Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1963)

Aside from the new series starring Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith, and the Paul McGann TV movie, I've only ever seen bits of the old Doctor Who from my Dad's videos. I wanted to go right back to the beginning, where it all started, and see what it was all about back then, so I recently settled down to watch the first ever, 4-part story that introduced William Hartnell's Dr Who to the BBC viewing public, An Unearthly Child. 

It's hard to compare a black and white, cheaply made 25 minute per episode multi-part drama with the modern, self-contained 45 min episode that is full of special effects and excitement. However, the first Dr Who story still stands up as an enthralling drama, at least so far as the first episode goes. The first episode follows teachers Barbara and Ian as they share their concerns for the slightly weird 15 year old Susan, and they trail her to an old warehouse where she supposedly lives with her grandfather, who turns out to be a cantankerous old man who appears at first to have Susan kept prisoner in a police box... Of course then the TARDIS doors open and Ian and Barbara, and the viewer, learns that things are not always what they seem...

Episode 1's Cliffhanging Ending...

As an introduction to the basic tenets of Dr Who lore, the episode succeeds admirably. There's not too much jargon, and each character is given time to be introduced, with the teachers forming a focal point as a proxy for the audience watching at home. At episode 1's end the TARDIS transports the 4 characters across time and possibly space to a land of cave dwelling people, who do not know how to make fire. It's here that things slow down a bit, with lots of eloquent actors in furs and dirty faces talking over and over about making fire, while they stand huddled around a small cave set. As opening adventures go, being captured by cavemen, escaping, being recaptured and escaping again, it's not that exciting, but already the Doctor and his companions are carving out roles. Susan's the screamer, Barbara is quite practical, and Ian shows a brave streak, while the Doctor is more difficult to pin down. 

It would probably have been easy to jet the Doctor off to a futuristic location for the first episode, so I like that the prehistoric setting (though it's by no means certain the story takes place on Earth, or indeed in the past at all - the TARDIS time display read out is broken) suggests that this series will be more than just aliens with laser guns. 

Barbara and Ian sneak up on the Doctor

Alongside the episodes, I also watched the special features - the Doctor Who DVDs are excellent for these - which included a different, longer version of the first episode, with enlightening commentary by producer Verity Lambert and director Waris Hussein, and a collection of comedy sketch parodies starring Mark Gatiss and David Walliams. And then I read about the story in About Time, an unauthorised guide to the series, with fascinating background and analysis. This gave me a full experience with which to enjoy the story and I look forward to seeing more of the chronological adventures of the Timelord, in his earlier incarnations.