Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1963)

Country of Origin: UK
Dates of Original Broadcast: 23 November 1963-14 December 1963
Number of Episodes: 4
Average Episode Running Times: 25m
Format:
Colour Format: black and white
Ratio: 1.33:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Waris Hussein

CREW

[crew marked * are only credited in the final episode]

PRODUCTION
[no copyright given]
Production Company: BBC
Producer: Verity Lambert
Associate Producer: Mervyn Pinfield
Assistant Floor Manager: Catherine Childs [uncredited]

SCRIPT
Script: Anthony Coburn
Story Editor: David Whitaker

PHOTOGRAPHY
Studio Lighting: Geoff Shaw [uncredited]
Film Camera: Robert Sleigh [uncredited]

MUSIC
Title Music: Ron Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Incidental Music: Norman Kay

SOUND
Studio Sound: Jack Clayton [uncredited]

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Elizabeth Blattner [uncredited]
Costume Designer: Maureen Heneghan [uncredited]

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: The Visual Effects Department of the BBC

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Barry Newbery

OTHER CREW
Production Assistant: Douglas Camfield, Tony Lightley (both uncredited)

STUNTS
Fight Arranger: Derek Ware *

CAST

An Unearthly Child
William Hartnell (Dr Who)
Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman)
William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright)
Reg Cranfield (policeman - uncredited)
Francesco Bertorelli, Carole Clarke, Heather Lyons, Mavis Ransom, Cedric Schoeman, Brian Thomas, Richard Wilson (schoolchildren - uncredited)
Leslie Bates (shadow of Za - uncredited)

The Cave of Skulls
William Hartnell (Dr Who)
William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright)
Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman)
Derek Newark (Za)
Alethea Charlton (Hur)
Eileen Way (old mother)
Jeremy Young (Kal)
Howard Lang (Horg)
Janet Fairhead, Antonia Moss, Julie Moss, Timothy Palmer, David Rosen, Trevor Thomas, Elizabeth White (tribe children - uncredited)
Billy Cornelius (double for Kal - uncredited)
Derek Ware (double for Za - uncredited)

The Forest of Fear
William Hartnell (Dr Who)
William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright)
Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman)
Eileen Way (old mother)
Alethea Charlton (Hur)
Derek Newark (Za)
Jeremy Young (Kal)
Howard Lang (Horg)
Janet Fairhead, Antonia Moss, Julie Moss, Timothy Palmer, David Rosen, Trevor Thomas, Elizabeth White (tribe children - uncredited)
Billy Cornelius (double for Kal - uncredited)
Derek Ware (double for Za - uncredited)

The Firemaker
William Hartnell (Dr Who)
William Russell (Ian Chesterton)
Jacqueline Hill (Barbara Wright)
Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman)
Howard Lang (Horg)
Jeremy Young (Kal)
Alethea Charlton (Hur)
Derek Newark (Za)
Janet Fairhead, Antonia Moss, Julie Moss, Timothy Palmer, David Rosen, Trevor Thomas, Elizabeth White (tribe children - uncredited)
Billy Cornelius (double for Kal - uncredited)
Derek Ware (double for Za - uncredited)

EPISODES

1. An Unearthly Child
2. The Cave Of Skulls (aka: The Firemaker)
3. The Forest Of Fear (aka: The Cave of Skulls)
4. The Firemaker (aka: The Dawn Of Knowledge)

PLOT SUMMARY

Schoolteachers Barbara and Ian are curious about their unusually bright pupil Susan. Following her home one night they find that she seems to live with her grandfather, the Doctor, in a police box stored in a junkyard - a police box that's bigger on the inside than on the outside and which turns out to be a TARDIS, a time machine that takes the teachers and the alien Doctor and Susan back in time to an adventure in the stone age.

AVAILABILITY

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BBC Video (BBCV 4311; BBCV 6959)

TIMELINE

1963
September
19: UK - filming at Ealing (one-day shoot)

October
9: UK - filming resumes at Ealing
11: UK - filming ends at Ealing
18: UK - studio filming at Lime Grove Studio D (one-day shoot)
25: UK - studio filming at Lime Grove Studio D (one-day shoot); Margot Maxine, an extra hired as one of the tribespeople, walks out at 3:00 after refusing to have her teeth blackened.

November
1: UK - studio filming at Lime Grove Studio D (one-day shoot)
8: UK - studio filming at Lime Grove Studio D (one-day shoot)
23: UK - An Unearthly Child, first television broadcast (on BBC1)
30: UK - An Unearthly Child, second television broadcast (on BBC1); The Cave of Skulls, first television broadcast (on BBC1)

December
7: UK - The Forest of Fear, first television broadcast (on BBC1)
14: UK - The Firemaker, first television broadcast (on BBC1)

1981
November
2: UK - An Unearthly Child, third television broadcast (on BBC2)
3: UK - The Cave of Skulls, second television broadcast (on BBC2)
4: UK - The Forest of Fear, second television broadcast (on BBC2)
5: UK - The Firemaker, second television broadcast (on BBC2)

2000
September
4: UK - video release (BBCV 6959)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

100,000 B.C.
Tribe of Gum, The
Firemakers, The

LINKS

SEE ALSO
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child (1991)
Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen (1983)
Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (1988)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

Doctor Who Magazine no.58 (UK)
illustrated production notes

Doctor Who Monthly 115 p.35 (UK)
note

Doctor Who Monthly no.132 (UK)
illustrated production notes

Doctor Who Monthly no.152 (UK)
illustrated interview with Barry Newberry)

Doctor Who Monthly no.279 (UK)
review (Time Team)

Doctor Who Monthly no.295 (UK)
video review

Doctor Who Monthly Autumn Special 1987 p.40 (UK)
note

Doctor Who Monthly Summer Special 1994 (UK)
illustrated production notes

Doctor Who Weekly no.2 (UK)
synopsis

Radio Times 21 November 1963 p.7 (UK)
credits, synopsis

NEWSPAPERS

Daily Mail 25 November 1963
review (Staggering - this insensitivity to sorrow)

BOOKS

Doctor Who: A Celebration p.170
article

Doctor Who: The Discontinuity Guide pp.6-8
synopsis, review

Doctor Who The Handbook: The First Doctor pp.54-58
credits, synopsis, review

Doctor Who: The Programme Guide pp.17-18
credits, synopsis

Doctor Who: The Television Companion pp.6-7
credits, review (by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker), synopsis

Doctor Who - The Unfolding Text pp.13-35, 55, 70, 288
articles, reviews

Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction p.107
credits, synopsis

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

aliens, cavemen, Doctor Who, schools, the stone age, teachers, teenagers, time travel

Last Updated: 13 May, 2010