Doctor Who
Doctor Who
British Science Fiction Program
Doctor Who, the world's longest continuously running television science fiction series, was made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 1963 and 1989 (with repeats being shown in many countries thereafter and a made-for-television-movie broadcast on both the BBC and the U.S. Network FOX in 1996). Doctor Who’s First episode screens in Britain on November 23, 1963, the day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Consequently, the first episode of a low budget series was swapped by “real life” television and became a BBC institution quietly and by stealth in the interests of more epic television events. Similarly, in the first episode, the central character is a mysterious (“ Doctor Who?”) and stealthy figure in the Contemporary world of 1963, not even being seen for the first 11 and a half minutes and then appearing as an ominous and shadowy person who irresponsibly “ kidnaps” his granddaughter’s school teacher in his time machine (the Tardis). This mystery was the Hallmark of the series for its first three years ( when William Hartnell played the lead), as was the antihero quality of the Doctor (in the first story he has to be restrained from killing a wounded and unarmed primitive).
Doctor Who, Jon Pertwee, 1963-89.
Courtesy of Everett Collection
Bio
The Doctor was deliberately constructed as a character against stereotype: a “cranky old man” yet also as vulnerable as a child, an anti-hero playing against the more obvious “ physical” hero of the school teacher Ian (played by the well-known lead actor in commercial televisions Ivanhoe series). Its famous, haunting signature tune was composed at the new BBC Radiophonic Workshop, adding a futuristic dimension to a series that would never be high on production values. The program always attracted ambitious young directors, with (the later enormously successful) Verity Lambert as its first. The decision to continue with the Series in 1966 when Hartnell had to leave the part and to regenerate the Doctor on screen allowed a succession of quirkily different personas to inhabit the Doctor. When it was decided in 1966 to reveal where the Doctor came from (the Time world of Gallifrey), a different way– via the strangely varied characterization. Following Hartnell, the Doctor was played by the Chaplinesque “space hobo” Patrick Troughton; the dignified “establishment” figure of Jon Pertwee; the parodic visual mix of Bob Dylan and Oscar Wilde, Tom Baker; the vulnerable but “attractive to young women” Peter Davidson; the aggressive and sometimes violent Colin Baker; the gentle, whimsical Sylvester McCoy; and, in the 1996 movie, the romantic and emotional Paul McGann.
These shifts in personas were matched by shifts in generic style, as each era's producers looked for new formulas to attract new audiences. the mid 1970s, for example, under producer Philip Hinchcliffe, achieved a high point and audience ratings and was marked by a dramatic gothic-horror style. This led to a “TV violence” dispute with Mary Whitehouse’s National Viewers and Listeners Association. The subsequent producer, Graham Williams, shifted the series to a more comic signature. This comedy became refined as generic parody in 1979 under script editor Douglas Adams ( author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Doctor Who's 17th season, for which Adams edited scripts and wrote certain episodes (“The Pirate Planet” and “The City of Death”), became notorious with fans, who hated what they saw as the self-parody of the Doctor Who as “Fawlty Towers in space” (John Cleese appeared briefly in a brilliantly funny parody of art critics in “The City of Death”).
Throughout Doctor Who’s changes, however, the fans have remained critically loyal to the series. Fiercely aggressive to some producers and to some of the show’s signature players, the fans’ intelligent campaigns helped keep the program on the air in some of more than 100 countries where it has screened; and in the United States, huge conventions of fans brought Doctor Who a new visibility in the 1980s. However, the official fans have never amounted to more than a fraction of the audience. Doctor Who achieved the status of an institution as well as a cult.
Doctor Who’s reputation attracted high-level, innovative writers; its formula to educate and entertain encouraged a range of storylines from space opera through parody to environmental and cultural comment. Its mix of current technology with relatively low budgets attracted ambitious young producers and led to what one producer called a “cheap but cheerful” British show that fascinated audiences of every age-group worldwide. Above all, its early, ambiguous construction opened the show to innovative, often bizarre, but always dedicated acting. With so many different characterizations and acting styles, the program, like the Doctor, was continuously “regenerated” and so stayed young.
Series Info
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The Doctor (first)
William Hartnell
The Doctor (second)
Patrick Troughton
The Doctor (third)
John Pertwee
The Doctor (fourth)
Tom Baker
The Doctor (fifth)
Peter Davison
The Doctor (sixth)
Colin Baker
The Doctor (seventh)
Sylvester McCoy
The Doctor (eighth)
Paul McGann
Susan Foreman
Carole Ann Ford
Barbara Wright
Jacqueline Hill
Ian Chesterton
William Russell
Vicki
Maureen O'Brien
Steven Taylor
Peter Purves
Katarina
Adrienne Hill
Sara Kingdom
Jean Marsh
Dodo Chaplet
Jackie Lane
Polly Lopez
Anneke Wills
Ben Jackson
Michael Craze
Jamie McCrimmon
Frazer Hines
Victoria Waterfield
Deborah Watling
Zoe Heriot
Wendy Padbury
Liz Shaw
Caroline John
Jo Grant
Katy Manning
Sarah-Jane Smith
Elizabeth Sladen
Harry Sullivan
Ian Marter
Leela
Louise Jameson
Brigadier Letherbridge-Stewart
Nicholas Courtney
K9
John Leeson
Romana (first)
Mary Tamm
Romana (second)
Lalla Ward
Adric
Matthew Waterhourse
Nyssa
Sarah Sutton
Tegan Jovanka
Janet Fielding
Turlough
Mark Strickson
Perpugilliam Brown
Nicola Bryant
Melanie Bush
Bonnie Langford
Ace
Sophie Aldred
Master (1971-89)
Roger Delgado
Master (1981-89)
Anthony Ainley
Master (1996)
Eric Roberts
Doctor Grace Holloway
Daphne Ashbrook
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Alex Beaton, Peter Bryant, Philip Hinchcliffe, Matthew Jacobs, Verity Lambert, Barry Letts, Innes Lloyd, John Nathan-Turner, Mervyn Pinfield, Derrick Sherwin, Peter Ware, John Wiles, Graham Williams II, Jo Wright, Philip Segal, Peter Wagg, Jo Wright
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BBC
679 approximately 25-minute episodes
15 approximately 50-minute episodes
1 90-minute special anniversary episode
1 90-minute made-for-television movie
November 1963-September 1964
42 episodes
October 1964-July 1965
39 episodes
September 1965-July 1966
45 episodes
September 1966- July 1967
43 episodes
September 1967-June 1968
40 episodes
August 1968-June 1969
44 episodes
January 1970-June 1970
25 episodes
January 1971-June 1971
25 episodes
January 1972-June 1972
26 episodes
December 1972-June 1973
26 episodes
December 1973-June 1974
26 episodes
December 1974-May 1975
20 episodes
August 1975-March 1976
26 episodes
September 1976-April 1977
26 episodes
September 1977-March 1978
26 episodes
September 1978-February 1979
26 episodes
September 1979-January 1980
20 episodes
August 1980-March 1981
28 episodes
January 1982-March 1982
26 episodes
January 1983-March 1983
22 episodes
November 25, 1983
90-minute anniversary special
January 1984-March 1984
22 25-minute episodes, 2 50-minute episodes
January 1985-March 1985
13 50-minute episodes
September 1986- December 1986
14 episodes
September 1987-December 1987
14 episodes
October 1988-January 1989
14 episodes
September 1989-December 1989
14 episodes
May 27, 1996
90-minute made-for-television movie (first aired in U.S. on FOX, on May 14, 1996)
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Flowers and Trees, 1932; Three Little Pigs, 1933; The Tortoise and the Hare, 1934; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937; Ferdinand the Bull, 1938; Fantasia, 1940; Pinocchio, 1940; The Reluctant Dragon, 1941; Dumbo, 1941; Bambi, 1942; Victory Through Air Power, 1943; The Three Caballeros, 1944; Make Mine Music, 1946; Song of the South, 1946; Fun and Fancy Free, 1947; Melody Time, 1948; So Dear to My Heart, 1948; Ichabod and Mr. Toad, 1949; Cinderella, 1950; Alice in Wonderland, 1951; The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, 1952; Peter Pan, 1953; The Sword and the Rose, 1953; Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue, 1953; Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Broom, 1953; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954; The Littlest Outlaw, 1954; Lady and the Tramp, 1955; Davy Crockett and the River Pirates, 1955; The Great Locomotive Chase, 1956; Westward Ho the Wagons!, 1956; Johnny Tremain, 1957; Old Yeller, 1957; The Light in the Forest, 1958; Sleeping Beauty, 1958; Tonka, 1958; The Shaggy Dog, 1959; Darby O'Gil and the Little People, 1959; Third Man on the Mountain, 1959; Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus, 1959; Kidnapped, 1960; Polylanna, 1960; Ten Who Dared, 1960; Swiss Family Robinson, 1960; One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1960; The Absent-Minded Professor, 1960; Moon Pilot, 1961; In Search of the Castaways, 1961; Nikki, Wild Dog of the North, 1961; The Parent Trap, 1961; Grayfriar's Bobby, 1961; Babes in Toyland, 1961; Son of Flubber, 1962; The Miracle of the White Stallions, 1962; Big Red, 1962; Bon Voyage, 1962; Almost Angels, 1962; The Legend of Lobo, 1962; Savage Sam, 1963; Summer Magic, 1963; The Incredible Journey, 1963; The Sword in the Stone, 1963; The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, 1963; The Three Lives of Thomasina, 1963; A Tiger Walks, 1964; The Moon-Spinners, 1964; Mary Poppins, 1964; Emil and the Detectives, 1964; Those Calloways, 1964; The Monkey's Uncle, 1964; That Darn Cat, 1965; The Ugly Dachshund, 1966; Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., 1966; The Fighting Prince of Donegal, 1966; Follow Me, Boys!, 1966; Monkeys, Go Home!, 1966; The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, 1966; The Gnome-Mobile, 1966; The Jungle Book, 1967.