Pioneering Doctor Who - the early days
Behind the scenes on The Moonbase (1967)
- Published
The entire Whoniverse came into being 60 years ago because of such ground-breaking acts of imagination.
“Whole worlds pivot on acts of imagination” - the Thirteenth Doctor (2018)
In this clip from a 2006 episode of Doctor Who Confidential, showrunner Russell T Davies suggests that “it’s brilliant to look back at the history of Doctor Who in 1963” because it was “one of the most experimental programmes you could ever imagine”.
Russell T Davies, writer Clayton Hickman and director Waris Hussein look back at the Doctor Who early years, from Doctor Who Confidential (2006)
“They had limitless ambition … and they met it, they met all their challenges”
Faced with small budgets and limited technology in the early years, the Doctor Who pioneers pushed the boundaries to create the show we know and love today.
The BBC’s vast archive allows a more in-depth exploration of these issues than Doctor Who Confidential had time for.
Head of drama Sydney Newman, producer Verity Lambert and director Waris Hussein were the chief creators of Doctor Who.
Together with other members of the production team, they were pivotal in realising the imagination and ambition of Newman’s vision for Doctor Who.
In this clip from the BBC Oral History collection, Indian-born director Waris Hussein explains how he, Canadian Newman and Verity Lambert, the first female BBC drama producer, united as “outsiders”, becoming like “the three musketeers”. But first he credits Newman with creating Doctor Who.
Director Waris Hussein describes working with Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert, from the BBC Oral History Collection (2020)
Sydney Newman’s vision for Doctor Who may have been radical, but it was well-grounded in what was technically possible on television at the time.
In this memo from the BBC Written Archives about one of the initial scripts, Sydney Newman is critical not just of the characters and their emotional responses, but also the demand for unachievable special effects - as he says, “keep the entire conception within the realms of practical live television”.
Memo from Sydney Newman - pushing back on what was achievable on television at the time (1963)
Keeping the ambition of the show within budget fell to producer Verity Lambert. As she explains in this unedited interview recorded in 2003, the budget of £2,000 per episode (about £35,000 today) wasn’t much in 1963. She credits the production staff and designers for their ingenuity in creating such imaginative sets and costumes with so little money.
Verity Lambert describes the limitations of the budgets, from an unedited interview for The Story of Doctor Who (2003)
The design costs for Doctor Who had already become a problem before the show even aired. This memo sent in October 1963 from the head of BBC One, Donald Baverstock, shows his concern at the costs of the effects and the ‘spaceship’ (TARDIS).
Baverstock threatened to cancel the series after just four episodes. However, the handwritten note on the right-hand side of this memo shows Lambert had calculated the cost of the TARDIS set over 52 weeks, not 13, and so was able to prove that it was still within budget and the series was able to continue.
Memo from Donald Baverstock - the costs of the TARDIS and effects (1963)
“What I want you to do, Verity, is to stretch the facilities to the limit”
It was not just the cost of the sets and costumes that proved a problem for the early days of Doctor Who. As Verity Lambert explains, they also had to contend with very antiquated studio facilities.
Verity Lambert describes the limitations of the studio, from an unedited interview for The Story of Doctor Who (2003)
The old studio facilities at Lime Grove also placed limitations on director Hussein, who struggled to achieve the artistic shots he wanted with huge, heavy old cameras.
Waris Hussein describes the limitations of the studios at Lime Grove, from the BBC Oral History Collection (2020)
“We made it work”
So, despite all the limitations in the early days of Doctor Who, the people involved in its production made it work. Brian Hodgson, from the Radiophonic Workshop, explains that even though there were limitations, it was the combination of all these elements which made Doctor Who “transcend the sum to make something special”.
Brian Hodgson discusses how the sound effects worked together with the sets and costumes, from an unedited interview for The Story of Doctor Who (2003)
