TV series you used to love and now hate

[IceAgeComing]

Doctor Who has always been a family show; it has always tried to appeal to an incredibly diverse audience and that's been the case since the thing launched in 1963 (indeed to some controversy within the BBC - the department that normally made the childrens programmes saw it as being something that they should have produced and were annoyed when the serials department came up with it: it very quickly changed to be the sort of programme that would appeal to older kids without necessarily turning off older people) - indeed when the new series started when I was 12 it was one of the few TV shows that me, my parents and my older sister would watch together at once for years.  Besides; Doctor Who has always had stories based around wider social issues and societal concerns and they are often amongst the higher regarded stories - The Dalek Invasion of Earth is very much inspired by the Nazi occupation of Europe; The Sun Makers was inspired by the writer and script editor's annoyance with the Inland Revenue plus you have the many stories in the 80s that were partially about frustrations at Thatcherism and the direction that the writers saw the state going - Vengeance on Varos comes to mind since I'm a Colin Baker mark and that's one of the few well written things that he actually ever got until the Radio stuff, but there are loads of the things.

Besides; literally the same things were said when there was talk of making The Master a women and, err, that seems to have worked really quite well?  Certainly; the critical reaction to Michelle Gomez's version of the character was incredibly positive!  Change and evolution is a big theme of the series generally - helped partially by the fact that its a series that is designed in such a way that it could theoretically go on forever since The Doctor is the only fixed character and they can always find ways to make regenerations a thing that can always happen - and I suppose because of that moaning about the series changing or "not being the same" or whatever is a bit silly since, well, the reason the first run lasted as long as it did was because there was continual evolution and the series kept on changing and reinventing itself and as soon as it remained stagnant for too long and viewing figures dropped; the people at the top of the BBC (who always hated the series) used that as an excuse to basically sabotage the series (cancelling it because it was 'too low budget' and 'needed to change', then uncancelling it without letting them change anything at the same time as moving away from 45 minute episodes which worked better for the series; then sticking it up against the most popular ITV show in a battle which it could never win just as they were starting to turn the corner) and then it was cancelled.  That would suggest that the thing changing is incredibly important!