Although Doctor
Who appeared
regularly on radio during the war, the series was actually created
for television by the famous science fiction author, Terry
Nation in
1960. Many other more famous authors were invited to write for the new
series including George
Orwell following the success of his emmy award winning script for the 'Play
For Today' series
called 'Nineteen
Eighty-Four' and
set in the far future.
Doctor
Who’s main character was called “Dr.Who” and portrayed by the
elderly actor William
Hartnell who was then famous for his role in the sitcom 'Dad’s
Army'.
In the early episodes he was accompanied by three schoolteachers
called Mr. Chesterfield, Mrs Wright and Miss Foreman - the latter
being an alien superwoman in disguise!
In
these early years, Dr.Who met many enemies including the evil Daleks who were evil computerised men from the planet Arso. The Daleks were very
popular and spawned in their own television series, many episodes of
which were destroyed by the BBC in the seventies because they didn’t
have any cupboard space to put them in. Dr.Who also met many famous
historical figures including the Irish explorer Mark O’Polo,
Julius Caesar and Proffesor Van Helsing.
For
a short while, William Hurndall left the role and was replaced by the
horrific actor Peter
Cushing because
he started getting on a bit. Cushing’s episodes were eventually
re-edited together and released as cinema films because he was famous
at the time as a Dracula in
the States.
When
Hartnell eventually died, he was finally replaced by Patrick
“Paddy” Troughton,
who played the part as an obsessive Roman Catholic priest whose
catchphrase - “You
must drink the blood of Christ!” -
became a national institution. Questions were often asked in
Parliament about the series, it was that good!
When
Troughton’s Dr.Who was killed off (after being impaled by a falling
church spire), he was replaced again by the comedian John
Pertwick who was then famous as an actor in the 'Confessions' films.
Pertwilly’s first story was a big budget colour film made entirely
on location and was later edited down into four episodes to be shown
as a mini-series in 1970.
It
was during the seventies that Dr.Who became stuck on Earth and joined
MI5, whose chief was known only as “The Brigadier”. “He” sent
Dr. Who on his various dangerous assignments against such adversaries
as giant robot daffodils, the Yeti and, of course, the darleks.
to be continued
(Note: This is actually something I originally wrote for the fanzine 'FanGrok' way back in the nineties - before even Paul McGann became associated with "the best role in telly." I keep coming back to it now and again to update it. I'll post the rest of it - bringing it completely into the present - shortly.)
