The Doctor Who Thread

[Susan Foreman]

June 8th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1931 - Peter Russell (Eldred in The Time Meddler)
1932 - Maurice Good (Phineas Clanton in The Gunfighters)
1933 - Derek Newark (Za in An Unearthly Child and Greg Sutton in Inferno)
1942 - Peter Grimwade (production assistant on Spearhead from Space, The Daemons, Robot, Pyramids of Mars, The Robots of Death and Horror of Fang Rock, director of Full Circle, Logopolis, Kinda and Earthshock, and writer of Time-Flight, Mawdryn Undead and Planet of Fire)

1943 - Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor; Maxil in Arc of Infinity and Big Finish Productions' Gallifrey story Appropriation and Peter Russell in the PROBE story The Zero Imperative; Big Finish actor - Lord Tepesh in Zagreus and Mikhail Vladamir Popov in the Bernice Summerfield story Birthright)

1951 - Tim Munro (Ainu in The Creature from the Pit and Sigurd in Terminus)
1994 - Clem Tibber (Milo in School Reunion)

Deaths
2005 - Ed Bishop (General Flint in the Big Finish audio Full Fathom Five) aged 72
2011 - Roy Skelton (Dalek voices [1967-1999]; Monoid voices in The Ark, Cybermen voices in The Tenth Planet and The Wheel in Space, Computer voice in The Ice Warriors, Kroton voice in The Krotons, Norton in Colony in Space, Wester in Planet of the Daleks, James in The Green Death, Chedaki in The Android Invasion, King Rokon in The Hand of Fear and James Carver in Big Finish's Sarah Jane Smith story Test of Nerve) aged 79

2013 - Angus MacKay (Borusa in The Deadly Assassin and the Headmaster in Mawdryn Undead) died aged 86

Episodes
1974 - Planet of the Spiders, Part Six: 8.9 million viewers
2007 - The Infinite Quest, Episode Nine

Documentaries
2006 - Totally Doctor Who: Series One: Episode Nine
2007 - Totally Doctor Who: Series Two: Episode Nine

Introductions
1974 - Tom Baker's first appearance as the Fourth Doctor

Departures
1974 - Conclusion to the eleventh series of the 'classic era' of Doctor Who; Jon Pertwee and Richard Franklin's last regular appearances as the Third Doctor and Mike Yates respectively; Terrance Dicks' last credit as Doctor Who's script editor

Releases
1989 - Issue 150 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

1995 - Issue 227 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1998 - Seeing I and Mission: Impractical (BBC Books)

2006 - Doctor Who Files 1-4 (BBC Children's Books)

Behind-the-Scenes
2004 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Caedroia took place

[Susan Foreman]

June 9th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1902 - Norman Henry (Senta in The Savages)
1923 - Donald Morley (Jules Renan in The Reign of Terror)
1925 - Denis Goacher (Control Voice in The Macra Terror)

1950 - David Troughton (Black Guardian [Big Finish audio adventures]; Private Moore in The War Games, King Peladon in The Curse of Peladon and the Big Finish audio The Prisoner of Peladon, Professor Hobbes in Midnight, the Second Doctor's clone in the AudioGO story Serpent Crest and an extra in The Enemy of the World; Big Finish audio - Raymond Gallagher in The Crimes of Thomas Brewster and the Tinghus in Cuddlesome; son of Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton and brother of Last Christmas guest actor Michael Troughton); Guy Groen (Receptionist in Arc of Infinity)

Episodes
1973 - The Green Death, Episode Four: 6.8 million viewers
2007 - Blink: 6.62 million viewers

Documentaries
2007 - Doctor Who Confidential: Do You Remember the First Time

Introductions
2007 - First appearance of the Weeping Angels

Releases
1983 - Issue 78 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

1988 - Issue 138 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1994 - Issue 214 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1997 - The War Machines (VHS)

2003 - The Dalek Invasion of Earth (DVD - region 2)
2011 - Issue 221 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2015 - Erimem: The Last Pharaoh (Thebes Publishing)
2017 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 203 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2004 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Last took place
2011 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Sands of Life took place
2016 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Star Men took place
2017 - Recording of Kingdom of Lies and UNIT: Encounters took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Ice Lord Azaxyr deep in discussion with Sarah-Jane in the 1974 story The Monster of Peladon.

[Susan Foreman]

June 10th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1904 - Geoffrey Orme (writer of The Underwater Menace)
1917 - Reed De Rouen (Pa Clanton in The Gunfighters)
1919 - John Dawson (Time Lord in The Deadly Assassin)
1922 - Bill Kerr (Giles Kent in The Enemy of the World)
1926 - Gabor Baraker (Wang-Lo in Marco Polo and Luigi Ferrigo in The Crusade)
1949 - Andrew Johns (Kravos in Genesis of the Daleks)
1971 - Michael Piccarilli (Michael Pemborke in the Big Finish audio The Shadow of the Scourge)

Deaths
1977 - Reginald Barrett (Smithers in Planet of Giants) aged 57
2008 - David Brierley (K9 [1979-1980]) aged 73; Derek Murcott (Crito in The Time Monster) aged 83

2009 - Tenniel Evans (Major Daly in Carnival of Monsters) aged 83

Episodes
1967 - The Evil of the Daleks, Episode Four: 5.3 million viewers
1972 - The Time Monster, Episode Four: 7.6 million viewers
2006 - The Satan Pit: 6.08 million viewers
2017 - Empress of Mars: 5.02 million viewers

Documentaries
2006 - Doctor Who Confidential: Myths and Legends

Releases
1982 - Issue 66 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1993 - Issue 201 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

2004 - Pyramids of Mars (DVD - region 4)

2010 - Issue 170 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2015 - The Shadows of Serenity (Big Finish); Issue 11 of Tenth Doctor (Titan Comics)
2016 - Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 172 (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
1985 - Recording of the BBC Radio story Slipback took place

2004 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Last took place
2011 - Recording of the Big Finish audio War Against the Laan took place
2015 - Filming began on Face the Raven
2016 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Star Men took place
2017 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Kingdom of Lies took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Shadow from the 1979 story The Armageddon Factor.

[Susan Foreman]

Here's what the critics said about each Doctor Who's debut at the time

Jodie Whittaker is expected to make her Doctor Who debut in just a few months' time, with fans anxious to see how she'll fare at the helm of the TARDIS.

Of course, the critics will have their say, too – for 55 years, TV pundits have been passing judgement on the arrival of each new Doctor, with some opinions having aged better than others...

Here's how the commentators of the time reacted to each Time Lord's entrance, from William Hartnell to Peter Capaldi

1. William Hartnell

The first ever episode of Doctor Who is now widely regarded as a television classic, but contemporary reaction to November 1963's 'An Unearthly Child' was actually pretty frosty, at least in Britain's newspaper columns.

"William Hartnell gazing from under locks of flowing white, and the appealing Carole Ann Ford represent the Unknown Them [while] William Russell and Jaqueline Hill [are] the ignorant, skeptical Us and their craft is cunningly disguised as a police call box," Michael Gowers enthused in the Daily Mail.

But he went on to compare the episode's final shot – in which said police box lands "in a neolithic landscape" – to a scene from The Telegoons, a comedy puppet series adapted from The Goon Show which followed Doctor Who on Saturday nights. Clearly, at this early stage, Gowers was a little uneasy with Who's wonderfully absurd stylings.

Mary Crozier in The Guardian was more damning. Passing judgement on the following week's 'The Cave of Skulls', she wrote that Doctor Who had "fallen off badly soon after getting under way".

Though she begrudgingly admitted that it was "possible to get mildly worked up" by the TARDIS's first trip back in time at the close of 'An Unearthly Child', Crozier insisted that the following instalment, which saw our heroes encounter a tribe of cavemen, was "a depressing sequel".

"Wigs and furry pelts and clubs and laborious dialogue were all ludicrous," she wrote. "Were these serious Stone Agers or not? The space ship, for some unexplained reason, remained looking like a police box in the dusty desert. I hope this will be explained later."

We doubt Mary stayed tuned in long enough to have the full intricacies of the Chameleon Circuit explained to her

2. Patrick Troughton

Surprisingly, relatively few column inches were dedicated to the changeover between Hartnell and Patrick Troughton.

The Daily Sketch did remark on the "explosive event" and the transition from Hartnell to "spooky character actor" Troughton, and the "mental somersaults" apparently being performed by the writers to explain away the change in leading man. (In fact, Troughton's debut 'The Power of the Daleks' provides no solid explanation. The concept of "regeneration" wouldn't be introduced into the series until much later.)

Troughton's initially more comic take on the Doctor did notably divide viewers at the time. In a letter to the Radio Times, G Howard from Leeds argued that Troughton "and the superb character he has created have dragged the programme out of the unfortunate mess it had degenerated into."

But Mrs Estelle Hawken of Wadebridge, Cornwall was less impressed. In a rant now notorious within Doctor Who fandom, she fumed: "What have you done to BBC1's Doctor Who? Of all the stupid nonsense! Why turn a wonderful series into what looked like Coco the Clown?

"I think you will find thousands of children will not now be watching Doctor Who, which up to now has been the tops."

3. Jon Pertwee

These critics are a grumpy lot, huh?

The good news is that the tide began to turn with the arrival of Jon Pertwee and Doctor Who in full colour in 1970, with his debut adventure 'Spearhead from Space' – the one with the shop window dummies springing to life – earning a positive reception.

"This Doctor Who adventure wins my vote as the best in the lifetime of the series so far," gushed Matthew Coady in the Daily Mirror. "What it did was to suggest an authentic sense of the uncanny."

In the Daily Sketch, Gerard Garrett also sang the story's praises, colourfully commenting that 'Spearhead' featured "production so slick that it made many adult series look like lumbering oxen".

4. Tom Baker

Much like Troughton before him, Tom Baker followed a more straight-laced predecessor by bringing a little extra eccentricity to the part of the Doctor – and, as in 1966, the response to his debut was mixed.

The BBC's Audience Research Report on part one of 1974's 'Robot' noted that "at this early stage, many did not know whether they were going to like [Baker] or not" and felt he'd "take some getting used to".

Reactions ranged from outrage ("Too stupid for words!") to elation, with some suggesting that the new Doctor had "more life and humour" and would "buck the series up" – that he did, with Doctor Who reaching a new peak of popularity during Baker's 7-year tenure

5. Peter Davison

The long-standing Baker might have been beloved, but Peter Davison's arrival as the fifth Doctor in 1982's M.C. Escher-influenced 'Castrovalva' actually went down rather well.

"Thankfully Doctor Who is a [series] that is always discovering and experimenting, but never more so than when the reign of a new Doctor begins," read a review in the fanzine TARDIS. "Tom Baker's debut story was quite a disappointment, but 'Castrovalva' was definitely not that. It was brim-full of original ideas and pleasant surprises."

Fellow fanzine Aggedor did lament "the overdone Master and his rather too obvious disguises" – but overall reaction was mostly positive, cementing the reputation of 'Castrovalva' as a bit of a gem

6. Colin Baker

Ah, 'The Twin Dilemma' – Colin Baker's 1984 debut is not held in high esteem by Doctor Who fans, often landing bottom of episode rankings. Russell T Davies even once described it as "the beginning of the end" for the classic series.

Contemporary reaction wasn't much kinder. Writing in the fanzine Zygon, Gary Russell dismissed the four-parter as "a silly waste of 90 minutes", while Ian Clarke in TARDIS complained that the dialogue was "so full of clichés".

The response to Baker himself, though, was more positive – not a huge surprise, given how his Doctor's reputation has been repaired in recent years, in no small part thanks to his performances in Big Finish's audio plays.

'The sixth Doctor looks like turning out very well indeed – he has traces of his predecessors, yet he's sufficiently different to be an interesting and enjoyable character in his own right," wrote Simon Cheshire, again in TARDIS, while Tim Munro of the same magazine took to Sixie's "arrogance and total self-obsession", though he was put off by the concept of a "totally alien Doctor... who does not comprehend compassion"

7. Sylvester McCoy

Another inauspicious beginning – even then-script editor Andrew Cartmel doesn't have many kind words to say about 1987's 'Time and the Rani': "This was a story which wasn't about anything," he bemoaned. "And, frustratingly, it was Sylvester McCoy's debut."

Like his predecessor, though, while McCoy's introductory story failed to impress, the actor himself launched to mostly positive buzz. The October '87 edition of fanzine DWB suggested that McCoy was "a far more interesting Doctor to watch than the previous two", while Muck and Devastation called him an "inspired choice" for the part of the seventh Doctor.

"Sylvester [McCoy] can be summed up best with one word – magic," raved writer Nigel Griffiths.

8. Paul McGann

McGann's 1996 one-shot has proven divisive ever since it first aired on FOX in the US and BBC One in the UK, more than two decades ago.

"At last we have a grown-up hi-tech Doctor Who in Paul McGann," wrote Maureen Paton in the Daily Express, celebrating how the TV movie had ditched "the endearing amateurism of the old teatime serial format".

"The makers would be mad not to pursue the option of a series," she concluded. Awkward.

In contrast, Matthew Bond of The Times argued that "if the series is to return it will need stronger scripts than this simplistic offering, which struggled to fill 85 minutes and laboured somewhat in its search for wit".

As it happened, a poor ratings performance Stateside sunk hopes of a McGann-fronted series. Doctor Who would not return to television full-time for another nine years..

9. Christopher Eccleston

Most critics back in 2005 thought Eccleston's debut in the series' major relaunch 'Rose' was pretty... well... fantastic. We here at Digital Spy wrote how he took "to the role with a light touch with the serious side bubbling under the surface... along the lines of the late great Patrick Troughton's approach".

In a positive piece titled 'Eccleston and Billie, Just What the Doctor Ordered', The Daily Mail's Michael Hanlon described the first episode of the revival as "fast, edgy and modern", and the Sydney Morning Herald called Eccleston "easily the best Time Lord since Tom Baker".

The Seattle Times joined the chorus of praise: "Eccleston and Piper do fine work projecting their characters' resistant elements — her ties to Earth, his solitary habits — against the pull of spiritual camaraderie and physical magnetism. The sparring and sparking are nicely underplayed."

If only they'd known that he'd only be sticking around for 13 episodes – news revealed five days after 'Rose' aired, on March 31, 2005

10. David Tennant

Tenth Doctor actor Tennant was a hit from the off – though he faced a difficult task stepping in for Eccleston following his predecessor's short but successful stint, the critics were immediately swayed.

IGN said that "Tennant's performance was spot-on" in his debut, 2005's festive special 'The Christmas Invasion'. "Eccleston did an admirable job in reincarnating the series and his presence will be missed, but his replacement isn't bad at all," the site suggested. "Tennant's performance is slightly more eccentric, a little funnier, a bit wittier..."

"Tennant shines, stepping into 'his' Doctor with wit, style and confidence," agreed Slant Magazine, while over on his blog What's Alan Watching?, critic Alan Sepinwall was also charmed by the new boy's "looser, goofier" Doctor.

"Compare David Tennant to Eccleston, and I think both come out very well," he wrote. Molto bene!

11. Matt Smith

With Tennant arguably the most popular Doctor since Tom Baker, the next man to take up the TARDIS controls faced an even more intimidating task than usual. But again, the response to Matt Smith and 2011's 'The Eleventh Hour' was almost universally positive.

One of the few less effusive reviews came from the New York Times, with writer Mike Hale accusing Smith of "doing his best Tennant impersonation", insisting that he needed to start shaping his own take on the role.

Otherwise, though, it was all raves for the Raggedy Man. "Matt Smith has taken up the mantle as the alien Time Lord perfectly," said The Telegraph. "Smith's first performance was inventively physical and immediately charming," enthused the Daily Mail. "Smith carries off the youthful vigour of a new body and the ancient professorial wisdom with easy panache," gushed The Guardian

12. Peter Capaldi

The most recent Doctor debut, Digital Spy suggested that while 2014's 'Deep Breath' didn't "quite hit all the marks", the show's new leading man Capaldi was "a striking screen presence... his stark, scarecrow silhouette couldn't be further removed from his forerunner's endearingly awkward gait".

The Mirror likewise felt that Capaldi had "all the hallmarks of a great Doctor", The Telegraph said he "crackles with fierce intelligence" and his performance was labelled "intimidating, bold and unsettling" by The Guardian.

"What Capaldi lacks in youthful energy, he more than makes up for in gravitas and wry eccentricity," echoed Variety.

One notable outlier was Forbes, with writer Neil Midgley branding this new Doctor "insipid" and "feeble" – ouch.

So how will the critics respond to Jodie? Time will tell. (It always does.)

[Susan Foreman]

June 11th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1919 - Richard Todd (Sanders in Kinda)

1927 - Kit Pedler (co-creator of the Cybermen; writer of The Tenth Planet, The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen and the storyline for The War Machines, The Wheel in Space and The Invasion)

1931 - Colin Bell (C.P.O. Summers in The Sea Devils and Private Bryson in Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
1932 - Ed Bishop (General Flint in the Big Finish audio Full Fathom Five)
1942 - David Quilter (Greeves in The Unicorn and the Wasp)
1949 - Nicholas Young (Bill Gower in the Big Finish audio Colditz)

Deaths
1985 - Norman Claridge (Priest in The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve) aged 81
1986 - Reed De Rouen (Pa Clanton in The Gunfighters) died the day after his 69th birthday
1993 - Bernard Bresslaw (Varga in The Ice Warriors) aged 59
2014 - Ken Tyllsen (Sensorites in The Sensorites, Mechanoid in The Chase, a Dalek in The Evil of the Daleks and an extra in The Dalek Invasion of Earth) aged 75
2015 - Ron Moody (Duke of Wellington in the Big Finish audio Other Lives) aged 91

Episodes
1966 - The Savages, Episode Three: 5.0 million viewers
2005 - Bad Wolf: 6.81 million viewers
2015 - Transmission from Mars (webcast)

Documentaries
2005 - Doctor Who Confidential: The World of Who

Releases
1981 - Issue 54 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

1987 - Issue 126 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
1992 - Issue 188 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

2009 - Issue 119 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2013 - Prisoners of Fate, Council of War and The Dalek Contract (Big Finish)

Behind-the-Scenes
2004 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Faith Stealer took place

2009 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Eternal Summer took place
2012 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Flames of Cadiz took place
2013 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Antidote to Oblivion took place

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Silurians from Cold Blood (2010)

[Susan Foreman]

June 12th: Today in WHO-story

Births
1947 - Christopher Farries (Sauvix in Warriors of the Deep)

Episodes
1965 - The Chase, Episode Four ('Journey into Terror'): 9.5 million viewers
1971 - The Daemons, Episode Four: 8.1 million viewers
2010 - The Lodger: 6.44 million viewers

Documentaries
2010 - Doctor Who Confidential: Extra Time

Introductions
2010 - James Corden and Daisy Haggard's debut as Craig Owens and Sophie

Releases
1980 - Issue 36 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)

1986 - Issue 114 of Doctor Who Magazine (Marvel)
2008 - Escape to Penhaxico (online comic strip); issue 68 of Doctor Who Adventures (BBC Magazines)
2015 - The Triumph of Sutekh and Toby Hadoke's Who's Round 124 (Big Finish Productions)

Behind-the-Scenes
2003 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Deadline took place

2004 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Faith Stealer took place
2009 - Recording of the Big Finish audio The Eternal Summer took place
2011 - Recording of Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield story Legion took place
2013 - Recording of the Big Finish audio Antidote to Oblivion took place
2017 - Recording of Big Finish's UNIT story Encounters took place

[Susan Foreman]

Historically, it's thought that this production still from 'The Daleks' could be the first colour photo that exists/was taken for the show

No one has any knowledge of colour pictures being taken on the set on 'An Unearthly Child' and it is thought that this picture has not been coloured later but is a genuine record from the time