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Doctor Who is a British television science-fiction series, produced and screened by the British Broadcasting Corporation on their BBC One channel from 1963 to 1989 in its original form, with a new series launched in early 2005. In between the two, there was a one-off television movie co-produced with Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television, screened on the Fox Network in the United States in 1996.

This article is specifically about the production history of the programme. For a more general overview of the series, please see the main Doctor Who article. For more about the main character of the Doctor, please see Doctor (Doctor Who).

Origins

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[[:Image:Unearthlychild.jpg|thumb|right|225px|The title screen of the first episode of Doctor Who.]] In March 1962, Eric Maschwitz, the Head of Light Entertainment at BBC Television, asked Donald Wilson, the Head of the Script Department, to have his department's Survey Group prepare a study on the feasibility of producing a new science fiction series on the BBC. The report was prepared by staff members Alice Frick and Donald Bull, and delivered the following month, much to the commendation of Wilson, Maschwitz and the BBC's Assistant Controller of Programmes Donald Baverstock. A follow-up report into specific ideas for the format of such a programme was commissioned, and delivered in July. Prepared by Frick with another Script Department staff member, John Braybon, this report recommended a series dealing with time travel as being an idea particularly worthy of development.

In December, Sydney Newman arrived at BBC Television as the new Head of Drama. Newman was a science-fiction fan who had overseen several such productions in his previous positions at ABC Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In March 1963, he was made aware by Baverstock — now promoted to Controller of Programmes — of a gap in the schedule on Saturday evenings between the sports showcase Grandstand and the pop music programme Juke Box Jury. Newman decided that a science-fiction programme would be perfect to fill the gap, and enthusiastically took up the existing Script Department research, overseeing several brainstorming sessions with Wilson, Frick and another BBC staff writer, C. E. 'Bunny' Webber.

While Wilson and Webber contributed heavily to the formatting of the programme and its initial cast of regular characters, it was Newman who came up with the idea of a time machine larger on the inside than the out and the idea of the central character, the mysterious "Doctor" - he also gave the series the name Doctor Who. Later in the year production was initiated and handed over to producer Verity Lambert and story editor David Whitaker to oversee. Wilson was slightly concerned about Lambert's relative lack of experience, and appointed the experienced staff director Mervyn Pinfield as associate producer (though he ultimately never did any major work in this capacity). Australian staff writer Anthony Coburn also contributed, penning the very first episode from a draft initially prepared by Webber, and coming up with the idea that the time machine, the TARDIS, should externally resemble a police box.

The series' theme music was written by film and television composer Ron Grainer (who would later go on to also compose the theme to The Prisoner) in collaboration with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. While Grainer wrote the theme, it was Delia Derbyshire whose realization of it made it one of the most distinctive and haunting pieces of television music ever, using a series of tape recorders to laboriously cut and join together the individual sounds she created with both concrete sources and square- and sine-wave oscillators. Grainer was amazed at the results and famously asked, "Did I write that?" when he heard it. Derbyshire replied that he mostly had. Unfortunately, the BBC (who wanted to keep members of the Workshop anonymous) prevented Grainer from getting her a co-composer credit and half the royalties. This unusual creative situation was explained in the BBC documentary called Alchemists of Sound. The title sequence was designed by graphics designer Bernard Lodge and realized by electronic effects specialist Norman Taylor.

1960-1969

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Main article: History of Doctor Who 1963-1969

1970-1979

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Main article: History of Doctor Who 1970-1979

1980-1989

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Main article: History of Doctor Who 1980-1989

1990-2004

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Main article: History of Doctor Who 1990-2004

2005-Present

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Main article: History of Doctor Who 2005-Present

References

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Books:

  • Howe, David J; Stammers, Mark & Walker, Stephen James (1994). The Handbook: The First Doctor - The William Hartnell Years: 1963-1966 (1st ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-426-20430-1.
  • Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (1998). The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor - The Sylvester McCoy Years: 1987-1996 (1st ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-426-20527-8.
  • Howe, David J; Stammers, Mark & Walker, Stephen James (1993). Doctor Who: The Sixties (2nd ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-86369-707-0.
  • Howe, David J; Stammers, Mark & Walker, Stephen James (1994). Doctor Who: The Seventies (1st ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 1-85227-444-1.
  • Howe, David J; Stammers, Mark & Walker, Stephen James (1996). Doctor Who: The Eighties (1st ed.). London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 1-85227-680-0.
  • Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (1998). Doctor Who: The Television Companion (1st ed.). London: BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-40588-0.
  • Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (2003). The Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to DOCTOR WHO (2nd ed.) Surrey, UK: Telos Publishing, ISBN 1-903389051 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum-0.
  • Segal, Philip & Russell, Gary (2000). Doctor Who: Regeneration (1st ed.). London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-710591-6.

Magazines:

  • Hickman, Clayton & Davies, Russell T (Dec. 2003). Lucky Thirteen? Exclusive! All the latest Doctor Who series news from Russell T Davies. Doctor Who Magazine No. 338, p.4.
  • Pixley, Andrew (Sep. 2003). 1990-1996: Doctor Who's Wilderness Years. Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: The Complete Eighth Doctor, pp.10-31.
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