Season 1 (Doctor Who 1963)

The season consisted of eight serials comprised of forty-two episodes, as well as a pilot episode which was 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

#	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, first story to be written by Terry Nation and the first story to have episodes directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin.
3	The Edge of Destruction	David Whitaker	2	First story set entirely within the TARDIS, with no other cast apart from the regular actors, and the only one in the classic series.
4	Marco Polo	John Lucarotti	7	First storyline based around a historical figure and the first story to be written by John Lucarotti. First story to have missing episodes.
5	The Keys of Marinus	Terry Nation	6	Only story by Terry Nation not to feature the Daleks until The Android Invasion in 1975. First, and only, televised appearance of the Voord.
6	The Aztecs	John Lucarotti	4	First story to tackle the concept of changing history.
7	The Sensorites	Peter R. Newman	6	First story clearly stated to be set in the future. First, and only, televised appearance of the Sensorites.
8	The Reign of Terror	Dennis Spooner	6	First story to feature location filming and the first story to be written by future script editor Dennis Spooner.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

Recurring[[edit] | [edit source]]

Daleks - operated by Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Michael Summerton, Gerald Taylor, and voiced by Peter Hawkins, David Graham

Guest[[edit] | [edit source]]

Za - Derek Newark
Hur - Alethea Charlton
Old Mother - Eileen Way
Kal - Jeremy Young
Horg - Howard Lang
Temmosus - Alan Wheatley
Alydon - John Lee
Dyoni - Virginia Wetherell
Ganatus - Philip Bond
Antodus - Marcus Hammond
Kristas - Jonathan Crane
Elyon - Gerald Curtis
Thals - Chris Browning, Katie Cashfield, Vez Delahunt, Kevin Glenny, Ruth Harrison, Lesley Hill, Steve Pokol, Jeanette Rossini, Eric Smith
Marco Polo - Mark Eden
Tegana - Derren Nesbitt
Ping-Cho - Zienia Merton
Kublai Khan - Martin Miller
Chenchu - Jimmy Gardner
Man at Lop - Leslie Bates
Mongol Bandit - Michael Guest
Malik - Charles Wade
Acomat - Philip Voss
Ling-Tau - Paul Carson
Wang-Lo - Gabor Baraker
Kuiju - Tutte Lemkow
Empress - Claire Davenport
Vizier - Peter Lawrence
Office Foreman - Basil Tang
Yeng - O. Ikeda
Arbitan - George Coulouris
Voords - Martin Cort, Peter Stenson, Gordon Wales
Altos - Robin Phillips
Sabetha - Katharine Schofield
Voice of Morpho - Heron Carvic
Warrior - Martin Cort
Darrius - Edmund Warwick
Vasor - Francis De Wolff
Ice Soldiers - Michael Allaby, Alan James, Peter Stenson, Anthony Verner
Tarron - Henley Thomas
Larn - Michael Allaby
Senior judge - Raf De La Torre
First judge - Alan James
Second judge - Peter Stenson
Kala - Fiona Walker
Aydan - Martin Cort
Eyesen - Donald Pickering
Guard - Alan James
Yartek - Stephen Dartnell
Autloc - Keith Pyott
Tlotoxl - John Ringham
Ixta - Ian Cullen
Cameca - Margot Van der Burgh
First Victim - Tom Booth
Aztec Captain - David Anderson
Tonila - Walter Randall
Perfect Victim - Andre Boulay
John - Stephen Dartnell
Carol - Ilona Rodgers
Maitland - Lorne Cossette
First Sensorite - Ken Tyllsen
Second Sensorite - Joe Greig
Third Sensorite - Peter Glaze
Fourth Sensorite - Arthur Newall
First Elder - Eric Francis
Second Elder - Bartlett Mullins
Sensorites - Anthony Rogers, Gerry Martin
First Scientist - Ken Tyllsen
Second Scientist - Joe Greig
Warrior - Joe Greig
Commander - John Bailey
First Human - Martyn Huntley
Second Human - Giles Phibbs
Small Boy - Peter Walker
Rouvray - Laidlaw Dalling
D'Argenson - Neville Smith
Sergeant - Robert Hunter
Lieutenant - Ken Lawrence
Soldier - James Hall
Judge - Howard Charlton
Jailer - Jack Cunningham
Webster - Jeffry Wickham
Overseer - Dallas Cavell
Peasant - Dennis Cleary
James Stirling - James Cairncross
Jean - Roy Herrick
Jules Renan - Donald Morley
Shopkeeper - John Barrard
Danielle - Caroline Hunt
Léon Colbert - Edward Brayshaw
Maximilien Robespierre - Keith Anderson
Physician - Ronald Pickup
Soldier - Terry Bale
Paul Barras - John Law
Napoléon Bonaparte - Tony Wall
Soldier - Patrick Marley

Production[[edit] | [edit source]]

Creation[[edit] | [edit source]]

The series was borne out of a need to fill a gap in the Saturday teatime schedule between Grandstand and Juke Box Jury. A meeting between Donald Wilson, Sydney Newman and Donald Baverstock was held to discuss potential shows to fill this gap. Newman, having had recent experience producing a successful sci-fi show at ABC, suggested that a sci-fi show would be of great potential. From there, the show was formed through various meetings and developing proposals. The show, as we know it, 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 and the scenario for the first episode), Anthony Coburn (Susan's name, the TARDIS looking like a police box and the idea that the Doctor's ship would have an abbreviated/acronymic name) and David Whitaker (Susan being the Doctor's granddaughter).

Production overview[[edit] | [edit source]]

Verity Lambert was chosen by Sydney Newman as producer of the series (although Don Taylor was first approached), due to his experience working with her on projects for several years, and Mervyn Pinfield was assigned as associate producer, picking up mainly on the 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 An Unearthly Child and came close to going no further. This was extended to thirteen episodes, but the production team had either eleven (An Unearthly Child and The Daleks) or eighteen (An Unearthly Child, The Daleks and Marco Polo). To solve this problem, David Whitaker wrote the two episode The Edge of Destruction, something that normally would not have happened due to an existing rule that prohibited script editors writing for the series they were editing. This was so that they could not simply commission themselves and deprive 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[[edit] | [edit source]]

The following stories are the known adventures set prior to An Unearthly Child:

Novels[[edit] | [edit source]]

Frayed
Time and Relative

Short stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

Audio[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

Operation Proteus

Stories set during this season[[edit] | [edit source]]

Novels[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Short stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

Audio[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comics[[edit] | [edit source]]

In-Between Times
The Path of Skulls

The First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan's involvement in The Forgotten

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home media[[edit] | [edit source]]

VHS releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

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[[edit] | [edit source]]

Marco Polo (2002)
The Reign of Terror (2000) (episodes 4 and 5 only)

DVD & Blu-ray releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

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 × 25 min.	21 September 2009	7 January 2010	5 January 2010
The Aztecs	4 × 25 min.	21 October 2002	2 December 2002	4 March 2003
The Aztecs - Special Edition	4 x 25 min.	11 March 2013	20 March 2013	12 March 2013
The Sensorites	6 × 25 min.	23 January 2012	2 February 2012	14 February 2012
The Reign of Terror (episodes 1-3 & 6 of 6, animated reconstructions of episodes 4 & 5)	6 × 25 min.	28 January 2013	6 February 2013	12 February 2013

Download/streaming availability[[edit] | [edit source]]

Serial name	Amazon Video	BritBox	Google Play	iTunes
An Unearthly Child (4 episodes)	UK	✓	✓	✓
The Daleks (7 episodes)	UK	✓		✓
The Edge of Destruction (2 episodes)		✓
Marco Polo
The Keys of Marinus (6 episodes)		✓
The Aztecs (4 episodes)	UK, US	✓		✓
The Sensorites (6 episodes)		✓
The Reign of Terror