There are virtually no stories other than the first two where that can be claimed with any conviction. Those who remember Hartnell as a grumpy Doctor have cheating memories. So it was the Daleks that saved Who, and the decision to make the Doctor an anti-hero was rapidly abandoned. We wouldn’t even have that, because the whole lot would have been wiped. Without the Daleks, four episodes later, Doctor Who would probably have ended after it’s first run of 13 episodes. Each and every time a new Doctor has been introduced who was not a very nice person it has failed (Sixth and Twelfth), and the First Doctor is no exception to that. Much is made of Ian being our hero, but he’s not the lead and the show is not called “Ian”. I fully expect most people will disagree with this, but making the Doctor an anti-hero was a mistake. Because in many ways it really has never been bettered and nothing quite like it has ever been done again. It is not what made me a fan – a couple of VHS tapes bought for me the following year (followed by Doctor Who Magazine Issue 186, and then the recovery of The Tomb of the Cybermen) really did that, but it was nonetheless a significant moment.Īnd that all gives me a little bit of an insight into what that must have been like for a child in 1963, watching that amazing episode (albeit a better version of it!). So in a bizarre way, like a child of the 60s, William Hartnell was “my Doctor” for this child of the 80s/90s. It was all so compelling, and perhaps this was the start of my love for the black and white era of Doctor Who, which I will openly admit is by far my favourite. The scariness of the junkyard in the fog, all in black and white which seemed so alien and from so long ago (although I had a black and white television in my bedroom, so this was hardly something from antiquity!).
But that broadcast of the pilot episode and all the hype that surrounded it sparked off a little flame of interest. After Who finished in ’89 I was not particularly bothered/interested/aware and could certainly not have been described as a fan.
DOCXTOR WHO AN UNEARTHLY CHILD SERIES
I had watched some Doctor Who as a child, starting with some Davison episodes, abandoning the show when the man who I viewed at the time as Mr Nasty took over from him (and there was the lure of The A Team on the other side), and then returning to the series when some exciting monsters brought me back for Season 25. A lot of fuss was made about a failed take, and a broadcast of the final version of the episode would have perhaps been a more logical thing to show the British viewers, but I can understand the thinking behind it all. I suspect it was hyped as such in the media although I cannot say for sure. I can vaguely recall getting the impression at the time of the 1991 showing that this was the actual first episode of Doctor Who that had been lost and refound. However, it holds a special place for me because it is something that contributed to me becomming a fan of Who. There is not even one coherent “pilot episode” – what with the broadcast version in 1991, the VHS version and the DVD version, this has now been cobbled together in three different ways. It is remarkable that this survived and we are very lucky to have it, but let’s not run away with the idea that it is anything other than a bunch of failed takes of the first episode. Then we have the added confusion of the “pilot episode”. Despite that, let’s look at all four episodes, to avoid confusion if nothing else. But this is most certainly an opening individual Doctor Who episode, followed be a three-episode story, if you look at what we actually have on screen. After all, a video with one episode on wouldn’t have been acceptable, nor would three episodes of Stone Age tedium have set the world alight in the sales charts. Forget the production code, director, novelisation, VHS and DVD releases – that’s all about one thing: convenience.
Firstly, we don’t actually have a four-part story. It was Ian who made Doctor Who what it would become, by setting the Doctor on the right path in that incredible moment.īut before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s look at what we have to look at here, because it’s not straightforward.
He was a kidnapper and he was even capable of murder, until an ordinary school teacher stepped in and stopped him. Inside that junkyard was a man in a magic box. Once upon a time there was a junkyard shrouded in fog on a London street. A brand new review of the very first Doctor Who story.
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