Trivia / Doctor Who 30th AS "Dimensions In Time"

• Bury Your Art: Enforced from the outset. The short was made on the condition that it never see any form of official re-release, and the BBC have adhered to the request to this day.
• Deleted Scene:
  • The opening was to originally to feature Stock Footage from The '60s, but was cut. These scenes would have shown the Rani kidnapping the First and Second Doctors.
  • Several scenes were removed from the second part at the insistence of Noel Edmonds, as it was shown as part of his light entertainment show Noel's House Party. Due to how much was being crammed into the serial's already limited running time, this served to make it even more incomprehensible than it aleady was.
  • The Daleks were to have been featured (the segment was shot), but due to disputes with Terry Nation's estate, they were removed.
  • The ending was originally longer, with the Doctor asking Ace where she would like to go now. She states "...when you set the TARDIS to go to the Great Wall of China we end up Albert Square." "Well, in that case," The Doctor states, "Let's head for Albert Square."
• Foiler Footage: There were two versions of the scene in which an EastEnders character would save the Doctor at the start of Part Two shot, one featuring Mandy and the other 'Big' Ron, with a telephone vote being hold to determine which would be used. The former won.
• He Also Did: Director Stuart McDonald was assigned to the story because he also directed the Children in Need telethon. It was his only time directing fiction of any kind; his other credits include Tomorrow's World, Crimewatch UK and the original incarnation of Robot Wars; for which he also provided the memorable voiceovers introducing the robots and for beginning^note "Roboteers, stand by. Three... Two... One... Activate!" and ending^note "Cease!" the battles.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: It has never been released on home video or repeated on TV. This is because the actors and crew gave their services especially for Children in Need, and waived their fees on the condition that Dimensions in Time would never be repeated or sold on home video for profit. For the same reason, the story will never appear as an extra on a DVD release but the special has been circulated online from time to time.
• Milestone Celebration: This was meant to commemorate Doctor Who's 30th anniversary.
• No Budget: All the cast agreed to waive their fees, and many of the monster costumes were sourced from fans who either owned the originals or had made their own.
• Reality Subtext: The Seventh Doctor's line "If I didn't know better, I could be convinced that someone has deliberately taken us off course!" can be interpreted as a jab at the fact the series was torpedoed by Michael Grade some years earlier and then had its time slot moved to compete with Coronation Street, demolishing its ratings and leading to its cancellation.
• Wag the Director: Louise Jameson had agreed to reprise the role of Leela on the condition that she would not wear her original, skin-baring outfit. Unfortunately, the best alternative that designer Ken Trew was able to find was an unflattering Hiawatha costume.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The biggest WCHB of all was the original plan for the 30th anniversary, a special entitled The Dark Dimension, which would've involved the Fourth Doctor had he not regenerated. The story of the tortured five-week pre-production of "The Dark Dimension" is too long to tell here (try here instead) but involved people who'd never even made TV trying to make a Direct to Video feature, a script by a (later-)convicted thief and conman, some truly massive budgeting mistakes and insulting most of the actors who'd played the Doctor. And the script is, if you've read it, actually pretty bad.
  • Ian McKellen was going to play Cyrian.
  • Allegedly, Anthony Ainley was approached by John Nathan-Turner to return as the Master, but he turned it down. Ainley, however, vehemently denied this, insisting that if he were asked, he would have had no hesitation in appearing. Michael Gough was later approached to re-create the role of the Celestial Toymaker, and again Nathan-Turner was turned down.
  • The special originally opened with a pre-credits scene where Cyrian hunted Cybermen for the Rani; this would have led into a later scene in which he betrays the Rani to the Cybermen. The monsters in Albert Square were also supposed to be revealed as holograms.
  • The resolution to the story was to have been resolved through a phone-in vote. The three options would have been to have the Brigadier save the day, have all of the Doctors team-up, or have the Doctor try to have a telepathic connection with the Rani.
  • One of the two EastEnders characters who could have saved the day was originally going to be Christine Hewitt, but this was changed to Mandy Salter because the former was being written out of the show.
  • The Daleks were also supposed to appear, but the segment was pulled after a dispute with Dalek creator Terry Nation over payments. The Dalek segment would have seen Peter Davison facing up against them again in the streets seen in the 1984 serial "Resurrection of the Daleks".
  • David Roden's original draft for a script featured Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, meeting the Brigadier, Nicholas Courtney, en route to a UNIT reunion – and becoming involved in a battle with a crashed spaceship full of Cybermen. The script was entitled Destination: Holocaust, and featured the Seventh Doctor and Brigadier holed up in a burning church, trying to fight off the advancing hordes of damaged Cybermen. It was decided such an idea might not have been appropriate for a charity special.
  • Jamie, Jo, Romana I and Tegan were all considered to appear in the special, but Frazer Hines, Katy Manning, Mary Tamm and Janet Fielding were unavailable.
  • JNT approached the Pet Shop Boys for a new arrangement of the theme music. The band was too busy to accept the offer, but did indicate that "The Dimensions Of Time" could use their new single '"Forever In Love" instead; this idea was vetoed. The story ultimately used an arrangement of the theme music done In the Style of the Pet Shop Boys.
  • Tom Baker wanted at the end of his scene to reveal a bullet hole through the Doctor's cheek. Nathan-Turner convinced him to just have a bruise in the shape of a question mark.
• Working Title: The Dimensions of Time and 3-Dimensions of Time.

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