Doctor Who producer reveals which "grotesque" story might have pushed things too far
"I would've liked to pull that back a bit."
Doctor Who was regularly wowing audiences and pulling in in some of the show’s highest ever ratings in the 1970s – but during the era overseen by producer Philip Hinchcliffe, it was also criticised in some quarters for its alleged on-screen violence.
Most notably, the conservative activist Mary Whitehouse targeted the show on several occasions, most notably receiving an apology from the Director-General of the BBC for a sequence in 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin which saw the Doctor (Tom Baker) apparently drowned by a villain.
Speaking at a BFI Southbank event to mark the release of the Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 13 Blu-ray set, Hinchcliffe said that while he understood Whitehouse's motivations, he felt her critiques of the show were not always fair.
"I sympathise with her aims, because I think sometimes [...] that the BBC can be rather arrogant and not actually listen [to the viewers]," he said.
"What I think she got wrong was muddling up violence – which we didn't really have – with horror and suspense."
Hinchcliffe added that he and then-script editor Robert Holmes were designing their Doctor Who for "clever 12 and 13 year olds" – along with their parents, and it was the "parent's job to look after their children's viewing".
Whitehouse memorably suggested that another story from Hinchcliffe's tenure, 1976's The Brain of Morbius, "contained some of the sickest and most horrific material seen on children's television".
The story saw the Doctor and Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) face a mad scientist on Karn who was rebuilding the executed Time Lord Morbius. Inspired by Frankenstein, the four-parter drew particular complaints for a scene in which Doctor Solon (Philip Madoc) shoots his assistant Condo (Colin Fay), with a resulting spurt of blood.
Looking back, Hinchcliffe admitted that The Brain of Morbius was perhaps the one time where his era might have pushed things too far.
"I was always a bit nervous about [The Brain of] Morbius, because it was a bit sort of grotesque, in a way," he said.
"I think I would've liked to pull that back a bit. Otherwise, I think we pretty much got it right."
The Brain of Morbius remains one of the most talked-about serials from Hinchcliffe’s tenure – and it’s now been fully remastered for Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 13 Blu-ray set.
The boxset gathers all six serials from Tom Baker’s second year as the Doctor, including classics such as Terror of the Zygons, Planet of Evil, Pyramids of Mars and The Seeds of Doom.
Alongside the restored episodes, fans can dive into hours of special features, from new making-of documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage to interviews with cast and crew reflecting on one of the most acclaimed seasons in Doctor Who history.
Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 13 is available to pre-order now and is set to be released on 20th October.
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
