The chemistry between William Russell and Jacqueline Hill feels natural, with charming banter between the two that adds to the story’s realism, and hints at a possible relationship between the two teachers. The atmosphere is tenebrous and haunting, yet subdued, self-consciously aware children are watching at home – yet want to be scared. It is this subjective, and crucially human, perspective that lulls us into this alien world. Ian and Barbara are represented as disembodied consciousness, emphasising the flashback from their point-of-view, as Wells’ narrator is a spectator to the Time Traveller’s recollection. We learn about Susan’s unusual behaviour through their respective flashbacks. Likewise, Hussein presents the discovery of Susan’s extra-terrestrial origins through the eyes of her inquiring schoolteachers. Wells’ novella presents the Time Traveller’s incredible tale through the incredulous eyes of an anonymous narrator. Wells’ 1895 novella The Time Machine, in terms of their narrative structure. It’s interesting to note similarities between An Unearthly Child and H.G. This is literally achieved by a dissolve from one world to another, through the TARDIS doors into the corridors of Coal Hill School. Although the opening tracking shot has none of the smoothness of today’s camerawork, it does create a pivotal sense of immersion into this world. Foreman? What’s a police box doing in a junkyard? By framing the sequence in a long take, as the junkyard doors open seemingly of their own accord, émigré director Waris Hussein ( A Touch of Love) transports us from the ordinary and mundane into the extraordinary and surreal. By choosing to continue the title music into the opening shot of a policeman shining his light through the thick November fog, it creates an atmosphere of compelling mystery. The sexual undertones of Susan’s character were toned down to make her more identifiable to a younger audience, and her relationship with the Doctor was warmer.įrom the beginning, we know we’ve entered a strange and exciting world. This was mainly due to various technical errors, but also because he considered the Doctor too unsympathetic a character, and Susan too enigmatic. Newman considered the finished programme unsuitable for transmission. In September 1963, a pilot episode was filmed. This would be done through the science-fiction context of time-travel to visit the historical past and speculative future, exploring alien worlds. Ian and Barbara were designed to be representative of Newman’s intention to create a show that educated children on the merits of science and history. The girl, Sue, was renamed Susan, and became Doctor Who’s granddaughter, while her teachers were renamed Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Originally, ‘Doctor Who’ was a refugee from the 50 th century, who would encounter two schoolteachers walking one of their pupils home. He incorporated Webber’s outline into his own story, though BBC staff members, including Donald Baverstock and Rex Tucker, contributed material from character suggestions to actual lines of dialogue. Coburn’s original story, intended to be recorded second, was set in the Stone Age. It was rejected as being too ambitious (though later reworked for Louis Marks’ Planet of Giants). Webber’s storyline The Giants would have seen the TARDIS crew materialise in a school laboratory, but reduced to the size of pinheads. When Webber quit, Australian author Anthony Coburn ( The King of the River) was hired to write the opening serial, based on Webber’s original script. With story editor, David Whitaker’s 2-part The Edge of Destruction, which utilised only the existing TARDIS set and main cast at the last minute on a diminishing budget, the initial 20-epsiode run was complete. The production team, after much consideration, could only offer 11 episodes (up to the end of The Daleks) or 18 (up to the end of Marco Polo). During production, this was expanded to 13 episodes. Initially, the BBC was only prepared to commission a single 4-part serial, written by CE Webber. Together, with Donald Wilson, head of serials, they outlined Doctor Who as an ongoing series. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on WhatsApp Share on E-mailĪdam James Cuthbert takes a trip back to where it all began.ĭoctor Who was created in 1963 by then BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman, who had formerly been responsible for the successful Avengers TV series, and Armchair Theatre.
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