The first in an occasional series looking at Doctor Who, a peculiarly British kind of TV hero, and the cultural contexts that have influenced the ever changing character and stories.
The first Doctor was played by William Hartnell. His best adventure (at least according to the IMDb rankings) was ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ from 1964, the same year that the Beatles film ‘A Hard Day's Night’ was released. What can the Fab Four and a renegade Time Lord tell us about the Britain that created them?
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
6 episodes, black and white, November to December 1964
Starring
William Hartnell as the Doctor, with companions: Susan, the Doctor's grand-daughter, and two of her young school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara WrightSynopsis
The Doctor and his companions arrive in a post-apocalyptic London. The Daleks have taken over, using sci-fi helmets to remote control human ‘Robo-men’, who in turn have enslaved the rest of humanity into the puzzling task of digging to the centre of the Earth via Bedfordshire
A Hard Day's Night
87 mins, black and white. Directed by Richard Lester
Starring
John, Paul, George and Ringo, Wilfred Bramble, Victor Spinetti, hordes of screaming teenagersSynopsis
The Beatles are the Beatles, charmingly, for about 90 minutes
There is a common pattern to Doctor Who stories. The Doctor’s time machine, the TARDIS, which appears to have a mind of its own, arrives somewhere new in time and space. The Doctor and his companions will then have to figure out where they are and, more importantly, what is wrong.
There is always something terribly – often secretly – wrong.
Something they will have to fight.
Something they will have to fix.
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