Transmat:Doctor Who

Planet of Giants

File:Exclusive First Look - Making Planet of Giants - Doctor Who - BBC

Planet of Giants was a First Doctor serial which had a long and interesting gestation. Its basic conceit — that of miniaturising the Doctor and his companions — was to have been the very first story in Doctor Who history, but the technical challenge was too great for that earliest of production crews. It was therefore rejected by producer Verity Lambert, but script editor David Whitaker continued to push the topic. By its third writer, the "miniaturisation idea" had become intertwined with an important, pro-evironment message. The script that emerged was based on the non-fiction book, Silent Spring, and therefore contained an obvious warning against the environmental dangers of pesticide.

The women who gave Doctor Who back to us

Click for video

Think Doctor Who is just for boys? Don't you believe it. Not only was the show's very first producer a woman, but it would never have come back without the fierce advocacy of Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Considering her importance to Doctor Who it's somewhat ironic that Tranter's only on-screen credits are for Torchwood: Miracle Day. But Gardner, her "partner in crime", is tied only with Russell T Davies as the most prolific producer in Doctor Who history.

Industrial action

Click for a video of a 21st century geek as he takes delivery of one of the two Paintboxes used by the BBC in the 1980s

The Quantel Paintbox was a graphics workstation that allowed Doctor Who to have a primitive form of colour grading in the 1980s. To find out more about the "business of show", go to category:production information, where you can read about colour separation overlay, low loaders, telerecordings, vidFIRE, rostrum cameras, 2" quad tape, Ealing Studios and tons more.

Surprising guest star

How famous is Clunes? Well, click the pic and let David Walliams tell ya

Martin Clunes, known best to audiences as the titular character from Doc Martin had his first major guest starring role on Doctor Who. As Lon from Snakedance, he played the spoilt future ruler of the planet Manussa. 21st century British talk show hosts delight in showing off Clunes' awkwardly-dressed character whenever possible. Find out more about the thousands of actors who have been on Doctor Who by exploring Doctor Who guest actors.

Ex-Doctors never die, they just make audios

The careers of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors are significantly longer in audio than on television. Check out their latest works at category:2024 audio stories.

The relevance of comics

Officially, only The Lodger has been explicitly adapted from a comic strip — also called The Lodger.

However, several stories have clearly taken material from comic strips — often those in Doctor Who Magazine. The Shakespeare Code contains a good amount of material from A Groatsworth of Wit, and the notion of the Doctor absorbing the time vortex in order to spare a companion was explored in both The Parting of the Ways and The Flood.

The first of the "money men"

Donald Baverstock was the BBC executive who set the the wheels in motion that eventually led to the creation of Doctor Who. Essentially the original commissioner of the programme, he hired Sydney Newman and later imposed a sense of financial responsibility upon producer Verity Lambert.

But Baverstock wasn't the only BBC executive to have a profound impact on the development of Doctor Who. Make sure you read about Lorraine Heggessey, Mark Thompson, Danny Cohen, George Entwistle, Tony Hall, Shaun Sutton, Sydney Newman and others.

Things released on 8 November

• 1965 - Part three of the TV Comic story Enter: The Go-Ray was published.
• 1969 - Part one of the TV Comic story The Night Walkers was published.
• 1975
  • Part three of Pyramids of Mars premiered on BBC1.
  • Part three of the TV Comic story The Space Ghost was published.
• 1979 - DWM 5 was published by Marvel Comics.
• 1980 - Part three of Full Circle premiered on BBC1.
• 1984 - DWM 95 was published by Marvel Comics.
• 1986 - Part two of Terror of the Vervoids premiered on BBC1.
• 1989 - Part three of The Curse of Fenric premiered on BBC1.
• 2005 - The Claws of Axos was released on Region 1 DVD.
• 2007 - DWA 42 was published by BBC Magazines.
• 2010
  • Part one of Lost in Time premiered on CBBC, followed by episode five of Sarah Jane's Alien Files.
  • Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray.
• 2011 - The Witch from the Well and The First Wave were released by Big Finish Productions.
• 2012 - DWA 294 was published by Immediate Media Company London Limited.
• 2014 - Death in Heaven premiered on BBC One.
• 2018 - Molten Heart was published by BBC Books.
• 2022
  • Sullivan and Cross - AWOL was released by Big Finish.
  • A World of Demons: The Villains of Doctor Who was released.
• 2023 - Mission: Find Lilith was released by BBV Productions.

Did you know…

• ... that Catherine Tate's introductory scene as Donna Noble was filmed twice due to a change in cinematographers?

• ... that Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer were both responsible for the song, "Enough Is Enough"? (PROSE: Wetworld)

• ... that a Darksmith Agent was a robot created using a mixture of scavenged Nestene and Gundan technology, and that it could travel the time winds without ill-effect? (The Darksmith Legacy series)

• ... that the Tenth Doctor temporarily travelled with the "last" dodo bird, and — much to Martha Jones' confusion — named it "Dorothea"? (PROSE: The Last Dodo)

• ... that Halohawks were capable of flight despite having no wings? (COMIC: Danger Flight)

8 November births and deaths

• 1927
  • Director Lennie Mayne was born.
  • Actor Ken Dodd was born.
• 1937 - Actor Malcolm Taylor was born.
• 1941 - Actor Nerys Hughes was born.
• 1942 - Actor Su Douglas was born.
• 1956 - Writer Richard Curtis was born.
• 1958 - Actor John Gillett was born.
• 1983 - Actor Chris Rankin was born.
• 1984 - Director, writer and actor Scott Handcock was born.
• 1992 - Actor Zaqi Ismail was born.
• 2012 - Actor Roger Hammond died.
• 2021 - Studio sound supervisor Hugh Barker died.

Production history for 8 November

• 1963 - The studio recording for "The Firemaker" took place at Studio D of Lime Grove Studios. (INFO: "The Firemaker")
• 1967 - Location filming at Climping Beach for The Enemy of the World concluded. (TCH 11)
• 1968 - Episode eight of The Invasion was recorded at Lime Grove Studios D. (TCH 13)
• 1972 - Location filming The Three Doctors took place. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Third Doctor)
• 1977 - Studio filming for The Invasion of Time took place at BBC Television Centre studio 8. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor)
• 2005
  • Rewrites for The Christmas Invasion known as "salmon script revisions" were made. This changed Guinevere One's television coverage, Daniel Llewellyn arriving at the Tower of London and the A-positive people being returned to normal. (DWMSE 14)
  • Big Finish's audio adaptation of the unproduced TV story Night Thoughts was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 2011 - The Big Finish audio story The Emerald Tiger was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 2016 - Big Finish's audio anthology The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume Three took place at the Soundhouse.
• 2017
  • The Big Finish audio story The Lure of the Nomad was recorded at the Moat Studios.
  • Big Finish announced the fourth series of The Third Doctor Adventures.
• 2018 - The Big Finish audio story The Moons of Vulpana was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 2019 - Big Finish's The Paternoster Gang audio anthology Heritage 4 was recorded.
• 2022 - Big Finish's audio anthology Comrades-in-Arms was recorded at the Soundhouse.