Ace returns to Perivale to visit her friends, only to discover that several of them have gone missing. The Doctor investigates a mysterious black cat prowling the neighbourhood. It is actually a Kitling, who is assisting an intergalactic hunt. Under the sway of the Master, the Cheetah People are kidnapping residents of Perivale and hunting them on their homeworld. But the Master is trapped, and is slowly succumbing to the dying planet's insidious influence. To their horror, the Doctor and Ace realise that the only way to rescue the survivors may be to give themselves over to their most savage instincts -- perhaps forever.

In August 1987, Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel was invited to give a guest lecture as part of a BBC training course for writers. During lunch, he was approached by an attendee named Rona Munro, who had enjoyed Doctor Who in her youth and was now eager to write for the show. With Cartmel's encouragement, Munro sent him some of her material, including a play about babysitters which he liked very much. He met with Munro on October 9th and, in the new year, asked her to develop ideas for Doctor Who. Munro's proposal about otherworldly Cheetah People was cheekily titled “Cat-Flap”, and drew on her interest in pagan imagery, such as the association of felines with women in the mystic tradition. It was entirely set on Earth, in accordance with Cartmel's plan to steer the 1989 season away from outer space settings.

During 1988, producer John Nathan-Turner asked Munro to add the Master to her storyline; the evil Time Lord had not appeared in Doctor Who since The Trial Of A Time Lord (Segment Four) in 1986. The writer fondly recalled the late Roger Delgado's portrayal of the villain, and was happy to include him in her narrative. Nathan-Turner also wanted more variety in the settings for Season Twenty-Six, and so he indicated that some of the action should take place on the planet of the Cheetah People. Cartmel did not feel that the “Cat-Flap” title was appropriate; as such, when the first episode was commissioned on November 16th, it was referred to as “Blood-Hunt”. Episodes Two and Three were then solicited on January 11th, 1989. The adventure was designed to be recorded entirely on location, and made by the same team assigned to the studio-bound Ghost Light.

Originally Ace burned Karra's body on a funeral pyre, continuing the theme of her pyromania

Several changes were made to “Blood-Hunt” as Munro developed her scripts. Paterson was originally a police officer, and it was in this capacity that he investigated complaints about the Doctor's activities. He instead became a retired army sergeant to allay the production office's concerns about the connotations of Paterson's violent behaviour. Ace burned Karra's body on a funeral pyre, continuing the theme of her pyromania as suggested by her fascination with Nitro Nine, and made explicit in Ghost Light, in which she was revealed to have burned down an old mansion. The motorcycle duel between the Doctor and Midge took place in a disused lot or building site -- hence the incongruous appearance of the rubbish on which the Doctor landed -- and Midge was kicked to death by the other boys. Episode One included a scene in which the Doctor tried to stuff a large gold coin into Ange's donations tin, finally getting the coin to drop by tapping it with one finger. This was meant to foreshadow the Doctor's later subdual of Paterson in a similar fashion.

Cartmel also wanted “Blood-Hunt” to advance his overarching plans to reimagine the Doctor's background. He had a long-term design to reveal a connection between the Doctor and the ancient Time Lords such as Rassilon and Omega, and the confrontation with the Master presented an opportunity to explore this notion further. Nathan-Turner was more cautious about Cartmel's ideas, and instructed his script editor to keep such hints vague. With this in mind, at the story's end, Munro originally had the Master return to Earth with the Doctor, whom he no longer believed to be a Time Lord. In keeping with the “survival of the fittest” theme of “Blood-Hunt”, the Doctor responded that he had “evolved” and indeed was not “just” a Time Lord anymore. The Master then escaped using a Kitling which was lurking nearby. However, Nathan-Turner still felt that this dialogue was too explicit, and it was dropped at a very late stage.

Around April, Munro's adventure became known as “The Survival” and finally just Survival; it was planned to be the third serial into production during 1989, but the fourth and final to air. It would be directed by Alan Wareing, who had worked on the previous year's The Greatest Show In The Galaxy. Anthony Ainley had been contracted on February 14th, for what would turn out to be his eleventh and final appearance as the Master. Cast as Karra was Lisa Bowerman, who had formerly been a regular on Casualty. Although this was Bowerman's first Doctor Who role, her association with the programme would grow much stronger in 1998 when she became the voice of the Doctor's companion Bernice Summerfield. Benny had been created for the Doctor Who: The New Adventures line of novels from Virgin Publishing, and was being brought to life by Big Finish Productions. Bowerman would also direct numerous Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish.

Rona Munro conceived the Cheetah People as being basically human, with cat-like eyes and fangs

A major concern in pre-production was the design of the Cheetah People. Munro had originally conceived them as being basically human, with cat-like eyes and fangs, and perhaps a vaguely feline mouth. To this was later added a light fur coat and claws. However, Nathan-Turner wanted a more obviously monstrous appearance, and so make-up designer Joan Stribling adopted a very literal interpretation. Despite the implementation of some changes at the behest of Wareing and Nathan-Turner, the cast and crew were still dismayed by the final result. Also disappointing was the animatronic Kitling. Although BBC Visual Effects was confident that they could develop a workable prop -- having already constructed an animatronic dog for the comedy pilot I, Lovett -- they were hampered by the small size of the Kitling and the need for realism.

The previous story into production, Battlefield, had been disrupted by labour action taken against the BBC by the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance. The prolonged dispute also affected Survival, which lost part of a rehearsal day as a result. Nonetheless, recording began as planned on June 10th, the first of six days in the Greater London area, with Wareing's team chiefly operating in Perivale, in accordance with Munro's scripts. The first day of recording involved the scene with the milkman on Medway Drive, after which a block of flats on Medway Parade served as Midge's home.

Joining the Doctor Who team on June 11th was the comedy duo of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace. Although they were originally cast as Harvey and Len, respectively, their roles had now been interchanged. Material outside the merchants' shop was taped outside the Drayton Court Public House and the adjacent empty building in West Ealing; this was the only venue located outside the borders of Perivale -- albeit barely -- during the first four days of the shoot. The interior was Londis Food Market, after which the cast and crew moved on to Motor Cycles Unlimited for sequences in the dealership, while the Doctor and Ace met Ange outside Sceptre Financial Services. On June 12th, the playground was Ealing Central Sports Ground. Various street scenes were filmed this day and the next on Colwyn Avenue, Bleasdale Avenue and Woodhouse Avenue. Unfortunately, the live cats hired for the shoot proved uncooperative. Indeed, at one point on June 13th, the production team accepted a young neighbourhood boy's offer to use his pet instead, since it proved to be more accommodating! Meanwhile, the dog who tried to eat the Doctor's cat food was played by Nathan-Turner's own Pepsi.

On June 14th, the EYJ Martial Arts Centre in Sudbury Hill posed as the youth club. Then it was back to Perivale on June 15th for the sequences in the wasteground, recorded at Horsenden Hill. When preparing for the game of “chicken”, stuntman Tip Tipping was assigned to double for Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, while champion motorcyclist Eddie Kidd would do likewise for Will Barton as Midge. Despite his pedigree, however, Kidd was only a trainee stuntman, and Tipping felt that he should not be used. Nathan-Turner overruled him; consequently, once the stunt was completed, Tipping walked off the show, advising the production team to donate his fee to the Children In Need charity. Tipping was replaced by Paul Heasman for the rest of the shoot. Recording ran badly behind on this day, which meant that there was not enough time to complete Barton's make-up for Midge's death. Meanwhile, Bowerman had been wearing her yellow contact lenses for so long that she had suffered a reaction. As a result, Wareing had to abandon a shot which depicted Karra's eyes becoming human as she died.

The final location for Survival was Warmwell Quarry in Warmwell, Dorset, for all of the scenes on the planet of the Cheetah People. Recording there spanned June 18th to 23rd, during which the weather became blazingly hot. Sophie Aldred suffered from dehydration, Ainley took the production team to task for not adequately taking care of Bowerman in her uncomfortable costume, and an extra playing a Cheetah Person at one point tore off her mask and declared that she was finished for the day -- whereupon she was immediately sacked. The labour dispute involving BETA was still unresolved, and forced an early end to filming on the 20th. On June 23rd, word reached the cast and crew that another work stoppage would occur that day -- a potential disaster given that it was the end of the shoot. However, the clear weather meant that Wareing was already ahead of schedule, and the team worked quickly to ensure that everything was completed with twenty minutes to spare.

At Warmwell Quarry, there was discussion that Doctor Who's cancellation was a fait accompli

By this time, rumours were rampant that the BBC was not planning to renew Doctor Who for its twenty-seventh season. Indeed, at Warmwell Quarry, there was some discussion that the programme's cancellation was already a fait accompli. Although the production team pressed ahead with Ghost Light, it became clear during post-production on Survival that Season Twenty-Seven would, at the very least, be substantially delayed. In many respects, Doctor Who was now an anachronism: for the most part, the BBC no longer made half-hour dramas, science-fiction, or programmes aimed at the whole family, let alone a show which attempted to be all of these things. Furthermore, the BBC was increasingly reliant on independent production companies to create content, rather than developing new programming in-house. Doctor Who had few allies amongst the Corporation's upper management, and now it seemed to have lost its audience, with Battlefield Episode One -- the season premiere, broadcast on September 6th -- reaching an all-time low of only 3.1 million viewers.

As a result, on September 11th, Nathan-Turner informed McCoy and Aldred that their contract options for Season Twenty-Seven were not being taken up. While this did not mean that they had been fired from Doctor Who, it did reflect the fact that the programme was in limbo, with no start date for production on the next season having been set by the BBC.

Given the strong likelihood that Survival might turn out to be the last Doctor Who story ever, Nathan-Turner asked Cartmel to write additional lines for the Doctor, to be dubbed over the final shot of Episode Three. They would serve as a capstone for the programme's twenty-six-year run, while also alluding to the never-ending nature of adventures in the TARDIS. Sylvester McCoy recorded the Doctor's new closing monologue on November 23rd -- ironically, Doctor Who's twenty-sixth anniversary.

Already, Philip David Segal was negotiating a co-production agreement which would see Doctor Who cross the Atlantic

Thirteen days later, on December 6th, the Doctor's declaration to Ace that “we've got work to do” appeared to draw the curtain on Doctor Who as a television entity. Starting the next week, its timeslot would be occupied by the American sitcom Head Of The Class. But even as Season Twenty-Six concluded, there were stirrings of life. Already, an American television executive and longtime fan named Philip David Segal was negotiating with the BBC to forge a co-production agreement which would see Doctor Who cross the Atlantic.

And throughout the British television industry, young men and women who had grown up with a deep and abiding love for Doctor Who were forging careers of their own -- as writers and directors, in visual effects and production design and so much more. One such fan, a writer and script editor for On The Waterfront called Russell T Davies, would soon embark on his first science-fiction project, to be broadcast by the BBC in 1991 as Dark Season. Another, schoolteacher-turned-writer Steven Moffat, had just launched the children's programme Press Gang, which quickly developed a cult following. In print, Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who: The New Adventures range of original novels was about to nurture emerging talents such as Paul Cornell and Mark Gatiss.

It was far from being all over...

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #10, 13th April 2005, “Ride On Time” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who Magazine Summer Special 1994, “Archive: Survival” by Andrew Pixley, Marvel Comics UK Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #46, 2018, “Story 155: Survival”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Eighties by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1996), Virgin Publishing.
• Doctor Who: The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor by David J Howe and Stephen James Walker (1998), Virgin Publishing.
• In·Vision #104, September 2002, “Production” edited by Anthony Brown, Cybermark Services.