In 1962 the year before Doctor Who's first ever Television debut, the BBC's head of Drama, Sydney Newman, needed a new Saturday night family series to fit in between it's current programs for Saturday night, Grandstand and Juke Box Jury. Ideas for the new series ranged from trouble-shooters from the future, flying saucers, telepathy and a time machine. Of cause we all know which one came out on top, time travel
There were four main characters for the series; two of them would be formed by the two school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. The teenage viewers could identify with Susan Foreman, one of their pupils, even if she happened to be an alien, she look just like a human so it made no difference. And then there was the absolute star of the show, the Doctor him self. An anti hero known only by the Doctor, from where the title for the series would come; Doctor Who? The phrase would come up continuously in future episodes as new characters inquired into who the Doctor was, Doctor Who??
The Doctor and his companions set off on there adventures for the first time in November 23rd of 1963, traveling 100,000 years into earths past to help some cavemen discover fire for the first time.
Doctor Who's icons
Probable the most memorable thing in Doctor Who, other than its characters, was and still is the Tardis, the time machine that allowed the Doctor and his companions to travel though space and time. From the concept of it being far bigger on the inside than on the outside, to its appearance as an old blue British telephone box, to the unique sounds it emits while in operation, it has become one of the icons of Doctor Who.
Another thing that no one forgets easily about Doctor Who, is its theme music, being one of the first ever electronic pieces of music ever created, it is to this day a time less piece. There had been nothing like it when it was created and to this day there still continues to be nothing like it, it's simply unique!
Expanding the series into other Medias
The popularity of Doctor Who grew and grew and soon the BBC was running exclusively written episodes for radio performed by past actors of the series who had played the Doctor. In addition to this in the mid seventies the BBC started to release soundtracks of the television episodes in audio book format! Again due to there popularity The BBC started to bring out the radio episodes in Doctor Who audio book and even totally new episodes written exclusively for audio book release! More recently Doctor Who has had its first spin-offs with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures!
Where so many Sci-Fi serials have come and gone, Doctor Who has managed to stay afloat and become the longest running Sci-Fi series of all time, not even the great Star Trek and Star Gate Sci-Fi serials have been on the air for as many calendar years. Doctor Who's ability to always change with the times, so as to always appeal to it's audience is in my mind what has allowed it to go on for so long, the only question is, will it continue for another 45 years? Only time will tell.
Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television show developed by the BBC. As a matter of fact Doctor who's the longest-running science fiction television serial in history, airing initially from 1963 to 1989 and then again from 2005 until the time of writing with seasons promised all the way up to 2010!
Doctor Who's 1st ever came out on BBC TV at 5:15 pm (Greenwich Mean Time) on 23 November 1963, after discussions and plans that had been ongoing for a year. Doctor who has always appeared on the BBC's mainstream BBC 1 channel, obtaining viewing audiences as high as 1000000 Television viewers. In addition to this it has in been transmitted from other TV channels all over the world! The program quickly converted into a national institution, the subject of innumerable pranks, newspaper publisher acknowledgments and additional popular culture acknowledgments.
The program describes the adventures of a mystifying time-traveler called "the Doctor" who journeys in his time ship, the TARDIS, which appears from the outside to be a blue police force phone box. The Doctor just about always shares his adventures with up to 3 journeying accompanies, and as of 1963 more than thirty-five role players have featured in these roles. One of Doctor who's keys to success over the years, has been that fact that it has always changed to the era it's in, making sure that it always connects with it's TV audience. This holds true to this day with the new Doctor Who serials.
Famous antagonists of the Doctor in the original series include the Autons, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Zygons, the Sea Devils, the Silurians, the Ice Warriors, the Wirrn, the Yeti, the Master (a Time Lord with a thirst for universal conquest), and, most notably, the Daleks. Of all the monsters and villains, the ones that have most guaranteed the series place in the public's imagination are the Daleks.
The Daleks are Kaled mutants in tank-like mechanistic armour shells from the planet Skaro. The Daleks were created by author Terry Nation (who designated them to be an allegory of the German Nazis) and BBC designer Raymond Cusick. The Daleks' first appear in the program's 2nd serial, The Daleks (1963-64) and caused an enormous response in the viewing numbers and the public, putting Doctor Who on the ethnical map.
Doctor Who's Sci-Fi themes and stage settings entailed that a lot of audio effects had to be specially made for the series, although a few basic audio effects (such as crowds, horses and jungle sounds) were sourced from stock recordings. Most likely the most unforgettable of all the audio created for the series was the theme music. It genuinely is an incredibly unique piece of electronic music; as a matter of fact it is among the 1st pieces of electronic music to ever be created! To this day it still sounds like nothing else, which makes it a truly timeless piece.
The popularity of Doctor Who has been so extensive that the BBC has been able to expand the franchise with spin-offs in multiple Medias, including the current television programs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, radio episodes and even a substantial collection of stories on audio book. The Doctor has also appeared in webcasts and in audio plays; prominent among the last mentioned were those developed by Big Finish Productions from 1999 onwards. Big Finish have been responsible for a whole range of audio plays issued on CD and in the 2006's eight-part BBC 7 series starring Paul McGann.
Doctor who's amassed 1000s of fans from all across the globe both through it's television episodes, radio and Audio. In GB and elsewhere, the show has become a cult TV favorite and has influenced generations of people.