Doctor in Distress

"Doctor in Distress" is a pop song related to the BBC television programme Doctor Who. It was released as an ensemble charity single in 1985. Background In 1985, when the production of the series was suspended for a year and it looked as if it faced cancellation, a charity single was produced and released in March. It was written by the series' unofficial continuity advisor Ian Levine and freelancer Fiachra Trench, who had previously collaborated on the theme music for the TV pilot K-9 and Company, a Doctor Who spin off from 1981. When news of the single was announced in early March, it was rumoured that the recording session would include the Village People, together with self-confessed Doctor Who fans Elton John and Holly Johnson. This, however, did not occur. Instead, organisers Paul Mark Tams and Jeff Weston (managing director of Record Shack) secured the involvement of 25 mid-level performers, some of which were attached to Weston's label. The resulting supergroup recorded and released the single under the name Who Cares?, with the participation of four regulars from the TV series: Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Nicola Bryant (companion Peri Brown), Nicholas Courtney (recurring character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) and Anthony Ainley (the Master). It was intended that proceeds from the single should go to the charity Cancer Research. However, sales were so poor that it failed to recover expenses. No money went to the charity. The single, which was released on Friday, 15 March 1985, was universally panned. Even the BBC itself refused to broadcast the song on its radio stations on the grounds of its poor quality. Levine himself later told The Guardian, "It was 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." The single failed to chart in the UK.