Fourth Doctor - Story Style

Story Style

The early stories of the Fourth Doctor were characterised by a strong "Gothic Horror" theme. The duo of writer/script editor Robert Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe consciously tapped into horror icons like mummies (The Pyramids of Mars) and Frankenstein (The Brain of Morbius, Robot), Jekyll and Hyde (Planet of Evil), and even transformation (The Ark in Space) and various themes like alien abduction. In these stories, they were given a science fiction explanation, rather than the typical magic.

While the Hinchcliffe Era (1974–1977) is generally seen by fans and critics as the best era in the classic series run, the increasing horror elements and depictions of violence attracted much criticism, notably from Mary Whitehouse, who had previously attacked the Barry Letts era for shows like Terror of the Autons. Hinchcliffe was moved on to police drama Target in 1977 at the conclusion of his third year. Graham Williams was brought on to take over as producer for Baker's fourth season.

Williams was given specific instructions to lighten the tone of the stories, thus playing to Baker's strengths. However, the first three stories (which were geared towards the previous style) had already been commissioned. Robert Holmes had agreed to stay on to edit them, but he ended up leaving after only doing the first two, Horror of Fang Rock and The Invisible Enemy. The task of editing Image of the Fendahl fell to his successor Anthony Read. The season was only narrowly finished. With the cast and crew suffering from burnout and lack of resources, the season finale The Invasion of Time was completed largely by virtue of it having been written to make use of preexisting sets, props, and costumes.

For their second season, Williams and Read had planned out an overarching storyline that would run through the whole of the season. With more editorial control, it was also decided that the writers would put more emphasis on elements of fantasy and humour. Holmes wrote the first story, The Ribos Operation, and the writing team of Bob Baker and Dave Martin handled what would be the final story of the season, The Armageddon Factor. Douglas Adams wrote the second story, The Pirate Planet, while another newcomer, David Fisher, wrote the third and fourth stories. Again, difficulties began to arise when the fifth story fell through. Robert Holmes consented to writing what would become The Power of Kroll.

Williams' third and final year on the show proved even more difficult, as he found Tom Baker increasingly hard to cope with. Douglas Adams became script editor and his distinctive style can be seen in the dialogue and stories. For example, in Destiny of the Daleks, Adams included a scene of the Doctor trapped under a boulder that resembles a similar scene in the second series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Adams' brief tenure (1979–1980) is controversial with fans, some of whom believe that the humorous elements had gotten out of hand, while others cite Adams' stories as some of the best. His time as script editor was beset by problems; Adams often ended up having to greatly edit and even rewrite stories. Once again, facing burnout and lack of funds, Adams eventually agreed to write the final story Shada. Production proved difficult and ended up being unfinished due to a strike at the BBC. Williams left the show, dissatisfied with having left on what he considered to be a low note.

In Season 18, John Nathan-Turner became the series' producer. He instituted a number of changes to the show, including toning down the humour and introducing more science fiction concepts. During this season the Fourth Doctor became very much subdued and, on occasion, melancholy. Baker began the season in poor health, though he eventually recovered. Both the actor and the character seemed noticeably older and tired, due to Baker's gaunt appearance and greying hair. Baker had been finding the role harder and harder to maintain and the previous season had been particularly draining on him. Many of this season's stories also had an elegiac tone, with entropy and decay being a recurring theme.

New script editor Christopher Bidmead found himself faced with a serious problem from the outset of his time on the show. He ultimately deemed many of the stories left to him by Adams to be unusable, being too close to the humour-driven stories of the previous season. The only one he ended up using was The Leisure Hive, though only after heavily editing it. Bidmead asked a pair of writing friends to come up with what would be the second story of the season, Meglos, which ended up being regarded as one of the weakest shows in the series' history up to that point.

Bidmead only began to gain some momentum by the fifth story, Warriors' Gate. The story is notable for the Doctor's sombre mood and seeming death wish, as well as the surprisingly adult nature of the story. The surreal, even dream-like elements, such as time shifts and walking through mirrors, also earned the story some distinction. At John Nathan-Turner's insistence the Master was brought back. This was accomplished by Bidmead changing the villain in The Keeper of Traken into the Master.

The overarching theme of decay reaches its conclusion in Baker's final story Logopolis, which Bidmead personally wrote. The story is particularly sombre, even grim at times. Themes of decay and death are constant in the story, personified in the ghostly Watcher, effectively a harbinger of the Fourth Doctor's 'death'.

The Fourth Doctor's stories saw fewer recurring (or returning) enemies than in previous eras. The Daleks only appeared twice and the Cybermen only had one story, Revenge of the Cybermen. UNIT, which had featured in most of the Third Doctor's adventures, only appeared in four early Fourth Doctor stories, playing a minor role in its last appearance, Season 13's The Seeds of Doom in which none of the regular UNIT staff appeared.

At the same time, stories such as The Deadly Assassin established most of the mythology surrounding the Time Lords and the Doctor's home planet Gallifrey and that would remain a key feature for the rest of the classic series and still be felt in the revived series. For example, it is established that Time Lords only have a limited number of regenerations, which is a driving plot point in the stories Mawdryn Undead, The Five Doctors, The Trial of a Time Lord and the 1996 telemovie.