@5THE ORIGINS OF DOCTOR WHO
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@1In 1962, Sydney Newman joined the BBC as Head of Drama. Newman was a Canadian
who had come to Britain in 1958 to work for ABC Television. Whilst at ABC he
worked on the Sunday night play series Armchair Theatre and also played a part
in creating The Avengers.

One of his first tasks at the BBC was to create a programme to fill the gap
between Grandstand and Juke Box Jury on Saturday evenings. He wanted a
programme that would keep adults after the football results as well as being
exciting for younger children and interesting enough to hook the teenagers
waiting for Jury.

When he had worked in Canada, Newman had worked on several sci-fi series and
this was a genre which had all the right ingredients for all types of
audience. He was inspired by the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine, realising
that he could use the time travel concept to present historical stories which
could have educational value. Although space travel would be an important
ingredient, Newman wanted to get away from the old "monster fun" approach,
which he saw as the lowest form of sci-fi.

Newman came up with the idea of a "timeship" which was bigger on the inside
than out, disguised as an everyday object. Originally, the TARDIS was to
change its appearance to suit its surroundings but this was deemed to be too
expensive to pull off. The production team got around this by making the
TARDIS chameleon circuit faulty, sticking the ship in its police-box form. In
time, the BBC came to buy the rights to the design of the Police Telephone-Box
from the Metropolitan Police Force.

In addition to the concept of what was to become the TARDIS, Newman decided
that the traveller would be old, alien and unable to control the ship. The
unpredictability of this would make for exciting television as the viewers
would have no idea where or when the ship would go next. In early 1963 Newman
submitted his ideas to Donald Wilson, the Head of the BBC Script Department.
It was around this time that the Drama Department was undergoing a
restructuring process and as a result of this, the new programme was delayed.
The Script Department was abolished and Wilson became Head of the new Serials
Department. Newman discussed the new show with Rex Tucker, a producer/
director who was to temporarily take the reins of Dr Who in March 1963.

Around this time, responsibility for turning Newman's ideas into solid scripts
was handed to C.E. Webber. "Bunny" Webber was a mutual friend of both Donald
Wilson and Rex Tucker and it was Webber who devised the characters of Ian
Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Susan. His original script involved the
travellers being taken on a journey by the Doctor and being shrunk to just an
inch in height. This was rejected by Rex Tucker as "too cerebral", although
the idea was later used in the story PLANET OF GIANTS. Tucker handed the job
of writing the script to an Australian, Anthony Coburn and appointed the
shows' first story editor, David Whittaker.

Coburn's first draft story was based around Webber's rejected manuscript but
contained three new scripts based around the stone age. Whittaker was happy
with these scripts but suggested changes to make the story less educational
and more exciting. He agreed to Coburn's suggestion of a police box shape and
the name TARDIS. The character of Susan was changed from being a travelling
companion (with its possible sexual connotations) to that of the Doctor's
grand-daughter.

In April 1963, Rex Tucker went on a holiday and the job of permanent producer
was given to an associate of Newman's from ABC, a young woman called Verity
Lambert. Lambert was just the right person for the job being young and forward
looking. Dr Who was the first in a long line of successes for her, including
Adam Adamant Lives!, Budgie and Minder. Lambert soon made her mark on the
show, changing many of Tucker's production ideas, including the theme music
and some of the tentative casting made by him.

Donald Wilson appointed an experienced man to the post of associate producer
as he felt that Lambert was perhaps a little too green to handle the job
alone. The man chosen was Mervyn Pinfield. During May and June of '63 the
casting process proper began. The lead role was offered to both Cyril Cusack
and Leslie French (the choices of Whittaker and Pinfield) but both turned it
down. It was Lambert who remembered the performances of William Hartnell in
Granada TV's The Army Game and the film This Sporting Life. He was offered the
role and accepted after some initial hesitation. The role of Ian was filled by
William Russell who had starred in the ITV series The Adventures of Sir
Lancelot. Ex model Jaqueline Hill (now sadly deceased) was chosen for the role
of Barbara and Susan's part was played by Carol Anne Ford, who had appeared in
films since the age of eight.

Whittaker drafted a six page writer's guide for the series and soon
submissions were reaching Whittaker's desk. Among these early ideas were THE
SURVIVORS by Terry Nation and DR WHO AND A JOURNEY TO CATHAY by John
Lucarotti. These ideas later made the screen as THE DALEKS and MARCO POLO.

By September '63 Whittaker began to assemble the first 52 week series. Both
Terry Nation and John Lucarotti were given a second story but Coburn's second
submission, MASTERS OF LUXOR was rejected and Nation's Dalek story was
commissioned instead. The theme music was written by Ron Grainer and then
taken to the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire. She and her
assistant Dick Mills took Grainer's' descriptions of the sounds he wanted,
"windbubble and clouds" and came up with the distinctive theme. A theme which
was murdered by later composers when it came to be updated from 1985 onward.
The first episode, AN UNEARTHLY CHILD, was filmed on 27th September 1963 in
Studio D at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios. This pilot was re-filmed with minor
adjustments on 18th October and was transmitted the day after the
assassination of John F. Kennedy on 23rd November 1963 at 5:16pm.

Steve Williams/Glyn Cornfield
(I think?)