Background Doctor Who was put on hiatus after the broadcast of
season 26 in 1989, but its producer,
John Nathan-Turner, continued to work on various
Doctor Who-related
BBC projects on a freelance basis. According to Nathan-Turner's memoir, as early as 1990 he pitched a
direct-to-video Doctor Who special to mark the series' 30th anniversary in November 1993. Nathan-Turner continued pitching throughout 1991 and 1992, and on two occasions costed the project to prove it could be produced economically. In a memo to Penny Mills (Head of Video Production for
BBC Enterprises) on 18 February 1992, he mentioned the special alongside other proposed video releases which could commemorate the 30th anniversary year.
The Dark Dimension During the production and launch of the VHS release of
Shada in February 1992,
Tom Baker expressed his willingness to return for a new
Doctor Who story.
Doctor Who video sales were a regular source of profit for BBC Enterprises, and on 28 May 1992 a meeting was chaired to examine a "long-term strategy for the continual exploitation of the programme". It was noted that producing an original special would "be giving something back to the fans and not just extracting money from them". Writer
Adrian Rigelsford was approached and hired to develop the rough story, which at that time involved a dying
Fourth Doctor uniting with a group of children to fight an
ecological disaster. In early June, a meeting was convened to discuss production of a 90-minute direct-to-video
Doctor Who special, with Tom Baker being the sole actor to return as the Doctor. Within a short period of time, it was suggested that the incumbent
Seventh Doctor (
Sylvester McCoy) could be involved; Tom Baker then proposed the involvement of all surviving actors who played
the Doctor in supporting roles. Rigelsford completed his outline of the special, titled
Timeflyers, by 21 July.
Graeme Harper, who directed the serials
The Caves of Androzani (1984) and
Revelation of the Daleks (1985), was excited by the script and agreed to direct. Budget and script discussions were held through August and September 1992, and a location recce was held on 8 September. However, budget issues and BBC Enterprises' lack of production experience caused major setbacks. The other Doctor actors were unenthusiastic about the script, retitled
The Dark Dimension.
Colin Baker criticised the other Doctors' lack of screen time, and
Jon Pertwee and
Sylvester McCoy later commented that a more experienced writer should have been involved. Pertwee and
Peter Davison were unhappy that the production team contacted them directly instead of through their agents.
Writing co-wrote and produced the charity special. In May 1993,
Children in Need editor Nick Handel invited Nathan-Turner to make a five-minute 3D
Doctor Who sketch for the organisation's annual
telethon broadcast. Nathan-Turner thought of turning down the offer but was persuaded by his agent to make the sketch his "swansong", since he did not have the chance to leave
Doctor Who on his own terms in 1989. Nathan-Turner sought a "talented, yet relatively inexperienced co-writer" who could enthusiastically adapt to the myriad of requests typical of
Children in Need productions. He approached David Roden, a 22-year-old aspiring writer with no professional experience, with an open brief to write the charity special. Roden's initial concept,
Destination: Holocaust, which involved the
Seventh Doctor and
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart battling
Cybermen in a church, was considered too expensive for the allocated budget. Nathan-Turner wanted a more nostalgic feel for the special, and also wanted to involve multiple
monsters to make use of existing costumes. Another low-cost concept was set entirely in the TARDIS featuring the Seventh Doctor and
Ace facing an alien which fed off nightmares. One underdeveloped story idea involved
Easter Island heads. It was originally thought that only the Seventh Doctor would appear, but in recognition of the upcoming 30th anniversary, Nathan-Turner and Handel decided to involve as many of the Doctor's incarnations as possible.
Doctor Who traditionally celebrated its past anniversaries with "multi-Doctor" stories;
The Three Doctors (1972–1973) and "
The Five Doctors" (1983) featured past incarnations of the Doctor interacting with the incumbent incarnation. Roden was also requested to involve as many
companions and
monsters from the series as possible. Per
Nicholas Courtney's request, the Brigadier was depicted interacting with the
Sixth Doctor, as Colin Baker was the only
Doctor Who lead Courtney hadn't shared a scene with on the series. Nathan-Turner wanted to call the special
3-Dimensions of Time; Roden changed it to
The Dimensions of Time. It was retitled
Dimensions in Time when it was discovered that "The Dimensions of Time" was an episode from the 1965 serial
The Space Museum.In a 2015 interview, Roden discussed the difficulty of shouldering the numerous requests made on the script, stating that he felt "heavily pressured" by Nathan-Turner's demands and describing the completed special as a "mess".
Anthony Ainley declined an offer to return as
the Master, possibly due to a personal clash with Nathan-Turner. In his stead,
Kate O'Mara agreed to return as
the Rani, the ruthless villain she portrayed in
The Mark of the Rani (1985) and
Time and the Rani (1987). The production team behind
light entertainment show ''
Noel's House Party wanted to be involved with Children in Need
, so Dimensions in Time'' gained another episode which could be shown during that programme. Nathan-Turner suggested that the special could
crossover with popular BBC
soap opera EastEnders to satisfy Handel's request to guarantee press attention. This could also save budget by enabling the production to film on the existing
Albert Square set.
EastEnders producer
Leonard Lewis was not amenable to the idea as the filming would disrupt his production schedule. He allowed Nathan-Turner only one day to film at Albert Square, which was not enough time due to the complicated nature of filming in 3D. Major rewrites were in order. Roden devised a new script, titled
The Endgame, involving the
Celestial Toymaker in an amusement park. Roden recently acted in
Wittgenstein (1993) with
Michael Gough, who played the Toymaker in the
1966 serial, and he felt he could persuade Gough to reprise the role. Roden suggested that the Toymaker could facilitate a multi-Doctor storyline by plucking the various Doctors from their timestreams, but there were concerns it would be too similar to "The Five Doctors". According to Roden, Gough at first agreed to return but later declined, either due to unavailability or disinterest in the script.
The Endgame was ultimately scrapped and development returned to
Dimensions in Time. Handel suggested that the sketch could be shot for 3D viewing, as
Children in Need wanted to feature prominently in BBC1's planned "3D week". The script was rewritten to include more action and movement to fully exploit the 3D
Pulfrich effect, following a review by 3D experts from Germany. An opening scene where the Rani's assistant captures a wounded Cyberman was cut in the revised 1 August script. Tom Baker was originally scripted to appear in Albert Square similarly to the other Doctors, however he wanted his part in the script to be more unique. Ten years earlier he pulled out of the multi-Doctor special "The Five Doctors" over his displeasure in "playing 20 per cent of the part [of the Doctor]". He suggested he could introduce the story by doing a piece to camera. Nathan-Turner and Roden adapted the idea into an opening scene where the Fourth Doctor is trapped in a black hole and calling on the Time Lords for help. The day before filming, Tom Baker was still unhappy with the script, necessitating Roden to hastily rewrite the Fourth Doctor's monologue.
Casting Handel was cognisant that a
Doctor Who/
EastEnders crossover would be a highlight of
Children in Need's telethon, and he pushed the two production teams to compromise on a deal. Nathan-Turner phoned actress
Wendy Richard and pitched her the idea of playing her character
Pauline Fowler at different ages; Richard agreed and soon fellow actresses
Letitia Dean and
Gillian Taylforth were keen to be involved.
Pam St Clement,
Mike Reid,
Ross Kemp and
Steve McFadden were also interested in the crossover and written into the script. Ultimately the
EastEnders production team allowed
Dimensions in Time two days to film on Albert Square: 22 and 23 September. The revised script on 8 September noted on its cover: "Due to the large number of artists involved in this project, and their availability, this script is subject to change". For this reason, scenes were scripted so that the Doctors and
companions would be interchangeable. 32 of the 34 actors involved had other acting jobs during filming. Per a deal between the BBC and
Equity, the cast (and crew) were unpaid on the condition that their work would never be re-broadcast or commercially exploited.
Adam Woodyatt, a huge
Doctor Who fan, was disappointed that his studio schedule meant he was unable to appear as his
EastEnders character
Ian Beale. Nevertheless he made a brief appearance as a nonspeaking background extra in the shot of the Mitchell brothers crossing the playground.
Filming ''' Albert Square set in September 1993. With a budget of £45,000, filming began on 21 September at
Fountain TV Studios in
New Malden. The Rani and Cyrian's scenes were filmed first, with the Fourth Doctor's lone scene recorded after noon. It was planned for the Rani's TARDIS set to be constructed in miniature, with Kate O'Mara and the console composited via
CSO, but since the 3D filming process made compositing too difficult, a replica of the TARDIS set constructed for ''PanoptiCon '93'' was used. The console was newly cast in black fibreglass from the original 1983 console moulds. Filming with Tom Baker had its challenges. Nathan-Turner was aware that Tom Baker would likely refuse to wear his Fourth Doctor costume if asked directly, and surreptitiously arranged for the costume to be left in the actor's dressing room as they were talking. On set, Tom Baker suggested that, at the conclusion of his scene, the Fourth Doctor could scream and turn to reveal a bullet hole in his face. Nathan-Turner was not pleased with the idea and, as a compromise, a question mark bruise was added to his right cheek. Baker revised his lines during filming and elected to speak into a microphone rather than at the camera. The day concluded with visual effects artist Mike Tucker recording explosion assets. 22 and 23 September were spent filming on the Albert Square set in
Elstree. Small charges were let off in front of the camera as part of the "time jump" effect. Colin Baker's scenes were shot first, followed by Davison's scenes. Andrew Beech, former coordinator of the
Doctor Who Appreciation Society, assembled fans who owned original and replica monster costumes to play the Rani's alien menagerie. These fans wore the costumes themselves and gave their time for free; Beech himself played the Time Lord on Albert Square and in the Rani's TARDIS. Many of the older original costumes were fragile and needed maintenance throughout filming. A
Dalek prop was filmed at Albert Square as part of the menagerie, but this was removed from the edit as Roger Hancock (
Terry Nation's agent) did not allow the production to use the Daleks. McCoy recalled
The Dark Dimension's cancellation by declaring "I don’t understand why those BBC Enterprises people can’t get us all together for love nor money, but when JN-T makes a few calls, we're all here with our boots blacked — doing it for nothing!" Pertwee and
Deborah Watling's scene on
Cutty Sark was delayed due to a fire. Watling wore a long cloak to hide that her arm was in plaster - she had broken it a few days earlier using her nephew's
rollerblades. Afterwards the crew moved to the
Royal Naval College. Lt Commander Malcolm Fewtrell granted the production permission to film in the high security area in exchange for a signed photograph of Kate O'Mara. This is where the scenes featuring the Brigadier and the UNIT helicopter were recorded. Although Pertwee wanted to jump aboard the helicopter himself, Nathan-Turner refused; Pertwee's regular
Doctor Who stunt double
Terry Walsh performed the stunt. Courtney, still in his Brigadier costume, had lunch with Roden at a nearby pub and was recognised by the bartender. The final scenes of the special were filmed at the
National Maritime Museum,
Queen's House and the
Royal Observatory. Jameson insisted she would not wear her original
Leela costume, so with little time to plan, costume designer Ken Trew hired a
Native American outfit. The last scene filmed was also the chronologically last scene of the special with the Seventh Doctor, Ace and
K9. The sixteen-year-old K9 prop broke during filming and had to be pulled through the shot on fishing line. Special effects model filming ran from 25 to 27 September at
Television Centre, London. This included the Rani's space station, the futuristic 2013 train and the
First and
Second Doctor's floating heads. The original plan was for the floating heads to be depicted via existing footage of
William Hartnell and
Patrick Troughton, both of whom had died years before the sketch. However those 2D clips would not easily composite into the newly-shot 3D footage, so head props were specially sculpted by Sue Moore and Steve Mansfield (who previously created Kane's melting head in the 1987 serial
Dragonfire) with wigs by Lesley Smith. The space station exterior of the Rani's TARDIS was depicted with a model adapted from
BBV's
The Stranger series. Because the monolith prop (the Rani's TARDIS in disguise) was constructed only a day before filming, Tucker had a single day to construct a miniature version for filming on 26 September. The background to the Fourth Doctor's scene was composed of elements taken from a 3D test tape received from Germany. A scene where the Doctor's TARDIS is caught in an asteroid field was filmed but cut.
Post-production Keff McCulloch, who scored various
Doctor Who serials in the late 1980s, composed about eight minutes of incidental music for the special. Roden suggested that the musical duo
Pet Shop Boys, with whom he was friends, could produce a new arrangement of the
Doctor Who theme music, but they were too busy. Nathan-Turner and Roden subsequently approached the pop duo
Erasure, not realising that they were on tour and were not receiving their messages. Erasure eventually agreed, by which time Nathan-Turner had agreed to use an arrangement by music group Cybertech (Mike Fillis and Adrian Pack). Fillis, who played a
Sea Devil in the special, approached Nathan Turner during filming at Albert Square with the remix on a cassette tape. The remix was commercially released in 1994. == Continuity ==