Transmat:Doctor Who

Rose

File:"I'm the Doctor by the way" - Doctor Who - BBC

Rose was the first episode of the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who. As the first televised story of the 21st century, it had to introduce the concept of the programme, as well as new regulars, Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Its success on BBC One was immediate. As of 2013, it remained the second highest-rated season opener in Doctor Who history, behind only Destiny of the Daleks, a story that aired without any competition from other broadcasters. Aired in March, 2005 — several years before the BBC offered full scale digital content streaming — it picked up nearly 11 million terrestrial and cable BBC One viewers. The episode boasted a number of behind-the-scenes firsts, aside from merely being the first episode to feature Russell T Davies' vision of the show — such as being the first episode shot in a widescreen aspect ratio. It was also the first British-made episode to utilise an modern production style, and was thus the first time that credited cinematographers, production designers, colourists, digital artists, and any number of skilled professions had been credited on British-made Doctor Who.

The women who gave DESU' back to us

Click for video

Think DESU 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 DESU 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 DESU 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.

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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 28 November

• 1964 - "The Daleks" was broadcast on BBC1.
• 1970 - Part five of the TV Comic story Trial of Fire was published.
• 1991 - DWM 181 was published by Marvel Comics.
• 2002
  • DWMSE 3 was published by Panini Comics.
  • The audio story The Church and the Crown was released by Big Finish Productions.
• 2007 - The Doctor Who: Battles in Time comic story Inhuman Sacrifice was published.
• 2012 - DWDVDF 102 was published by GE Fabbri Ltd.
• 2014 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 78 was released online.
• 2015 - Heaven Sent was broadcast on BBC One.
• 2018 - TCH 39 was published by Hachette Partworks.
• 2019 - DWFC 164 was published by Eaglemoss Collections.
• 2021 - Survivors of the Flux was broadcast on BBC One.
• 2022 - Doctor Who Am I was released on DVD and Blu-ray.
• 2023 - Broken Hearts was released by Big Finish.

Did you know…

• ... that Ray Holman is the only costume designer to have led the wardrobe departments of both Doctor Who and Torchwood?

• ... that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart hated cats? (COMIC: The Golden Ones)

• ... that the Jeggorabax Cluster was a region of space that was the home of the energy entity which landed on Earth in 1283 and became known as the Pied Piper? (TV: The Day of the Clown)

• ... that Rex Matheson returned to work for the Central Intelligence Agency after he gained something akin to Jack Harkness' immortality? (AUDIO: Army of One)

• ... that the Catkind evolved on the planet New Savannah? (COMIC: Agent Provocateur)

28 November births and deaths

• 1922 - Continuity supervisor Pamela Davies was born.
• 1939 - Actor Jonathan Burn was born.
• 1944 - Actor James Smillie was born.
• 1959 - Actor Jonathan Pearce was born.
• 1961 - Actor Martin Clunes was born.
• 1964 - Presenter Sian Williams was born.
• 1965 - Actor Anastasia Hille was born.
• 1967 - Writer Tommy Donbavand was born.
• 1974 - Actor Nancy Carroll was born.
• 1978 - Actor André Morell died.
• 1985
  • Actor Ryan Sampson was born.
  • Actor Lawry Lewin was born.
• 1987 - Actor Karen Gillan was born.
• 1995 - Actor Frederick Hall died.
• 2007 - Actor Tony Holland died.
• 2015 - Film cameraman Fred Hamilton died.
• 2020 - Actor Dave Prowse died.

Production history for 28 November

• 1972 - Studio filming for The Three Doctors took place at BBC Television Centre studio 1. (REF: Doctor Who The Handbook: The Third Doctor)
• 2005 - A final edit of The Christmas Invasion was available for viewing. (DWMSE 14).
• 2016 - Big Finish's audio anthology The Comic Strip Adaptations: Volume One was recorded at Audio Sorcery.
• 2017 - Big Finish's audio anthology Ravenous 1 was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 2018 - The Big Finish audio story An Alien Werewolf in London was recorded at the Moat Studios.
• 2020 - Doctor Who: Lockdown! hosted a tweetalong of Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways.
• 2022 - Big Finish's The Paternoster Gang audio anthology Rogues Gallery was recorded.