In
March 1985 Doctor Who was paused. As the previous post makes clear this
was initially intended as a cancellation but because the BBC has never been the
most robust decision maker and also due to a tabloid led outcry (partly
orchestrated secretly by the series' production office) the halt became a
hiatus. Doctor Who would be back, said Bill Cotton, the King of the BBC,
but not for eighteen months. We may smile now that this gap caused such
consternation; in 2025 two years is the average gap between seasons of many
major fantasy shows. In 1985 however, at least as far as fans were concerned, it
was simply too long to wait and they wanted to do something about it.
Thus a plan was hatched to make a high profile song to highlight an issue which, as far the wider public was concerned, had already been sorted. The people to whom this task fell were Ian Levine and Fiachra Tench. Levine had a track record as a DJ and producer of HI NRG records that were popular in clubs and were also starting to infiltrate the charts. As the name suggests HI NRG music is supposed to be powerful, up tempo and pulsing with intense vocals. Ian Levine’s own superb production of the song `High Energy` by Evelyn Thomas the previous year is a textbox example of the musical genre. `Doctor In Distress` is not.
