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Doctor Who Photo Gallery

THE GENESIS OF DOCTOR WHO | The creation of a television hero

IMAGE GALLERY: Doctor Who

William Hartnell as Doctor Who, standing outside his police box-shaped time machine, the TARDIS.

William Hartnell as the mysterious Doctor and his time-travelling TARDIS, which is disguised as a police public call box - the 'tangible symbol' that Sydney Newman had insisted upon in early discussions.

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1963

William Hartnell as Doctor Who, standing outside his police box-shaped time machine, the TARDIS.

William Hartnell as the mysterious Doctor and his time-travelling TARDIS, which is disguised as a police public call box - the 'tangible symbol' that Sydney Newman had insisted upon in early discussions.

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IN

1963

Sydney Newman, leaning on a BBC camera.

Sydney Newman, Head of BBC Drama and the man who oversaw the development of 'Doctor Who'.

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1963

Waris Hussein, photographed in 1963.

24-year-old Waris Hussein was appointed to direct the first four episodes of the series. He was one of the youngest TV directors at the BBC.

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1963

William Hartnell as Doctor Who.

William Hartnell was just 55 when he took on the role of the mysterious Doctor. He's pictured here on the junkyard set from the first episode, 'An Unearthly Child', written by Anthony Coburn.

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1963

Jacqueline Hill and Sean Connery from a 1957 drama. Connery is made up to look like a badly beaten boxer.

Jacqueline Hill, who played schoolteacher Barbara Wright, as she appeared in the 1957 BBC drama 'Requiem for a Heavyweight'. Adapted from a teleplay by Rod Serling, it also starred Sean Connery as a luckless boxer.

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1963

William Russell, wearing a casual suit and looking nervous.

William Russell, who played schoolteacher Ian Chesterton, as he appeared in 'Suspense - The Patch Card' in July 1963, shortly before he was cast in 'Doctor Who'.

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1963

Carole Ann Ford, standing by a window, smiling.

Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan Foreman, the eponymous 'Unearthly Child' whose strange behaviour worried her teacher so much they decided to investigate her background.

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1963

William Russell as schoolteacher Ian, surrounded by scientific equipment.

Ian Chesterton (William Russell) was the science teacher at Coal Hill School. He was intrigued by Susan's brilliance in some areas and complete ignorance in others.

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1963

Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, standing in the school library.

Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) was Coal Hill School's history teacher. It was Susan's interest in the French Revolution that brought her to Barbara's attention.

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1963

Ian and Barbara explore the junkyard.

The schoolteachers followed Susan home to 76 Totter's Lane, only to find an old junkyard containing a police box.

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1963

Susan, wearing the trendy clothes of a 1960s teenager, surrounded by various items in a junkyard.

Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), in the junkyard she called home. She looked like a normal teenager, but she was an alien fugitive 'from another time - another world'.

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1963

The Doctor and Susan in the junkyard. The Doctor looks angry.

The Doctor is immediately hostile when he discovers the two schoolteachers in his junkyard, for he and his granddaughter Susan were hiding a terrifying secret...

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1963

The four time travellers run across a barren desert to the safety of the TARDIS, a tall, blue police box.

The travellers find themselves on a prehistoric world inhabited by savages. Their first journey through time turns the strangers into friends - and the TARDIS into their home.

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1963

The four travellers stand around a six-sided console covered in buttons, dials and levers.

Inside the police box, the TARDIS is a huge, shining, futuristic control room. This image comes from rehearsals for 'The Dead Planet', which introduced the Daleks.

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1963

Carole Ann Ford, Jacqueline Hill, Verity Lambert, William Russell and William Hartnell stand drinking champagne.

The stars of the show join producer Verity Lambert (centre) to celebrate the sale of the first series to Canada.

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1964

Jacqueline Hill, dressed in the long, flowing robes of a futuristic religious order, and Lalla Ward as Romana.

Jacqueline Hill returned to 'Doctor Who' in 1980 to play the religious leader Lexa in the story 'Meglos'. Here, she's pictured alongside the Doctor's companion Romana (Lalla Ward).

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1980

Carole Ann Ford, photographed in 1983.

Carole Ann Ford returned to play Susan for the 20th anniversary of 'Doctor Who' in a special episode called 'The Five Doctors'. Richard Hurndall took on the role of her grandfather, the first Doctor, as William Hartnell had died in 1975.

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1983

  • William Hartnell as Doctor Who, standing outside his police box-shaped time machine, the TARDIS.

  • Sydney Newman, leaning on a BBC camera.

  • Waris Hussein, photographed in 1963.

  • William Hartnell as Doctor Who.

  • Jacqueline Hill and Sean Connery from a 1957 drama. Connery is made up to look like a badly beaten boxer.

  • William Russell, wearing a casual suit and looking nervous.

  • Carole Ann Ford, standing by a window, smiling.

  • William Russell as schoolteacher Ian, surrounded by scientific equipment.

  • Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, standing in the school library.

  • Ian and Barbara explore the junkyard.

  • Susan, wearing the trendy clothes of a 1960s teenager, surrounded by various items in a junkyard.

  • The Doctor and Susan in the junkyard. The Doctor looks angry.

  • The four time travellers run across a barren desert to the safety of the TARDIS, a tall, blue police box.

  • The four travellers stand around a six-sided console covered in buttons, dials and levers.

  • Carole Ann Ford, Jacqueline Hill, Verity Lambert, William Russell and William Hartnell stand drinking champagne.

  • Jacqueline Hill, dressed in the long, flowing robes of a futuristic religious order, and Lalla Ward as Romana.

  • Carole Ann Ford, photographed in 1983.


About this Gallery

After 45 years of adventures in time and space, new generations of viewers are learning words like 'Tardis', 'Dalek' and 'regeneration'. In November 1963, all this was still to come. Head of the Drama department Sydney Newman, producer Verity Lambert, director Waris Hussein and the cast had taken many risks to get the show to the screen. Some cynics thought 'Doctor Who' wouldn't last six weeks. Only its star, William Hartnell, dared to imagine it might 'run forever'...

See clips from the first episode and other adventures at the BBC Doctor Who site.

More like this...

William Hartnell as Doctor Who, standing outside his police box-shaped time machine, the TARDIS.

DOCTOR WHO IMAGE GALLERY

A gallery of images from the BBC archives featuring the stars and makers of 'Doctor Who'.

 

Documents

Document - A report on the BBC's plans for potential new science fiction drama serials.

SCIENCE FICTION - BBC Report

WRITTEN 1962
1 DOC

A report into whether the BBC should make science fiction drama.

Document - A BBC report looking at sources for possible BBC science fiction stories.

SCIENCE FICTION - Follow-up Report

WRITTEN 1963
1 DOC

A report into the kind of stories BBC science fiction dramas might handle.

Document - A report from the BBC Written Archives exploring the possibility of making a science fiction BBC drama.

CONCEPT NOTES FOR NEW SF DRAMA

WRITTEN 1963
1 DOC

A summary of ideas for a new science fiction BBC TV series.

Document - A report from the BBC Written Archives detailing formative plans for the TV series 'Doctor Who'.

BACKGROUND NOTES FOR 'DR. WHO'

WRITTEN 1963
1 DOC

CE Webber and Sydney Newman outline the format for the new 'Doctor Who' series.

Document - A clipping from a listings page in an old 'Radio Times'.

'RADIO TIMES' ARTICLE, 23 NOVEMBER, 1963

WRITTEN 1963
2 DOC

A preview of the first 'Doctor Who' episode, 'An Unearthly Child'.

Part of an audience research document.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH REPORT FOR 'DOCTOR WHO'

WRITTEN 1963
1 DOC

What the viewers thought of 'An Unearthly Child'.

 

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