A. An Unearthly Child

  • Story Editor: David Whitaker;
  • Writers: Anthony Coburn (1st draft of ep. 1 by CE Webber);
  • Produced by: Verity Lambert;
  • Director: Warris Hussein;
  • Designers: Peter Brachacki (1) and Barry Newbery (2-4);
  • Fight Arranger: Derek Ware;
  • Incidental Music: Norman Kay;

Programme Description

Two school teachers are perturbed by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman. In some cases she is exceptionally bright, sometimes to the point of overshadowing her teachers. But on occasion she has shown a lack of knowledge of the basics, such as the currency that England was using.

Worried by this the two teachers, Ian and Barbara, decide to follow her to her home in order to talk to her grandfather. Instead they see her enter a junkyard. When they follow her inside there is no sign, although there is a strange, vibrating police telephone box. They hear Susan inside, and when her grandfather returns they barge past him and into the police box - where they find a large, brightly lit, room with a mushroom shaped console in the centre. The Doctor is not happy at the intrusion, and says that if he lets them go free they will inevitably tell someone about what they saw. Before anyone can stop him the Doctor dematerialises the TARDIS.

It re-materialises around 100,00 B.C. where they have to battle to escape from primitive man. The Doctor attempts to take the teachers back to their own time, but the TARDIS materialises on an unknown world.

Regular Cast

  • Susan Foreman: Carole Ann Ford;
  • Barbara Wright: Jacqueline Hill;
  • Ian Chesterton: William Russell;

Guest Cast

  • Horg: Howard Lang (2-4);
  • Kal: Jeremy Young (2-4);
  • Za: Derek Newark (2-4);
  • Hur: Alethea Charlton (2-4);
  • Old Mother: Eileen Way (2-3);

  • UNCREDITED CAST:
  • Policeman: Fred Rawlings (pilot), Reg Cranfield (1);
  • Schoolchildren: (All 1) Francesco Bertorelli, Carole Clarke, Heather Lyons, Mavis Ransom, Cedric Schoeman, Brian Thomas, Richard Wilson;
  • Shadow of Za: Leslie Bates (1, reprise 2);
  • Tribe: (All 2-4) Leslie Bates, Elizabeth Body, Al Davis, Billie Davis, Roy Denton, Jean Denyer, Veronica Dyson, Diane Gay, Bob Haddow, Margot Maxine, Bill Nicholas, Brenda Proctor, Lyn Turner, Doreen Ubells, Frank Wheatley;
  • Tribe Children: Janet Fairhead (3-4), Antonia Moss (2), Julie Moss (2), Timothy Palmer (3-4), David Rosen (2-4), Trevor Thomas (2), Elizabeth White (3-4);
  • Double for Kal: Billy Cornelius (4);
  • Double for Za: Derek Ware (4);

Transmissions

ChannelEpisodeTitleDateViewersPosition
BBC 1 1 An Unearthly Child Sat 23 Nov 1963 2317:15 - 17:40 4.4M 114th
BBC 1 2 The Cave Of Skulls1 Sat 30 Nov 1963 3017:30 - 17:55 5.9M 85th
BBC 1 3 The Forest Of Fear Sat 7 Dec 1963 717:15 - 17:40 6.9M 61st
BBC 1 4 The Firemaker Sat 14 Dec 1963 1417:15 - 17:40 6.4M 70th

1: Originally scheduled for 17:15

Repeat Transmissions

ChannelTitleDateViewersPosition
BBC 1 An Unearthly Child Sat 30 Nov 1963 17:05 - 17:30 5.9M
BBC 2 An Unearthly Child2 Mon 2 Nov 1981 17:40 - 18:05 4.6M
BBC 2 The Cave Of Skulls2 Tue 3 Nov 1981 17:40 - 18:05 4.3M
BBC 2 The Forest Of Fear2 Wed 4 Nov 1981 17:40 - 18:05 4.4M
BBC 2 The Firemaker2 Thu 5 Nov 1981 17:40 - 18:05 3.9M
BBC 2 An Unearthly Child3 Mon 26 Aug 1991 14:15 - 14:45 1.7M

2: Shown as part of the BBC2 "Five Faces of Doctor Who" season (positions just for that channel)
3: Pilot episode

Locations

This programme has not been filmed on location or the locations are not known

Studios

  • Lime Grove Studio D;
  • Ealing Television Film Studios;

Bloopers and Mistakes

This programme has no bloopers or mistakes. It's probably not perfect, just that they haven't been found or pointed out yet

Notes and Trivia

Bernard Lodge was the uncredited designer of the original title sequence, which was accompanied by Delia Derbyshire's arrangement of Ron Grainer's theme tune. Grainer would be credited for virtually every subsequent episode, even after drastic rearrangements of the theme.

Working Titles

The Tribe of Gum
Doctor Who And The Tribe Of Gum
Doctor Who In 100,000 B.C.
The Dawn Of Knowledge
The Firemakers
100,000 B.C.
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