BW Media Spotlight

There’s a longstanding debate on whether “Doctor Who” is just the name of the show or the proper name of the Doctor. We won’t get into that this week.

We will, however be looking at the characters’ original concept. In our last report we saw the archetypes for what characters to have in the show, something that we kind of got for most of the Third Doctor’s run as I came to realize while writing the previous installment–just as I realized a few minutes ago I wrote the name of this article series wrong on the series title card. I’m not a professional, but I try to act like one!

Anyway, much like the Star Trek pitch, character names in this early concept on what has finally gotten the proper show name do not match what we got. I’m not sure how far into production these notes came together and I still don’t have access to a proper writer’s guide for any season of the show. This report, “DR. WHO” General Notes on Background and Approach, is the closest we’re going to get. And it must be really early because Sydney Newman has “handwritten” notes for pretty much everything. The TARDIS Fandom wiki has the proper timeline of events for production in 1963, or at least I hope they do. If I follow the information, this came out in May and was prepared by Head Of Serials Donald Wilson, staff writer C.E. Webber, and Head Of Drama Sydney Newman, submitted to Donald Baverstock.

Baverstock is a new name in this production chain, controller of BBC Television at the time. And somehow it doesn’t surprise me that “controller” is a title at the BBC. Apparently he really wanted this show to happen, despite previous reports either seeming to be against science fiction altogether (media snobs have looked down on sci-fi for decades) or going against a bunch of things that are Doctor Who staples, like the young girl, time travel, and the focus on the monsters. He also controlled the budget, and I get the feeling we’ll be talking about him more in the wrap-up article.

For now, though, let’s read the report, Newman’s notes on pretty much everything, and look into the Doctor Who that might have to see if we’re living in the better timeline. Again, check the prologue to see how to pick these up for yourself. As you can guess from the headline, this is not going out in one goal. The original full article was almost 5000 words and I’m not going to take up all that time. YOU don’t have a TARDIS. I assume. So let’s start our journey by seeing what the cast would have looked like.

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