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drama about an eccentric old man CHANGING TIMES who travels through space and time 1963 was a year of transformations. in a police box. As part of Doctor Future Prime Minister Harold Wilson Who's 50th anniversary celebrations spoke about the "white heat" of this month, their achievement has been technological revolution. The political dramatised in An Adventure In Space establishment was shaken by the Profumo And Time, a new TV movie written scandal and the exposure of KGB moles. by regular Who scribe . Rock 'n' roll was reborn with the "It was a time of tremendous shift," unprecedented mania generated by The says director Terry McDonough. "A Beatles and the Stones. Brash, flamboyant time-traveller's a great allegory for box-office hits such as Tom Jones and the change, and that's why Bond movies jolted British cinema out was so successful. There was a curious of the kitchen sink. In America, Martin Zeitgeist about it." Luther King said, "I have a dream," Gatiss, a hard-core Whovian Bob Dylan sang Blowin' In The Wind, since childhood, began writing the Betty Friedan triggered feminism's second script more than a decade ago, in time Who work against the odds. "It's easy wave, and John F. Kennedy celebrated for the show's 40th anniversary, but looking back to see how it would work, his thousandth day in the White House, Doctor Who was then still on hiatus but at the time it was a high-wire act. just weeks before meeting a bloody end and the BBC showed little enthusiasm. The thing I find, working on Doctor in Dallas. Everything was in flux. With the show now a global money- Who, is there's never enough time, Everything was up for grabs. spinner, what was once a left-field there's never enough money, there's While all this was happening, a labour of love has become a jewel in always massive battles. So, in a way, it's small group of creative mavericks at the autumn schedule. very similar. In other ways I look back the BBC, including Head Of Drama When Empire meets Gatiss in , in envy at the fact that so much was , producer Verity on the set of his other hit show, Sherlock, possible. There was much more room Lambert and director , he's fizzing with enthusiasm about the to fail. There was a wonderful sense of, were putting together a new children's band of outsiders who made Doctor 'What the hell, let's do this.'"

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drama about an eccentric old man CHANGING TIMES who travels through space and time 1963 was a year of transformations. in a police box. As part of Doctor Future Prime Minister Harold Wilson Who's 50th anniversary celebrations spoke about the "white heat" of this month, their achievement has been technological revolution. The political dramatised in An Adventure In Space establishment was shaken by the Profumo And Time, a new TV movie written scandal and the exposure of KGB moles. by regular Who scribe Mark Gatiss. Rock 'n' roll was reborn with the "It was a time of tremendous shift," unprecedented mania generated by The says director Terry McDonough. "A Beatles and the Stones. Brash, flamboyant time-traveller's a great allegory for box-office hits such as Tom Jones and the change, and that's why Doctor Who Bond movies jolted British cinema out was so successful. There was a curious of the kitchen sink. In America, Martin Zeitgeist about it." Luther King said, "I have a dream," Gatiss, a hard-core Whovian Bob Dylan sang Blowin' In The Wind, since childhood, began writing the Betty Friedan triggered feminism's second script more than a decade ago, in time Who work against the odds. "It's easy • David Bradley stars As was Newman. A celebrated TV , who plays Newman in An wave, and John F. Kennedy celebrated for the show's 40th anniversary, but looking back to see how it would work, CHANGING PLACES as the , producer in his native Canada, he had Adventure In Space And Time, actually his thousandth day in the White House, , Doctor Who was then still on hiatus but at the time it was a high-wire act. In the spring of 1963, the BBC was only in An Adventure In moved to Britain to become ABC's Head met the man himself as a young actor in just weeks before meeting a bloody end and the BBC showed little enthusiasm. The thing I find,workin g on Doctor just beginning to shed its stuffy post-War Space And Time. Of Drama, where he created hip detective 1965. "He was very much in the style of in Dallas. Everything was in flux. With the show now a global money- Who, is there's never enough time, formality. "It was a buttoned-up, show The Avengers. In December 1962 a Hollywood showman," recalls Cox. "He Everything was up for grabs. spinner, what was once a left-field there's never enough money, there's testeroned place," remembers Hussein, the BBC poached him to shake up their was the television equivalent of Darryl While all this was happening, a labour of love has become a jewel in always massive battles. So, in a way, it's the elegantly spoken, Cambridge-educated own drama department, bringing in Zanuck. He had that kind of mentality small group of creative mavericks at the autumn schedule. very similar. In other ways I look back newcomer who became Doctor Who's new blood such as and and drive. It was the time for social the BBC, including Head Of Drama When Empire meets Gatiss in Cardiff, in envy at the fact that so much was first director. "The people in charge were . "Television dramas were revolution, the time for social mobility. Sydney Newman, producer Verity on the set of his other hit show, Sherlock, possible. There was much more room like naval officers. They all wore blazers invariably about the upper classes," he In an age which was still plagued by the Lambert and director Waris Hussein, he's fizzing with enthusiasm about the to fail. There was a wonderful sense of, and old school ties. People like Verity later recalled. "I said, 'Damn the upper BBC's lack of decision and everything were putting together a new children's band of outsiders who made Doctor 'What the hell, let's do this.'" and myself were aliens in the landscape." classes: they don't even own televisions!'" done by committee, he got things done." >

I EMPIRE DECEMBER 2013 empireonllne.com subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub DECEMBER 2013 EMPIRE ••• 99 One of Newman's first challenges was to fill the problematic Saturday-evening CHANGING MINDS slot at 5.15pm between sports round-up By 1963, William Hartnell had been Grandstand and pop show . acting for almost 30 years. Born poor In March 1963 he held a meeting with and illegitimate in in 1908, he Head Of Serials Donald Wilson and had escaped his delinquent youth via the staff writer C. E. Webber, to brainstorm theatre, moving from stage to screen with a weekly science-fiction drama aimed at impressive supporting roles in films such young viewers — with a ban on cliched as Brighton Rock and, most recently, This "bug-eyed monsters" and "tin robots". Sporting Life. But he was frustrated by Newman vetoed Webber's original idea being typecast as humourless hard-nosed about a team of futuristic troubleshooters military men in Carry On Sergeant and and substituted his own invention, "a frail the hit sitcom The Army Game. So when old man lost in space and time", whose Lambert and Hussein invited him to adventures would teach kids about history. lunch he was both wary and intrigued. THE 1960S SPIN-OFF FILMS, He appointed BBC veteran "I remember kids' TV in the early '60s directed by Gordon Flemyng (Jason's as producer and director and pencilled and it was pretty primitive," says David • dad) and written-and produced by Amic it in for July, with a budget of £2,300 Bradley, who was cast as Hartnell for An horror supremo Milton Subotsky, wen per episode, plus £500 for the spaceship. Adventure In Space And Time on the made during the craze that followed tl According to Newman, "Doctor Who recommendation of Edgar Wright (who'd first appearances of the . Indee was really the culmination of almost all put him in both Hot Fuzz and The they were more concerned with my interests in life: I wanted to reflect World's End). "I could understand him )n . Hence their titles: Dr. contemporary society; I was curious thinking, 'I'm a legitimate character Who And (19651 and Dalek: about the outer-space stuff; and also, of actor on stage and film. I don't do kids' course, being a children's programme, it stuff' But after his initial reluctance At that time, William Hartnell was th< had to have a high educational content." he embraced it totally. The Doctor gave only TV Doctor there had been, but he wa In June, Newman asked his former him a chance to expand and show a bit a) working year-rouad and not available production assistant at ABC, Verity more twinkle." for the films (if he wanted a week off, he Lambert, to become co-producer. At just If Hartnell was perturbed by Lambert had to be made invisible on the show), 27 she was the corporation's youngest and Hussein's youth and inexperience, and b) not a big enough star for the US producer and its only female, prompting then he was swayed by their enthusiasm. nasty rumours about how she got the job. The Doctor, promised Lambert, would be "I'm told there were quite a few rumblings excitingly unpredictable: sometimes warm Sherlock Holmes, ought within the BBC, because she'd never and endearing, at other times intimidating to have been a great Doctor, but he been a director and because she was and cantankerous. A role he could make disastrously played down to the children, a girl," said Newman. "She was tough, his own. A role, he later said, that he pretending to be a doddery old man anr' good-looking and stubborn. If she allowed to "hypnotise" him. constantly winking. These films also didn't like something, she came out While commissioning a cutting-edge ignore the TV character's alien origins honestly and said so." theme tune and title sequence, Lambert and insist the hero is an Earthman While the launch was delayed by cast 23 year-old Carole Ann Ford as whose actual name is "Dr. Who". script problems, Tucker said he was too the Doctor's teenage granddaughter, However, '60s kids put up with the busy to direct and soon left the show. His , and William Russell fake Doctor and loved the films anyway... replacement, Indian-born Hussein, feared and as inquisitive embarrassment. "We were, to be mild They are spectacular and colourful, full he'd been offered a poisoned chalice when schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and about it, terribly, terribly nervous," of great action scenes and vivid settings. he read the first scripts. "Nobody else Barbara Wright. They met for the first recalled script editor David Whitaker. The second, slightly stronger film wanted to do it," he says. "The premise time at a photo call on September 20, "We were also terribly, terribly excited." also introduced Bernard Cribbins — was great, but the first four episodes were and set to work. After a week of rehearsals, the first replacing Roy Castle, another children's about cavemen with funny names and The logistical obstacles were episode, now known as An Unearthly entertainer - to the TARDIS, laying the monosyllabic dialogue. I thought, 'What significant. Lambert was assigned one Child, was recorded on September 27. groundwork for his return during David have I been lumbered with? How the hell of the corporation's worst studios: Lime The following week, Lambert and Tennant's tenancy. KIM NEWMAN do I prove myself as a director?'" Grove Studio D. "It was horrendous!" Hussein nervously met Newman for "Waris said he had to work 50 times remembers Ford, a crisp, no-nonsense lunch to hear his verdict. It wasn't good. harder to prove himself, and he's gay too, character who is now a sought-after voice His notes included "girl too dour" and so he literally couldn't allow anything to coach. "Terribly old-fashioned, terribly "old man not funny enough". He told give people a reason to get rid of him," run-down. It should have been pulled them to do it again. says Gatiss. What gave Hussein hope was down years before we used it. If it got "He used to laugh loudly, but at the the calibre of his employers. "I thought too hot the sprinklers came on and it same time he had an ominous presence," Sydney was wonderful. He wasn't just an was terribly small, so we were tripping says Ford. "When he laid a heavy hand opinionated executive, he was a man of over each other, not to mention camera on my shoulder and smiled it was always integrity. And Verity was an extremely cables and so on." a bad sign. 'Lovely darling but...' 'But' intelligent, attractive woman." Furthermore, primitive editing was a very bad word. I wanted Susan to "It's a funny little bunch that created technology meant there could only be be different, strange, not human, but he Doctor Who," says McDonough. "You've four breaks in the tape per episode, so wanted an ordinary kid next door." got an Indian first-time director, a female there was no opportunity to reshoot "Sydney was a showman and he was •• nS first-time producer and a Canadian Head scenes because of fluffed lines or shaky canny enough to say, 'Look, you're making as the original 0 this too weird,'" says Hussein. "He did Of Drama. It was a different energy." By scenery. The budget was, however, before the 11 fur July 1963 the idea was firmly in place. substantial enough by BBC standards incarnations. point out that this was for kids. I was What the team needed now was a Doctor. that failure would have been a costly very happy to do it again because there 't-M were many shaky moments. To remake > I EMPIRE DECEMBER 2013 subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub DECEMBER 2013 EMPIRE I I a pilot was totally unheard of. It was a gamble that paid off." But Doctor Who was not out of the woods yet. It was almost strangled at I birth for the most prosaic of reasons: the budget-busting cost of the TARDIS control room. BBC One's Controller Of Programmes, Donald Baverstock, ordered the show to be cancelled after the first four episodes until Lambert convinced him that the cost could be spread across the whole series. "It was that close to happening," says Gatiss. "We shot it like that but had to redo it because it looked too trivial. Was that if!" With the budget settled and the first episode reshot to Newman's satisfaction, Most heroes are nice, Younger, goofier and handsome young men, so shabbier, "a hobo in space", the team were optimistic until the day decided he'd (ess patriarchal and before broadcast. On Friday, November be a craggy old git. Victorian doctrinaire. Played the 22, Carole Ann Ford was waiting for a lift ' * * 7 " * '.'« clothes and attitudes, know- recorder, fooled humourless to work on the show's second storyline it-all but arrogant. The Sean -villains, into thinking him ant Connery of Who — he did idiot, possessed a fiercely when someone ran up and said, "Have everything first. moral core. you heard? Kennedy's been shot!"

CHANGING FORTUNES The news from Dallas was so shocking that it swallowed the weekend. "It was like someone hit you on the head," remembers Hussein. It couldn't have been a worse time to launch an ambitious new drama better than the writers did. One guest and the ratings were a disappointing 4.4 earnest fan mail asking complex questions actor, Julian Glover, remembered him More stylish, disliked A scarf-trailing • A handsome, nice about the physics of the TARDIS. as "this grumpy bloke sat in the corner, bureaucracy and clown who became young man with a million. Newman had to persuade the militarism, performed the most recognisable tendency towards BBC to repeat the episode the following Hartnell was a complicated character. scowling in disapproval at all I did". "Venusiari karate", more• Doctor. Sometimes pacifism and indecision, weekend, to a much warmer reception. In Who's There?: The Life And Career "New people came on board who explicitly nmi-human callous to remind us in Edwardjan cricketing Of William Hartnell, his granddaughter didn't care enough and that's why he [the two hearts he wasn't human, later,togs , exhausted by But its survival was only really ensured business), eco-aware stuck with a robot dog a TARDIS lull of by a race of genocidal pepper pots. Jessica admits he could be "intolerant, became so proprietorial," says Gatiss. in a 70s manner. and weak jokes. squabbling sidekicks. bigoted, irascible and tense", but also "He was the last man standing." When Lambert first told Newman loyal and generous towards workmates about the Daleks, conceived by freelance In the end, it was Hartnell's health that he respected. "He could be quite brought him down. A heavy spirit-drinker writer Terry Nation and designed by the intimidating if you didn't know that under BBC's Raymond Cusick, he dismissed and smoker, he developed arteriosclerosis, this spiky exterior he was very sweet — an early symptom of which was a tendency them as hated "bug-eyed monsters" marshmallow, in fact," Lambert testified. and would have vetoed them if he'd had to botch his lines. During the firstseries , Ford remembers him fondly, except for this was manageable. "We were theatre time to find a replacement script. But he when his protectiveness towards conceded, when the ratings for the final people so we could cover up for him," WtB®ins& his on-screen granddaughter became says Ford. "I'm sure I sometimes saw episode of the arc came in, that ten million oppressive. He would sometimes scold Performance as Funny teeth, sort-of Floppy-haired viewers couldn't be wrong. He never a twinkle and he did it on purpose. There a quixotic loon wasn't Scots accent, prone to romantic, whose her for blowing her pay cheque on new was a battery of machines called the bad, but suffered running around and regeneration is likened doubted Lambert again. "Some of the clothes or drinking cocktails in the BBC incapable of explaining to Frankenstein and best things I have ever done are the things Fault Locator and on one occasion he from that horrible bar, though he always apologised later. asked me to check the Fornicator!" multicoloured coat things. Came out as Jesus. First of the kissy' I never wanted to do," he later reflected. "He thought I was younger than I was and some of the worst an ant-Thatch leftie,. Docs. Half-human, like Nation got the credit and royalty payments But eventually, his growing frailty and writing the show has but got cancelled Spock Isince retconned because I was playing 15," says Ford. "I and forgotten). for the rest of his life; co-creator Cusick, as difficult behaviour become unsustainable ever seen. before she did. was a married woman with a child! Look, and the BBC drew up plans to replace a BBC staffer, received a £100 bonus and a this was the '60s. It was all happening out Blue Peter badge, to his lasting annoyance. Summer 1965 saw the departure of him. "When ill-health overtook him there. The music, the clothes... everyone • Clockwise from top I should imagine he found that very "I was working in a factory in York left: Original cast Carole William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and, was firing on all cylinders." CHANGING FACES frustrating because it meant he was and we were just as spooked by the Daleks Ann Ford, Jacqueline most sadly for Hartnell, Verity Lambert. Hill, Ian Chesterton and The first to go was Waris Hussein, who dipping below his own standards," says as kids nowadays," remembers Bradley, For Hartnell, the Doctor was the role "That was a bit of a turning point," says William Hartnell; The moved on after six months, his reputation Bradley. "But he was convinced that who was 21 at the time. "The Daleks really of a lifetime and he wanted it for as long Bradley. "I don't think he ever felt the Dalek craze sweeps the established. At the end of the firstseries , he was the only one who could play the swung it into action," says Hussein. "Once as the show lasted. It didn't occur to him nation; Hartnell with same kind of support and passion for the Carole Ann Ford left too. "Susan was Doctor because the concept of an actor kids were hiding behind sofas the BBC his younger colleagues may feel differently. Ford in the first series; project and I think he missed her terribly." David Bradley as Hartnell becoming so repetitive," she says with an leaving a show and someone else taking Traumatised Time Sharp suits, estuary Bow tie, prone to realised what they had. By the time I did "Bill just couldn't understand why Hartnell took an intense dislike to in An Adventure In Space exasperated sigh. "They didn't develop over was inconceivable at the time." War vet. Manc-accented know-it-all accent, one-off attempts at cool the third lot there was more money. We they wanted to move on," says Gatiss. And Time. the character at all. Originally she was replacement producer and on the principle that terribly enthusiastic, followed by notes to - were on our way, thank goodness." "He got this towards the end of his career going to be extraordinary: physically as became Doctor Who's firsteve r continuity The idea of allowing the Doctor "lots of planets have prone to soppiness,. "never say that agam", and it was like, are you fucking crazy? It's a North",dressed really wanted to settle .give n to falling over, the "I couldn't go to the shop for a bottle capable as an Avengers girl and mentally pedant, arguing with directors who didn't to regenerate was a stroke of genius, a generational thing. Having radically down a bit, always down but aware of duty youngest Doctor to date. of milk without people crowding around as capable as her grandfather. I could understand how the TARDIS worked. ensuring the show's longevity: Gatiss piled on the inner as last of the Time LordsInherite d sticky-up-hair changed the set-up at the BBC with this and asking for autographs," says Ford. have done amazing things for them if He even asked to supply his own dialogue believes it was firstsuggeste d by third- angst, burned out fast. to protest the universe. from predecessor. insane little show, all he wants to do is Hartnell found himself followed down the they'd written it like that." because, he said, he knew the Doctor season script editor Donald Tosh and > keep it exactly where it is." street by awestruck kids and deluged with empireonline.com subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub DECEMBER 2013 EMPIRE I I EMPIRE DECEMBER 2013 Hartnell's nemesis John Wiles, both of whom resigned before it happened, leaving Newman to wield the axe. On July 16,1966, Newman informed Hartnell that he would be filminghi s last episode in October. The devastated actor's next job was in Christmas pantomime. "He's like someone who gets the thing he's always wanted for Christmas and then has to give it back," Gatiss says sadly. "There's something terribly affecting about that. An Adventure In Space And Time is about not being able to say goodbye." To Terry McDonough, its message is more brutal: "No-one's irreplaceable." It might have been some consolation to Hartnell that his beloved show transformed the BBC forever. By escaping I its kids' TV ghetto and demonstrating that young viewers loved to be scared witless, it knocked down the fences between different audiences and established the '% / enduring format of the teatime family hit. It gave British science-fiction a strong I new voice of its own: playful, eccentric, unsettling and endlessly versatile. More broadly, it proved that untested creative I mavericks could be trusted to turn David and Matt both resigned saying, I don't really strange new ideas into populist smashes, want to leave but one day I have to, so why not today?' and encouraged the corporation to be But what David has discovered, and what Matt will less cautious and pedantic — well, at discover., is it's never over. You'll always be the Doctor." least a little. One of Moffat's earliest memories is of William Hartnell retired due to poor health Hartnell giving way to Patrick'Troughton in 1966. and died in 1975. Newman passed away "I complained to my dad, where was Doctor Who7 in 1997 and Lambert ten years later. But THE CARDIFF NERVE CENTRE OF DOCTOR And he said, 'It's him with the black hair'And I said, Gatiss interviewed all the survivors of Who is a fortress of encrypted files, closed sets and That's not Doctor Who, he's far too young!'What the firstepisod e at length and invited non-disclosure agreements, but showrunner Steve started rne down the road to where I sit today was them to visit the set of An Adventure In Moffat, the man who made "Spoilers!" a catchphrase being bewitched by Ihe idea that the Doctor was Space And Time. While McDonough was for rogue time traveller River Song, needs no further just a Doctor. There were a whole lot of Doctors. filming a conversation between Hussein incentive to keep a secret. So when Empire asks himIt made Doctor Who ten times more interesting." (Sacha Dhawan) and Lambert (Jessica what he can reveal about the show's 50th anniversary Moffat, who has written for Doctor Who since Raine), Gatiss swears he saw a tear run special, , he says simply: "It's its 2005 revival and succeeded Russell T. Davies as down the real Hussein's cheek. Gatiss the most important day of the Doctor's life." showrunner four years ago, still sounds utterly in gets emotional just talking about it. "It's Okay, so here's what we know. It will include the love with the character. For one thing, the Doctor a very touching story. I go to bits every Daleks, 70s villains the Zygons, Billie Piper's former remains a mystery, unconstrained by decades of time I get to the end. I can't help it." Rose Tyler, Jemma Redgrave as UNIT'S complicated continuity. "What's his name? Who During the shoot, Gatiss invited some Kate Stewart, Gavin & Stacey's Joanna Page as was he married to? Who are his children? Why did Who-loving friends down to see the set. Queen Elizabeth I and, oh yes, multiple Doctors. he leave Gallifrey? Fifty years on, we know only One of them was the 12th Doctor, "I wanted to get the Doctor from several angles," a fraction more than we knew on the first day. Peter Capaldi, who is 55, the same age says Moffat, a high-voltage Scot who talks faster than You think you know him but you know nothing." as Hartnell when he took the role. "He most people think. Rather than a reunion, I wanted The second reason is simply that the Doctor is sent me the most beautiful email the day the Doctor at different moments: the current Doctor, so much fun. "His appeal to children is that he's after he visited," Gatiss beams. "It said: a previous Doctor and an unknown Doctor." I in disguise," says Moffat. "He's one of them. 'Even as a child something about the The new incarnation, as revealed in the last Whether he's a crotchety old man or a hipster boffin, melancholy of the show sang out to me.' season finale, is the mighty . "I was very he's really a big kid. He's so vital and alive. You can't Even though it's mostly an adventure relieved he said yes," says Moffat. "I knew it would get tired of that because he changes all the time." series, the emotional highs for me are entail casting someone so enormous that everyone Empire mentions Mark Gatiss' theory that the when companions go and when Doctors would drop their coffee when they saw who it was." core of the show's appeal is the melancholy of saying go. There is a pleasure in melancholy." As well as Hurt, departing Doctor Matt Smith goodbye. Moffat is only half-convinced. "I think it's Like every Doctor except, tragically, will come face-to-face with his predecessor, David more complex than that. Rebirth is at the core. the first, Capaldi knows he is replaceable. Tennant. "They play different aspects of the same There's an ending, yes, but there's a reassurance In Doctor Who, everybody says goodbye. part," says Moffat. "It's a really good double act. that the moment of sadness will be followed by Everything changes. Very funny. They work together sublimely well." a sunrise. That's the fundamental message of all [email protected] The bond was just as powerful between takes. kids' stories: as dark as it gets, the dawn will come." "They loved each other and they've remained in touch,"H e takes a rare breath. "No show has so many AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME WILL AIR says Moffat. "They were always gossiping away in a endings and so many beginnings as Doctor Who." ON BBC TWO DURING DOCTOR WHO'S 50TH corner because they share a common experience... rTDR AIBQ HW RRP rlMF HM NfWPMRPP 9^ ANNIVERSARY WEEK, STARTING NOVEMBER 18.

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