbacks for S24 thankfully didn’t hinder that. Although the question of how far was too far in the progress of Dr. Who was certainly worth asking at this point. S25, and S26 even more so, would fairly show that this particularly revitalized format for Dr. Who during Sylvester’s era could pay off. Knowing that Bonnie will somehow reprise Mel again, for a full story after her cameo for The Power Of The Doctor, it should make fans look back on her time in S24 more thoughtfully in retrospect. It’s how we choose to remember Doctors and companions, despite specifically troubling stories, that earns the show its credit. Thank you, Tim, for your summary.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Season 24 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s interesting how the Sylvester McCoy/Seventh Doctor era developed and evolved from being overly-comedic in Season 24 to being mysterious and dark in Season 26. Much like how the Seventh Doctor developed and evolved as a character. I find it amazing that Bonnie Langford as Mel is returning to appear in a ‘Doctor Who’ episode with Ncuti Gatwa, considering Seasons 23 and 24 have had a lot of flack over the years. Hopefully, Mel’s character development from the Big Finish audios will be reflected more in her new series return as well as from the classic TV series.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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