Who

In the 1950s and early 60’s, films on TV were still relatively few  and far between, and when they did turn up they were usually so old that even my dad would grumble. I don’t remember any horrors and I’m sure that even if there were my father would have made sure I was in bed before they started. Generally most TV dramas were plays and never dealt with horror or fantasy. Things began to improve for me when ITV put on a series of Science Fiction dramas called ‘Out of this World’ in  1962, and  children could enjoy ‘Supercar’ and ‘Fireball XL5’, in their daily “Children’s hour” TV spot. The BBC  produced a sequel to ‘A For Andromeda’ entitled ‘The Andromeda Breakthrough’, but didn’t seem in any rush to continue with their successful Quatermass serials or try out new ideas.  It was 1965 before they produced their Science Fiction series ‘Out of The Unknown’. In 1966 ABC produced ‘Tales of Mystery and Imagination’, but it would be a further four years before the BBC transmitted the American series ‘Star Trek’, which like most American TV, made homegrown product look very tame indeed. But such obstacles never stopped the BBC and in November 1963 they launched a new Saturday early evening TV family serial, ‘Doctor Who’. Watching that first episode was both exciting and intriguing with it’s promise of time travel, new worlds and strange creatures, and my entire family viewed the series for many years, even Dad. I wasn’t always happy with the historical stories, but loved the futuristic tales and was enthralled with the first Dalek adventure, who could have guessed that these pint sized creations would become such icons. During it’s classic years I never missed an episode, it was only when they changed the broadcast day to a week night, sometime in the ’80’s, that would miss them as I was often working late or projecting 16mm film at a working man’s club for Derann. My favourite Doctors from this era are the first four, the grumpy grandad, the clown, a dandy and wise a cracking, jelly baby eater. I have a full collection of the classic Who DVD’s, totalling 160 in all and are currently upgrading them to Blu-Ray. As you’re probably aware many early episodes, sometimes whole serials have been lost or scrapped, but that didn’t stop a small, dedicated group called Loose Cannon producing reconstructions, available for free and perfectly legal, using stills and TV captures, and there are numerous talented artists who have designed DVD sleeves, even the 12 part serial entitled ‘The Daleks’ Masterplan’ is available to view for the first time since 1965 as a recon, and there are only three episodes known to exist at the BBC. The BBCs first fully animated reconstruction of a lost four part adventure, ‘The Macra Terror’ was followed by a number of others and the discovery of several lost episodes was very exciting. I was one of the many fans, who couldn’t believe it when the BBC announced their intentions to produce a new series in 2005. It still worked well and the CGI work along with the improved sets and budget even surprised me. I attended the screening of the 50th Anniversary special ‘The Day of the Doctor’ at my local cinema. Presented in 3D and timed to coincide with the TV broadcast, the theatre was filled to bursting point with “Who” fans, many wearing dickie bows and Fez’s. It was a wonderful night. I’m still not happy with the stories and historical episodes (more like history lessons), that have accompanied Jodie Whittaker’s ‘Doctor’, and it’s use of three companions indicated to me that the BBCs didn’t believe that Whittaker was capable of carrying the show by herself. The rumours that Whittaker was to leave turned out to be true with David Tennant returning for the 60th, and a number of anniversary specials. I’ll not hold my breath for the series after those…. we’ll see!