THE OTHER DOCTORS
As early as December 1963, other TV programmes were spoofing Doctor Who, a sure sign of its popularity. Over the years, a wide variety of actors have donned scarves and hats in the name of comedy Who.
Daleks featured in the infamous ‘Pakistani Dalek’ sketch from Spike Milligan’s Q series in 1975. Dr Emu and Rod Hull battled the strangely familiar Deadly Dustbins in 1977’s Emu’s Broadcasting Company, and the Daleks themselves also appeared in a sketch featured on a BBC2 Red Dwarf night, discussing the merits or otherwise of the popular sitcom.
In the 1984 Channel 4 sitcom Chelmsford 123, the TARDIS materialises in the background of a scene. Seen only in silhouette, the Fourth Doctor is clearly unimpressed with ancient Britain and immediately dematerialises.
The Fourth Doctor has made three cameo appearances in The Simpsons.
In A Quack in the Quarks, an episode of 1990s animated series Tiny Toon Adventures featuring characters from the ‘Looney Tunes’ cartoons, the TARDIS can clearly be seen in a space station loading bay. The 1960s movie Daleks also made an appearance in the cinematic Looney Tunes Back in Action in 2003.
As well as The Web of Caves spoof sketch in which Mark Gatiss plays the Doctor, 1999’s Doctor Who Night featured two further sketches. The Pitch of Fear saw Gatiss and David Walliams ‘recreating’ the first pitch session for Doctor Who, plus The Kidnappers, in which Gatiss and Walliams played fans who kidnapped Peter Davison. Good sport Peter Davison appears in a non-speaking role. As himself.
EIGHT
THE MATRIX
BEHIND THE SCENES
‘For some people, small, beautiful events are what life is all about.’
The Doctor, Earthshock
As our crazy, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey journey through Doctor Who nears its end, we salute the people who make the magic with the kind of behind-the-scenes trivia that so many Doctor Who fans love.
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
The shortest regular episode of Doctor Who is The Mind Robber Episode 5 which ran for just 18 minutes. The longest was The Five Doctors at 90 minutes and 23 seconds.
But how mini are those minisodes? The shortest so far is the second part of Space / Time at 2 minutes 54 seconds, while Time Crash is the relatively feature-length 7 minutes 42 seconds. As for Dimensions in Time, you’re looking at 7 minutes 34 seconds for Part 1 and 5 minutes 27 seconds for Part 2.
THE ARCHITECTS OF DOCTOR WHO
Who created Doctor Who? Certain editions of the popular board game Trivial Pursuit give the answer as ‘Terry Nation’, a popular misconception (although his contribution of the Daleks shouldn’t be underestimated). This is a question that has no single answer; the development of the series throughout 1963 was an enormous group effort. Here are some of the names that can be considered the pioneering architects of Doctor Who.
Donald Baverstock – Controller of BBC Television in 1963. First identified the need for a Saturday evening family drama series.
Sydney Newman – BBC Head of Drama, 1962–1967. Canadian-born Newman arguably had the biggest influence over the creation of Doctor Who. He co-ordinated the efforts of the Drama department at the BBC to come up with a science fiction adventure series and provided comment on all proposals.
Donald Wilson – BBC Head of Serials in 1963, reporting directly to Sydney Newman, with a similar supervisory role in the overall development of the series.
Alice Frick – BBC Drama story editor. Contributed to various key reports on producing a science-fiction drama serial in 1962–1963.
John Braybon – BBC story editor, present for early discussions on the prospect of a sci-fi drama serial.
C.E. ‘Bunny’ Webber – BBC staff writer. Present at various meetings throughout 1963, and produced the first and subsequent series proposal for ‘Dr. Who’, along with several storylines.
Rex Tucker – ‘Caretaker’ producer of Doctor Who before the appointment of Verity Lambert. Would return in 1966 to direct The Gunfighters.
Verity Lambert – Doctor Who’s first full-time producer from 1963 to 1965. Instrumental in casting William Hartnell as the Doctor and shaping the first two years of the series.
Mervyn Pinfield – associate producer, working closely with Verity Lambert throughout the first year of Doctor Who.
David Whitaker – Doctor Who’s first story editor and subsequently prolific scriptwriter.
Anthony Coburn – BBC staff writer hired to script the first Doctor Who story, drawing on existing proposal documents, in particular the work of C.E. Webber.
Waris Hussein – BBC director responsible for helming the first story, An Unearthly Child. Along with Verity Lambert, was key in the casting of William Hartnell.
Peter Brachacki – BBC staff designer on the pilot episode, An Unearthly Child, responsible for designing the original TARDIS control room.
William Hartnell, Jacqueline Hill, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford – The original cast. Without whom…
PROLIFIC GUEST STARS
Doctor Who has played host to some much-loved guest stars, and many have made return appearances across the decades. Here are some of the most prolific Doctor Who guest stars and the number of episodes they have appeared in (not including companions, their families, UNIT personnel, extras, voice artistes and monsters!)
Roger Delgado (37)
Anthony Ainley (31)
Michael Wisher (24 – not including voices)
Kevin Stoney (22)
Bernard Kay (19)
Michael Sheard (17)
Peter Miles (17)
John Abineri (17)
Graham Leaman (17)
Norman Jones (15)
Philip Madoc (15)
Bernard Horsfall (15)
Jean Marsh (15)
Milton Johns (15)
Peter Halliday (15 – not including voices)
Alan Rowe (15)
Prentis Hancock (14)
Lynda Bellingham (14)
Michael Jayston (14)
Christopher Benjamin (13)
Alex Kingston (13)
John Ringham (13)
Wanda Ventham (13)
Ronald Allen (12)
Donald Pickering (12)
David Savile (12)
George Pravda (11)
Frederick Jaeger (11)
REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Some actors have returned as the same character in different stories. Here are some examples (excluding companions, families, UNIT personnel, voice artistes and monster operators).