The First Episode of ‘Doctor Who’ Aired 61 Years Ago Today — Do You Remember It?
With over 40 seasons that have aired over the course of 61 years, Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi series of all time. And it all started on Nov. 23, 1963, with the show’s first episode, “An Unearthly Child,” which was part of a Season 1 serial also called “An Unearthly Child.”
The show was the brainchild of BBC producers who wanted to create a series that could successfully air between a sports program and a panel show about pop music. Since it had to interest the teens tuning in the for the music show, the adults who just finished watching the sports show and children who simply wanted to watch TV on Saturday evening, the producers decided to make a sci-fi show, since they considered that a crowd-pleasing genre.
Today, the show is on its Fifteenth Doctor, and the story of Doctor Who has expanded beyond the show itself, into multiple spinoff series and countless novels, comic books, and audio adaptations. But none of it would have been possible without this first episode about an older man, his young granddaughter and a police box that’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
Check out the opening of the first episode below, and then read on for more fascinating facts about the first time Doctor Who hit the airwaves.
Who Played the Original Doctor?
Everett Collection
Though the Doctor was originally conceived as something of a villainous presence, producers later decided that the original Time Lord should be a kindly alien father figure who moves though time and space, solving conflicts. When a producer saw British actor William Hartnell in 1963’s The Sporting Life, they decided he was the man for the job.
Hartnell, known for playing rough and tough characters in films like 1949’s Brighton Rock, was already in his mid 50s when he became the first Doctor. Though Hartnell wasn’t instantly sold on the prospect of appearing on what was, at the time, considered a children’s show, he was interested in the role because he was frequently typecast as a military man — the Doctor was a far cry from those characters. He also thought his grandchildren might like the show.
Hartnell left the show in 1966, due to personal health concerns and also conflict with new producing staff. The producers, unsure of how to recast the role, hit upon a brilliant idea that has since become a bedrock of the series: Since the Doctor is an alien, he can take any human physical form he likes. This transformation happened for the first time in the fourth-season storyline “The Tenth Planet,” in which Hartnell regenerates into Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor.
What Was the First Episode About?
BBC/Courtesy: Everett Collection
The first Doctor Who serial was called “An Unearthly Child,” and it aired for four weeks from Nov. 23 to Dec. 14. In this storyline, the schoolteachers of the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan Foreman, find her odd and try to visit her at home to learn more about her. However, at her address, they find a police box instead of a house … but an older man refuses them entry, while they hear Susan’s voice emanating from within.
After eventually getting inside, the teachers find Susan … living inside the TARDIS, the Doctor’s time- and space-traveling home. Refusing to allow the teachers to leave, the Doctor takes them all back to the Stone Age, where the group become stuck in the middle of two primitive human tribes who are competing to learn the secret to creating fire.
Originally, the show was supposed to kick off with a plot line that saw the lead characters shrunk down. However, lacking the technology to properly pull off the special effects, the “Unearthly Child” plot line (which was originally supposed to come second in the series) was moved up to the first episode.
Was It An Immediate Hit?
BBC/Courtesy: Everett Collection
The very first episode of Doctor Who had some competition when it came to viewers, for a tragic and thoroughly unexpected reason — President John F. Kennedy Jr. had been assassinated the day before, and many potential viewers tuned in to the news to follow that story, rather than watching the Doctor and company travel through time. In fact, so many viewers were distracted during its original airing that the premiere episode ran again the following week, with new episodes airing each following week. The show aired for 26 years, until 1989. After a decade and a half off the air, it was revived in 2005, and it has been on the air ever since.
All 26 seasons of the original Doctor Who series can be streamed on the BritBox app.
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