Doctor Who: Now Michael Grade is BBC Chairman, Will he Scrap Dr Who Again?

Hopefully!

People who slag it off ought to be clear that it ran for 26 years and went through very different phases.

Dave, do you like crack?

Enterprise enters orbit of some planet, calls down to base there.
Base commander, while explosions go off in the background, phaser blasts whizzing past his head, sweating, covering his mouth and looking shifty: "No, don't beam down! We don't need you! Everything is fine here! I'm not lying at all!"
Deanna: "Captain, I sense that he may not be telling us everything."

Tom - I think you've hit the nail on the head with the reference about important TV. I just don't see it at all. It's partly my bete noire about what's seemingly described as part of UK culture being for people from the home counties. I didn't know anyone who liked it - friends, family etc. It really didn't register on the radar, and yet it's part of the canon of British TV that is ded ded good. Things which are made on the cheap can still be good. Thiungs with risible plotlines and crapola acting can very, very occasionally be good. But apart from Tom Baker's stint (which was far far more about Tom Baker, who is genuinely interesting) it's just a classic piece of boy scout airfix wank dressed up as something quintessentially british; it's not a Britain I ever knew, ot want to know.

So, yes, I hate fun.

There was admittedly a level of formula about Pat Troughton's second season, with virtually all stories falling under a 'base under siege' bracket, but the following season saw the boat pushed out, with 'the war games' a masterful sci-fi/mystery epic, and 'the mind robber' being an amazing piece of surrealist tv. The first ep. of that might well be my fav. DW episode.

Then under Pertwee, things became quite settled; initially as serious, credible Quatermass-influenced actioners, with moral issues raised. Then in Season 8 on, rather more cosy stories about alien invasions and quaint English villages.

All of course changing to a Universal/Hammer horror focus for the early Tom Baker... which then shifted into Douglas Adams-script edited knowingness. And then into a more po-faced attempt at sci-fi and credibility from Bidmead/JNT/Saward... only to become a bit of a joke post-1985 hiatus, when it had to be toned down into lighter entertainment. Towards the end of McCoy's stint, it was picking up again; not all that accessible, it was becoming a different beast: more cerebral, if lacking in order, scripts, full of cracking dialogue and a return to more frightening stories. Shame it had to end... seems like Russell T. Davies and the rest know what did make it a good show in various eras, and will be able to raise it to an even higher level perhaps.