Date Of Birth/death: – 24 December 1925 / 23 August 1991
Doctor Who Producer: 1966 – 1967
Preceded by: John Wiles Succeeded by: Peter Bryant
Innes Lloyd was the third producer of Doctor Who, taking over from John Wiles in 1966 – until 1967; when he was replaced by Peter Bryant.
Unlike his predecessor – John Wiles, Lloyd was an experienced and long-served producer within the BBC, when he became the producer of Doctor Who.
He instigated 4 changes, that would define and alter the future direction of the show.
1) Regeneration. Lloyd took previous producer John Wiles’idea of recasting the Doctor with a new actor (like James Bond where the change in actor would not be directly referenced) and made it a defined part of the Doctor’s lifespan by having the Doctor physically change into a brand new person. Originally termed – as a “change of face” (the term “regeneration” was coined later).
2) Lloyd decided to do away with the period dramas – in favour of modern and futuristic story settings.
3) He presided over the Troughton years that became popularly known as the ‘Monster Era’ due to the number of aliens and monsters featured. Introducing both the classic monsters – the Ice Warriors and Cybermen.
4) Lloyd introduced the ‘base under siege’ story. To save money on sets and allow the same sets to be used for multiple stories.
An example from the Monster era was Moonbase. This became the standard template story for future Doctor Who stories, featuring monsters.
Following Lloyd’s decision to change the actor playing the Doctor. Hartnell was written out at the end of the ‘The Tenth Planet’ and replaced by Patrick Troughton.
“By this time, William Harnell was no longer a young man. He’d done it solid for three or more years, and I don’t think even he’d intended staying as long as he did. It took a great toll on him: he felt he needed a rest, his wife Heather felt he needed a rest, and we were left to decide whether to carry on or not. As Godfather of the whole thing, it was Sydney Newman’s whole-hearted wish that we should and so, with Shaun Sutton in on it as well, we set about looking for a new Doctor!” – Innes Lloyd on the decision to replace Hartnell.
Lloyd had final say on the casting of Patrick Troughton as the new Doctor. Although, actor Peter Cushing (having already played the big-screen movie version of the Doctor) and actor Brian Blessed were actively considered, it was Troughton who impressed – with his versatility.
“We drew up and whittled down a great list before we got to Patrick Troughton, although in many ways he was an absolutely ideal choice. He had versatility going for him – he was, and is, a distingushed character actor with a great many varied roles behind him. He was always in demand. Most important of all, I think, was that he had a leading actor’s temperament!” – Innes Lloyd on Patrick Troughton.
Lloyd produced 14 of the 15 serials produced during his tenure, which spanned 2 incarnations of the Doctor. Beginning with William Hartnell’s The Celestial Toymaker and ending his run with Patrick Troughton’s Enemy Of The World.
One of the serials, The Tomb Of The Cybermen was produced instead, by Peter Bryant – as a test run. (to see if Bryant could take over from Lloyd). The serial was considered a success, so Lloyd stood aside in 1967 – and Bryant took over.
After Doctor Who, Lloyd continued to produce many dramas for the BBC. he died in 1991, aged 65.
