2 thoughts on “A Summary of ‘Time and the Rani’ (Doctor Who) by Tim Bradley”

1. Wolfie June 8, 2025 at 7:24 am

   Time and the Rani is such a strange story, honestly. It’s from Doctor Who in the midst of triage, trying to assemble a functioning production office from the exploded remains of The Trial of a Time Lord.

   The consequences of the hiatus meant that Doctor Who had:

   No leading actor, despite his willingness to return (because the BBC burnt that bridge so thoroughly);

   No script editor because of the fallout between Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner for The Ultimate Foe;

   No writers because the programme had been tainted by BBC politics;

   No companion introductory story because Mel had been introduced mid-season in a rush, and almost had;

   No producer, but if JNT hadn’t stayed on, the series would’ve been dead.

   The Twin Dilemma was a demonstration of a gamble that didn’t pay off. Doctor Who wasn’t in trouble in 1984. It was a year after the 20th anniversary of the programme. Things were on the up and up. Ambition made sense, even though the execution didn’t pan out. It was a red flag, but like Warriors of the Deep, a recoverable one.

   Time and the Rani, on the other hand, was all those red flags coming home to roost. It’s what happens when you need a new Doctor, cannot establish your new companion, and have writers who are fighting with a script editor they see as inexperienced.

   It’s a mess.

   There are two wolves in Time and the Rani. One wolf is a Cinderella pantomime where the stakes are the rescue of humanity’s abducted scientific geniuses. It’s silly slapstick and it feels inconsequential. The other wolf is a serious examination of collaboration with authoritarian figures. That collaboration results in a father indirectly aiding in the murder of his own terrified daughter. It’s dark, gripping and worthy of a thriller.

   Neither of these wolves are cooperating with the other.

   The difference between Time and the Rani and Remembrance of the Daleks is like night and day. Proof that with the right circumstances, whatever issues had occurred in previous years, Doctor Who was more than capable of recovering. It could have excelled and did. Scars and all.

   But it had to purge itself of those open wounds first before it could start healing.

   And, sadly, Time and the Rani was just that. The purge.

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   1. Tim Bradley Post authorJune 8, 2025 at 5:01 pm

      Hi Wolfie,

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Time and the Rani’. It’s such a shame about this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It’s easy to make fun of it and I’m sure it has its fans, but this is clearly a rocky start for Sylvester McCoy’s era as the Seventh Doctor. This is especially when there were behind-the-scenes struggles in getting the TV show back on track after a tumultuous ‘Trial of a Time Lord’ season. This is with a producer who didn’t want to come back but had to in order to ensure the TV show’s survival, a new script editor who had to cope with working with veteran writers that had their scripts in place, the casting of a new Doctor, a dodgy regeneration when Colin Baker refused to return for it, and a pantomime style of atmosphere in the story in terms of production and script-writing.

      The BBC are likely to blame for this, considering they were trying to stop the TV show altogether, but were counteracted by those, including fans, who were determined to keep it going. Thankfully, Sylvester McCoy’s era got better in the next two seasons, but ‘Time and the Rani’ wasn’t the best of starts.

      I’m glad I did the comedic summary for my Quick Reactions video for ‘The Reality War’ recently to showcase some of ‘Time and the Rani’ and its silliness. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Sylvester McCoy era’s in revisiting and updating my reviews on Season 25 after I’ve been to ‘Bury Comic Con’ at the end of June.

      Best wishes,

      Tim 🙂

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