[Glenn A]

I started to lose interest during Peter Davidson's last series, particularly the woeful Warriors of the Deep, with that totally unconvincing sea monster that Ingrid PItt tries to attack and gets blown up with some of the cheapest special effects ever. By the time Colin Baker took on the show, the whole thing seemed as cheap as a daytime soap and he made the Doctor into an unlikeable and arrogant character. After 1985 I seldom bothered.

[human nature]

I never lost interest totally. Even when the series was at its weakest, there was still something 'special' about it that kept my allegiance. The closest I came to relegating it to second place in my affection was when Blake's 7 started and it felt so much better than The Invisible Enemy and Underworld. But by the next season I got hooked on The Ribos Operation and things were back to normal again.

[Muttley76]

when they stopped making it...

[Glenn A]

Originally Posted by human nature

I never lost interest totally. Even when the series was at its weakest, there was still something 'special' about it that kept my allegiance. The closest I came to relegating it to second place in my affection was when Blake's 7 started and it felt so much better than The Invisible Enemy and Underworld. But by the next season I got hooked on The Ribos Operation and things were back to normal again.

I will admit there was one outstanding story in the latter years with the Daleks, which was made around the show's 25th anniversary with an announcer introducing a new science fiction series, which we all knew was Doctor Who, as the story was set in 1963. However, for all Mc Coy tried to make the Doctor likeable, the show had become a lost cause.

[Granny McSmith]

Originally Posted by Muttley76

when they stopped making it...

Me, too.

[JohnnyForget]

If you love Doctor Who you'll watch it whether it's good or bad, so I didn't stop watching it. Anyway, I don't think that Eighties Who is anywhere near as bad as it's made out to be and Davison and McCoy are two of my favourite ever Doctors. I prefer both of them to David Tennant.

[CELT1987]

When McCoy took over from Colin Baker. Watched McCoy's first story then decided not to watch it again.

[SpringheelJack]

May 27th, 1996.

[Glenn A]

Originally Posted by CELT1987

When McCoy took over from Colin Baker. Watched McCoy's first story then decided not to watch it again.

Mc Coy was far more likeable as a Doctor and with better material could have been a great one, but he was saddled with the embarrassing Ace and bringing in big names like Richard Briers and Beryl Reid didn't work. Also being scheduled against Coronation St didn't help.
I wouldn't write the whole eighties off, as the first two Davidson series were excellent, the third had the excellent Resurrection of the Daleks and the final Tom Baker adventure, Logopolis, was a return to form after a shaky series. However, BBC meanness( even on the poor quality colour televisions of the time, it was looking extremely cheap and nasty by the mid eighties), a controller who hated the show and a disastrous choice of Doctor went a long way to killing it off.

[2shy2007]

When it finished

[pajs1000]

Never stopped watching. Splendid chaps ...all of them!!!!!!!!!!!

[Corwin]

Watched all of Davisons era though with it being aired during the week missed some episodes or chunks of episodes due to other commitments.

Colin Baker's era IIRC I only watched the Two Doctors and Revelation of the Daleks from his first season and Mysterious Planet and I think the 2nd episode of Ulimate Foe from his second season.

Did not watch Season 24 at all, only Remembrance of the Daleks from Season 25 but watched all of Season 26.

Watched the TVM.

[AdelaideGirl]

The end I think. I know I saw the Curse of Fenric so I can't imagine I didn't watch Survival but maybe not i was very little.

[Pull2Open]

I consciously stopped after the first couple of McCoy stories...I hated Time and the Rani and gave it until the end of Pardise Towers then chucked in the towel. I tuned in one last time for Dragonfire only to be met by that ridiculous 'cliffhanger' at the end of Ep1!

[Scraggy Taters]

The last classic Who I saw was the final ep of 'Trial of a TimeLord' saga.
Then I discovered girls.

[TRT1968]

Originally Posted by Glenn A

I started to lose interest during Peter Davidson's last series, particularly the woeful Warriors of the Deep, with that totally unconvincing sea monster that Ingrid PItt tries to attack and gets blown up with some of the cheapest special effects ever. By the time Colin Baker took on the show, the whole thing seemed as cheap as a daytime soap and he made the Doctor into an unlikeable and arrogant character. After 1985 I seldom bothered.

^^^^^^^
This.

[gboy]

Trial of a Timelord.

I found watching it was a trial.

[daveyboy7472]

Originally Posted by Glenn A

I started to lose interest during Peter Davidson's last series, particularly the woeful Warriors of the Deep, with that totally unconvincing sea monster that Ingrid PItt tries to attack and gets blown up with some of the cheapest special effects ever. By the time Colin Baker took on the show, the whole thing seemed as cheap as a daytime soap and he made the Doctor into an unlikeable and arrogant character. After 1985 I seldom bothered.

That isn't quite true but I understand why you would say it. The big consequence of The Twin Dilemma is that everyone thought the Sixth Doctor was going to be like that all the time, but he didn't. Don't know if you've watched Seasons 22 and 23 right through but there is a progression in his character in his first Season and even bigger one in his second and I'd say he was far from arrogant and unlikeable in Season 23.

I never stopped watching Doctor Who after Davison left but I do remember wishing Baker would leave as I didn't like him at the time either but if it had been me watching today I don't think I would have felt that way so much. For me, Season 22 is quite a strong Season aside from Timelash, and it certainly wasn't like daytime soap for me, though I concede the look of the show wasn't that brilliant at the time.

[sandydune]

It's interesting to see the two series(older and recent) alongside each other.

[shortcrust]

I watched to the end, but with an ever increasing sense of disappointment. Season 23 onwards didn't really feel like Who to me, and almost every change seemed to be a change for the worse. This all coincided with me becoming a rather wild teenager and Dr Who just didn't suit my tastes at the time. I bought the occasional VHS but always found them disappointing. I sold my books, tapes and toys and hardly thought about the show for many years, having only a passing interest in the movie.

I didn't really get back into the show until it came back in 2005. My interest in the classic series was really reignited at that time and I'm now just as passionate about it as I was 30 years ago!

Rediscovering the joy of Who has been lovely.

[Glenn A]

Originally Posted by daveyboy7472

That isn't quite true but I understand why you would say it. The big consequence of The Twin Dilemma is that everyone thought the Sixth Doctor was going to be like that all the time, but he didn't. Don't know if you've watched Seasons 22 and 23 right through but there is a progression in his character in his first Season and even bigger one in his second and I'd say he was far from arrogant and unlikeable in Season 23.

I never stopped watching Doctor Who after Davison left but I do remember wishing Baker would leave as I didn't like him at the time either but if it had been me watching today I don't think I would have felt that way so much. For me, Season 22 is quite a strong Season aside from Timelash, and it certainly wasn't like daytime soap for me, though I concede the look of the show wasn't that brilliant at the time.

Imagine, though, the morale of people like John Nathan Turner in the mid eighties, knowing that Michael Grade openly hated the show, then postponing it and then putting it against Coronation St, which was a surefire way of killing a programme then. Had BBC1 had a more Whovian controller, who appreciated the show's rich heritage and its worldwide sales, then this show could have been brilliant. I'd much rather have spent the money on improving Doctor Who than on rubbish like Neighbours.
I would think Mc Coy, who had the potential to be great, and Ingrid Pitt as a companion and a decent budget would have been the saviour.

[darnall42]

never stopped watching the old series (stopped watching the new series after the dire christmas carol episode though )

[bgtension]

Sometime during Davison's tenure.

[Rooks]

Never..

But I did stop watching the new series around the 4th episode of the 3rd series. Only returning towards the end of the RTD era.

[Mulett]

I only partly-watched the final season. I missed most of it. It just looked really low budget and I didn't think the acting or scripts were any good.