Doctor in Distress

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Doctor in Distress was a charity record released within two weeks of the announcement of Doctor Who's "cancellation" on 25 February 1985.

Lyrics

Eighteen months is too long to wait,
Bring back the Doctor don't hesitate. It was a cold wet night in November
Twenty-two years ago,
There was a police box in a junkyard
We didn't know where it would go,
An old man took two teachers
Into time and space,
It started off a legend
That no other could replace.
Doctor in distress,
Let's all answer his S.O.S.,
Doctor in distress,
Bring him back now, we won't take less.
There were evil metal creatures,
Who tried to exterminate,
Inside each of their casings
Was a bubbling lump of hate,
We met cybernetic humans
With no feelings at all,
Warriors of the ice
Who stood over seven feet tall.
Bring him back now we won't take less,
If we stop his travels he'll be in a mess,
The galaxy will fall to evil once more,
With nightmarish monsters fighting a war.
We've learned to accept six doctors
With companions at their side,
When they were faced with dangers
They didn't run, they didn't hide,
There was a Brigadier and a Master
And a canine computer,
Each screaming girl just hoped
That a Yeti wouldn't shoot her.
Doctor in distress,
Let's all answer his S.O.S.,
Doctor in distress,
Bring him back now, we won't take less.

Production

  • The recording session took place on Thursday 7 March and featured a host of well known names of the time, including:
  • Support but non participation also came from;
  • Ritchie Pitts (star of Starlight Express) who attended the session but had to leave with Earlene Bentley
  • Sally Thomsett
  • Steve Grant and Julie Harris (from 'Tight Fit)
  • John Rocca (from Freeez)
  • Miquel Brown (of the hit 'So Many Men So Little Time)
  • Hazel Dean (singer)
  • Basia and Danny (from band 'Matt Bianco')
  • Black Lace's train was cancelled from Bradford
  • Gary Glitter, fortunately, had dislocated his shoulder
  • Helen Terry was unable to make the session having to fly overseas
  • Holly Johnson (from Frankie Goes to Hollywood) was caught up in rehearsals in Brixton
  • Ian's record label Record Shack Records released the record in 7" and 12" versions with an instrumental version of the final hi-energy dance number on the B-side.
  • The National Society for Cancer Research benefited from all profits of the record sales.

Reception

The single was largely panned, and failed to chart in the UK. The BBC refused to play the single on its own radio stations, reportedly for its low quality.[1]

Ian Levine later described the single as "an absolute balls-up fiasco. It was pathetic and bad and stupid. It tried to tell the Doctor Who history in an awful high-energy song. It almost ruined me."[2]

Footnotes

  1. The Sixth Doctor Handbook, pp 200-201
  2. "Shows of support," The Guardian, 22 October 2005