Season 1 (Doctor Who 1963)

For other first seasons in the Doctor Who franchise, see Series 1.

The first season of Doctor Who ran between 23rd November 1963 and 12th September 1964. It consisted of eight serials (listed below) and 42 episodes, and one unbroadcast pilot episode. The inaugural season established many of the concepts that continue to the present day, as well as introducing the Daleks, who have plagued the Doctor in several eadventures since. Two of the three historical stories this season are presently considered lost, although audio recordings of all episodes remain.

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Stories

An Unearthly Child aka "100 000 BC"
The Daleks aka "The Mutants"
The Edge of Destruction aka "Inside the Spaceship"
Marco Polo
The Keys of Marinus
The Aztecs
The Sensorites
The Reign of Terror

Notes

Unseen by the public, several versions of The Pilot Episode preceded this.

Main Cast

Notes

An Unearthly Child introduced all the regular cast.

Production

Creation

The series was essentially the creation of a committee, with the following amongst the many who created the various parts that went into the series: Donald Wilson (time travel), Sydney Newman (the Doctor and Susan), C. E. Webber (Ian and Barbara, scenario for the first episode), Anthony Coburn (Susan's name, the TARDIS looking like a police box), David Whitaker (Susan as the Doctor's granddaughter).

Production overview

Verity Lambert was chosen by Sydney Newman as Producer of the series and Mervyn Pinfield was assigned as Associate Producer, picking up on the mainly technical side of the series such as dealing with the in-camera SFX.

Initially, the series was only ordered for the first four episodes that made up 100 000 BC and came close to going no further. This was extended to thirteen episodes, but the production team had either eleven (100,000 BC and The Mutants) or eighteen (100,000 BC, The Mutants, Marco Polo). To solve this problem, David Whitaker wrote the two episode Inside the Spaceship, something that normally wouldn't have happened due to an existing rule that prohibited Script Editors writing for the series they were editing. (Otherwise they could simply have "hired" themselves and deprived other script writers of work.)

The first through to third season story titles have been a contentious issue for more information. See Disputed story titles.

Stories considered during this season, but ultimately going unmade included:

The Masters of Luxor (a.k.a. The Robots) by Anthony Coburn
The Hidden Planet (a.k.a. Beyond the Sun) by Malcolm Hulke
The Red Fort by Terry Nation
The Miniscules by C. E. Webber (a variant on this idea appeared as Planet of Giants, aired during Season 2)

Stories set during this season

A segment of The Eight Doctors in which the First and Eighth Doctors meet occurs during Episode 3 An Unearthly Child.
The Virgin Missing Adventures book The Sorcerer's Apprentice is set after Marco Polo
The Past Doctor Adventures books City at World's End and The Witch Hunters are set after The Reign of Terror
The short stories The Last Days from Short Trips and Nothing at the End of the Lane from Short Trips and Side Steps are also set after The Reign of Terror and therefore between the ending of Season 1 and the start of Season 2.

Adaptations and merchandising

Video

VHS

An Unearthly Child
The Daleks (in 2 parts)
The Edge of Destruction and The Pilot Episode
The Keys of Marinus
The Aztecs
The Senorites
The Reign of Terror (With linking narration of Missing episodes)
The Hartnell Years (Pilot Episode)

See episode articles for full detials

DVD's

The Beginning Box Set
The Aztecs

Novelisations

Audiobooks

Theatrical film

Dr. Who and the Daleks - based upon the second serial, The Daleks.

External Links

BBC Website Guide to Season 1

Next season:
Season 2

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