An Unearthly Child

Doctor Who - The Pilot Episode (1963)

I know there are several different versions circulating, I believe this is the one from 1991. There's a degree of uncanny valley here, seeing something you know well but slightly off kilter. I'd never seen this version of An Unearthly Child part 1 before. Many of the scenes are familiar but the sound quality is off, people mumble their lines and there's the lingering feeling of a dress rehearsal to it. Carole Ann Ford in particular speaks all of her lines too fast. But in the midst of all this in Act One, there is William Russell breezing through every scene, treating them as though he's live on stage doing Shakespeare. Susan and Barbara are one degree to the left off what we know and love, but Ian is pretty much Ian from the start. 

"Come on, lets get it over with" says Ian, and you wonder if he means Take One. Then the Doctor shows up, but the reveal of Susan being in the TARDIS props up too soon. But the biggest shock is that the Doctor is full on git. Grumpy, angry, frowning. William Hartnell (and the production team) took one look at this and clearly made a conscious effort to make the character more approachable in his alien nature, which is why in the broadcast version he seems more amused by the schoolteachers and genuinely cares for Susan. Rather than yells at her. People often talk about the different ways of playing the Doctor. Here William Hartnell plays the role in the way stereotype remembers him, and shows why it wouldn't have worked for 3 years... let alone 57.

Nice effect as Barbara walks straight into the TARDIS from the outside, similar to the one they used in The Sensorites, but then never did again until modern SFX in the new series. That got abandoned, probably for time. And to avoid poor old Jackie Hill walking into a door.

Susan is born in the 49th Century, the Doctor traps Ian and Barbara in the TARDIS and laughs evilly. He’s playing this as villain, it's all wrong. He then electrocutes Ian for ¤¤¤¤s and giggles.

It's a curio but you can see why Sydney Newman asked for a retake. Its a bit of a mess, but even on a bad day the elements that would work so brilliantly shine through. The TARDIS set, the music, the casting. It just need a Second Take. Thank feck we got it.

An Unearthly Child (part 1)

The first thing to note is how more triumphant the entrance music is, playing on and on, as if to say "Hi, we're the next big thing". The humming of the TARDIS (a different sound effect) sounds less intrusive, and Waris Hussein is immediately on the ball with fade outs and the school scenes looking far more dynamic. The dialogue is also sharper, we get foreshadowing of Susan's grandfather being a Doctor far earlier. Jacqueline Hill has also taken the second shot to properly nail her character, and Ian and Barbara are far more...well, couple-ish.

Also in terms of hook, Susan's "that's not right" response to something in the French Revolution history book works far better than Susan sitting down and drawing a blot of ink to look mysterious.

The lighting is also far better. Rumours I have just invented abound that Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan saw the bit about UK decimal currency and thought what a good idea it was. The "impossible science equation" needing time and space is new, and another good element to introduce the unearthly nature of Susan.

There's just such a verve to this, with production, camera shots, acting, sound and dialogue all considerably tighter than in the pilot. The junkyard is also considerably more jumbled than before, making it look less like a set. Ian even climbs up a level briefly. And because we're not rushing, we got to focus on the bizarreness of a police box standing in such a useless place for one. Although we do hear Susan's voice early on too, I thought that was solely in the Pilot, so an early example of the memory cheating already!

And then William Hartnell shows up with an exaggerated cough and a fumble with his keys. "Their pupil, so they aren't policemen" he says in an under his breath look to camera, instantly inviting the audience on board. He swaps the frown for a sort of bemused smile, and adds in his hmms and "I see"'s and "young man", and just is the Doctor right off. A grumpy, uncertain Doctor compared to the one we all know, but the character is blatantly the same. I love him pottering about with the pottery while listening to the two teachers. Even his attempts to describe the TARDIS are softer, more mischievous than the first attempt.

In The Pilot, William Russell took the lead. Here in the actual first episode, as soon as William Hartnell walks into shot, he is unquestionably the ultra charismatic lead attraction that you can't take your eye off.

And then the bloody TARDIS takes off and lands on a different world.

Bloody magic TV which holds up even now, 57 years later. 

An Unearthly Child part 2
The Cave of Skulls

And suddenly we see lots of guest character in rags. A child looks bored as Derek Newark tries to make rubbing a stick look interesting and Eileen Way, who was heavily involved in the CND, looks on disapproving. Her withering "I knew you'd fail" put downs do raise a laugh, but I can imagine folk at the time going "Whats this to do with what we were watching last week?" It is in fact 4 minutes before we return to anyone from last week, as the school teachers wake up from their time travel sleep.

4 minutes into episode 2 and the TARDIS is already acting up. Surely that wont be a running theme. The first ever TARDIS travel takes the team to a quarry, starting up a legendary tradition.

"Just open the doors, Dr Foreman."
"Eh, Doctor Who?"

Doctor Who gags in Dr Who are very cheap. And I always laugh at them.

DOCTOR: If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?
IAN: Yes.

Our first bit of Dr Who dialogue you can sing, and Hartnell gives a delightful smirk as he opens the TARDIS doors. I do like how William Russell plays the reveal as though suffering extreme culture shock. Barbara on the other hand takes to things surprisingly well -for now. And then with one line about the TARDIS not changing, we save on prop costs for 57 years.

Early installment weirdness includes the Doctor popping off for a smoke, only to get captured. Smoking increases risk of being captured by primitive humans. "He'd never leave his notebook" says Susan about a thing we'll see about 3 times in the next 50 years.

It's the little bits like the kids game version of killing an animal for food, and the Old Woman's increasing world weariness, that sell this new environment. Jeremy Young brings the Doctor in, and everyone thinks this is an odd dinner.

The cave scenes have had little to do with the regulars till now so we have a juxtaposition of the regulars struggling to deal with the first ever TARDIS journey on screen (which feels believable in the way Dodos nonchalant attitude doesn't) with a bunch of new folk we aren't yet made to care about.

Although saying that, Za is such a wonderful try hard. Tries to make fire from nothing, gets told about cold villagers and says he will kill 100 animals to make furs. He really wants someone to go "well done, old chap".

And the Doctors solution is to go "oh hell where are my matches?" How very Meddling Monk. Sadly for him he dropped his matches in the struggle. Smoking can cause issues with your time travel meddling.

And as they prepare to kill the Doctor, we get our first ever William Hartnell "Oh ¤¤¤¤" look. We'll get many more of them too.

Ian, Barbara and Susan show up just in time to get involved in the cliffhanger.

All in all, nothing could follow the first episode, and this...really doesn't. The sequencing of the story is odd in many spots, and yet Derek Newark and Eileen "this brings doom, DOOOOM!" Way try their best to lift not very good material. And yet whenever the new regulars are on screen, their chemistry already starts to lift things. I love the way Barbara holds onto Ian to let him catch his bearings outside. Playing the roles as a couple since Day 1! The Doctor apologies to Barbara too - he's mellowing already, all he needed was an intervention on his smoking by a bunch of early humans!

Special mention to Howard Lang's Horg, who bellows every word as though auditioning for a role as one of the Ents. Subtle he ain't.

Doctor Who
An Unearthly Child (part 3)
The Forest of Fear


Look how cosy the cavemen are in their rags, when we were told they had none and were freezing last episode? Za killed many animals for this set piece. See, he's a man of his word.

"We need you free, you're the strongest and may need to defend us" - Doctor's nabbed Eileen Way's pessimism ball. And already delegating to Ian.

We get another early classic Doctor moment:

DOCTOR: Fear makes companions of all of us. That's right.
BARBARA: I never thought once you were afraid.
DOCTOR: Fear is with all of us, and always will be. Just like that other sensation that lives with it.
BARBARA: What's that?
DOCTOR: Your companion referred to it. Hope. Hope, that's right.

Susan screams at the appearance of the Old Woman. What's she got against the CND? Way played old woman for most of her CV, she was only in her early 50s here.

Za is a bit needlessly rough with poor old Alethea Charlton. Whoever wins this war of the male entitlement she loses, I guess. I keep mixing up which one is Za and which is Kal, Za is Derek Newark who is the designated less bad guy, and proves it by shoving over an old woman. No wonder he gets framed. Eileen Way never makes it to Episode 4, bumped off by the only guest actor from this show still alive in 2020 to the best of my knowledge.

Williams Russell and Hartnell really give the impression they've been running for miles. They provided the anchor to this installment, with the Doctors increasing reliance on Ian, against his mistrust, an interesting example of the Doctor we'd all know and love before very long. Unfortunately the script relies on Susan looking confused and scared. Her alien aloofness didn't even last 30 minutes in the show's history. Alas, Barbara is also relied on to sniffle and scream and cry a lot in this episode, a far cry from the wonder woman of 60s TV that she's known for. At least, the writing for Jackie Hill got better. The writing for Carole Ann Ford had already hit its peak.

I mean, seriously, History teacher Barbara goes into hysterics at the sight of a dead animal. Shes dating the Science teacher, what did they do to animals in Biology back then? (And indeed, into Mandy's time at school - benefit of a Jesuit education? A refusal to use animals in science class for experiments.)

Controversy abounds as the Doctor picks up a rock and looks like he was about to kill Newark until Ian intervenes. Well of course he was, but he doesn't, and he might have done so hours earlier. The Doctor and Master were best of friends after all. The best bit about this scene is the Doctors complete lack of dialogue, you see every emotion across his face instead. But this is an important moment in the history of Who, where they stop to save an antagonists life because its the right thing to do, even if its not the safest thing. The show and the character are still learning their moral compass. The day the two school teachers bundled into the TARDIS was clearly the biggest day in their life, but really, its the day the Doctor's life changed forever too.

Alethea Charlton is very into character. She’s equally good later on in a challenging role in The Time Meddler. And very creepy as a ghostly landlady in Thriller. She can also be found in surviving episodes of Public Eye and Upstairs Downstairs too. Sadly she died from malignant melanoma (a disease we can treat far better nowadays) in 1976 at the age of only 44.

Meanwhile Derek Newark is clearly thinking "if only I could get my mate Barry to do some producing and they can set Dr Who in the modern day and cast me, I can show off my talents far better..."

PS Howard Lang is still hilariously bad. "The old woman is dead. It must have been as your eyes said it was." A bad line delivered badly.

Also the last shot of Jeremy Young staring at the camera is one they'd do again and again. Tlotoxl and El Akir for two.

So, 2 of 4 regulars get to impress, at least 1 pivotal moment in the show's early history, 1 murder (our first in the series!), and one dead pig - terrifying for Barbara and David Cameron alike. Running on the spot plotwise has never felt so pivotal. 

An Unearthly Child (Part 4)
The Firemaker

Twisted firemaker...

That's what we all wanted, a close up of Howard Lang! The man had a decent CV, but he is really hilarious bad in this, and reminds me a bit of Simon Farnaby doing the Stupid Deaths song. The Doctor tricks Kal with one of the oldest tricks in the book, but this is the first time we see the Doctor stand up for any sort of injustice in the show. I love his utterly disheveled hair and the costume mess, an added realism we sometimes don't get. And of course, the thanks for getting rid of Kal is for Za to show his true colours. See, whoever wins, Hur loses. Kal does return just in time to die in an elongated fight scene.

Lots of slow fire making and talk about it here again. It feels a bit like they are wasting time till the end of the episode now.

The regulars dont really have much to do this week bar sit around and wait to escape. The plot, as it is, carries on around them. The odd bit is already it is the Doctor who wants to appeal to Za's better nature. He's already further along in his transformation than I expected.

Then of all people, Susan comes up with the supernatural fake out that allows the TARDIS crew to escape and rush to the TARDIS.

All in all, the 4 parts of An Unearthly Child are a bit of an interesting mess. The opening episode is one of the greatest bits of British TV, a sensational pilot and introduction. Part 3 has some pivotal character moments. Warris Hussein keeps the camera going with some verve (you can see why he went on to bigger things), but the story is very much standing on the spot for much of the mediocre second part, and I think thats the bit that drags the story down.

The TARDIS finishes by landing on a new planet. I'm sure its full of lovely and kind inhabitants...