016 - The Chase

Broadcast:

22^nd May - 26^th June 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.42m (10, 9.5, 9, 9.5, 9, 9.5)

Summary: The Daleks pursue the TARDIS and the Doctor in particular across time and space through desert, sea and jungle. Arriving on contemporary Earth provides a tempting opportunity for Barbara and Ian while a haunted house might be ideal for facing the Daleks head on...

As promised and teased, the Daleks were back for a third encounter with the Doctor. The public loved them and BBC heads wanted more of them but their creator, writer Terry Nation was not so keen and felt he had done all he could with them so The Chase was partly devised by its Director and Story Editor. Sadly some of Nations ideas and visual descriptions were rejected as either too intense or unachievable and the resulting rewrite (by Martin and Spooner) falls a little short and is a little muddled like The Space Museum before it. However, it does bring some interesting flavours to the show and hints at a world created from nothing but fear as well as mixing future alien threats with a historical context. Doctor Who was at a turning point. It was about to lose the last of the original companions, Dennis Spooner left as Story Editor after just 6 stories and producer Verity Lambert was preparing things for her departure as well...

In the news at the time were a bloodless coup in Algeria, Australian troops joined the Vietnam War and Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston with the "Phantom Punch". West Ham became the second British team to win a European trophy, the British Government announced plans to introduce blood alcohol limits in the fight against drink-driving and two mining incidents barely a week apart took over 500 lives (274 in India and 237 in Japan).

Cinemas were showing the usual mix of horror and humour: Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, The Knack ...and How to Get It, When Strangers Meet and The Skull featuring Peter Cushing. The music charts were topped by "Where Are You Now (My Love)" (Jackie Trent), "Long Live Love" (Sandie Shaw), "Crying in the Chapel" (Elvis Presley), and "I'm Alive" (The Hollies). It was a good month for The Beatles as they were about to appear on Doctor Who and receive MBEs from the Queen - the first popular entertainers to do so, which ruffled a few feathers - though the two were not exactly related!

015 - The Space Museum

Broadcast:

24^th April - 15^th May 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Moroks and Time

Written by:

Glyn Jones

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.2m (10.5, 9.3, 8.5, 8.5)

Summary: When time seems to be misbehaving, the travellers make some shocking discoveries in a giant space museum and find themselves in the middle of another revolution as they try to change their own fate and make it out safely.

If The Crusade is a reminder of how lucky we are to have some great serials surviving in good quality when most episodes were supposed to have been destroyed, then The Space Museum is a reminder of how arbitrary the chance of survival was. It is unfair to class it as a bad serial, but it was the first to truly be made on the cheap. The Crusade that came before and especially the six part The Chase that would follow, were necessarily expensive to produce and the money had to come from somewhere. Unfortunately for Glyn Jones it was his story that would suffer that loss and he is present on the DVD commentary to defend his story with numerous pointers as to where the good bits and relevant plot points were taken out. New series writer Robert Shearman is also on hand with a more reflective defence that presents it as a knowing self parody. Personally, I see it as a cracking first episode that shows great potential with immense intrigue and mystery but is followed by an airy and underachieving triplet of episodes. I like it and it's easy to watch but there is a great sense of a missed opportunity and rushed production with loose ends that are never quite tied up.

Although revolution had been a fairly dominant part of background news for some time, as noted in previous reviews, it is perhaps ironic that during this particular revolution story there was relative calm and the news feels a little empty like the episodes of The Space Museum. Manchester United and Liverpool won the Football League First Division and FA Cup respectively, West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations and the Pennine Way was officially opened, stretching 267 miles north from the Peak District to just beyond the Scottish border. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were starting work on their now classic "Satisfaction" in a Florida hotel room and the US Hot 100 listed 9 British acts in its top 10. The British chards were topped by Cliff Richard "The Minute You're Gone", The Beatles "Ticket to Ride" and Roger Miller "King of the Road". Cinemas were showing She co staring Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins, and the controversial The Party's Over which was banned within its first week (having already been delayed by three years trying to get passed the censors). Daleks were alo in the air at this time. Peter Cushing was filming the first movie and TV audiences were being teased about an imminent return of the Doctor's arch rivals to the show... but not just yet. In fact episode three was even delayed but not by the Daleks - The BBC were broadcasting the 20th anniversary of VE-Day which finished 20 minutes later than expected.

014 - The Crusade

Broadcast:

27^th March - 17^th April 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

El Akir - A rogue Saracen

Written by:

David Whitaker

Director:

Douglas Camfield

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.38m (10.5, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5)

Summary: The travellers find themselves in 12th century Palestine and get caught in the crossfire of the Third Crusade. Barbara is captured by a Saracen so the rest try to ally themselves with Richard The Lionheart to save her.

Doctor Who was on its first period of decline and despite modern opinions being favourable The Crusade would be the least welcomed serial for twelve months (based on average Audience Appreciation figures). The appreciation index average dropped below 50% for the first time and viewing figures went below 10m for the first time since Planet Of Giants at the start of the series - though they were still higher than the bulk of the previous series. The boost provided by the return of the Daleks had subsided and the show was set to remain at its current level for the rest of the year until part way through the third series. The Crusade was a solid history piece with the TARDIS and its passengers laid on top. With few exceptions, David Whitaker wrote both the Christians and Muslims fairly and the only sense of enemy for the viewer comes from the fact that Barbara is taken early on. This coupled with the audio-only presentation of episodes 2 and 4 on the "Lost In Time" DVD set made for quite a dull first viewing 10 years go but the Loose Canon reconstruction breathed some life back into it...

Viewers watching the original broadcast would have done so with the knowledge that NASA had launched their first 2 man orbiter, the Intelsat "Early Bird" became the first commercial communications satellite (though it wouldn't come into service for a couple more months) and protests of the time included a third civil rights march to Alabama with a crowd of 3200 growing to 25,00 over a four day period and the same number of students protested against the Vietnam War. The pop charts handed the Number One spot over from The Rolling Stones to Unit 4 + 2 with "Concrete and Clay" and then Cliff Richard's "The Minute You're Gone". Cinemas were screening The Sound of Music, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Masquerade, while Morcombe And Wise were The Intelligence Men. Anyone wanting to stay in on Wednesdays could now tune in to antiques gameshow "Going For A Song" which started the week after episode one...

013 - The Web Planet

Broadcast:

13^th February - 20^th March 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Zarbi

Written by:

Bill Strutton

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

12.5m (13.5, 12.5, 12.5, 13, 12, 11.5)

Summary: The travellers get caught up in a battle between species on a planet where evolution has favoured the insect world. To save themselves they must help the invading resistance forces.

By coincidence, ahead of watching The Web Planet I read a discussion about least favourite Doctor Who serials and was surprised how often it was mentioned. I could see that it might be disliked because of the experimental lens effect on exterior shots but I couldn't remember anything else that could garner such a response, though I did have a nagging apprehension about it that I couldn't place. It is clearly a story that divides fans as its viewing figures were still very good (the first episode set a new record that wouldn't be matched for ten years) but the Appreciation Index started at 56%, higher than the previous serial, but decreased each week ending on a poor 42% - the lowest ever recorded. The DVD production subtitles quotes a lot from the audience reaction research and it is clear once again that the show was ahead of its time. There will always be people who moan about the little things but it was evident that the audience just didn't understand the story and found it confusing or hard to follow. One BBC executive only saw the fifth episode and complained that it felt like he needed to have watched all the episodes to understand it... which is surely the point of a six part serialised adventure!

The news of the time again reminds us that society was at a turning point with major civil rights marches taking place and leading to violent clashes in Alabama. Controversial activist Malcolm X was assassinated, 3500 US Marines became the first active American troops in Vietnam, while Gambia was given independence from the UK. On the lighter side of things, Canada's new flag was inaugurated, Goldie the golden eagle escaped from London Zoo for 12 days, and Luxembourg won the Eurovision Song Contest (beating Great Britain by just 6 points). There was cause for cheers when Alexey Leonov became the first man to walk in space, but sadness at the deaths of Nat King Cole and Stan Laurel. In the charts, The Kinks had their second number one with "Tired Of Waiting For You" followed by the year's biggest seller "I'll Never Find Another You" by The Seekers. Tom Jones's debut single "It's Not Unusual" went to number one and the Rolling Stones had their third chart topper with "The Last Time" (which it wasn't!) In the cinemas were Lord Tom, Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors starring Peter Cushing and Roy Castle who would shortly appear in the first Dalek movie, and Kiss Me, Stupid.

When we left the Doctor at the end of The Romans, the TARDIS had materialised unexpectedly and was instantly being dragged down by some kind of force...

012 - The Romans

Broadcast:

16^th January - 6^th February 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Roman Slave Traders

Written by:

Dennis Spooner

Director:

Christopher Barry

Music:

Raymond Jones

Script Editor:

David Whitaker / Dennis Spooner¹

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

11.6m (13, 11.5, 10, 12)

Summary: The TARDIS drops in on ancient Rome and the travellers take a break until they are separated and taken on separate paths that both lead to the Emperor's palace but never quite cross...

Still on a high from The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, Doctor Who was about to take its first knock. Not that viewing numbers were especially bad, they were still in double figures, but they dropped it out of the top ten and barely scraped past 50% in the audience Appreciation Index. It was just a blip in the short term but it wouldn't be long before the numbers (both viewers and AI) would be on a steady decline until Hartnell's departure. Focusing on The Romans, the biggest problem was innovation. Verity Lambert had brought in Dennis Spooner as the new Script Editor to inject some humour. He had written The Reign Of Terror which had gone down well but The Romans was an experiment ahead of its time, stepping too far into the realms of comedy for most viewers and verged on farce in episode three. It was also criticised for being historically inaccurate (though the specifics of the complaints are rather minimal in the context of the show and its production limitations) which isn't good for a show that is supposed to be educational. However, given the path the show would eventually head in and the way we view it today, The Romans actually works quite nicely for the most part.

Back in 1965, moods were perhaps too sombre to appreciate Doctor Who's joviality and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill died during this serial's run with his funeral gathering representatives from 112 countries - the largest such gathering until the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as U.S. President and the premiers of Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland met for the first time in 43 years. On the day the last episode was broadcast, footballer Sir Stanley Matthews played his last game at the age of 50 and folk-pop singer Donovan made his first appearance on ITV's "Ready, Steady, Go!" while Paul Simon could have been heard on BBC Radio for the first time showcasing songs that would go on to appear on his album "The Paul Simon Song Book". Topping the charts were three classics from Georgie Fame, The Moody Blues, and The Righteous Brothers ("Yeh Yeh", "Go Now" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" respectively) while cinemas were showing My Fair Lady and the second Inspector Clouseau film A Shot In The Dark

The Rescue had ended with the TARDIS materialising on the edge of a cliff and wobbling before dropping off and falling out of shot! How would the travellers get out of this one as The Romans began...?

011 - The Rescue

Broadcast:

2^nd - 9^th January 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara¹

Adversary:

Didonian Native and Sand Beast

Written by:

David Whitaker

Director:

Christopher Barry

Music:

Tristram Cary²

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner³

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

12.5m (12, 13)

Summary: The survivors of a crashed rocket ship are harassed by a native as they await their rescue ship. When the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor recognises the planet but the natives apparent behaviour doesn't match his previous experience there...

Doctor Who started the new year very strongly. The Invasion Of The Daleks had ended 1964 with a strong story and excellent viewing figures but left a companion shaped hole. The Rescue was set to introduce a new character who would fill that hole and although it was only two episodes it packed in a whole range of emotions for the new character and it seems her full range was explored to satisfy any fan concerns. As you can see, both episodes performed very well and the second set a new record that would not be matched for more than ten years. This story saw the start of the second recording block so everyone is very fresh and put in strong performances. It also saw David Whitaker hand over the Story Editor role to Dennis Spooner but naturally left him with nothing to do having written the scripts himself.

In terms of news, T.S. Eliot had just died, Donald Campbell set new world speed record on water at 276.33mph, and the "Worboys Committee" standards for road signs (that determine how signs look today) came into play. On the day the first episode of The Rescue was broadcast, ITV began it's "World of Sport" as a rival to the BBC's "Grandstand", while the BBC themselves introduced "Not Only... But Also..." the following week. Ronnie and Reggie Kray (twins aged 31) were arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London and the Beatles continued their five week run at number one with "I Feel Fine" while cinemas were showing comedy "The Yellow Rolls-Royce" and collection of pop music "Pop Gear" (hosted by the then popular DJ but now notorious Jimmy Savile)

One thing to watch out for at the very beginning of the first episode is the sound of the TARDIS landing. For the first time the wheezing, groaning 'engine' noise is heard from outside as the Police Box fades into place. It doesn't end with the thud that would become standard in later years and it was by no means a fixed sound that every director was expected to use but Christopher Barry had set a president that would eventually be a core TARDIS feature

010 - The Dalek Invasion Of Earth

Broadcast:

21^st November - 26^th December 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Richard Martin

Music:

Francis Chagrin

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

11.9m (11.4, 12.4, 11.9, 11.9, 11.4, 12.4)

Summary: In the year 2164, the Daleks have invaded Earth (England) wiping out much of the population with a plague and converted suitable survivors into Roboman slaves. As they dig to the Earth's core only a small resistance group and the TARDIS travellers stand in their way.

This was it, the big rematch that cemented Doctor Who as a continuing success that could run for many years. The Daleks had ensured the show's initial success a year earlier and allowed production to continue to the full intended series when it was the second serial broadcast. Now it was the dastardly dustbins time to return in the second series, again in the second serial slot, and really work their magic. This kind of 'sequel' was practically unheard of at the time but their initial success let the production team know that they were onto a winner and The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was soon lined up for commission. What followed became known as Dalekmania, like Beatlemania before it the country would be swept away with enthusiasm, merchandise and a couple of films. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Although The Dalek Invasion Of Earth spanned six weeks, there is very little news to report in setting the scene. Kenya became a republic exactly a year after gaining independence from the UK and the Beatles earned their second Christmas number one with "I Feel Fine". Other number ones included The Supremes "Baby Love" and The Rolling Stones "Little Red Rooster" (But not The Go-Go's "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" which failed to chart!) In the cinemas were two contrasting films Black Sabbath and Mary Poppins. Two events that are worth noting but of which the public would not have been aware are the abduction and murder of 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey - the fourth moors murders victim (the second having been 12 year old John Kilbride, rather poignantly for Doctor Who fans, in the early evening of 23 November 1963) Police began their search on 26th December but it would be another year before the perpetrators were identified. Something else that would have its own impact but a delayed awareness, and strangely relevant to The Dalek Invasion Of Earth was the first flight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a secret aeroplane built for stealth and speed with unusual triangular wings, it would lead to reports of UFO sightings in America and feed the belief that aliens were out there and on their way!

Meanwhile, in Doctor Who, they were already here...

009 - Planet Of Giants

Broadcast:

31^sd October - 14^th November 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Size

Written by:

Louis Marks

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Douglas Camfield

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.57m (8.4, 8.4, 8.9)

Summary: When you're only an inch tall, the whole world is against you but when chemicals, murder and corruption are added to the mix is there any way of making everything right?

Because Planet Of Giants was the opening story of Doctor Who's second season it gained the dubious honour of being the first three part story, something that wouldn't happen again until Delta And The Bannermen in 1987 when the show was being crippled out of existence. You could argue that An Unearthly Child was in fact comprised of a single episode story and a three episode story, since there were no story titles applied at this time, only episode titles, but the official records show it as a single four episode story because that is how it was produced. Interestingly though, that opening story was original intended to develop into an adventure featuring the main characters being reduced to a tiny size and experiencing all manner of problem in a class room... The idea was deemed impractical and was shelved in favour of the caveman story but the idea was still something that the production team were keen to use and so here it was almost a year later opening the second season instead (with some detail changes and a new story) Something else that Planet Of Giants has in common with An Unearthly Child is that it too was actually produced as a four episode story. However, it was decided that although it was a good story and would normally have been acceptable, as it was to be the season opener it needed a bit more punch or a bit less flab. Consequently episodes three and four were cut down and edited into one giving it another dubious honour - that of being the longest episode so far (and I dare say it kept that record, though I have yet to prove this). Excluding titles and credits it is already over 25 minutes rather than the average 23. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

After The Reign Of Terror, Doctor Who went off air for six weeks (although production had continued and wouldn't rest for a few more months) and a lot had happened that is worth noting... The Sun newspaper had started publication, Malta and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) obtained independence from the UK, the Warren Commission published the first official investigation into Kennedy's death, and the Shinkansen rail system (otherwise known as the Bullet Train) became the world's first high-seed railway in Japan in readiness for the Tokyo Olympic Games where Great Britain won 4 Gold, 12 Silver, and 2 Bronze (12 of the 18, including all 4 golds were in Athletics). The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1, the first multi-person spacecraft and the first without space suits, while Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Similarly, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin became the first British Woman to win the prize for Chemistry (for determining structures of biochemical substances through the use of X-Rays). Parliamentary elections in the UK saw the Labour Party gain control of the country from the Conservatives after 13 years and Harold Wilson, the new Prime Minister, created the Secretary of State for Wales which would become the Welsh Office and ultimately lead to the National Assembly For Wales the next time Labour came to power in 1997 - I mention this here because the revived Doctor Who is made in Cardiff by BBC Wales. Oh and on the other side of the Atlantic, Canada had a new flag!

In music, Pete Townsend destroyed his first guitar (in the name of auto-destructive art), something that would become a regular occurrence, The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Kinks released their first album and Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates the prototype Moog synthesizer - paving the way for much over-use of synthesizer music in the 1980s (Keff McCulloch, I'm looking at you) Topping the Charts were Herman's Hermits "I'm Into Something Good", Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" and Sandie Shaw's "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" (Orbison would return to the top during Planet Of Giants) while in the cinemas were Goldfinger, The Gorgon featuring future Doctors Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton and The Black Torment also featuring Patrick Troughton. During the stories broadcast, the House Of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty for murder and ITV started daily broadcasts of soap opera "Crossroads" which would run until 1988, so starting a year after Doctor Who and ending two years before (it would also see its own revival in the new millennium running from 2001 to 2003, two years before Doctor Who returned)

008 - The Reign Of Terror

Broadcast:

8^th August - 12^th September 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

French Revolutionaries

Written by:

Dennis Spooner

Director:

Henric Hirsch

Music:

Stanley Myers

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.73m (6.9, 6.9, 6.9, 6.4, 6.9, 6.4)

Summary: The travellers get caught up in the French Revolution, are imprisoned and face the guillotine!

If The Sensorites was the most removed from Earthly normality (so far) then it was followed by the most solidly grounded. The Reign Of Terror is regarded as one of the best historical stories. It brings a greater sense of reality and a more naturalistic drama than The Aztecs but the setting of subterfuge and revolution leave it vulnerable to being a little unclear in the latter half and researching the French Revolution ahead of writing this review left me just as confused but it's worth noting that this isn't so much a story of good against evil as it is pure circumstances. The Reign Of Terror is the first story, chronologically, to have missing episodes recreated with animation and they work really well.

Meanwhile, back in the summer of 1964 when The Reign Of Terror was first broadcast, a Rolling Stones gig in Scheveningen (Netherlands) got out of control and was ended after 15 minutes by riot police (resulting in spectators starting to fight the riot police!), Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen were hanged for the murder of John Alan West, making them the last people to be executed in the United Kingdom (though the death penalty for murder would not be abolished until November 1965 and was still available for treason until 1998), and the IOC banned South Africa from the forth coming Tokyo Olympics due to the racial segregation of their athletes (similarly, John Lennon announced that the Beatles would not perform to a segregated audience in Florida). On a happier note, Derek Foster became the youngest player in the Football League at the age of 15, Mary Poppins had its world premier (though UK audiences would have to wait until Christmas to see it), and the Forth Road Bridge opened over the Firth of Forth. "Match Of The Day" had its first broadcast and could have been watched on portable televisions which also became available around this time. In cinemas, future film companion and series friend of the Doctor Bernard Cribbins could be seen in Crooks In Cloisters, along with Wilfred Bramble who's "Steptoe And Son" co-star Harry H. Corbett was in Rattle Of A Simple Man. Of particular note to us though, Jacqueline Hill could have been seen by older viewers in The Comedy Man. Topping the music charts were Manfred Mann with "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", Honeycomb with "Have I The Right" and the Kinks with "You Really Got Me"

007 - The Sensorites

Broadcast:

20^th June - 1^st August 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Sensorites

Written by:

Peter R Newman

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.92m (7.9, 6.9, 7.4, 5.5, 6.9, 6.9)

Summary: Sensitive telepaths hold humans captive in their space craft while facing conspiracy and ilness on their own planet. There is good and bad on both sides of each problem and the Doctor must resolve it all before he can regain access to his TARDIS

The Sensorites has become a bit of a minor story over the intervening years as very few records remain in the archives and it simply doesn't get talked about. This is evident in the DVD extras (or relative lack thereof) and the brief career of its writer adds to that. It should not be completely overlooked however, as it contains some real quality and valuable points of canon and heritage - It is very possible that we would not have the Ood today if we didn't have the Sensorites first.

Essentially spanning July of 1964, The Sensorites came at a busy time in world history. No single major global incident, but plenty of events around the world that are worth noting. For example, American President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Civil Rights Act which abolishing racial segregation, there were six days of race riots in Harlem, and race riots in Singapore (between ethnic Chinese and Malays) while the Vietnam War was only approach its half way point. Malawi was given independence from the UK (and changed its name from Nyasaland) and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill retired from the House of Commons at the age of 89. In lighter news, the first close-up photographs of the Moon were taken by Ranger 7 - a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth, the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch was won by Jim Clark, the Warner Brothers Cartoon Division was shut down, and the Post Office Tower in London was completed - it would not begin operation until October 1965 but would go on to feature heavily in The War Machines in 1966. In music, country singer Jim Reeves died in a small plane crash, the Beatles returned home from America to an estimated crowd of 150,000 people which left 300 injured. At number one were Roy Orbison "It's Over", Animals "House Of The Rising Sun", Rolling Stones "It's All Over Now" and the Beatles's "A Hard Day's Night" began a run of three weeks at the top following the release of their film of the same name. Other films in the cinema included star studded black comedy What A Way To Go! and Seance On A Wet Afternoon which, in retrospect, has a number of elements that take an eerie turn when you think of the Moors Murders that were taking place at the time and searches that followed later (though it would be more than a year before they came to light)

Finally, before the review itself, between the broadcasts of episodes 4 and 5, on the 22nd July future companion Bonnie Langford was born, and on the 25th July straight after episode 5 viewers could see Carole Anee Ford on the Juckbox Jury panel for the third and final time! (It's also worth noting that episode 3 had been deliberately delayed to make way for an extended edition of Grandstand (hence the serial's seven week run when it only had six episodes)

006 - The Aztecs

Broadcast:

23^rd May - 13^th June 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Aztec Heigh Priest

Written by:

John Lucarotti

Director:

John Crockett

Music:

Richard Rodney Bennett

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

7.53m (7.4, 7.4, 7.9, 7.4)

Summary: Landing amongst an ancient civilisation that demands human sacrifice leads Barbara to try and change history - the very subject which she teaches!

Following the quality of his scripts for Marco Polo, John Lucarotti was asked to write another. He drew on his experience of living in Mexico and his fascination with Aztec culture to write what would be Doctor Who's third dip into history.

At the time of broadcast, viewers could also become familiar with the First World War as the BBC started to show their 26 part documentary series The Great War or watch such films as Night Must Fall and The Evil of Frankenstein (the former featured Sheila Hancock who would later appear in The Happiness Patrol as Helen A, and the latter starred Peter Cushing who would play the Doctor in the two Dalek movies in 1965 and 1966). In the charts, Four Pennies spent a week at number one with "Juliet" followed by four weeks of Cilla Black's "You're My World". Meanwhile the Rolling Stones crossed the Atlantic for their first American tour. In the news, South Korean President Park Chung Hee declared martial law in Seoul, after 10,000 student demonstrators overpowered police in anti-government protests, a referee's decision during the Tokyo Olympics football qualifiers in Peru lead to riots which killed 319 people and left 500 injured, the first Soviet communications satellite was launched, and Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment (though political changes would eventually result in his release in 1990 and pave the way for his presidency of South Africa 30 years and one month after his sentencing).

As for The Aztecs, Carole-Anne Ford would be taking her two week holiday so arrangements were made to give Susan a minor sub-plot that could be filmed in advance at Ealing and take her away from the main action, indeed all four regulars would be apart from each other for much of the story which gives it a sense of scale but also a slight emptiness...

005 - The Keys Of Marinus

Broadcast:

11^th April - 16^th May 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Voord

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

John Gorrie

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.07m (9.9, 9.4, 9.9, 10.4, 7.9, 6.9)

Summary: In a search spread across the land, the travellers face hallucinations, fast growing vines and booby traps, frozen knights, and an accusation of murder

Doctor Who was fast becoming a Saturday afternoon staple and The Keys Of Marinus was the first adventure commissioned after broadcasts had begun. Circumstances and shifts in thinking meant that existing commissions either weren't working or were no longer suitable and a replacement six parter was needed quickly. As a reliable writer and following the immense success of The Daleks, the job went to Terry Nation who completed the scripts in just four weeks, creating a different scenario for nearly all episodes.

In the news during the broadcast period of The Keys Of Marinus, Nelson Mandela made his influential "I Am Prepared to Die" speech at the opening of the Rivonia Trial, seven of the eleven Great Train Robbers were sentenced to 30 years in prison and the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen went missing (Henrik Bruun apparently confessed to friends in 1997 claiming it to have been a protest). West Ham won the FA cup for the first time, ITV broadcast the very first Seven Up! documentary and Terence Conran opened the first Habitat. Meanwhile, in America masses of students staged protests against the war in Vietnam and the Beatles continued to dominate the with a record breaking 14 singles on the Billboard 100 and their second album was at number one. In the UK charts, their "Can't Buy Me Love" eventually gave up the top spot to "World Without Love" (Peter And Gordon) followed by "Don't Throw Your Love Away" (The Searchers) and the Rolling Stones released their first album. Play School became the first program broadcast on BBC2, following the channel's aborted launch the night before due to power cuts (and would go on to be the first program broadcast in colour three years later), while cinema releases included Nightmare, Woman Of Straw and The Bargee.

004 - Marco Polo

Broadcast:

22^nd February - 4^th April 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Mongol Bandits

Written by:

John Lucarotti

Director:

Waris Hussein, John Crockett (ep4)

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.47m (9.4, 9.4, 9.4, 9.9, 9.4, 8.4, 10.4)

Summary: The TARDIS is captured by a great explorer and the travellers are forced to travel through Cathay with him, facing bandits and dehydration along the way

I initially thought this would be an easy review. All episodes of Marco Polo are missing from the archive but the audio is presented on the The Edge Of Destruction DVD in an edited form with telesnaps which I remembered watching a few years ago and not enjoying a great deal. They have condensed seven episodes into 30 minutes so it feels very fast, choppy and a little incomprehensible. There are sections of voice over narrating a journey animated on a map and an explanation of condensation that feels very shoe-horned in just to fulfil the educational remit.

I then remembered that Loose Canon have created full telesnap reconstructions of every missing episode (Marco Polo had a fresh make over just a year ago) and while they make a point of only distributing them on VHS (you provide the tape and prepaid postage) the modern computer age has made it easier for others to convert these videos and upload them to sites like YouTube. At the time of writing, only 5 parts are not available (one complete episode and the first half of three others) which is a mere 2.8% of missing material. Once I watched their version of Marco Polo, it was clear that the 30 minute edit on the DVD did not do it justice and I hold great hope for the remaining stories.

And so to the main review...

003 - The Edge Of Destruction

Broadcast:

8^th - 15^th February 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

??

Written by:

David Whitaker

Director:

Richard Martin, Frank Cox

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

10.2m (10.4, 9.9)

Summary: The TARDIS falters, the travellers are knocked unconscious and everything goes hazy and a little confusing as they turn on each other. There's an eerie silence, clock faces are melting and the TARDIS doors open and close on their own!

To set the scene, Robin Dixon and Tony Nash have just won a gold medal for Two-Man Bobsleigh at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics - the first British medal of any colour for 12 years and there wouldn't be another until the games returned to Innsbruck 12 years later! Britain and France have just agreed a deal to construct a channel tunnel (though construction wouldn't start for another 10 years and would barely commence before being closed down and a successful project was another decade away). The Beatles have just brought Beatlemania to America and the Searchers remain at number one in the UK chart with "Needles And Pins" for the two week duration of The Edge Of Destruction. Meanwhile between episodes, Southampton became the first town granted City Status by Queen Elizabeth II. And the day after the story finished, a curtain Christopher Ecclestone was born!

002 - The Daleks

Broadcast:

21^st December 1963 - 1^st February 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Daleks

Written by:

Terry Nation

Director:

Christopher Barry, Richard Martin

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.97m (6.9, 6.4, 8.9, 9.9, 9.9, 10.4, 10.4)

Summary: A petrified forest, pacifist farmers and mutants determined to wipe them out. A post apocalyptic tale where nuclear threat is still a reality. The travellers find themselves stuck on a radiation soaked planet, captured by one faction and determined to help the other.

Doctor Who has gained reasonable interest so far and while the world has come to terms with the loss of JFK the Cold War is very much still weighing it down. As 1963 draws to a close The Beatles are still at No. 1 with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" followed by "Glad All Over" (Dave Clark Five) and "Needles And Pins" (Searchers). At the cinema are It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Pink Panther. On television, satirical comedy show That Was the Week That Was came to an end after two years (to avoid any clashes with the coming years general election), and Top Of The Pops was broadcast for the first time and would run for 42 years. Sticking with music television, viewers who stayed with BBC Television after episode 5 of The Daleks would have seen Carole Anne Ford on the panel of Jukebox Jury!

Audiences didn't know it, but they were about to meet the most enduring adversaries the Doctor would ever face. Even as the second episode was broadcast and the Daleks made their first appearance the BBC's Head Of Drama, Sydney Newman, still wasn't convinced - Verity Lambert had assured him that there really was no choice but to use them and their story because nothing else was ready. It wouldn't be long before he graciously admitted to being wrong and the shows future was assured by the huge success of this story...

001 - An Unearthly Child

Broadcast:

23^rd November - 14^th December 1963

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Cavemen

Written by:

Anthony Coburn

Director:

Waris Hussein

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.3m ([4.4] 6.0, 5.9, 6.9, 6.4)

Summary: Two teachers find that their strange teenage pupil is living in a scrap merchants and her equally unusual grandfather, fearful of the consequences of this discovery, traps them and they end up fighting for their lives when they meet cavemen trying to make fire!

I'll take you right back to the start, this is the very beginning of a TV legend, day one of the longest running Sci-Fi series. Fifty years ago today at a quarter past five, the first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on BBC Television. To set the scene, Summer Holiday, The Great Escape and The Birds have been big in the cinema and Sean Connery is currently playing James Bond in From Russia With Love. The Great Train Robbery was hot news just a few months ago and The Beatles were producing hip new sounds from Liverpool. Number one singles for the duration of this adventure were "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Gerry And The Pacemakers), "She Loves You" (The Beatles) and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (The Beatles)

Sadly the world had just been shocked by the assassination of American President John F Kennedy on 22^nd November so this new and exciting show was being broadcast to a sombre and subdued audience. There were also power cuts in parts of the country! As a result of these two combined factors, the first episode was repeated the following week just ahead of episode two, to give it a better launch and it gained almost 2 million viewers.