The Lost Season 23, the Rani and 'Children of January'

[Jesse White]

On another Forum someone posted a link to a post Ian Levine made a month or so ago about the Season 23 that never was:https://www.facebook.com/notes/ian-levine/doctor-who-the-aborted-season-23-the-true-facts/10153169468818735?pnref=story

Some stuff that he said:

The Children of January would only ever have been a Season 24 story(if it would ever have been made at all). The final Season 23 story was supposed to be Gallifrey.

Gallifrey was originally to have been written by Eric Saward himself.

After the 18 month postponement, JNT still wanted to do the original Season 23. Eric Saward however suggested doing new stories.

The Rani was never supposed to be have been in Yellow Fever. Unsurprising as Kate O'Mara was in the USA making Dynasty at the time.

'Yellow Fever' was that story's full title. "And How to Cure it" was an in-office joke that was never supposed to be part of the title.

As far as Big Finish's audio adaptations of the Lost Season go: The Nightmare Fair and Mission to Magnus were both incredibly accurate, while BF"s The Hollows of Time bore little resemblance to the original script.
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Blimey, does this mean that the 2Entertain DVD feature was wrong? Could this mean that other 2Entertain documentaries aren't 100% accurate?

[lousingh]

I can't find any information aside from that video you speak of about it being "The Children of January". I definitely remember hearing and reading that "Gallifrey" was slated to be the season finale and that it was to be written by Eric Saward. Indeed, at least two people said that the initial script was already finished by the time the Hiatus hit.

I found a couple of places that Bidmead rewrote "The Hollows of Time" for BF.

[Richard Bignell]

Eric Saward was never commissioned to produce a story called 'Gallifrey' and no script, or even a basic storyline was ever written. Eric himself insists that he wasn't going to write any such story and that Ian is wrong. Pip and Jane Baker on the other hand were commissioned for a story of that title, but that was after the format had reverted back to 25-minutes. Evidently the commission didn't last long and they didn't do any work on it.

'The Children of January' on the other hand was completed in the 2x45' format and then Feeney-Callan (along with Holmes and Bidmead) was later asked to rework his script as 4 x 25' episodes. When you spend a healthy four-figure sum getting an established writer to fully script an idea and then later pay him an extra £600 to rework it into a different length, you obviously do that with every intention that you're going to use it. The fact that the all the work was done in the 45' format does seem to indicate that it was indeed the story that Bob Gabriel was asked to direct.

'in the Hollows of Time' was most certainly a television commission and Holmes' BBC contractual documents list his story as being titled 'Yellow Fever and How to Cure It'. Four months later, it's then referred to as just being 'Yellow Fever'.

[Simon Smith]

May 10, 2015 8:25:11 GMT Richard Bignell said:

Eric Saward was never commissioned to produce a story called 'Gallifrey' and no script, or even a basic storyline was ever written. Eric himself insists that he wasn't going to write any such story and that Ian is wrong. Pip and Jane Baker on the other hand were commissioned for a story of that title, but that was after the format had reverted back to 25-minutes. Evidently the commission didn't last long and they didn't do any work on it.

'The Children of January' on the other hand was completed in the 2x45' format and then Feeney-Callan (along with Holmes and Bidmead) was later asked to rework his script as 4 x 25' episodes. When you spend a healthy four-figure sum getting an established writer to fully script an idea and then later pay him an extra £600 to rework it into a different length, you obviously do that with every intention that you're going to use it. The fact that the all the work was done in the 45' format does seem to indicate that it was indeed the story that Bob Gabriel was asked to direct.

'in the Hollows of Time' was most certainly a television commission and Holmes' BBC contractual documents list his story as being titled 'Yellow Fever and How to Cure It'. Four months later, it's then referred to as just being 'Yellow Fever'.

Did you actually read what Ian wrote?

First, nobody ever said that there wasn't a story for Season 23 called In the Hollows of Time. Ian's comment was that the Big Finish Audio of the story(http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-hollows-of-time-424) was not exactly faithful to the original script that would have been part of the original Season 23.

One of his comments after the post was "It really irks me when people spout bull***t. Sometimes the paperwork doesn't tell the whole story or the intent. That stupid DVD documentary made my blood boil with its gross inaccuracies."

Just to state part of what he said here:

Doctor Who - THE ABORTED SEASON 23 - THE TRUE FACTS.

March 19, 2015 at 1:24am

SOMEONE NEEDS TO FINALLY SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. HERE IS MY LETTER ABOUT IT TO GALLIFREY BASE.

I absolutely HAVE to wade in here and put the record straight. During this period, I was around JNT and Eric almost every day, and I knew absolutely everything to do with the production at that time, including who was writing what. The DVD documentary about the aborted season 23 is flawed in the extreme, and nobody ever talked to me, the one and only person who knew what all six stories were. Eric has a memory like a sieve, and remembers nothing of that period, but I have a photographic memory, which mercifully was not affected by my stroke, and it still pains me to read such inaccuracies. The six stories of season 23 were as follows...

THE NIGHTMARE FAIR

THE ULTIMATE EVIL

MISSION TO MAGNUS

YELLOW FEVER

THE HOLLOWS OF TIME

GALLIFREY

There is no doubt about the accuracy of this. Eric was writing Gallifrey. After the cancellation, JNT and Eric had a furious row because John wanted to carry on with the same scripts. Eric said that it needed a new fresh approach so he refused to complete Gallifrey. In a classic fit of pique, John commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to write it to Eric's storyline. After one week, Eric made such an almighty stink that the commission was withdrawn, but I believe the stigma of this action led to Eric's finally walking out a year later. Eric finds this period so painful he has forgotten half of what happened, but Bob Holmes had offered the guidance of a mentor to Eric to write a story about con men, deposed Presidents, and sleeper agents with a hint of The Manchurian Candidate thrown in. Eric discussed the entire plot with me prior to the cancellation, but it never made it past the original story ideas as it would have been the last of the six stories to go into production, but Julian Glover was considered as the machiavellian arch villain President. The Children Of January was a spare script and would only ever have made it to season 24, if ever used at all. Eric hated it. As for Yellow Fever, I had a photocopy of the original scene breakdown of all three episodes, given to me by Eric. Indeed at one point Eric was hired to write it for the Doctor WHO book range, and got paid an advance, which he later returned. The Rani was never to be in this story. Kate O'Mara was still doing Dynasty, and there was no mention of her in the story breakdown. This was a story about The Master, The Brigadier, UNIT, and Benton. The first half was set in London, with an Auton Prime Minister, the second half in Singapore. It would have been wonderful, especially with Graeme Harper directing.

I am really sick and tired of people spouting fantasy mistruths about this cancelled season. I always regretted its loss,down to being JNT's mouthpiece to Charles Catchpole of The Sun, and the dreaded Doctor In Distress, and I reconstructed three of the missing stories myself on audio, and did detailed visual recons on DVD of all six stories, with Nicola Bryant, Julian Glover, Milton Johns, Jon Levene, Waris Hussein, John Leeson, Nigel Plaskitt, Ian Fairbairn, and many many more. I am incredibly proud of them. Both Yellow Fever and Gallifrey were totally faithful to the original storylines.

I can 100% assure you all, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, that Gallifrey WAS to be the sixth story of that aborted season. And Yellow Fever's tag "And How To Cure It", was a Bob Holmes joke and never seriously intended to be a part of the title. That imagined cover featuring The Rani is just plain WRONG on so so many levels.

Which makes more sense than Kate O'Mara being in "Yellow Fever and how to cure it". Ian actually states that Pip and Jane Baker only started their version of Gallifrey after Eric Saward had abandoned his.

Also, you do rather shoot yourself in the foot with your statement:

"When you spend a healthy four-figure sum getting an established writer to fully script an idea and then later pay him an extra £600 to rework it into a different length, you obviously do that with every intention that you're going to use it."

Which is odd, as I don't recall Children of January being part of Trial of a Time Lord.

Really, that Season 23 never happened(which is still something that upsets many of us to this day). But I would trust the words of a man who was actually working with JNT day-to-day over the words of the same set of special features that insist that Curse of Peladon was about the UK's potential entry into Europe, even after Brian Hayles repeatedly said that that was never his intention.

[Richard Bignell]

May 10, 2015 17:38:52 GMT Simon Smith said:

Did you actually read what Ian wrote?

Yup, read it all and it's exactly the same thing that Ian has been saying for years.

First, nobody ever said that there wasn't a story for Season 23 called In the Hollows of Time.

My comment had nothing to do with Ian and was actually based on what lousingh posted. But that was my fault, I'd misread "rewrote" as "wrote".

Ian actually states that Pip and Jane Baker only started their version of Gallifrey after Eric Saward had abandoned his.

Ian refused point-blank to accept that Pip and Jane Baker had anything to do with 'Gallifrey' until I publicly showed him the commissioning documents (something that doesn't exist for Saward), which is when he then changed his take on it so that must have been doing a story with the same title just a few weeks after Saward was doing his. I've also contacted Eric directly about this and he says that Ian's take on it is wrong.

Also, you do rather shoot yourself in the foot with your statement:

"When you spend a healthy four-figure sum getting an established writer to fully script an idea and then later pay him an extra £600 to rework it into a different length, you obviously do that with every intention that you're going to use it."

Which is odd, as I don't recall Children of January being part of Trial of a Time Lord.

I haven't shot myself in the foot at all, Simon. They did have every intention of using the story. When it was decided to revert the series back to its 25-minute format, Michael Feeney Callen was recontracted and paid to convert his story to four 25' episodes and to write the necessary material to bring it up to the required length. At the same time, Robert Holmes and Christopher Bidmead were recontracted to make the necessary adjustments to 'Yellow Fever' and 'In the Hollows of Time' - something that all three agreed to do. Evidently, the plan was to carry these three stories forward into the revised Season 23, before the trial concept was ever considered. There is no record that such an offer was made to Graham Williams, Wally K Daly or Philip Martin, so it looks like there was no intention on the production office's part for the original three opening stories to be readapted, with all three scripts appearing on the same internal "Write-Off List"

It was later decided that none of the original commissions would be used after all, and an entirely new set of scripts would be commissioned based around the trial theme.

Really, that Season 23 never happened(which is still something that upsets many of us to this day). But I would trust the words of a man who was actually working with JNT day-to-day over the words of the same set of special features that insist that Curse of Peladon was about the UK's potential entry into Europe, even after Brian Hayles repeatedly said that that was never his intention.

You're quite entitled to do that. However, Ian has stated a lot of things as being absolute fact that are provably not, so his recollections and statements are far from being infallible and, to date, there's absolutely nothing to back up his version of events other than his word.

For instance, I've no idea what the true situation is with regards to whether the Rani was in 'Yellow Fever' or not. I can absolutely imagine JNT wanting her to be just as I can imagine Holmes refusing to include her, given his loathing for pre-set writing criteria. Certainly by June 1985, it was being reported that it had been agreed to drop the Master from the story.

By the way, the extras on 'The Curse of Peladon' don't "insist" anything of the sort. What's said on more than one occasion is that the entry into the Common Market was an event that was happening at the time and it might have been an influence along the way - not that it was. Where has Brian Hayles repeatedly said it wasn't, by the way? Off the top of my head, I'm only aware of two interviews with Hayles and he doesn't talk about that in either of them.