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Season 1 of Doctor Who ran between 23 November 1963 and 12 September 1964. It starred William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter, and William Russell and Jacqueline Hill as the companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.
- You may wish to consult
Series 1for other, similarly-named pages.
Overview
It consisted of eight serials (listed below) and 42 episodes, and a pilot episode which never aired on television until 1991. (More accurately, the production team made several versions of the pilot episode.) The inaugural season established many of the concepts that continue to the present day, and also introduced the hugely popular Daleks. Two of the three historical stories of this season are presently considered lost, in total (as is the case of Marco Polo) or partially (The Reign of Terror), although audio recordings of all episodes remain.
Television stories
| # | Title | Writer | Episodes | Notes |
| 1 | An Unearthly Child | Anthony Coburn | 4 | First appearances of the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and the TARDIS. |
| 2 | The Daleks | Terry Nation | 7 | First appearance of the Daleks. |
| 3 | The Edge of Destruction | David Whitaker | 2 | First and only story set entirely within the TARDIS, with no other cast apart from the regular actors. |
| 4 | Marco Polo | John Lucarotti | 7 | First storyline based around a historical figure. |
| 5 | The Keys of Marinus | Terry Nation | 6 | First story by Terry Nation not to feature the Daleks until The Android Invasion in 1975. |
| 6 | The Aztecs | John Lucarotti | 4 | Introduces the concept of changing history. |
| 7 | The Sensorites | Peter R. Newman | 6 | First story clearly stated to be set in the future. |
| 8 | The Reign of Terror | Dennis Spooner | 6 | First story to feature location filming. |
Notes
- Unseen by the public, an early version of the episode "An Unearthly Child" was produced, but was not broadcast until 26 August 1991 (Bank Holiday Monday) when it was shown on BBC2 as part of The Lime Grove Story — a special day of programming to mark the closure of Lime Grove Studios.
- Stories consisted of between two and seven episodes, with each episode having a distinct title. Some stories have been given different titles over the years; see individual articles for details.
Cast
Recurring
- The First Doctor - William Hartnell
- Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford
- Ian Chesterton - William Russell
- Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill
Guest
- Kal - Jeremy Young
- Za - Derek Newark
- Hur - Alethea Charlton
- Alydon - John Lee
- Ganatus - Philip Bond
- Temmosus - Alan Wheatley
- Marco Polo - Mark Eden
- Tegana - Derren Nesbitt
- Arbitan - George Coulouris
- Altos - Robin Phillips
- Sabetha - Katherine Schofield
- Eyesen - Donald Pickering
- Autloc - Keith Pyott
- Ixta - Ian Cullen
- Tlotoxl - John Ringham
- Carol - Ilona Rodgers
- John - Stephen Dartnell
- Commander - John Bailey
- Jules Renan - Donald Morley
- Léon Colbert - Edward Brayshaw
- Lemaitre / James Stirling - James Cairncross
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 First 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), and 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 to third season story titles have been a contentious issue. For more information, see Disputed story titles.
Stories considered during this season, but ultimately 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
- Farewell Great Macedon by Moris Farhi
- The Miniscules by C. E. Webber (a variant on this idea appeared as Planet of Giants, aired during Season 2)
Stories set before this season
- The Big Finish audio story The Beginning recounts the TARDIS' maiden voyage.
- The Big Finish audio stories The Alchemists and The Sleeping Blood and the Puffin eshort A Big Hand for the Doctor are set during the travels of the First Doctor and Susan Foreman.
- The Big Finish audio story Quinnis is set immediately before the First Doctor and Susan's arrival on Earth in 1963.
- The AudioGO and Big Finish Productions joint production Hunters of Earth is set during their stay on Earth in 1963.
- The Telos Publishing novel Time and Relative relates the events leading up to An Unearthly Child.
Stories set during this season
- A segment of The Eight Doctors in which the First and Eighth Doctors meet occurs during "The Forest of Fear".
- The Virgin Missing Adventures book The Sorcerer's Apprentice is set after Marco Polo.
- The audio story The Transit of Venus (between The Sensorites and The Reign of Terror)
Ratings
- Average: 8.1 million
- Highest: 10.4 million (five-way tie)
- Lowest: 4.9 million (An Unearthly Child episode 1, due to a widespread power cut)
Adaptations and merchandising
Home media
VHS
- An Unearthly Child (1990/2000)
- The Daleks (2-part version) (1989)
- The Daleks [Remastered] (2001)
- The Edge of Destruction and Dr. Who: The Pilot Episode (2000)
- The Keys of Marinus (1999)
- The Aztecs (1992)
- The Sensorites (2002)
- The Reign of Terror (2003) (with linking narration of missing episodes, also includes The Faceless Ones episodes 1 and 3 & The Web of Fear episode 1)
- The Hartnell Years (1991) (Pilot Episode)
See episode articles for full details.
Loose Cannon VHS releases
- Marco Polo (2002)
- The Reign of Terror (2000) (episodes 4 and 5 only)
DVD releases
| Serial name | Number and duration of episodes |
R2 release date | R4 release date | R1 release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Beginning: An Unearthly Child (4 episodes) The Daleks (7 episodes) The Edge of Destruction (2 episodes) Marco Polo (reconstruction) |
13 × 25 min. 1 × 30 min |
30 January 2006 | 2 March 2006 | 28 March 2006 |
| The Keys of Marinus (6 episodes) | 6 × 25 min. | 21 September 2009 | 7 January 2010 | 5 January 2010 |
| The Aztecs (4 episodes) | 4 × 25 min. | 21 October 2002 | 2 December 2002 | 4 March 2003 |
| The Sensorites (6 episodes) | 6 × 25 min. | 23 January 2012 | 2 February 2012 | 14 February 2012 |
| The Reign of Terror (6 episodes, 2 animated reconstructions) | 6 × 25 min | 28 January 2013 | 6 February 2013 | 12 February 2013 |
Download/streaming availability
| Serial name | BBC Store | iTunes |
|---|---|---|
| An Unearthly Child (4 episodes) | ✓ | |
| The Daleks (7 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Edge of Destruction (2 episodes) | ✓ | |
| Marco Polo | ||
| The Keys of Marinus | ||
| The Aztecs (4 episodes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Sensorites (6 episodes) | ✓ | |
| The Reign of Terror |
Until 31 January 2016, The Aztecs was available for streaming from Netflix in the US. Until early 2016, all stories of the season except for Marco Polo, The Keys of Marinus and The Reign of Terror were available for streaming on Hulu Plus.
Novels
- Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child
- Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks
- Doctor Who – The Edge of Destruction
- Doctor Who - Marco Polo
- Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus
- Doctor Who - The Aztecs
- Doctor Who – The Sensorites
- Doctor Who – The Reign of Terror
Audiobooks
Theatrical film
- Dr. Who and the Daleks - based upon the second serial, The Daleks.