1963 (production)

1963 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

1963 was a year in which a number of events important to the production of Doctor Who and its spin-offs occurred.

• 29 March - C. E. Webber submitted to Donald Wilson an outline for a proposed family-oriented science fiction series to be called The Troubleshooters. Some of the earliest concepts of what was to become Doctor Who appeared in the document, which exists in the BBC Archives with notations from Sydney Newman.
• 16 May - A document, prepared by Donald Wilson and C. E. Webber and Sydney Newman, was submitted to Donald Baverstock which outlined the concept of a proposed programme called Dr. Who.
• 20 August - Production of Doctor Who began with a filming session at Ealing Studios for the first episode of TV: An Unearthly Child; the session involved the creation of the opening credits. This version of the first episode was beset by technical problems, and the BBC subsequently rejected it for broadcast, authorising a rare "do-over" for later in the year. This version, dubbed The Pilot Episode later, would be finally broadcast in the 1990s. This is the earliest known production session related to Doctor Who. (REF: The Television Companion)
• 31 August - A filming session was held at the BBC for the Pilot Episode).
• 27 September - The formal studio recording session for the Pilot Episode, was conducted at Lime Grove Studios.
• 19 September - A one-day filming session at Ealing Studios was held for what eventually was known as the Pilot Episode.
• 30 September - After viewing the pilot episode, Sydney Newman officially rejected The Pilot Episode in a lunch meeting with Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein and authorisesd a remounting of the episode. According to Howe and Walker, this was a contingency that had been planned for. Over the next couple of weeks numerous revisions to the script and changes to costuming and characterisation were undertaken.
• 9 October - Filming resumed at Ealing Studios for TV: An Unearthly Child, as Episode 1 was re-mounted following September's false start.
• 11 October - Filming ended at Ealing for TV: An Unearthly Child
• 18 October - One day studio recording at Lime Grove Studio D for the remounted first episode of TV: An Unearthly Child (also entitled "An Unearthly Child") took place.
• 25 October - One day studio recording at Lime Grove Studio D for TV: An Unearthly Child episode 2, "The Cave of Skulls" took place. Margot Maxine, an extra hired as a member of the tribe, walked out at 3:00 after refusing to have her teeth blackened.
• 28 October - Initial filming began at Ealing Studios for elements to be used in the upcoming TV: The Daleks
• 1 November - One day studio recording at Lime Grove Studio D for TV: An Unearthly Child episode 3, "The Forest of Fear" took place.
• 8 November - One day studio recording at Lime Grove Studio D for TV: An Unearthly Child episode 4, "The Firemaker" took place, concluding the first Doctor Who serial.
• 11 November - One day studio recording at Lime Grove Studio D for TV: The Daleks episode 1, "The Dead Planet" took place. According to Howe and Walker's The Television Companion, this version was not transmitted and was remounted a month later.
• 22 November - Recording of "The Survivors", episode 2 of TV: The Daleks, was interrupted by the news of the Kennedy assassination, but resumed later the same day.
• 23 November - Likely the earliest Radio Times reference to the series occurred in the issue dated 23 November.
• 6 December - Recording of Episode 1 of TV: The Daleks, "The Dead Planet", was remounted following a false start in November.
• 30 December - Audience Research Report on the first episode of Doctor Who was filed with the BBC.