hi, i was just wondering, seeins as i'm only 22 and my memories dont reach back passed Sly Mccoy, and are hazy at least.....

were the BBC as public about announcing the departure of previous doctors? As exciting as it was watching the parting of the ways finale, i cant help thinking that it would have been better if the regeneration had been kept a secret.

Is this how it was done in pervious series of Dr Who?

In a word, yes. The announcements always made it onto the main news programmes.

Yes, and see me at the end of the lesson for putting 'passed' instead of 'past'!

Seriously the new Who was always big news, even when McCoy took over (I remember one headline was 'Sylvester Who?') but I'd better not go down that route!

Old I may be, but mature...? Nah! In my head I'm still your age, it's just my body that refuses to believe me!

I was 5 when the first regeneration happened and had no idea it was going to happen!

Indeed! The DVD of The Caves of Androzani has the clip of the announcement of Peter Davison's departure IIRC and I'm sure the other relevant stories will also have these as extras where they survive.

I remember the feeling of 'dead Doctor walking' from season 21 as Peter's departure was mentioned at the back of the Radio Times anniversary special - along with a photo of Colin and a run down of the upcoming season.

The first thing I knew about Colin going was the announcement of Sylvester... can't say I was too impressed at the time... I liked Colin and still do!

I think the shock factor this time was the fact that we were all still recovering from the fact that we'd seen a new episode with 12 more to go. Bloomin' tabloids... I'll never understand this obession with spoiling everything - I want the suprises and the shock twist endings in films and TV!

I agree. There are few enough pleasant surprises in this life as it is. On that note, it always surprises me when people want to know the sex of their baby before it's born!

I have vivid memories of sitting down to Caves and Time/Rani (and the McGann movie, of course), knowing what would be happening.

I wasn''t sure whether the most ercent regeneration would be at the end of The Parting of the Ways, and was looking forward to be surprised/disappointed. However, a quick glance at the week's Radio Times cured me of that ...

chuff.x.

Colin Baker to Sly McCoy was quite low key as I recall. It was clear that the BBC were trying to bury the show from the mid 80s and by 1989 they got their wish.

It may also have something to do with the fact that Colin Baker had been sacked by Michael Grade, so unsurprisingly the BBC didn't want a broo-ha-ha about him going.

The Sun on the other hand ran an interview with CB over 2 or 3 days slating Michael Grade - front page and everything.

I always thought it was quite strange that after being treated like something on the sole of Michael Grade's shoe, he chose not to shoot the regeneration.

Blooming ingrate

Of course in the good old days, even the Beeb changing the time to Mondays and Tuesdays made the papers...ah, so much better it was then, especially actually being involved in the anti-social behaviour rather than just feeling compelled to disapprove of it like we are now