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"The Master was finally caught by the Daleks and put on trial for his many crimes.  Sentenced to death, he was executed. The Master's last wish was that the Doctor should bring his remains back to their home world Gallifrey. It s a request that they should never have granted..." 

The Master is apparently exterminated by the Daleks on Skaro, and the Doctor agrees to take his remains back to Gallifrey in the TARDIS.  The Master's remains are being transported back to Gallifrey in a box which cracks and breaks open, a shapeless goo like creature oozes out into the console.  This causes the TARDIS to make an emergency landing on Earth, in the city of San Francisco, in the year 1999.

The Doctor emerges from the TARDIS and sustains gunshot wounds, stepping into the middle of a gun fight between rival gangs.  The surviving gang member Chang Lee, goes to the aid of the Doctor, who is taken to hospital for emergency treatment. The surgeon on call, Dr Grace Holloway rushes from the opera and attempts to save his life, but, failing to understand his alien physiology, seems causes his ‘death’. 

The Doctor, left for dead in the morgue, regenerates into his eighth physical form. The Master (goo) has meanwhile taken over the body of the ambulance driver named Bruce.  A temporary measure until he can achieve his ultimate goal of inhabiting the Doctor’s body. 

The Master, using lies and false promises, convinces Chang Lee to join his side and .gains access to the Doctor’s TARDIS.  Meanwhile the Doctor, still disoriented, manages to convince Grace that he is the same man that she thought had died on her operating table, and that he is an alien Time Lord - and we discover that he is half human on his mother’s side. 

The Master gets Chang Lee to open the Eye of Harmony, the Doctor feels pain and tells Grace what the Master plans to do, that if he looks into the Eye of Harmony, his soul will be destroyed allowing the Master to steal his body and inhabit it for his own life.  Furthermore, if the eye is not closed, the planet will be sucked through it. 

The doctor and Grace race against time to prevent the Master’s scheme from bringing about the Earth’s destruction  at midnight on 31 December 1999.  The final showdown takes place in the Eye Of Harmony Room, with Grace rewiring the TARDIS console before the Master after a fight with the Doctor is sucked into the Eye of Harmony within the TARDIS’s cloister room.

The Doctor bids farewell to Chang Lee - who ultimately saw the error of his ways - and kisses Grace goodbye before he departs in the TARDIS as the world celebrates the millennium.

The Doctor: Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann
Dr. Grace Holloway:  Daphne Ashbrook

Guest Cast List:
The Master: Eric Roberts
Chang Lee: Yee Jee Tso 
Salinger: John Novak
Dr Swift: Michael David Simms
Wheeler: Catherine Lough
Curtis: Dolores Drake
Pete: William Sasso 
Gareth:  Jeremy Radick
Miranda: Eliza Roberts
Motorcycle Policeman:  Ron James
Professor Wagg: Dave Hurtubise
Ted: Joel Wirkunnen
Security Man: Dee Jay Jackson 
The Old Master: Gordon Tipple 
News Anchors: Mi-Jung Lee, Joanna Piros 

Executive Producer: Philip David Segal, Alex Beaton
Executive Producer for The BBC: Jo Wright
Producer: Peter V Ware
Writer/Co-Producer: Matthew Jacobs
Director: Geoff Sax
Editor: Patrick Lussier
Music: John Debney
Production Design: Richard Hudolin
Director of Photography: Glen MacPherson CSC
Visual Effects Producer: Tony Dow
Production Manager: Fran Rosati
Special Effects Coordinator: Gary Paller
Script Supervisor: Jessica Clothier
Visual Effects: Northwest Imaging  FX
Sound Supervisor: Jacqueline Cristianini

Novelised as "Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film" by Gary Russell for BBC Books, first released in May 1996 with photomontage cover illustration. Also, "Doctor Who - The Script of the Film" by Matthew Jacobs for BBC Books, first released in May 1996 with photomontage cover illustration.

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Released on video in the U.K. 22nd May 1996, from BBC Worldwide Publishing (Catalogue #BBCV5882).
Duration: 90 minins
Format: PAL VHS Stereo HiFi Soundtrack

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Released on DVD from BBC Worldwide Publishers August 13, 2001. (Catalogue # BBCDVD1043)
Duration: 90 minutes.
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
• Audio: English (Dolby Digital Stereo)
• Commentary by Geoffrey Sax (Director).
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Tour of the TARDIS set
• Alternate Takes
• Behind the scenes feature including interviews with Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, Geoffrey Sax, Eric Roberts, Philip Segal.

Released in UK as "Doctor Who: the Novel of the Film" with narration by Paul McGann on audio cassette (2 June, 1997) from BBC Audio (Spoken Word).
ISBN: 0563381485

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The 1996 Doctor Who tv movie was made for American television, and obviously designed to appeal to that market.This was intended to try and launch a new series of Doctor Who in the States. In this it failed, but the movie was responsible for spawning an ongoing series of novels and comic strips featuring McGann's Doctor. The morgue area was a specially set built in the Hospital's empty therapy swimming pool.

222 Keefer Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (5 February 1996)
Alley between East Georgia Street and Union Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (1-2 February 1996)
Waterfront Road, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (7-8 February 1996)
BC Children's Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (23-30 January 1996)
Rear of 218 East Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (1 February 1996)
Golden Crow Centre, 211 East Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (5 February 1996)
1998 Ogden Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (15-17 January 1996)
Hadden Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (16 January 1996)
Junction of Carrall Street and Keefer Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (6 February 1996)
Pacific Space Centre, Vanier Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (18-19 January 1996)
Andy Livingstone Park, Junction of Carrall St. and Keefer St. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (7 February 1996)

• Grace seems to think that the Doctor's blood is very strange when she looks at it under a microscope, but when we see the probe's view of it, it looks pretty normal.
• When the Doctor tells Grace about his ability to regenerate, his voice says "I have thirteen lives" while his lips clearly say "twelve".
• When the Doctor and Grace escape from the Institute by lowering themselves down on a fire hose, notice that there's nowhere near the length needed for the 20-feet-or-so drop that they make.
• When the Doctor is strapped up in that Clockwork Orange-esque gear at the end, the insides of his lower eyelid are visible on long-range and medium shots, but not on some of the close-ups.