UK Newspapers

• » Listing: "Doctor Who (BBC1, 5.20)" (teaser sketch originally accompanying newspaper listings for "Attack of the Cybermen"). Daily Mail, 05 or 12 January 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Tracy follows Sister" (Tracy Ward, Timelash). The Sunday Express, 3 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "20 Things You Don't Know about Dr Who". The Sun, 16 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Fans attack BBC at Dr Who break" (article on how Doctor Who fans are angry at the BBC for putting the programme on an 18 month hiatus). The Daily Telegraph, 28 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Dalek, you were wonderful" (Barry Fantoni includes a Dalek in one of his cartoons). The Times, 01 March 1985. [view]

The Hiatus: March 1984 to August 1986

During Season 22 the BBC announced that Doctor Who would be "rested". This caused a great deal of comment and controversy, not just amongst fans of the programme but also in the national press. The programme was off television for 18 months and returned in September 1996 with the 14 part story "The Trial of a Timelord".

It is not for this website to pass comment on the controversy surrounding this event, you can make up your own mind by reading some of the press comments listed below.

Newspaper Articles (and some cartoons) relating to the hiatus

• » Article titled: "Dr Who axed in plot by the BBC". The Sun, 28 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Temporary time warp for Dr Who". The Times, 28 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Dr Who down-Graded!". The Daily Mail, 28 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Ta-Ta Tardis". The Daily Mirror, 28 February 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Save our Tardis". The Sun, 1 March 1985. [view]
• » Cartoon: "More complaints because you axed Dr Who, Mr Grade, .......are you there, Mr Grade?". The Sun, 1 March 1985. [view]
• » Cartoon: "...wait, don't tell me... I never forget a face...". The Daily Mail, 1 March 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "BBC buys £3/4m mini-series after Dr Who decision". The Daily Telegraph, 02 March 1985. [view]
• » Cartoon: "No.10, by Maddocks". The Sunday Express, 03 March 1985. [view]

And then came the supposed reprieve...

• » Article titled: "Whoray! The Doctor will be back for 21 years". The Daily Mail, 21 March 1985. view]
• » Article titled: "Dr Who lives to the end of time!". The Sunday Express, 24 March 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Tardis holds the secret of time!". The Leicester Mercury, 19 April 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Radio Doctor". The Guardian, 11 June 1985. [view]

Other 'non-hiatus' UK Newspaper Articles

• » Article titled: "Why a four-note TV jingle goes for more than a song" (short mention of the TARDIS sound effect and Stanley "Reign of Terror" Myers). The Daily Telegraph, 14th June 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Secret Garden grows with imagination" (starring Nicola Bryant). The Loughborough Echo, 14 June 1985. [view]
• » Obituary: "Valentine Dyall". The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1985. [view]
• » Cartoon: "I said you should have left a bigger tip!". The Sun, Thursday 27 June 1985. [view]
• » Cartoon: no caption (cartoon showing Margaret Thatcher [British Prime Minister at the time] and her chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, flying over colleagues in the TARDIS). The Mail on Sunday, 13 October 1985. [view]

UK Magazines

• » Article titled: "Who's Who". New Society, 24th January 1985. [view]
• » Article titled: "Everything you want to know about Doctor Who". From the short lived BBC childrens Magazine "The BEEB", February 1985.
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US Newspapers

• » Article titled: "This British Sci-Fi show is down-to-earth". Life Section of USA Today (a syndicated US Newspaper), 28 August 1985.
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