She may not have been properly used to her advantage in Doctor Who, it being the mediocre JNT era, but in EastEnders... Well, her and Masood. 
Say no more!
Say no more!
Was Bonnie Langford used properly in Doctor Who?
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No! It wasn't until her Big Finish audio adventures that some effort to make Mel work showed what might have been attempted had Doctor Who not been in a pretty weak state by the time she came on-board! Either that or its just the maturity of age and experience, but either way - TV Mel was crap and audio Mel was better....
Originally Posted by NMdum1:
“No! It wasn't until her Big Finish audio adventures that some effort to make Mel work showed what might have been attempted had Doctor Who not been in a pretty weak state by the time she came on-board! Either that or its just the maturity of age and experience, but either way - TV Mel was crap and audio Mel was better....”
“No! It wasn't until her Big Finish audio adventures that some effort to make Mel work showed what might have been attempted had Doctor Who not been in a pretty weak state by the time she came on-board! Either that or its just the maturity of age and experience, but either way - TV Mel was crap and audio Mel was better....”
I think they just cast Bonnie in DW as a filler until a 'proper' companion could be found after Nicola's departure the year before.
So, when it came to Mel leaving the Doctor, Ace came along. Sophie was an absolute gem of an actress. I think Sophie's best moment in DW was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYR5...yer_detailpage
Pretty cool, huh?
Originally Posted by NMdum1:
“No! It wasn't until her Big Finish audio adventures that some effort to make Mel work showed what might have been attempted had Doctor Who not been in a pretty weak state by the time she came on-board! Either that or its just the maturity of age and experience, but either way - TV Mel was crap and audio Mel was better....”
“No! It wasn't until her Big Finish audio adventures that some effort to make Mel work showed what might have been attempted had Doctor Who not been in a pretty weak state by the time she came on-board! Either that or its just the maturity of age and experience, but either way - TV Mel was crap and audio Mel was better....”
To be fair, I think the Big Finish Productions have shown what the whole 7th Doctor's Era could have been like had some proper due care and attention been given to it.
Originally Posted by daveyboy7472:
“To be fair, I think the Big Finish Productions have shown what the whole 7th Doctor's Era could have been like had some proper due care and attention been given to it.
”
“To be fair, I think the Big Finish Productions have shown what the whole 7th Doctor's Era could have been like had some proper due care and attention been given to it.
”
Tbf, by the 7th Doctor era, the programme had become a joke. I doubt any serious actors and writers would have touched it. Imo, this is why we ended up with such a poor production. Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred all totally miscast. Pip and Jane Baker, writing for a show/concept they had never even seen, JNT thinking he WAS the show and totally lost sight of the audience and the concept. Just awful.
Originally Posted by Pull2Open:
“Tbf, by the 7th Doctor era, the programme had become a joke. I doubt any serious actors and writers would have touched it. Imo, this is why we ended up with such a poor production. Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred all totally miscast. Pip and Jane Baker, writing for a show/concept they had never even seen, JNT thinking he WAS the show and totally lost sight of the audience and the concept. Just awful.”
“Tbf, by the 7th Doctor era, the programme had become a joke. I doubt any serious actors and writers would have touched it. Imo, this is why we ended up with such a poor production. Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred all totally miscast. Pip and Jane Baker, writing for a show/concept they had never even seen, JNT thinking he WAS the show and totally lost sight of the audience and the concept. Just awful.”
And yet plenty of very good and serious actors did work on Who during the late 1980s - Michael Jayston, Don Henderson, George Sewell, Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Sheila Hancock, Jean Marsh, Frank Windsor, Michael Cochrane, and many others. Hell, even - love her or hate her - Kate O'Mara, who was a really big star in the US thanks to Dynasty, but actually loved working on Doctor Who. In the acting community working on Doctor Who simply wasn't seen as a joke. OK, it was sometimes perceived as a kids show, and some actors were wrongly allowed to pitch their performances accordingly (Richard Briers is a notable case here), but actors (and other TV workers) still saw it as a show that was worth doing.
And while JNT did seem to get too big for his boots in the mid 1980s, once Andrew Cartmel was on board, JNT stepped back somewhat into merely the producer role once again, letting Cartmel and his new scriptwriters push forward with their new ideas and directions. Some of these ideas worked, some didn't, but by 1989 Doctor Who was clearly in considerably better shape that it had been three years before. It still hadn't had enough time to recover it's status in the eyes of the public, but given another season or two I'd argue that this would have happened.
Originally Posted by adams66:
“And yet plenty of very good and serious actors did work on Who during the late 1980s - Michael Jayston, Don Henderson, George Sewell, Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Sheila Hancock, Jean Marsh, Frank Windsor, Michael Cochrane, and many others. Hell, even - love her or hate her - Kate O'Mara, who was a really big star in the US thanks to Dynasty, but actually loved working on Doctor Who. In the acting community working on Doctor Who simply wasn't seen as a joke. OK, it was sometimes perceived as a kids show, and some actors were wrongly allowed to pitch their performances accordingly (Richard Briers is a notable case here), but actors (and other TV workers) still saw it as a show that was worth doing.
And while JNT did seem to get too big for his boots in the mid 1980s, once Andrew Cartmel was on board, JNT stepped back somewhat into merely the producer role once again, letting Cartmel and his new scriptwriters push forward with their new ideas and directions. Some of these ideas worked, some didn't, but by 1989 Doctor Who was clearly in considerably better shape that it had been three years before. It still hadn't had enough time to recover it's status in the eyes of the public, but given another season or two I'd argue that this would have happened.”
“And yet plenty of very good and serious actors did work on Who during the late 1980s - Michael Jayston, Don Henderson, George Sewell, Pamela Salem, Simon Williams, Sheila Hancock, Jean Marsh, Frank Windsor, Michael Cochrane, and many others. Hell, even - love her or hate her - Kate O'Mara, who was a really big star in the US thanks to Dynasty, but actually loved working on Doctor Who. In the acting community working on Doctor Who simply wasn't seen as a joke. OK, it was sometimes perceived as a kids show, and some actors were wrongly allowed to pitch their performances accordingly (Richard Briers is a notable case here), but actors (and other TV workers) still saw it as a show that was worth doing.
And while JNT did seem to get too big for his boots in the mid 1980s, once Andrew Cartmel was on board, JNT stepped back somewhat into merely the producer role once again, letting Cartmel and his new scriptwriters push forward with their new ideas and directions. Some of these ideas worked, some didn't, but by 1989 Doctor Who was clearly in considerably better shape that it had been three years before. It still hadn't had enough time to recover it's status in the eyes of the public, but given another season or two I'd argue that this would have happened.”
Its a fair point but it also a fair point that many you have mentioned here were aging actors many of whom hadn't had much tv time in a while and probably wanted something not too serious to do. I'm also really referring to the death throes of the 7th Doctors era. Ii stand by my opinion that serious sand current talent wouldn't have wanted to go near it.
Originally Posted by Pull2Open:
“Tbf, by the 7th Doctor era, the programme had become a joke. I doubt any serious actors and writers would have touched it. Imo, this is why we ended up with such a poor production. Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred all totally miscast. Pip and Jane Baker, writing for a show/concept they had never even seen, JNT thinking he WAS the show and totally lost sight of the audience and the concept. Just awful.”
“Tbf, by the 7th Doctor era, the programme had become a joke. I doubt any serious actors and writers would have touched it. Imo, this is why we ended up with such a poor production. Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred all totally miscast. Pip and Jane Baker, writing for a show/concept they had never even seen, JNT thinking he WAS the show and totally lost sight of the audience and the concept. Just awful.”
I think as has been mentioned already, the last Season was going in the right direction, but the damage had already been done the previous few years. I think any further Seasons would have had only limited improvement while JNT was in charge and the BBC were so against it at the time.
I also disagree McCoy was miscast. It's always been my opinion that it was the show that was wrong, not him.
I bring it back to my original point about Bonnie Langford. The BF audios have brought out in the best of both of them. Just shows with decent writers and stories what can be achieved.
A few criticisms of JNT here, but Eric Saward hasn't been mentioned. As Script Editor, his responsibility was scripts. He had a major role in designing the character outline for the leading characters. While I am sure JNT was difficult to work with, I am sure Saward was as well. Writing his own scripts in that time meant he had less time to do his day job and took the eye off the ball.
Originally Posted by chuffnobbler:
“A few criticisms of JNT here, but Eric Saward hasn't been mentioned. As Script Editor, his responsibility was scripts. He had a major role in designing the character outline for the leading characters. While I am sure JNT was difficult to work with, I am sure Saward was as well. Writing his own scripts in that time meant he had less time to do his day job and took the eye off the ball.”
“A few criticisms of JNT here, but Eric Saward hasn't been mentioned. As Script Editor, his responsibility was scripts. He had a major role in designing the character outline for the leading characters. While I am sure JNT was difficult to work with, I am sure Saward was as well. Writing his own scripts in that time meant he had less time to do his day job and took the eye off the ball.”
Though I agree about the scripts, according to the Sixth Doctor Handbook it was JNT who devised the character of Mel and Saward was against it, calling her casting cynical and by that I assume he was referring to comments made by Ian Levine that he cast her because she was appearing in one of his pantomime productions at the time.
Though to be fair it also said an agent suggested her to JNT as well so it comes down to what you believe really.
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