The Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy - took over in 1987, and a new emphasis was obvious. Once more the balance of the show moved back towards lighter and more comic-book adventures, and Sylvester McCoy, complete with panama hat and a paisley-patterned scarf, played the role as a much more friendly uncle-type alongside his streetwise young sidekick, Ace.

Enemies from this era include the Kandyman from The Happiness Patrol - resembling a giant, evil Bertie Basset, and a circus full of creepy robotic clowns in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

The last season to be broadcast by the BBC - its twenty sixth - saw the series changing direction once more, with stories like Ghost Light bringing in a darker and more mysterious tone to both the programme and its lead character, showing that even after twenty six years Doctor Who was still capable of reinventing itself - as it always had done. However, with the show being broadcast directly against Coronation Street it was a ratings battle it could never hope to win, and the show was rested until the TV movie of 1996 revived the character again, with Sylvester McCoy returning to hand over the reins to Paul McGann.

The last full season of Doctor Who to be broadcast by the BBC saw the show take on a much darker character. As well as developing a new sense of mystery surrounding the Doctor, which had been started the year before, the viewer was often left wondering how much the Doctor new about the situation before the story began and to what extent he had actually set up the events. This is probably best demonstrated in the story, Ghost Light, where the Doctor brings Ace to a disturbing Victorian house to confront her own fears. These more mysterious and deeply layered stories, which often required multiple viewing to fully understand, again failed to make any dent on the ratings of Coronation Street and the announcement of a new series, normally immediate, was put on hold. As time passed the prospects of a new series dwindled and it soon became clear that Doctor Who as an ongoing television show was over.

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