101-551: Gary Russell (born 18 September 1963) is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor, he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five . Russell was born in Maidenhead , Berkshire. His on-screen acting career included leading roles in
202-516: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruit. They were followed from 1979 to 1983 another trilogy, Star Quest , which was later re-printed by Big Finish Productions . Beginning in 1978, Dicks penned The Baker Street Irregulars inspired by the Sherlock Holmes characters ; the series eventually ran to 10 books, the last published in 1987. In 1981, he commenced work on a series of six children's horror novels with Cry Vampire . In 1987, Dicks started
303-505: A "renewal", and the Second Doctor underwent a "change of appearance". The device has allowed for the recasting of the actor various times in the show's history, as well as the depiction of alternative Doctors either from the Doctor's relative past or future. The serials The Deadly Assassin (1976) and Mawdryn Undead (1983) established that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times, for
404-496: A Nigerian television relay station in Jos . Six of the eleven films discovered were the six-part serial The Enemy of the World (1968), from which all but the third episode had been missing. The remaining films were from another six-part serial, The Web of Fear (1968), and included the previously missing episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6. Episode 3 of The Web of Fear is still missing. The Doctor
505-534: A challenge to find missing Doctor Who episodes with the promise of a full-scale Dalek model as a reward. In December 2011, it was announced that part 3 of Galaxy 4 (1965) and part 2 of The Underwater Menace (1967) had been returned to the BBC by a fan who had purchased them in the mid-1980s without realising that the BBC did not hold copies of them. On 10 October 2013, the BBC announced that films of eleven episodes, including nine missing episodes, had been found in
606-544: A disembodied brain falling to the floor in The Brain of Morbius and the Doctor apparently being drowned by a villain in The Deadly Assassin (both 1976). Mary Whitehouse's complaint about the latter incident prompted a change in BBC policy towards the series, with much tighter controls imposed on the production team, and the series' next producer, Graham Williams , was under a directive to take out "anything graphic in
707-503: A feature-length episode for the programme's 20th anniversary. Dicks' other work for Doctor Who included two stage plays, Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday (1974) and Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure (1989), and an audio drama for Big Finish Productions titled Comeback (2002), which was the first to feature former Doctor's companion Sarah Jane Smith in
808-547: A highly productive working relationship with incoming Doctor Who producer Barry Letts , serving as script editor on all of Letts's five seasons as series producer from 1970 to 1974. During his tenure as script editor on Doctor Who , Dicks oversaw a number of additions to the series' mythology that still exist in the modern era, including the following: During Dicks' tenure, the series also delved into social and political concepts. Sometimes these were straightforward and other times they were metaphors. Concepts and topics included
909-458: A hitherto unknown incarnation of the Doctor known as the War Doctor in the run-up to the show's 50th-anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor ". He is shown in mini-episode " The Night of the Doctor " retroactively inserted into the show's fictional chronology between McGann's and Eccleston's Doctors, although his introduction was written so as not to disturb the established numerical naming of
1010-497: A lot of choice—we only had the Dalek serial to go ... We had a bit of a crisis of confidence because Donald [Wilson] was so adamant that we shouldn't make it. Had we had anything else ready we would have made that." Nation's script became the second Doctor Who serial – The Daleks (also known as The Mutants ). The serial introduced the eponymous aliens that would become the series' most popular monsters, dubbed "Dalekmania", and
1111-535: A more compassionate figure and was eventually revealed to be a Time Lord , whose race are from the planet Gallifrey , which the Doctor fled by stealing the TARDIS. Producers introduced the concept of regeneration to permit the recasting of the main character. This was prompted by the poor health of the original star, William Hartnell . The term "regeneration" was not conceived until the Doctor's third on-screen regeneration; Hartnell's Doctor merely described undergoing
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#17330845585501212-552: A new children's sci-fi cartoon Prisoner Zero for ABC Television. He returned to the UK in 2016. At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con , IDW Publishing announced their intention to publish a new series of Doctor Who comics, which will follow the adventures of the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones . The first six issues of this series, later collected as Agent Provocateur , were scripted by Russell and published in early 2008. He has also written
1313-530: A new series for very young children titled T. R. Bear , resulting in a further seven books. There followed the Sally Ann series, about a ragdoll , Magnificent Max , about a cat, and The Adventures of Goliath (Dicks' longest series, at 18 books), about a golden retriever . Another five books concerning a St. Bernard dog make up the Harvey series. Jonathan's Ghost and its three sequels were published in 1988, and
1414-564: A number of Torchwood strips for Titan Publishing. In April 2022, Gary Russell was given the inaugural Terrance Dicks Award For Writers by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society . Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman , C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson , depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called
1515-586: A poorer place without Doctor Who ". On 4 August 2013, a live programme titled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor was broadcast on BBC One, during which the actor who was going to play the Twelfth Doctor was revealed. The live show was watched by an average of 6.27 million in the UK, and was also simulcast in the United States, Canada and Australia. Doctor Who originally ran for 26 seasons on BBC One, from 23 November 1963 until 6 December 1989. During
1616-419: A re-written version of a story originally titled The Vampire Mutations , which had been due for production during season 15 . The BBC decided that the vampiric theme would clash with the plot of its new adaptation of Bram Stoker 's Count Dracula , which was due for transmission at roughly the same time, and replaced it with Horror of Fang Rock . His final Doctor Who script was " The Five Doctors " (1983),
1717-489: A significant capacity. He went on to contribute several additional scripts to Big Finish including audio adaptations of his two-stage plays, a Sixth Doctor -era story for the "Companion Chronicle" range, and a Bernice Summerfield story, in 2011, which was the final script of his career. The first serial aired after Dicks' death, the 2020 Thirteenth Doctor -era story " Spyfall ", was dedicated to him. Dicks contributed heavily to Target Books ' series of novelisations of
1818-504: A stop. No 1960s episodes exist on their original videotapes (all surviving prints being film transfers), though some were transferred to film for editing before transmission and exist in their broadcast form. Some episodes have been returned to the BBC from the archives of other countries that bought prints for broadcast or by private individuals who acquired them by various means. Early colour videotape recordings made off-air by fans have also been retrieved, as well as excerpts filmed from
1919-691: A time, the best-selling original Doctor Who novel. World Game , featuring the Second Doctor , is set during " Season 6B ". Later contributions to the range were the Quick Reads books Made of Steel and Revenge of the Judoon , both featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones . His final Doctor Who short story, "Save Yourself", was published posthumously by BBC Books in October 2019. A compilation of his work chosen by fans, The Essential Terrance Dicks ,
2020-457: A total of 13 incarnations. This line became stuck in the public consciousness despite not often being repeated and was recognised by producers of the show as a plot obstacle for when the show finally had to regenerate the Doctor a thirteenth time. The episode " The Time of the Doctor " (2013) depicted the Doctor acquiring a new cycle of regenerations, starting from the Twelfth Doctor , due to
2121-682: A waitress. His parents later ran a pub , the Fox and Hounds, in Forest Gate . He excelled in English at East Ham Grammar School and consumed literature ranging from classics to pulp thrillers and adventure stories. He won a scholarship to study English at Downing College, Cambridge , and later performed two years of national service in the British Army with the Royal Fusiliers . Following his discharge from
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#17330845585502222-416: Is a direct plot continuation of the original 1963–1989 series and the 1996 television film. The executive producers of the new incarnation of the series were Queer as Folk writer Russell T Davies and BBC Cymru Wales head of drama Julie Gardner . From 2005, the series switched from a multi-camera to a single-camera setup. Starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, Doctor Who returned with
2323-402: Is a guide to the current Doctor Who series (2005–present), which has been regularly updated (most recently in 2012) and published both in hardback and via an app. He also wrote a similar encyclopedia for Torchwood and The Torchwood Archive , a semi-fictional guide to the show. He also co-produced and directed the animated mini series The Infinite Quest and Dreamland , which tied in with
2424-528: Is a significant part of popular culture in Britain and elsewhere; it has gained a cult following . It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the series. Fans of the series are sometimes referred to as Whovians . The series has been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science-fiction television series in the world, as well as
2525-538: Is like comparing Monopoly with the property market in London: both are fantasies, but one is meant to be taken seriously." During Jon Pertwee 's second season as the Doctor, in the serial Terror of the Autons (1971), images of murderous plastic dolls, daffodils killing unsuspecting victims, and blank-featured policemen marked the apex of the series' ability to frighten children. Other notable moments in that decade include
2626-482: Is the first woman to be cast as the character. The show introduced the Time Lords' ability to change sex on regeneration in earlier episodes, first in dialogue, then with Michelle Gomez 's version of The Master and T'Nia Miller 's version of The General. Upon Whittaker's final appearance as the character in " The Power of the Doctor " on 23 October 2022, she regenerated into a form portrayed by David Tennant , who
2727-630: The Daily Telegraph in 2009, the revival of Doctor Who had consistently received high ratings, both in number of viewers and as measured by the Appreciation Index . In 2007, Caitlin Moran , television reviewer for The Times , wrote that Doctor Who is "quintessential to being British". According to Steven Moffat , the American film director Steven Spielberg has commented that "the world would be
2828-426: The 60th anniversary specials , twelve years after he had left the series previously. Bad Wolf co-produces the series in partnership with BBC Studios Productions . Bad Wolf's involvement sees Gardner return to the series alongside Davies and Jane Tranter , who recommissioned the series in 2005. The programme has been sold to many other countries worldwide ( see § Viewership ). It has been claimed that
2929-694: The BBC 's adaptation of E. Nesbit 's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet as Cyril, ITV 's adaptations of Enid Blyton 's Famous Five novels (as Dick) and the BBC 's Look & Read schools series, playing Lord Edward Dark in Dark Towers . He also spent seasons performing with Prospect Theatre Company and the Royal National Theatre . He has written guide books, under the pseudonym Warren Martyn, to Frasier and The Simpsons for Virgin Publishing. He
3030-486: The BBC Television Service at 17:16:20 GMT on 23 November 1963; this was eighty seconds later than the scheduled programme time, because of announcements concerning the previous day's assassination of John F. Kennedy . It was to be a regular weekly programme, each episode 25 minutes of transmission length. Discussions and plans for the programme had been in progress for a year. The head of drama Sydney Newman
3131-585: The Doctor Who TV serials, writing 67 of the titles published by the company. As Dicks explains in an interview in the documentary Built for War (included on the 2006 DVD release of The Sontaran Experiment ), he served as the unofficial editor of the Target Books range. In this role, he would attempt to enlist the author of the original scripts to write the novelisation whenever possible, but if they refused or had other commitments, Dicks would usually undertake
Gary Russell - Misplaced Pages Continue
3232-540: The Eleventh Doctor being the product of the Doctor's twelfth regeneration from his original set. Although the idea of casting a woman as the Doctor had been suggested by the show's writers several times, including by Newman in 1986 and Davies in 2008, until 2017, all official depictions were played by men. Jodie Whittaker took over the role as the Thirteenth Doctor at the end of the 2017 Christmas special and
3333-538: The First Doctor transforming into the Second . The only portion of this in existence, barring a few poor-quality silent 8 mm clips, is the few seconds of the regeneration scene, as it was shown on the children's magazine show Blue Peter . With the approval of the BBC, efforts are now underway to restore as many of the episodes as possible from the extant material. "Official" reconstructions have also been released by
3434-470: The "most successful" science-fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales. The series originally ran from 1963 to 1989. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film titled Doctor Who . The series was relaunched in 2005 and was produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff . Since 2023,
3535-581: The 10-part serial The War Games , which concluded the series' sixth season and the Second Doctor 's ( Patrick Troughton ) tenure. The serial introduced the concept of the Time Lords and initiated the Doctor's exile to Earth, which would be a major theme of the Third Doctor 's tenure. Dicks had, however, been the uncredited co-writer of the earlier serial The Seeds of Death (1969), having extensively re-written Brian Hayles ' original scripts. Dicks formed
3636-797: The 12-book series, The Unexplained . As well as his numerous fictional works, Dicks also penned several non-fiction books for children, including Europe United , A Riot of Writers , Uproar in the House , A Right Royal History and The Good, the Bad and the Ghastly . Dicks lived in Hampstead , London. In 1963, he married Elsa Germaney, a teacher and later a Quaker recording clerk. They had three sons: Stephen, Jonathan and Oliver. Also, three grandchildren: Amy, Nelly Rose, and Rufus. Dicks died in London on 29 August 2019 after
3737-584: The 1990s, Dicks contributed to Virgin Publishing 's line of full-length, officially licensed, original Doctor Who novels, New Adventures , which continued the series' storyline following the TV cancellation in 1989. Dicks wrote three Doctor Who novels for Virgin, and continued to write occasionally for the franchise after BBC Books assumed the licence in 1997. He wrote the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures , titled The Eight Doctors , which was, for
3838-452: The 26th season was still in production. Segal's negotiations eventually led to a Doctor Who television film as a pilot for an American series, broadcast on the Fox Network in 1996, as an international co-production between Fox, Universal Pictures , the BBC and BBC Worldwide . Starring Paul McGann as the Doctor, the film was successful in the UK (with 9.1 million viewers), but
3939-414: The 45-minute run time; notably, the episodes " Journey's End " from 2008 and " The Eleventh Hour " from 2010 were longer than an hour. 883 Doctor Who instalments have been televised since 1963, ranging between 25-minute episodes (the most common format for the classic era), 45/50-minute episodes (for Resurrection of the Daleks in the 1984 series, a single season in 1985, and the most common format for
4040-796: The BBC on VHS, on MP3 CD-ROM , and as special features on DVD. The BBC, in conjunction with animation studio Cosgrove Hall , reconstructed the missing episodes 1 and 4 of The Invasion (1968), using remastered audio tracks and the comprehensive stage notes for the original filming, for the serial's DVD release in November 2006. The missing episodes of The Reign of Terror were animated by animation company Theta-Sigma, in collaboration with Big Finish , and became available for purchase in May 2013 through Amazon.com. Subsequent animations made in 2013 include The Tenth Planet , The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Moonbase (1967). In April 2006, Blue Peter launched
4141-429: The BBC's new head of series. Although it was effectively cancelled , the BBC repeatedly affirmed over several years that the series would return. While in-house production concluded, the BBC explored an independent production company to relaunch the series. Philip Segal , a British expatriate who worked for Columbia Pictures ' television arm in the United States, had approached the BBC as early as July 1989, while
Gary Russell - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-477: The BBC. Dicks wrote many children's books during the 1970s and 1980s. He also maintained his association with Doctor Who by adapting televised stories into novelisations for Target Books and in later years contributing to many documentaries and DVD commentaries for the series. Born in East Ham , Essex (now part of Greater London ), Dicks was the only son of William, a tailor's salesman and Nellie (née Ambler),
4343-485: The Doctor , part of a humanoid species called Time Lords . The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS , which externally appears as a British police box . While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes . The Doctor often travels with companions . Beginning with William Hartnell , fourteen actors have headlined
4444-533: The Doctor, was succeeded by Patrick Troughton in 1966. In 1970, Jon Pertwee replaced Troughton and the series began production in colour. In 1974, Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor. His eccentric personality became hugely popular, with viewing figures for the series returning to a level not seen since the height of "Dalekmania" a decade earlier. After seven years in the role, Baker was replaced by Peter Davison in 1981, and Colin Baker replaced Davison in 1984. In 1985,
4545-576: The Doctors. The show later introduced another such unknown past Doctor with Jo Martin 's recurring portrayal of the Fugitive Doctor , beginning with " Fugitive of the Judoon " (2020). An example from the classic series comes from The Trial of a Time Lord (1986), in which Michael Jayston 's character the Valeyard is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between
4646-683: The First Doctor due to William Hartnell's death in 1975; 34 years later David Bradley similarly replaced Hartnell in " Twice Upon a Time ". In Time and the Rani , Sylvester McCoy briefly played the Sixth Doctor during the regeneration sequence, carrying on as the Seventh. In other media, the Doctor has been played by various other actors, including Peter Cushing in two films . Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019)
4747-599: The Land and the Sea . It has been the subject of many parodies and references in popular culture . Doctor Who follows the adventures of the title character, a rogue Time Lord with somewhat unknown origins who goes by the name " the Doctor ". The Doctor fled Gallifrey , the planet of the Time Lords, in a stolen TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space"), a time machine that travels by materialising into, and dematerialising out of,
4848-681: The TARDIS' blue police box design in merchandising associated with Doctor Who . In 1998, the Metropolitan Police Authority filed an objection to the trademark claim; but in 2002, the Patent Office ruled in favour of the BBC. The 21st-century revival of the programme became the centrepiece of BBC One's Saturday schedule and "defined the channel". Many renowned actors have made guest-starring appearances in various stories including Kylie Minogue , Sir Ian McKellen , and Andrew Garfield among others. According to an article in
4949-638: The ability to regenerate when there is mortal damage to their body. The Doctor's various incarnations have gained numerous recurring enemies during their travels, including the Daleks , their creator Davros , the Cybermen , and the renegade Time Lord the Master . Doctor Who was originally intended to appeal to a family audience as an educational programme using time travel as a means to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history. The programme first appeared on
5050-422: The armed forces, he worked for five years as an advertising copywriter , and started to write radio play scripts for the BBC in his spare time. His breakthrough into television came when friend Malcolm Hulke , whom he met when he rented a room from him, asked for his help with the scripting of " The Mauritius Penny ", an episode of the second series of ABC 's action-adventure The Avengers , for which Dicks
5151-556: The behind-the-scenes book on the making of the Matthew Warchus directed 2007 stage musical version of The Lord of the Rings . His behind-the-scenes book Doctor Who: The Inside Story was published in October 2006, coinciding with his joining the Doctor Who production team. His most recent reference work was also for Doctor Who ; published in 2007 by BBC Books, The Doctor Who Encyclopedia
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#17330845585505252-452: The best known outside Doctor Who itself, due to the popularity of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy works. The serial format changed for the 2005 revival , with what was now called a series usually consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts, on overseas commercial channels) and an extended 60-minute episode broadcast on Christmas Day. This system
5353-445: The book Doctor Who: Regeneration (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710591-6 ), the making-of book of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie , as well as the TV movie's novelisation in 1996. He wrote a series of The Art of The Lord of the Rings , one per film, plus a fourth featuring material that could not be fitted into the individual volumes, and contributed to Gollum : How We Made Movie Magic with Andy Serkis . He also wrote
5454-631: The brain's frontal lobe . The phrase retains this association with Doctor Who , to the point that in 1991 the Museum of the Moving Image in London named its exhibition celebrating the programme Behind the Sofa . The electronic theme music too was perceived as eerie, novel, and frightening at the time. A 2012 article placed this childhood juxtaposition of fear and thrill "at the center of many people's relationship with
5555-443: The channel's controller Michael Grade cancelled the upcoming twenty-third season, forcing the series into an eighteen-month hiatus. In 1986, the series was recommissioned on the condition that Baker left the role of the Doctor, which was recast to Sylvester McCoy in 1987. Falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of the series and a less-prominent transmission slot saw production ended in 1989 by Peter Cregeen ,
5656-541: The current television series of Doctor Who as well as a series of award-winning animated online games also based on the show. In 2011, having left BBC Wales , he briefly returned to Big Finish to produce the Bernice Summerfield and Gallifrey audios, before moving to Australia and becoming the Executive Producer at animation company Planet 55 Studios. There he has overseen the development and production of
5757-401: The depiction of violence". John Nathan-Turner produced the series during the 1980s and said in the documentary More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS that he looked forward to Whitehouse's comments because the ratings of the series would increase soon after she had made them. Nathan-Turner also got into trouble with BBC executives over the violence he allowed to be depicted for season 22 of
5858-487: The development of the series. On 31 July 1963, Whitaker commissioned Terry Nation to write a story under the title The Mutants . As originally written, the Daleks and Thals were the victims of an alien neutron bomb attack but Nation later dropped the aliens and made the Daleks the aggressors. When the script was presented to Wilson, it was immediately rejected as the programme was not permitted to contain any " bug-eyed monsters ". According to Lambert, "We didn't have
5959-411: The episode "Rose" on BBC One on 26 March 2005, after a 16-year hiatus of in-house production. Eccleston left after one series and was replaced by David Tennant . Davies left the production team in 2009. Steven Moffat , a writer under Davies, was announced as his successor, along with Matt Smith as the new Doctor. Smith decided to leave the role of the Doctor in 2013, the 50th anniversary year. He
6060-420: The first two Doctors: William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton . In all, 97 of 253 episodes produced during the programme's first six years are not held in the BBC's archives (most notably seasons 3, 4, and 5, from which 79 episodes are missing). In 1972, almost all episodes then made were known to exist at the BBC, while by 1978 the practice of wiping tapes and destroying "spare" film copies had been brought to
6161-529: The later Doctor Who serials, and was required to adapt only one Sixth Doctor story himself ( The Mysterious Planet ; he again replaced Holmes, who had died in 1986). Dicks' name appears on the cover of no Seventh Doctor novelisations. His plans to publish a novelisation of his stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure were not realised. As of September, 1980, Terrance Dicks' Doctor Who novelisations had sold three-and-a-half million copies and had been translated into ten different languages. During
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#17330845585506262-406: The narrative of one story flowing into the next and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes. Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, and the individual parts were assigned episode numbers. Of the programme's many writers , Robert Holmes was the most prolific, while Douglas Adams became
6363-457: The original run, each weekly episode formed part of a story (or "serial")—usually of four to six parts in earlier years and three to four in later years. Some notable exceptions were: The Daleks' Master Plan , which aired twelve episodes (plus an earlier one-episode teaser, " Mission to the Unknown ", featuring none of the regular cast ); almost an entire season of seven-episode serials (season 7);
6464-493: The producer of the Sunday Classics , overseeing productions such as Oliver Twist , David Copperfield and Vanity Fair , before retiring from the BBC in 1988 to resume his career as a novelist. It was through his work on Doctor Who books that Dicks became a writer of children's fiction, penning many successful titles during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, he wrote a trilogy for Target Books , The Mounties , concerning
6565-667: The production of the TV series), which was co-written by Hulke. After stepping down as script editor, Dicks continued his association with Doctor Who , writing four scripts for his successor, Robert Holmes : these were Robot (1975, Tom Baker 's first outing as the Fourth Doctor ), The Brain of Morbius (1976, for which Dicks was credited under the pseudonym Robin Bland after his displeasure at Holmes' re-writes prompted him to request that it be shown "under some bland pseudonym"), Horror of Fang Rock (1977) and State of Decay (1980),
6666-544: The respect for all life ( The Silurians) , Great Britain joining the European Economic Community (in metaphor in The Curse of Peladon ), apartheid ( The Mutants ), global pollution ( The Green Death ) and equality for women (with the inclusion of Sarah Jane Smith as companion). In 1972, Dicks embarked on a parallel career as an author with the publication of his first book, The Making of Doctor Who (a history of
6767-463: The revival era since 2005), two feature-length productions (1983's " The Five Doctors " and the 1996 television film ), twelve Christmas specials (most of approximately 60 minutes' duration, one of 72 minutes), and four additional specials ranging from 60 to 75 minutes in 2009, 2010, and 2013. Four mini-episodes, running about eight minutes each, were also produced for the 1993, 2005, and 2007 Children in Need charity appeals, while another mini-episode
6868-400: The room to watch the remainder of it. The Economist presented "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" as a British cultural institution on a par with Bovril and tea-time . Paul Parsons, author of The Science of Doctor Who , explains the appeal of hiding behind the sofa as the activation of the fear response in the amygdala in conjunction with reassurances of safety from
6969-422: The same memories, explaining each actor's distinct portrayal, as they all represent different stages in the life of the Doctor and, together, they form a single lifetime with a single narrative. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that different incarnations of the Doctor occasionally meet. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker , as the Thirteenth Doctor , became the first woman to be cast in the lead role. The series
7070-403: The series "never had a more implacable foe than Mary Whitehouse". A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that, by their own definition of violence ("any act[s] which may cause physical and/or psychological injury, hurt or death to persons, animals or property, whether intentional or accidental"), Doctor Who was the most violent of the drama programmes the corporation produced at
7171-407: The series as the Doctor; as of 2024 , Ncuti Gatwa leads the series as the Fifteenth Doctor . The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the series with the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation , a plot device in which, when a Time Lord is fatally injured, their cells regenerate and they are reincarnated, into a different body with mannerisms and behaviour, but
7272-434: The series in 1985, which was publicly criticised by controller Michael Grade and given as one of his reasons for suspending the series for 18 months. The phrase "hiding behind the sofa " (or "watching from behind the sofa") entered British pop culture , signifying the stereotypical but apocryphal early-series behaviour of children who wanted to avoid seeing frightening parts of a television programme while remaining in
7373-418: The series", and a 2011 online vote at Digital Spy deemed the series the "scariest TV show of all time". The image of the TARDIS has become firmly linked to the series in the public's consciousness; BBC scriptwriter Anthony Coburn , who lived in the resort of Herne Bay, Kent , was one of the people who conceived the idea of a police box as a time machine. In 1996, the BBC applied for a trademark to use
7474-523: The show has been co-produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios Productions in Cardiff. Doctor Who has spawned numerous spin-offs as part of the Whoniverse , including comic books, films, novels and audio dramas, and the television series Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), K9 (2009–2010), Class (2016), Tales of the TARDIS (2023–2024), and the upcoming The War Between
7575-436: The television screen onto 8 mm cine film and clips that were shown on other programmes. Audio versions of all lost episodes exist from home viewers who made tape recordings of the show. Short clips from every story with the exception of Marco Polo (1964), " Mission to the Unknown " (1965) and The Massacre (1966) also exist. In addition to these, there are off-screen photographs made by photographer John Cura , who
7676-488: The ten-episode serial The War Games ; and The Trial of a Time Lord , which ran for fourteen episodes (albeit divided into three production codes and four narrative segments) during season 23 . Occasionally, serials were loosely connected by a story line, such as season 8 focusing on the Doctor battling a rogue Time Lord called the Master , season 16 's quest for the Key to Time , season 18 's journey through E-Space and
7777-539: The terms of a deal between BBC Worldwide and SMG Pictures in China, the company has first right of refusal on the purchase for the Chinese market of future series of the programme until and including Series 15. Between 1967 and 1978, large amounts of older material stored in the BBC's various video tape and film libraries was either destroyed or wiped . This included many early episodes of Doctor Who , those stories featuring
7878-418: The theme of entropy, and season 20 's Black Guardian trilogy. The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule. It initially alternated stories set in the past, which taught younger audience members about history, and with those in the future or outer space, focusing on science. This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom
7979-515: The three-part MacMagic series followed in 1990. The Littlest Dinosaur was published in 1993 and The Littlest on Guard in 1994. Other works that Dicks published in 1994 include Woof! The Never Ending Tale , the Cold Blood series and the Chronicles of a Computer Game Addict series (both in four parts). Between 1998 and 2000, Dicks penned Changing Universe trilogy. In 2000 and 2001, Dicks produced
8080-540: The time vortex. The TARDIS has a vast interior but appears smaller on the outside, and is equipped with a " chameleon circuit " intended to make the machine take on the appearance of local objects as a disguise. Because of a malfunction, the Doctor's TARDIS remains fixed as a blue British police box . Across time and space, the Doctor's many incarnations often find events that pique their curiosity, and try to prevent evil forces from harming innocent people or changing history, using only ingenuity and minimal resources, such as
8181-506: The time. The same report found that 3% of the surveyed audience believed the series was "very unsuitable" for family viewing. Responding to the findings of the survey in The Times newspaper, journalist Philip Howard maintained that, "to compare the violence of Dr Who , sired by a horse-laugh out of a nightmare, with the more realistic violence of other television series, where actors who look like human beings bleed paint that looks like blood,
8282-410: The transmission of the first episode was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy the previous day; in fact, it went out after a delay of eighty seconds. The BBC believed that coverage of the assassination, as well as a series of power blackouts across the country, had caused many viewers to miss this introduction to a new series, and it
8383-509: The twelfth and final incarnation. The most recent example is when Richard E. Grant , who previously portrayed an alternate version of the Doctor known as the Shalka Doctor in the animated series Scream of the Shalka (2003), appeared as a hologram of a past Doctor in " Rogue " (2024). On rare occasions, other actors have stood in for the lead . In " The Five Doctors ", Richard Hurndall played
8484-401: The versatile sonic screwdriver . The Doctor rarely travels alone and is often joined by one or more companions on these adventures; these companions are usually humans, owing to the Doctor's fascination with planet Earth , which also leads to frequent collaborations with the international military task force UNIT when Earth is threatened. The Doctor is centuries old and, as a Time Lord, has
8585-417: The work himself (although he also recruited other writers, including former Doctor Who actor Ian Marter and former series producer Philip Hinchcliffe ). On one occasion, he enlisted Robert Holmes to novelise his script for The Time Warrior , but when Holmes gave up after writing only one chapter, it was left to Dicks to complete the work. Dicks had better success in recruiting the original writers for
8686-493: Was a science teacher and another a history teacher. However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme, and the history-oriented episodes, which were not popular with the production team, were dropped after The Highlanders (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: Black Orchid (1982), set in 1920s England. The early stories were serialised in nature, with
8787-441: Was an English author and television screenwriter , script editor and producer . In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who , working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who ". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for
8888-434: Was awarded a co-writer's credit. Dicks went on to co-write a further two Avengers episodes with Hulke: the second, " Intercrime ", was later re-worked for the sixth and final series. In 1968, Dicks was hired as assistant script editor on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who . He was appointed head script editor the following year and earned his first writing credit for the programme when he and Hulke co-wrote
8989-515: Was broadcast again on 30 November 1963, just before episode two. The programme soon became a national institution in the United Kingdom, with a large following among the general viewing audience. The show received controversy over the suitability of the series for children. Morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse repeatedly complained to the BBC over what she saw as the programme's violent, frightening and gory content. According to Radio Times ,
9090-565: Was confirmed to be the Fourteenth Doctor and the first actor to play two incarnations, having previously played the Tenth Doctor . In the same year, Ncuti Gatwa was revealed to be portraying the Fifteenth Doctor , making him the first black actor to headline the series. In addition to those actors who have headlined the series, others have portrayed versions of the Doctor in guest roles. Notably, in 2013, John Hurt guest-starred as
9191-448: Was editor of Doctor Who Magazine between 1992 and 1995. He was the producer for the Doctor Who licensed audio drama tie-ins at Big Finish Productions from its inception in 1998 until July 2006, when he stepped down to work for BBC Wales as a Script Editor on Doctor Who The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood . He has written a number of Doctor Who spin-off novels and in 2000 co-wrote with executive producer Philip Segal
9292-403: Was filmed in 1080i for HDTV and broadcast simultaneously on BBC One and BBC HD . To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show, a special 3D episode, " The Day of the Doctor ", was broadcast in 2013. In March 2013, it was announced that Tennant and Piper would be returning and that the episode would have a limited cinematic release worldwide. In June 2017, it was announced that due to
9393-468: Was hired by various production personnel to document many of their programmes during the 1950s and 1960s, including Doctor Who . These have been used in fan reconstructions of the serials. The BBC has tolerated these amateur reconstructions, provided they are not sold for profit and are distributed as low-quality copies. One of the most sought-after lost episodes is part four of the last William Hartnell serial, The Tenth Planet (1966), which ends with
9494-488: Was initially shrouded in mystery. In the programme's early days, the character was an eccentric alien traveller of great intelligence who battled injustice while exploring time and space in an unreliable time machine , the " TARDIS " (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), which notably appears much larger on the inside than on the outside. The initially irascible and slightly sinister Doctor quickly mellowed into
9595-411: Was less so in the United States and did not lead to a series. Licensed media such as novels and audio plays provided new stories , but as a television programme, Doctor Who remained dormant. In September 2003, BBC Television announced the in-house production of a new series, after several years of attempts by BBC Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version. The 2005 revival of Doctor Who
9696-486: Was mainly responsible for developing the programme, with the first format document for the series being written by Newman along with the head of the script department (later head of serials) Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. Webber ; in a 1971 interview Wilson claimed to have named the series, and when this claim was put to Newman he did not dispute it. Writer Anthony Coburn , story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to
9797-547: Was produced in 2008 for a Doctor Who –themed edition of The Proms . The 1993 two-part story, entitled Dimensions in Time , was made in collaboration with the cast of the BBC soap-opera EastEnders and was filmed partly on the EastEnders set. A two-part mini-episode was also produced for the 2011 edition of Comic Relief . Starting with the 2009 special " Planet of the Dead ", the series
9898-655: Was published in two volumes in August 2021. Dicks also wrote for the ATV soap opera Crossroads . He co-created and wrote for the short-lived BBC science-fiction TV series Moonbase 3 (1973), and wrote for the ITC science-fiction series Space: 1999 (1976). During the early 1980s, Dicks served once more as script editor to producer Barry Letts on the BBC's Sunday Classics strand of period dramas and literary adaptations. When Letts returned to directing in 1985, Dicks succeeded him as
9999-494: Was replaced by Peter Capaldi . In January 2016, Moffat announced that he would step down after the 2017 finale , to be replaced by Chris Chibnall in 2018. Jodie Whittaker , the first female Doctor, appeared in three series, the last of which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Both Whittaker and Chibnall announced that they would depart the series after a series of specials in 2022. Davies returned as showrunner from
10100-503: Was responsible for the BBC's first merchandising boom. We had to rely on the story because there was little we could do with the effects. Star Wars in a way was the turning point. Once Star Wars had happened, Doctor Who effectively was out of date from that moment on really, judged by that level of technological expertise. The BBC drama department produced the programme for 26 seasons, broadcast on BBC One . Due to his increasingly poor health, William Hartnell , first actor to play
10201-434: Was shortened to twelve episodes and one Christmas special following the revival's eighth series , and ten episodes from the eleventh series . Each series includes standalone and multiple episodic stories, often linked with a loose story arc resolved in the series finale. As in the early "classic" era, each episode has its own title, whether stand-alone or part of a larger story. Occasionally, regular-series episodes will exceed
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