Welcome to your summer vacation through space and time, all from the comfort of your couch and TV. We’re spending our COVID-19 summer (and a little bit of autumn) winding our way through Doctor Who history, focusing on one episode from each Doctor’s tenure through to the Capaldi era. (Want to know what we’re watching? Here’s the schedule!)
Today, we close out tripping the TARDIS fantastic with a look at An Adventure in Space and Time, the 2013 TV movie focusing on the creation and early days of the series. What better way to end this than to go back to the very, very beginning? At the time this aired (November 21, 2013) there were eleven Doctors, so to commemorate, we’ll have one thought for each Doctor. And for the last time this summer/fall: Spoilers!
1. Revisionist History?
It’s important to note that this is a dramatized version of the events leading up to, and throughout, the first season of the show back in the 1960s. As such, there are going to be some moments that aren’t 100 percent historically accurate, or were eliminated for time and content. Many of the people that also had a hand in the show’s creation, such as early script editor David Whitaker and producer Donald Wilson, aren’t even mentioned at all.
This film also came out in 2013, right at the height of success of Mad Men and television’s love of 1960s period settings. As such, there’s a gloss and sheen over many aspects, much like the wistful nostalgia of memory. Of course, that does not mean that the era’s sexism and racism (and all the smoking, so much smoking) get swept under the rug, as we’ll see later.
2. “That’s not the way we do things at the BBC”
This one-off line from a BBC security guard towards BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman really does set the tone for all that Doctor Who faces in its journey to air. It’s in a genre that the producers consider niche (science fiction) but Newman knows better – – and knows that it will fill that 25 minute hole in the schedule, and appeal to the broadest audience.
It’s not the way they do things at the BBC, but you have to leave some room for innovation.
3. Vivacious Verity
Doctor Who’s Peggy Olson is Verity Lambert, a woman thisclose to walking away from television completely when the script for the show falls into her lap. Even while she faces that glass ceiling, she’s excited for the future of women in the world, evidenced by wanting to interrupt the party she’s attending to watch the launch of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.
But optimism and pluck only get so far at the staid BBC. On her first day on the job, she has to kick two men casting The Doctor out of her office, who don’t even take her suggestions for casting the titular role seriously. Happily, Verity stands her ground time and again, fighting back on everything on having a (male) mentor to the survival of the theme song.
4. “No Tin Robots or BEMs”
Ah, one of those moments in history that makes one chuckle. Newman is adamant to Verity that his new program be very educational (“real history!”) with “no tin robots or BEMs [bug-eyed monsters].” He didn’t want to go for the low-hanging fruit of science-fiction, fearing it too simplistic. Of course we fans get the last laugh as Newman’s wish would get ignored time and again throughout the series history.
5. Doctor Walder Frey
Walder Frey comes to the TARDIS, as David Bradley takes on the role of the man who birthed the Doctor, William Hartnell. (He’s not a complete unknown to the franchise, though, appearing first in the Matt Smith serial “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.”) Whether he was Argus Filch in Harry Potter or the architect of the Red Wedding, Bradley knows how to play curmudgeon quite well. And that allows him to put a fine point on the gruff Hartnell, dismissing the rule outright out of fear of a long term role and almost walking away from it in early days of filming. (Newman saves the day with well-timed compliments, but not without a warning to Verity to fix it for the next time.)
Continued belowBut it’s also fun to see him have a spring in his step at the chance for a children’s program, and embracing the joy that he brought to so many children on TV each week. And he truly loved his co-stars, sending one of them apology flowers after insulting her choices in spending. We don’t see Bradley really doing pure happiness in his prior roles, but he gets the chance to here, and it shines. Stern and scary, but with a twinkle, as Waris says.
6. The Master of Doctor Who
Is that The Master I see in a sweater vest complaining about a script with cavemen? Why, yes it is! Continuing in the tradition of elevating Doctor Who family members to bigger and brighter heights, our current face of The Master (Sacha Dhawan) got his start in the franchise here as Waris Hussein, director of that first Doctor Who serial “An Unearthly Child.”
The friendship between Waris and Verity is a joy of this film, two people who know the odds are stacked quite against them, but are going to make it work come hell or high water.
7. Heavy Handed Moments
Because this is a dramatization, there’s more than one moment made overly dramatic than how it actually took place. One such example is the construction of the TARDIS interior itself, constructed quickly in a set designer’s office from found objects like scraps of disk punch cards and a spool of thread after Verity lays down the law with the designer. Another is the struggles with early days of filming the first episode, from flubbed lines and broken sets to the sprinklers interrupting filming (foreshadowed by a member of the crew complaining the set was “too hot.”) With a lesser quality script and performances, all this would have come across as heavy handed and scene chewing. That optimism and persistence from Waris and Verity does the opposite, making you want to root for them.
8. The Rerun
The idea of the TV rerun was not new when Doctor Who was in development; that was thanks to I Love Lucy. But Verity’s insistence of a rebroadcast of the first episode right before the second one to get a fighting chance after JFK’s assassination (rightfully) distracted the viewing public birthed an idea many premium networks do today, running marathons or the final episode of a previous season before the start of a new season.
9. Dalek-Mania
And it was bug-eyed monsters that saved the day for Doctor Who, with Dalek-mania on par with Beatlemania. 10 million viewers for the bug-eyed monsters. Kids imitating Daleks on the bus. Hartnell’s sly smile upon realizing he had a hit. A “General Degaullek” political cartoon. And finally, tacit respect from Newman to his young protégée that her insistence the bug eyed monsters he hated may have just saved their show.
10. “No one’s irreplaceable, eh?”
It warms your heart to see Hartnell embracing his newfound fame, offering autographs and advice to children, seeing his face on a Doctor Who Annual, even playing with a group of children in a local park. But his comment about being irreplaceable also breaks your heart because you know what’s coming. He sees coworkers come and go (Verity included), and he also knows nothing gold can stay, as the old saying goes. The man who doesn’t like farewells will soon say farewell himself, as old age and arteriosclerosis take their toll.
11. Meeting the Future
The final scene of this movie puts a lump in my throat every time.
As filming commences on “The Tenth Planet,” Hartnell’s final serial and Troughton’s first appearance, Hartnell boots up the TARDIS for the final time. But he’s not alone. To his left is Matt Smith, at the time of this film the current Doctor. The moment is brief and without dialogue. But the looks of respect, admiration, and gratitude the two exchange say it all. Smith knows he’s filled big shoes, and Hartnell is grateful the little program he initially didn’t want to take out of fear of commitment continues to bring joy to children (and the child at heart) for years and years to come. His legacy intact, his career forever remembered. The gruff character actor worried about being typecast is such – – but as the hero.
Continued belowHartnell made one more appearance as The Doctor (in the serial “The Three Doctors”) before passing away in 1975. David Bradley has taken up the role of the First Doctor two more times on television (most recently in the Christmas special that introduced Jodie Whittaker) and plays the First Doctor in the Big Finish audio dramas.
As for our other major players in this film:
- Verity Lambert went on to a successful television career throughout the UK, working for Thames Television (which became ITV). Doctor Who even crossed her path there, as her most successful series (The Naked Civil Servant) featured John Hurt, who eventually became the War Doctor. She formed her own production company (Cinema Verity) in the 1980s, which even tried to resurrect the series in the 1990s outside of the BBC. (One of the most well-known Cinema Verity productions and its first is the film A Cry in the Dark, featuring Meryl Streep.) Lambert passed away in 2007, one day before the show’s 44th anniversary.
- Sydney Newman left the UK for his native Canada in 1970, where he served as head of the country’s National Film Board. He did briefly return to the UK in the 1980s, where he almost ended up involved with the show he created again when it struggled in the ratings during the Colin Baker years. He returned to Canada in 1991, and passed away there six years later.
- Waris Hussein had a successful directorial career in international cinema and made-for-tv films, including the very personal project Intimate Contact, a look at a couple living with AIDS based on his own experiences of losing his partner to the disease. He remains active in the film industry in the UK, the US, and his native India.
As we bid this project of mine farewell, I thank you all so much for joining me on this adventure. I’m thinking about revisiting Doctor Who history for next summer, perhaps focusing on a particular season in a Doctor’s tenure, or another series of episodes from each Doctor’s history.
As for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, we’ll be back around the Christmas holidays/New Year’s with a look at “Revolution of the Daleks.” Jodie Whittaker confirmed during the NYCC Metaverse panel this past weekend that Series 13 is in prep, and “what we’re all hoping for is for us to be filming before the close of 2020.” With the long production times, this does indicate that we won’t be seeing a new Doctor Who on TV until the latter part of 2021. (Hey, we’ve all waited longer!)
Classic Doctor Who episodes (First through the Seventh Doctors) are available on the streaming subscription service Britbox (available in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. at the time of this writing). An Adventure in Space and Time, the TV movie commemorating the early days of the series, is also available on Britbox.
If you’re in the U.S., Latin America, Puerto Rico, and Europe, you can also get your classic Who fix via the free streaming service Pluto TV, which has its own Doctor Who channel!
Revival episodes (Ninth through Twelfth Doctors) are available worldwide on Amazon Prime, and in the United States on HBO Max.
