Wilderness years

Bessie faced her "wilderness years" after an adventure with the Seventh Doctor. (AUDIO: Bessie Come Home)

Behind the scenes
In the real world, "the Wilderness Years" refers to the 16 year gap between the "classic series" and the "new series" of Doctor Who, where no new series was broadcast, between the premiere of Survival in 1989 and Rose, the 2005 debut of the Ninth Doctor. In this interim period, many DWU stories and spin-offs were released across various mediums along with a sparse amount of televised productions, most notably the 1996 telefilm which saw the Seventh Doctor regenerate into the Eighth Doctor in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at relaunching the series.