Doctor Who writer reveals why he is on a mission to revamp ‘failings’ of classic original Time Lord story
Explaining how the updated version aims to address what he described as the “failings” of the original story, The Doctor Who writer overseeing a new revamp of the 1984 serial Warriors of the Deep has opened up about how it is being improved.
The Doctor Who writer overseeing a new revamp of the 1984 serial Warriors of the Deep has explained how the updated version aims to address what he described as the “failings” of the original story.
Pete McTighe, 53, has worked on Doctor Who and its spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea and has supervised a new special edition of the story for the upcoming Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 21 Blu-ray release.
The serial originally featured the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, now 74, confronting the combined threat of the Silurians and the Sea Devils on an undersea military base as tensions of nuclear war loomed.
Despite its ambitious premise, the 1984 story has long been viewed by fans and critics as one of the weaker entries in the long-running science fiction series.
But the new edition aims to improve the viewing experience by addressing production limitations that affected the original broadcast more than four decades ago.
Speaking at a screening event at the BFI Southbank, Pete described the reputation of the serial and his motivation for revisiting it.
According to the Radio Times, he said it was “quite an unloved story”, adding it “was kind of crying out (to be revisited), purely because I actually felt there’s a really, really good story buried in... the original version.”
Pete also explained production constraints during filming in the 1980s had a significant effect on the finished programme. He said: “We know from the history books that they were so challenged in terms of time in the studio.
“Pennant Roberts, the director, didn’t have enough time to get all the coverage he wanted, so the battle scenes were just locked-off wide shots.
“They didn’t have time to get the lighting right, so there’s lots of issues… .”
The writer added: “In my opinion, a lot of the failings of it happened because they were so under pressure in the studio to to actually just finish the thing.”
Pete said the initial plan for the updated edition was limited to improving one element of the story – the Myrka creature – using modern visual effects.
But the project soon expanded to include re-editing the serial and filming additional material.
Pete said: “Looking at the story, I felt there was so much more we could do with it. It could be re-edited to be tighter.
“A lot of the battle sequences in Warriors of the Deep, they weren’t able to get the coverage – so we decided that we would go back and reshoot bits.”
He added: “There’s a lot of really subtle fixes in there. There’s a lot of shots in (the original) Part Four where Sea Devil heads are literally falling off in the background... they didn’t have time to go and quickly straighten them, they had to keep shooting.
“So we’ve done things like cut around those, and replace heads where we needed to… there’s a lot of shots in there that are kind of invisible as well as the obvious.”
Pete said the changes formed part of a broader effort to enhance the episode while keeping the original intact.
He added: “So it was a three-fold thing: replacing the Myrka, editing to just make the whole thing tighter, and then just spicing up the action sequences. So obviously the original is still there on the disc, because we all love the original, but there’s an alternative viewing experience for you now, which is something quite different.”
Pete also discussed work with visual effects supervisor Chris Thompson, explaining early versions of the updated Myrka had to be adjusted.
He said: “Chris’ initial effects were actually a bit too good! I didn’t want it to be a Jurassic Park monster suddenly turning up in Doctor Who, I wanted it to be something that felt like it could have actually been on the studio floor.”
The Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 21 Blu-ray release includes several other stories with updated special effects, including The Awakening, Frontios, Resurrection of the Daleks and The Caves of Androzani.
Additional features on the set include behind-the-scenes documentaries on Resurrection of the Daleks and The Twin Dilemma, a new audio commentary for The Awakening, and an In Conversation feature with Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson and Matthew Waterhouse.
Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 21 is scheduled for release on 16 March 2026 and is now available for pre-order.
